Ali Cook, 8000 runs plus

im sorry this is an unfair argument. i can quite clearly see the game favours the batsmen more so than before however cook has got 8000 runs.... not many others have. that in itself makes his efforts pretty damn decent if you ask me

 

For the record I am not knocking Cook in the here of now. Just using compairables such as are todays bowlers better, uncovered pitches, more cricket tests played etc etc.

 

The bowling attack of the West Indies side of the late 70's / early 80's was frightening and the batsmen faced it without any protection. As I said the other day Phil you need to watch 'Fire in Babylon' with an open mind. You might see what some of us older posters are talking about.

 

how are the sandwiches coming on ?
ten minutes from tea - BBS 365-1 V Aussies

1.Mrx ........................b Johnson 125
2.Hemsy ................109 n.o
3.Nudge .....................................................................................131 n.o

extras 0

Nudge has told the aussies to bring it on ..........................if they are hard enough

clean pinny for the tea service ny.
you did work at bettys so it should help

 

I dont think 2 many will disagree that cook is a good batsmen mate, its hemsworth tykes ever increasing tedious onslaught of sky sports stats to justify his ramblings while failing to acknowledge anything pre 2000 in any sport that causes so much reaction, am pretty sure he doesnt even recognise the 1966 world cup was won by england because martin tyler wasnt commentating and gary neville didnt do a minute by minute breakdown on a high tech draughts board

 

If you read my opening post I acknowledge him and his achievement. He us a very good batsmen but I don't think he's as good as some of the others mentioned.

 

Let's see at the end of is career.

He's the youngest player to 8000 run in world test cricket. Hes a might fine batter. They are of it in this series but that happens. To play 9 times in a year of Ashes cricket will have taken it out of them.

 

So bowlers are generally slower nowdays and the limited bouncer rule protects the batsmen more against hostility, aren't we forgetting it's also as hard to score runs against slower bowlers as well the likes of Shayne Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh...etc all of whom have a variation of different balls (I for one think the spin aspect of the game has evolved and become harder to face).

Top 3 wicket takers in test cricket history;

Runs Wickets Average

Muttiah Muralitharan Sri Lanka 18180 800 22.73
Shane Warne Australia 17995 708 25.42
Anil Kumble India 18360 619 29.66

Im not trying to compare as its practically impossible to do so, but there's so many variables to take into consideration when trying to compare from one era to the next. Im just proud he plays for us and think he should get better recognition for his achievements up-to date.

 

Undoubtedly some of the previous generations batsmen would have got a sackful had they been around today, Yes Cook is a good player and i noted that in your post but what we can't do and it gets trotted out far too often for my liking is to say that today's batters would have struggled, which your original reply to hemsy inferred.

I don't for a minute think Cook is the best batsman that's ever been , which his stats at the present time could be seen as indicatiing , there is the flaw in hemsy's argument, as we both know there were some mighty fine players around , today players deserve praise too however

 

you just need to look at there economy rates.
How many times Watson go above three a over, never it seems. To a lot of the England batsman near the top hes more likely to trouble them than say Johnson.

 

Hemsy fella. turn the pc off and go out. Are you really suggesting Watson a straight up and down fast medium is more likely to trouble the English top order than Mitchell Johnson?

 

Great achievement, but without reading the rest of the thread, I can guess where this is going...

 

He's as close to being an all time great as Wayne Rooney is, or as Jack Wilshere will be.

 

If Cook was opening the batting to Courtney Walsh who's ****ed off his morning brew was cold you'd be able to hear the clacker value go 500 miles away.

 

125 ? not bad (imagination) Snidely, considering you would have had to bat without an helmet can't see you getting your head in a standard size.

 

Didn't have cushy central contracts back then and they had to play county games as well

 

Ali G's half brother.

 

I never Pele George Best or Maradonna play but itrdoesnt make em bad ffootballers.

Gandhi better than Nelson Mandela?

Churchill better than Obama?

Einstein better than Hawkins?