Those "second best" batsmen

[Media Park]

We all gush about Ponting, Tendulkar and Brian Lara as being perhaps the three greatest batsmen of the 90's-00's generation.
They have certainly got the records to stand up to it, and no doubt they are amongst the games elite.

But how often do we hear about those teams "second best" batsmen?

Brian Lara, the greatest singular innings in Test cricket, 12000 Test runs, two triple hundreds, absolute gun:
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, debut 1994, 137 Test matches, 25 hundreds, averaging a tick under 50, and because his strike rate is so slow, he in never mentioned, amidst the breath of strokemakers Lara, Sarwan, Gayle.

Sachin Tendulkar, Lara's 400 aside, every batting record in the Test arena (and ODI for that matter) belongs to Sachin. Considered the best other than Bradman, he is reaching seemingly unbeatable heights:
Rahul Dravid, 1996-2012, through 164 Test matches, Dravid was not mentioned, again because of Tendulkar, Laxman and Sehwag, until the end of his career, yet 13000 runs, and 36 Test hundreds made him a modern day legend of the game.

Ricky Ponting, Australia's second greatest ever, after that man Bradman, he is our leading run scorer, century maker, and everything else:
Michael Hussey, 2005 was his beginning, and it goes ever on, after starting his career with an average rivalling Bradman himself, he has since had a plateau, and moved in to role of "elder statesman", thus far knocking up 16 hundreds and an average of fifty.

But amongst the style and pomp of Lara, Sachin and Punter, how much did we hear about these others?

[jackpot jim]

Kallis's record stacks up against Ponting, Lara and Tendulker doesn't it?

Whats Jayawardene's record. Had a 624 partnership with Sangakara v Sth Africa in 2006.

[Media Park]

Kallis is an odd one, he's got stats to be arguably the best ever Test all-rounder, yet he's hardly talked about in mainstream media.

It's only now that Amla has come into a pile of runs that there's really been a standout batsman ahead of him, as they haven't really had a batsman that one would consider amongst the best of the era (Graeme Smith if he had more consistency would be a monty).

[Squids]

Younus Khan - Averages around 52 in test cricket, has a triple hundred to his name, has struggled against Australia so that might explain why he is forgetting about a little bit.

Mohammad Yousuf - Has absolutely stunk it up against Australia but still averages 52 overall.


Thilan Samaraweera - Averages over 50 in test cricket, has a decent record overseas which is something other Sri Lankans like Jayawardene do not. Completely forgotten about......he was the guy who was shot in Pakistan.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Admire greatly a player like Chanderpaul as he isn't the most talented but apparently has an unbelievable work ethic.

[jackpot jim]

Admire greatly a player like Chanderpaul as he isn't the most talented but apparently has an unbelievable work ethic.

Gotta admire the bloke who has succeeded over a long period of time with such an unorthodox technique whilst playing in a shit team.
Heard a commentator say that years ago he saw him batting in the nets and several hours later he was still in there and asked him why he batted so long in the nets. His reply was pretty simple, you have to bat hour after hour after hour in Test matches so he simulated that in the nets by batting for long periods.
Really hope he finishes with an ave over 50 when he retires.

[Booney]

We all gush about Ponting, Tendulkar and Brian Lara as being perhaps the three greatest batsmen of the 90's-00's generation.
They have certainly got the records to stand up to it, and no doubt they are amongst the games elite.

But how often do we hear about those teams "second best" batsmen?

Brian Lara, the greatest singular innings in Test cricket, 12000 Test runs, two triple hundreds, absolute gun:
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, debut 1994, 137 Test matches, 25 hundreds, averaging a tick under 50, and because his strike rate is so slow, he in never mentioned, amidst the breath of strokemakers Lara, Sarwan, Gayle.

Sachin Tendulkar, Lara's 400 aside, every batting record in the Test arena (and ODI for that matter) belongs to Sachin. Considered the best other than Bradman, he is reaching seemingly unbeatable heights:
Rahul Dravid, 1996-2012, through 164 Test matches, Dravid was not mentioned, again because of Tendulkar, Laxman and Sehwag, until the end of his career, yet 13000 runs, and 36 Test hundreds made him a modern day legend of the game.

Ricky Ponting, Australia's second greatest ever, after that man Bradman, he is our leading run scorer, century maker, and everything else:
Michael Hussey, 2005 was his beginning, and it goes ever on, after starting his career with an average rivalling Bradman himself, he has since had a plateau, and moved in to role of "elder statesman", thus far knocking up 16 hundreds and an average of fifty.

But amongst the style and pomp of Lara, Sachin and Punter, how much did we hear about these others?

Shiv has the =4th fastest Test 100 of all time too.

Batsman (Country) Balls Versus Venue Year
Vivian Richards (WI) 56 England Antigua 1986
Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 57 England Perth 2007
John Gregory (Aus) 67 South Africa Johannesburg 1921
David Warner (Aus) 69 India Perth 2012
Shiv Chanderpaul (WI) 69 Australia Georgetown 2002
Chris Gayle (WI) 70 Australia Perth 2009
Roy Fredericks (WI) 71 Australia Perth 1975
Majid Khan (Pak) 74 New Zealand Karachi 1976
Kapil Dev (India) 74 Sri Lanka Kanpur 1986
Md Azharuddin (India) 74 South Africa Kolkata 1996
AB de Villiers (SA) 76 India Centurion 2010
GL Jessop (England) 76 Australia The Oval 1902

[whufc]

Without Shiv WI cricket would almost be dead!!!!!!