What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Steven Peter Devereux Smith - Best Test Batsman Since Bradman

simmo1

First Grade
Messages
5,340
The gap in batting average between Smith and Bradman is roughly the same as the gap between Smith and Wade or Harris.
 

Fangs

Coach
Messages
11,185
Selfless last night, giving away his wicket with another century available to him.

Man of the series wrapped up and he has only played 3 tests.
 

bazza

Referee
Messages
29,799
Should get above Bradman for career runs and 7,000 career runs in the first test of the summer
 

bazza

Referee
Messages
29,799
Also has 4 tests in Australia to get 226 runs to get 1,000 runs in the year for the 3rd time (off a maximum 8 total matches)
 

Meth

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
34,478
Smith, Kohli, Williamson, Root.

All fantastic cricketers.

I had a bit of spare time on my hands today, so I thought I might look a little closer at how they measure up against each other. I know not everything is seen in numbers (and we can discuss variables), but I thought it might help to gauge how they rank comparatively and what sort of gap exists between them (if any)

Being upfront, my initial thought is that there wasn't really a Big 4 anymore as much as there was a Big 3 (with a clear #1). Root's star has been on the wane for some time now.

I thought I'd compare seasons over the last four calendar years (with Smith's gap year to be considered an anomaly to be taken into account).

Test

Kohli- (currently ranked #2)
2016- 75.93 (12 matches)
2017- 75.64 (10 matches)
2018- 55.08 (13 matches)
2019- 31.80 (3 matches)
Overall 62.58

Smith- (currently ranked #1)
2016- 71.93 (11 matches)
2017- 76.96 (11 matches)
2018- 32.14 (4 matches)
2019- 110.57 (4 matches)
Overall- 73.54

Williamson- (currently ranked #3)
2016- 47.06 (10 matches)
2017- 62.88 (7 matches)
2018- 59.18 (7 matches)
2019- 74.5 (4 matches)
Overall- 56.70

Root- (currently ranked #6)
2016- 49.23 (17 matches)
2017- 50.84 (11 matches)
2018- 41.21 (13 matches)
2019- 29.72 (9 matches)
Overall- 43.62

Based on that, there's some clear distinction between all 4 of them really. It's hard to group them together.

1- Smith


2- Kohli

3- Williamson


4- Root

Looking at ODI cricket for good measure.

Root- (currently ranked #8)
2016- 61.23 (15 matches)
2017- 70.21 (19 matches)
2018- 59.12 (24 matches)
2019- 50.55 (22 matches)
Overall- 59.59

Williamson- (currently ranked #6)
2016- 41.11 (18 matches)
2017- 42.57 (14 matches)
2018- 46.80 (11 matches)
2019- 59.25 (20 matches)
Overall- 47.56

Smith- (currently ranked #28)
2016- 50.17 (26 matches)
2017- 44.90 (13 matches)
2018- 20.40 (5 matches)
2019- 37.90 (10 matches)
Overall- 43.41

Kohli- (currently ranked #1)
2016- 92.37 (10 matches)
2017- 76.84 (26 matches)
2018- 133.55 (14 matches)
2019- 64.3 (23 matches)
Overall- 83.73

Based on that-

1- Kohli

2- Root

3- Williamson
4- Smith
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
150,744
There was an image on Facebook yesterday showing all their stats broken down into 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings and Smith's first innings average was almost double the other three, up around 80 or so.
 

WaznTheGreat

Referee
Messages
24,263
Smith is better than Kohli in ODI's also

Kohli always chokes in World Cup knockout games,Smith always delivers
 

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
148,290
I’ve crunched the numbers too and after hours and hours of research have come to the conclusion that:
Root = Lesbian
Williamson = Kiwi
Kohli = merkin
Smith = God
You’ve crunched those numbers like a Bison cover drive.

Well done.
 

Meth

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
34,478
My main point is that I don't think we have a big 4 any more unless we're talking limited overs. Kohli is really the only player in the conversation with Smith and Root has dropped off considerably.
 
Top