SA Footy

Iconic SAFOOTY allrounder has come a long long way
Shane Watson was once the much MALigned cricketer
His place in the International team was queried due to injuries and average form
The Shane was at times the most ridiculed and most scrutinised cricketer in the Australian Team

Some of the great names in sport even questioned his ability
Amongst them were
Sir Garfied Sobers
Barrie Robran
Punk Rooster
Rebecca Wilson

I had always said that he would be a good batsman if given opportunities in the top order
Too many judged him on his low order batting, when batting at about 7
When given opportunities as an opener he blossomed
He played as an opener for QL in the SS comp at one stage
He was mocked when he scored several ducks in a short time
There was even a Safooty thread called WATTOOOOOOOOOOOO

QUESTION
Who is the best AU opening batsman AU has had in ODI cricket ?

I will preview 4 of the them

M WAUGH
236 INNINGS
8500 RUNS
40-98 AVE
76-83 S/RATE

A GILchrist
278 INNINGS
9595 RUNS
35-93 AVE
96-89 S/RATE

M HAYDEN
154 INNINGS
6131 RUNS
44-10 AVE
78-98 S/RATE

THE SHANE
112 INNINGS[not including 185 off 96]
3680 RUNS
41-34 AVE
86-42 S/RATE


Heres my top4 in order

1
GILchrist
Theres no doubt GILchrist was the most devastating of them all, and consistently scored the quickest, but was more hit or miss
Prob batted down the order a fair bit as well, considering he was the keeper, what a player

2
MARK WAUGH
Ive rated him 2nd by a whisker
Similar stats to THE SHANE , but did it twice as long
Waughs fielding is superior of the 4 players
Did bowl some handy stuff as well

3
THE SHANE
I reckon Gilly and Junior faced better bowlers than Matt the Bat and The Shane
I have placed THE SHANE in 3rd spot behind the 2 others
THE SHANEs value is his bowling which has blossomed later in his career, but was very ordinary in the early ODIs he played
Did play a fair while at about 7 in the batting order

4 HAYDEN
Terrific batsman who could not make the team at stages !
Ended up with a very good record
Made a lot of runs when aged in his 30s, so a great effort

CONVERSIONS HALF TONS AND TONS
GILchrist .....278 innings.....16 x 100....55x50
M WAUGH.....236 innings.....18x 100.....50x50
THE SHANE...112 innings.....5x100........22x50
HAYDEN........154 innings....10x100......36x50

THE SHANE is not converting innings into half tons and tons on average as the others
That can be construed into him being a more consistent opener
THE SHANE has the 2nd best average, and 2nd best strike rate

QUESTIONS
So who is the best ODI opening batsman [not the best player]
And have I forgotten any other openers ?
Also what are their stats as openers only ?

geoff marsh, booney???

Geoff Marsh would probably be our best one day opener up to the late 80's/early 90's, but he was more of an anchor, and he would have been overtaken by more attacking players such as M Waugh, Gilchrist, M Hayden etc.

All BS aside, it was a great spectacle but I think even I would've got close to that mark yesterday, the amount of half-trackers on leg stump was disgraceful.
It's about time we had another ruthless top-order batsman in our line-up, his 160 vs England was a far better innings IMO.

WATTO: The most improved cricketer in every aspect this millenium, good on him.

GWW wrote:Geoff Marsh would probably be our best one day opener up to the late 80's/early 90's, but he was more of an anchor, and he would have been overtaken by more attacking players such as M Waugh, Gilchrist, M Hayden etc.

Unfortunately Swampy's ton would come off 160+ balls, you could get away with it back in the 80's when 220 was a challenging chase.

Admirable restraint, mal.

I jumped on here just to see what you had to say about your adopted son's 185no, lo and behold it has its own thread.

At least you haven't got him infront of Gilchrist yet!

(I was not a believer for many years of inflatable muscles and scared eyes, but geez, what a player he's become)

mal wrote:
QUESTION
Who is the best AU opening batsman AU has had in ODI cricket ?

I will preview 4 of the them

M WAUGH
236 INNINGS
8500 RUNS
40-98 AVE
76-83 S/RATE

A GILchrist
278 INNINGS
9595 RUNS
35-93 AVE
96-89 S/RATE

M HAYDEN
154 INNINGS
6131 RUNS
44-10 AVE
78-98 S/RATE

THE SHANE
112 INNINGS[not including 185 off 96]
3680 RUNS
41-34 AVE
86-42 S/RATE


Heres my top4 in order

1
GILchrist
Theres no doubt GILchrist was the most devastating of them all, and consistently scored the quickest, but was more hit or miss
Prob batted down the order a fair bit as well, considering he was the keeper, what a player

2
MARK WAUGH
Ive rated him 2nd by a whisker
Similar stats to THE SHANE , but did it twice as long
Waughs fielding is superior of the 4 players
Did bowl some handy stuff as well

3
THE SHANE
I reckon Gilly and Junior faced better bowlers than Matt the Bat and The Shane
I have placed THE SHANE in 3rd spot behind the 2 others
THE SHANEs value is his bowling which has blossomed later in his career, but was very ordinary in the early ODIs he played
Did play a fair while at about 7 in the batting order

