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Is AB de Villiers The Best Ever

 
spider 2015-02-28 13:53:48 

Was there ever any batsman who could do what he can? Given modern methods and improvements in technology are batsmen better today?

I know this will be viewed as heresy in some quarters but AB de Villiers is the best batsman there has ever been. Better than Tendulkar and Lara. Better than Viv and Sobers. Better than Gavaskar. Better than the three Ws. Better than Hammond, Hutton, Hobbs and Headley. Better, even, than Bradman. That is my position and I am sticking with it.

Before I am summarily dismissed as a heretic let me try and explain. De Villiers is history's best batsman in the same way that Usain Bolt is the history's best sprinter.

As a general rule, sporting performances have improved with time. Modern living and improvements in training methods and technology has allowed today's athletes to reach levels in their sports of which their predecessors could not even dream.

In 1936, Jesse Owens sprinted to the 100M world record in Chicago in 10.2 seconds. Today, the record stands at 9.58, placed there by Bolt at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany. This means that Bolt would have finished all of 21 feet ahead of Owens had they competed in the same race
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Is AB de Villiers The Best Batsman Who Ever Breathed?

 
imusic 2015-02-28 14:04:22 

In reply to spider

Ask devin

 
Commie 2015-02-28 14:14:28 

In reply to imusic

The writer is employing your theory. Do you embrace it ?

 
Nemesis 2015-02-28 14:31:46 

All I know he has more shots than any batsman that I've seen before. The question is if he's the best ever and he's also playing with an all time great in Steyn then South Africa should almost be a lock to win this tourney....except that India absolutely waxed their asses a week ago.

 
Avatar 2015-02-28 14:50:48 

only against the WI

 
JamMack 2015-02-28 15:25:10 

In reply to spider

I have never seen a batsman with such an arsenal of shots!

In watching AB this past series in SA and in this last game in the WC, I've found myself uttering the words, this is the best batting I have ever seen. I remember hearing one of the commentators say AB also plays tennis. Rugby and golf well. Then you listen to AB speak to the media and you hear "team", "heart", "humility", "strategy" and "respect" ring through in his words.

It's not fair to compare players from different decades/eras because the variables change so much. So I won't say AB is better than Lara or Tendulkar or Viv, or Sobers or Headley or Bradman, but he belongs in the conversation. Furthermore, no other batsman at this WC belongs in that conversation of "Best Ever Batsman".

With all that said. If I was the captain instead of Holder, AB would not have been as dominant.
evil

 
navindesigns 2015-02-28 15:26:22 

in one days he is the 2nd best ever in my book behind viv

 
spider 2015-02-28 15:31:13 

In reply to JamMack

I think he also had swimming and sprinting records as a youth. Amazing athlete. Obviously no one can know for sure how exactly the greats would perform today. They would have been great no doubt but it is impossible to tell how they would have measured up against de Villiers. For my money Bradman is at the very top. Not sure what order the others would rank.

BTW how would you have stopped him from being as dominant if you were captain?

 
Andy99 2015-02-28 16:11:54 

None is in his class in this era.
I said he was the world's best not yesterday, not a few months ago but more than a couple of years ago and he has just gone on and on!

I remember watching part of a Test match....it was OZ vs SA the last time they played.
AB was out there hitting every ball in the middle and looking at opportunities to score off every ball and not out there struggling to survive every ball as the other SA batsmen were doing.

 
JamMack 2015-02-28 16:16:31 

In reply to spider

I would have taken pace off the ball with Spin! And I would employ a timely slip to show sort thought of attack minded strategy.

 
CricketFirst 2015-02-28 16:48:00 

He is if you started watching cricket in the last month. In answer to your question NO.

 
checkm8 2015-02-28 16:50:25 

In reply to spider

De Villiers is history's best batsman in the same way that Usain Bolt is the history's best sprinter.



His comparision of De Villiers to Usain Bolt is totally flawed. Sprinting is very one dimensional and all that matters is how fast you run on a given event. No one cares whom you are competing with, how elegant you run or what not. Of course some can debate the shoes have become better, the coaching and training has evolved, sports nutrition, therapy, rehabilitation etc.. But ultimately it is a one dimensional sport and the only thing that matters is how fast you run.

If one consider batsmanship just as a one dimensional art of scoring quick runs and ignore all the other ingredients and intangibles, then De Villiers must be the best batsman ever.

 
Kurt 2015-02-28 17:07:10 

... a MINNOW basher!

 
camos 2015-02-28 17:38:25 

Hey! Viv has a lifetime ODI strike rate of 90+, that was before powerplay ,severe field restrictions and bowler being able to hide balls outside the offstump. playing some games that were 60 overs.

 
doosra 2015-03-03 17:51:36 

best ever at what really?

this man barely start averaging 50 in test the odda day

 
doosra 2015-03-03 19:19:45 

can someone please address AB's production over a substantial period of time before we start making all sorts of "loose" conclusions big grin big grin big grin big grin

 
Verstehen 2015-03-04 10:24:46 

In reply to doosra

Precisely. He's amazing now, but come back in, say, 5 years. We'll talk then.

 
XDFIX 2015-03-04 10:47:22 

Where is the 400 Mr Spider?

 
Scar 2015-03-04 14:04:00 

In reply to doosra When he beat, Bradman, Headley, SRT etc in Tests stats then we can talk

big grin

 
spider 2015-03-04 14:19:53 

In reply to XDFIX

What 400?