Smith, Kohli, Root or Williamson: Who is the best Test batsman?

Smith, Kohli, Root or Williamson: Who is the best Test batsman?

Hashim Amla just DEFEAT Root:

and you asking that question without including Amla's name ????

blasphemy !  >

Fatwa

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-so...11567.html

The opening pair are still unsettled, so Amla has been called on before 10 overs were up

in all four innings on this tour so far.

He still has to see off the new ball

and do a repair job

before he can begin building his own innings

and a partnership : he is still seen as the steady hand.

Now, in Nottingham, he has looked it too.

AH MAN THERE IS NO WEST INDIAN UP IN THERE.  I WILL LET DEM SORT THEMSELVES OUT THEN. 

IN THE MEANTIME i WANT TO MURDER SKOURTNEY BRONG..IN THESE PAGES..WITH WORDS...THE DUMD, BAD-MINDED SKUNT > > > >

It's got to be Smith. He's proven himself on all tracks in all countries. When his teammates were failing in England and Asia - swing and low spin - he was solid. He tends to fail when faced with extreme pace (SA and NZ), but because bowling standards are so low these days, he doesn't get exposed much. We need to see how he copes with Pakistan's new Test bowling unit.

Ketchim mentioned Amla; Amla is the best of the bunch in swinging conditions (he's probably the best test bat vs lateral movement since Dravid); he averages like 180+ vs Anderson and has never had a bad tour of England. Like Smith, he's also good in alien, subcon pitches (he was awful on his last tour to Asia, but that looked like burnout). His problem is that he tends to choke in big matches, and ICC tournaments, especially in ODIs (which his seemingly stella ODI record masks, as it masks most ODI openers). With ABDV gone, we might see Amla becoming more of a clutch player. This English tour will heavily determine Amla's reputation, I think.

Root hasn't proven himself outside of England yet. I think he will become England's greatest batsman, but he benefits from lots and lots of home games. He's done okay in India, NZ, SA and Aus, but mostly 40s-70s. Seems to be still finding his feet ouside of England. He's a home bully for the time being, which is normal for a youth.

Kane is the most underrated. Whenever he failed on a tour, on his second visit to that region he absolutely dominated. Good knocks in India is the only thing he's missing. I think he will retire with the most rounded record of the bunch. And while all these guys have big tons and double tons, Kane has them in the toughest conditions and vs strong attacks.

Cook is underrated too, and has the hardest task: opening often in England vs swinging new balls. He's also stellar on subcontinent pitches. Any average over 45 is great for a test opener. His batting is ugly and boring as hell though.

Kohli is the most overrated. Fails repeatedly vs good bowling or on tough tracks. Failed three times vs England, twice at home. Only piled on the runs in a bunch of flat track games vs Anderson and Rashid. Gets owned by Ali in India and Anderson in England. When the Aussies came to India specifically with lots of spinners, knowing India would have slow tracks which kill their pacers, he failed again. Tends to make runs on hard, bouncy, runs-truck pitches, but because those are found at the home's of great teams (SA and Australia), this makes him look like a beater of world class bowling. Of all the batsmen here, though, Kohli is the most serious and determined. So any weaknesses get quickly fixed and repaired and he crushes you the next time around.

Then there's ABDV, who recently quit test cricket. I don't think he will go down as a test great. He bailed on his team, hid down the order, and couldn't make runs in Australia anywhere other than Perth (fastest scoring ground in the country). Bad in Sri Lanka. Has only 1 good knock in India, 1 in England, none in New Zealand, and made all his away runs vs the weakest Pakistani and West Indies team ever. Still, one of the few South Africans not to choke in big ODIs.

ah great job Trinnidaddy..sweet read.  yuh force mih to make a choice and dat is Kane Williamson my bwoy.  he is the best of the lot...makes runs all the time, in all conditions, against all bowling.  and Williamson is just about all the Kiwi have apart from an aging, in and out Ross Taylor.... often due to injury

I see Smith doing great things but have my evil Oz eye on him..which of course is a biased eye.  he is likely better than I rate him which is below his recent predecessors Ponting and Clarke.

I have never been excited by Kohli.  I don't see him as a great batsman.  my great Indian batsmen are Dravid, Laxsman, Tendy...plus Gavaskar and Vishwanath.  there is no room fuh Kohli between dem fellas an' dem

a good question to arks is if Kohli is better than such as Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Sardesai, Vengsakar etc.  those I rate as Kohli's level..the quality of batsmen he belongs to

Same way I have never been impressed by Hasim Alma.  I am biased relative to him too but I sincerely see him as good not great.  the same with deVilliers..good not great

Root is young and likely is not near his full potential as yet.  we will see with him..how he turns out.


[as an aside my favourite player in the world at the moment is Mooen Ali.  pretty good player. I wud have liked to see him playing for Pakistan.  in that case he would have likely bat up the order and be allowed to bowl fully as well.  he would also have started earlier prolly at 18-19.

in which case he would have been much more achieved than he is with england at 30 years of age.

and Pakistan wud have made him play better cricket}

All of them are quite good players. So it is hard to say one name. The one with having lucky day wills score tone for sure. So who is the best?!, the one with good form currently is the best. If all of them are having good form right now then all are best.