CMS Test XI of last 50 Years- Number 3.

[Gingerfinch]

Not a bad one.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 7Kgkvj3Mlg

S waugh scored a ton at three. Did he ever bat at three against us?

[Arthur Crabtree]

McDermott, Hughes, Warne, Matthews. High scoring draw though.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not a bad one.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 7Kgkvj3Mlg

S waugh scored a ton at three. Did he ever bat at three against us?

Six, then five. But for a long time.

[sussexpob]

Viv had the best opening partnership arguably ever above him and came in to tired bowlers more...... Lara had a succession of people who were not fit for test cricket and left him forever exposed to the new ball and bowlers who had only just warmed up....

Lara scored 500 and 400..... efforts never beaten.....

Viv played in arguably the best team ever, and probably could have disappeared to little overall effect for the team..... Brian Lara was that Windies team, without him they were nothing.

Viv never played against a South Africa team, never played on pitches like Galle in Sri Lanka against the best spinner of all time...... Lara did, and made Murali look like a schoolkid.

121 tests for Viv and 24 x 100's..... 131 tests for Lara and 34...... far better ratio.

Did anyone, let alone Viv, ever play a series like 1999 apart from Lara? Not a chance, what Lara did in 1999 has never been beaten for me, it was like you were watching God bat.

[Gingerfinch]

You going for Lara, sussex?

[sussexpob]

You going for Lara, sussex?

We all have romantic remembrance of certain players and achievements, and I dont expect that people who lived through Viv's era would vote for anyone else. But, how could anyone vote against Lara, when anyone is up against him from this period? I mean to compare the two, what they dealt with, what environments they came from and functioned in..... its incomparable.

Viv feels like the rich kid, good upbringing, good family connections, went to the right school, made the right friends..... Lara feels like the kid from poverty, drug addict father and alcoholic mother, dark past, school of hard knocks, who dragged his way to the top.

The very weight of expectation from the generation above killed many a Windies cricketer. But not Lara. He took all the sh*t thrown at him by ex players, about his failing teams, his bad captaincy, his failures. I doubt until you get to very recent times, there has ever been a player under more consistent pressure to deliver, not just with the bat, but with everything (some of India's mega stars might also feel that weight). Unlike Viv, who could score a duck then watch Marshall, Walsh, Garner or whoever reduce the opposition to 70 all out, if Lara failed, Windies lost.

If Lara had it easier, its scary to think what the bloke would have done. Had he batted with Viv's team he might average over the 60 mark. Who knows what he could have achieved.

Lara really does tick everybox. His best moments are against the best players or teams. At his best, he was the best. Bradman never scored 400 or 500, and no one else has. He has killed McGrath, smashed Warne, dismantlement Akram and Younis, toyed with Murali, smashed Donald.

He did it against everyone really. The only team he didnt was against India, but then Windies hardly played them in his career, and for the majority of it India werent a top team..... and still in 2006, he scored a brilliant match winning hundred against them, even if he was on his last legs as a player by tht point

[Gingerfinch]

I agree about Lara, but like Arthur, I see him as a number four/five. I think his best knocks were played in those positions as well? If available I'll definitely be picking him in the next round.

[Durhamfootman]

quite right, SP!

now stop talking and start voting

[sussexpob]

quite right, SP!

now stop talking and start voting

I have.... and went for Lara.

[Making_Splinters]

Went for Dravid, hugely under rated player.

[sussexpob]

Went for Dravid, hugely under rated player.

Never looked comfortable on pacey wickets. Has a very unremarkable record against the two best pace attack teams of his era (54 tests v Australia and South Africa, only 4 hundreds and a mid 30s average).... another player with Bradman numbers against Zimbabwe and BD

[sussexpob]

I guess thats why Sangakarra can be ignored too. 20 matches with an average in the 90s v rubbish teams. Not the best records againt the better non Asian teams. Played a lot of cricket on wickets that were pretty poor in competitiveness.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Most players have gaps. Dravid played great innings in England, a legendary knock at Kolkata, and (I'm at work, so it's difficult to check) I thought he had runs in Australia.

Great argument for Lara by the way.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Don't forget my linked stats take runs v Zim and BD away. Sanga as just a bat has nearly the same average sas Viv against top eight sides.

[sussexpob]

Don't forget my linked stats take runs v Zim and BD away. Sanga as just a bat has nearly the same average sas Viv against top eight sides.

But the period he ditched the gloves was when Murali left, and pitches in SL were just runfests.