bradman,ponting,lara & tendulkaR..what have these got in com

[bayman]

i was listening to the cricket earlier today & they asked the question that these greats of batting & a couple of others including gavaska are all sMALl in stature & is this an advantage of batting rather than being on the taller side ? i would never had thought of that, but it makes me me wonder when they mentioned that those batsmen would look up to the bowler rather than a more horizontal view that the taller batsmen would see

your thoughts please

[Wedgie]

Makes sense as your eye is closer to where the bat is making contact with the ball on most shots.

[rod_rooster]

Makes sense as your eye is closer to where the bat is making contact with the ball on most shots.

Never helped me

Oh, that's right, i have no talent that's the problem

[locky801]

Makes sense as your eye is closer to where the bat is making contact with the ball on most shots.

Never helped me

Oh, that's right, i have no talent that's the problem

No you have to keep your eyes open Rod you make an interesting point Bayman, something I am sure no-one has really ever thought about, interesting discussion point one would think,

[Hondo]

Shorter players are usually quicker on their feet I assume that would help?

[magpie in the 80's]

ALL BUT TALL WILL SUFFER

RICKY Ponting has seen the future of international cricket. It's Matthew Hayden-sized behemoths clubbing the ball like American baseballers before bowlers as tall as basketballers push off the sightscreen with the new ball. Little Justin Langer is suitably horrified.

Cricket has a rich tradition of producing diminutive run plunderers. Three of the greatest in history — Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar — were small men. Ponting has forearms like Popeye but can't be described as tall timber.

David Boon, once referred to so accurately as the 157-centimetre Tasmanian with the flared pants, was a keg on legs in the Allan Border mould and Langer was dwarfed by Hayden every time they strode out to open the innings for Australia, Langer taking two hurried steps to keep up with Hayden's one.

Ponting, officially ranked as the world's best batsman by the International Cricket Council, has gazed into his crystal ball for The Sunday Age and admitted he doesn't think his physical type will stand the test of time.

"This idea of me being the perfect height for a batsman — I guess, historically, a lot of batsmen have been short at around five-foot-six-to-nine in height," the 175-centimetre Ponting said. "I think you'll see that change over the next 10 to 20 years. I say that because I think cricket is becoming a lot more power-based.

"I heard something that I'm probably the last of the artists because the other guys like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are all power. Matthew Hayden and even Adam Gilchrist, he's six-foot-two, reflect that. With the amount of one-day cricket and Twenty20 coming into play, I think you're going to see the batsmen will be bigger and will hit the ball harder. It's the way the game is going."

Bradman was 170 centimetres. Lara is 172. Tendulkar needs heels at 165. But Lara has retired, Tendulkar is on his way out and the four men directly behind Ponting at the top of the world one-day batting rankings are the physically imposing and bludgeoning group of Andrew Symonds, Hayden, hefty South African captain Graeme Smith and England powerhouse Pietersen.

Langer said Ponting's theory of evolution had merit but only in the one-day and Twenty20 arenas. "Cricket is a skills-based game and you can't tell me a smaller guy with great footwork and quick hands is going to be run out of the game," Langer said.

"It's all about reflexes and timing. You can go all the way back to Bradman and see that batsmen have always had different techniques, styles, shapes and sizes. When I opened the batting with Matty Hayden we had completely different ways of playing but they both worked.

"Haydos used to say to me, 'I wish I could hit the ball square like you,' and I'd say, 'If I could hit the ball down the ground like you I'd be a genius.' There are so many intricacies. Every player is different and that's the way it should stay."

Symonds gave a glimpse of Ponting's future in Australia's thumping Twenty20 win over New Zealand during the week. Built like a brick outhouse, Symonds clobbered 85 runs off 46 balls at a strike rate of 184.78.

Kiwi Jacob Oram, another giant fitting the mould of Ponting's future prototype, stood and delivered with five fours and six sixes in a frenzied 31-ball innings of 66.

Langer's international one-day career finished a decade before his Test days because he didn't have the physical strength to sustain prolonged big hitting.

But Langer says batting is not necessarily easier for the big boppers. "I think playing short-pitched bowling is harder for taller guys," Langer said. "They're a bigger target. They've got to play their cuts and hooks from higher, which means they're going to hit it in the air more.

"There will always, always be small guys in cricket. Maybe not Twenty20 but when you're talking about Test cricket, real cricket, there will always be smaller guys. It will always be whoever has the most skill. The best cricketers are the best cricketers, no matter what."

Ponting said pace bowlers would become as tall as professional basketballers — edging towards seven feet — partly as a by-product of the flat pitches infiltrating the international game.

"The wickets are flat and they're going to have to bowl 150km/h," Ponting said. "Brett Lee is an exception because he can bowl at 160, but the short guys who bowl 140km/h don't last."

West Indian Curtly Ambrose fitted the bill at 200 centimetres.

"Ambrose was Glenn McGrath four or five inches taller and a few kilometres quicker," Ponting said. "He was mean in the sense he never gave anything away. But when they're bowling at you from that height it feels as if the wicket is only 18 yards, not 22. They're right on top of you and it's hard work."

EXTRACT FROM THE AGE DEC 16TH 2007