4 HAYDEN
Terrific batsman who could not make the team at stages !
Ended up with a very good record
Made a lot of runs when aged in his 30s, so a great effort

CONVERSIONS HALF TONS AND TONS
GILchrist .....278 innings.....16 x 100....55x50
M WAUGH.....236 innings.....18x 100.....50x50
THE SHANE...112 innings.....5x100........22x50
HAYDEN........154 innings....10x100......36x50

Sorry, but I'll refuse to call him "The Shane", all 4 of them have been wonderful servants to the ODI scene, it would be hard to judge their pecking order due to who they batted with and the style of game has changed a fair bit along with what you are looking for in an opener.

Waugh: The cavalier, majestic and reliable, didn't score at a rapid rate but got the job done, didn't have to go berserk half the time because Gilly was up the other end going nuts.

Gilly: The prettiest to watch when on song but obviously lacked consistency as you would batting with that type of flair. Will always be remembered though for what he brought to the game.

Hayden: Starved of opportunity for a long time, could've been anything if he was playing 5 or 6 years before he debuted as he scored masses of runs for Queensland. He was like a fine wine, just got better with age.

Watto: Has the time to become our greatest ODI player, he has worked on all facets of his game, he's probably become our most consistent bowler and batsman which is amazing feat. He just needs to continue to grow as opener in this format, his last 12 months have been head and shoulders above the rest of the team.
What has made it harder for Watto is the lack of support around him, the other 3 in this comparison played when we were at our peak.

In essence mal, I think you got the order pretty well right, it will change in the next year or two though.

Micky Slater!

regards,

REB

He's beginning to put his name up there with the best ODI players we've had.

Is opening in Test cricket his best position - or best use of him to the Australian side?

He is fast becoming a genuine star. Australian cricket sure needs it at the moment.

I'd like to see him bat at 4 or 5 in Test matches.

GWW wrote:I'd like to see him bat at 4 or 5 in Test matches.

Batting 4 or 5 in our current line-up is practically opening anyway.

I'll have a crack at rating them

Gilchrist
Hayden
Waugh
Marsh
Watson

One reason I have Watson at the bottom of that lot is he has been lucky he hasn't had to face better bowling, as was the case last night.

Mike Hussey media comments on Watt185son

"" cant split Watson and Gilly ""
"" he can hit it harder.""
"" Watson can raise the bar even further.""
"' team mates contemplating if they had witnessed a better hitting display.""
"' tough to split with Adam GilCHRISTs 149 off 104 balls v SL in 2007""
"" his 161 v EG was a pretty amazing innings too""
"" his consistency is amazing ""
"" hussey is convinced the allrounder who was only 15 runs short of Indian great Tendulkars score of 200, can go higher."

The only comment I would dispute is Husseys tough to split the 185 v gilCHRISTs 149
Please one innings was made against BA and emerging nation trying to make its mark in cricket
The other innings by GilCHRIST was against a one day super team SL against bowlers of the ilk of Chucker and MALinga

I can't take anything Hussey said seriously if he honestly said it was hard to split the 149 Gilly made in a World Cup Final and Watto's 185 vs a bunch of amateurs.

What an idiotic comment.

Watto. Regular big scores but often doesn't go on with it at Test match and ODI level. Yeah he smashed the Bangas but so did Dizzy Gillespie. Don't be so hard on the Huss boys he is the ultimate loyal team man who is pumping up his current colegues.

When Watto turns his 70's into tons then you can rate him ahead of Haydos but until then nah can't have it.

regards,

REB

Here are their respective records as openers in ODIs (runs/HS/ave/SR):

SR Watson 3087 - 185* - 48.23 - 92.45

ML Hayden 5892 - 181* - 44.30 - 78.70

ME Waugh 5729 - 173 - 44.06 - 76.74

GR Marsh 4357 - 126* - 39.97 - 55.93

AC Gilchrist 9176 - 172 - 36.55 - 97.98

Am I the only one who noticed the mention of Rebecca Wilson in the opening post as a 'great name in sport'?

Rik E Boy wrote:Watto. Regular big scores but often doesn't go on with it at Test match and ODI level. Yeah he smashed the Bangas but so did Dizzy Gillespie. Don't be so hard on the Huss boys he is the ultimate loyal team man who is pumping up his current colegues.

When Watto turns his 70's into tons then you can rate him ahead of Haydos but until then nah can't have it.

regards,

REB

The very next innings
Watt185oooo 72[40]
NostraREBamus !

RoosterMarty wrote:I can't take anything Hussey said seriously if he honestly said it was hard to split the 149 Gilly made in a World Cup Final and Watto's 185 vs a bunch of amateurs.

What an idiotic comment.

Very next innings
HUSSEY 108[91]

Can we expect Watt185oooo to make a press release about this being Mikes greatest innings...

Zorro wrote:Am I the only one who noticed the mention of Rebecca Wilson in the opening post as a 'great name in sport'?

Did mal pay you to write that?