Ponting's golden period performance betters Steve Smith's - Smith's steep downfall now is also very likely

[Adamant]

3 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

That's alright. The blooming earth has enough room to accommodate fools like you.

 

Oh yet another Sachinista 

You've probably got little pictures of Sachin on the walls of your dugout. 

I bet you go all girly and giggly when you look at them. 

[Serpico]

The whole thread feels like a wish list by people who hate/jealous of smith than any real analysis. Why would you compare "peak" of a player with entire career of another? Similar cherry picked peak of smith will be in stratosphere. And age related decline isn't unique to smith, most batsmen face that in their careers.. if a 61 averaging batsmen hits decline and ends up in mid 50s, what does a 53 averaging batsman will end up at? 

[Suhaan]

35 minutes ago, Adamant said:

No i dont think Kohli can be better than Smith in test matches. 

Smith is a mentally ill man, did you read that interview where he said that he finds it hard to focus on any other thing than cricket. He shadow bats the entire time, in bathroom in dressing room everywhere. 

Smith will go down when his eye hand coordination breaks up due to age, but still we don't know when that will happen. 

Kohli is obviously a better all round batsman and that for me is a bigger challenge. Yes Kohli can become a better test bat if he focuses solely on tests. 

We have seen players like Rahul, Mayank destroy their test batting to score in ipl. King Kohli does it all without blinking an eye. That is his greatness 

There is all talk of a Smith decline but Kohli is already on a slide to the bottom infact many of his contemporaries have left him on their way up

 

[Serpico]

6 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

There is all talk of a Smith decline but Kohli is already on a slide to the bottom infact many of his contemporaries have left him on their way up

He looked burnt out in the IPL and LOI series in Aus. I hope its just anxiety of pregnancy and not the beginning of the end. We need him to be at the top of his game for at least another 3-4 years

[Stan AF]

Ponting's peak was from 1999-2006/07 ashes. He started going down after Warne/Mcgrath/langer and damien martyn quit test cricket. You can very well say he was only good as his team.

 

Smith is second only to Bradman. He averages 62 now and is scoring almost 100 runs per test. 7500 runs in 77 matches. BUT, but

 

He has to really work hard and keep up his run scoring affair on the 2nd half of his career. If he screws it up he can still be averaging in his mid-late 50s but his career won't have the same shine as before.

[Stan AF]

9 hours ago, mancalledsting said:

His better performances in the final two tests were vs a very inexperienced Indian bowling attack. If we had him figured out with our front line attack, things likely would have been different. 

 

This is a very pertinent point. Smith managed to score a 100 only after Bumrah/Shami/umesh left. There was no Ishanth as well. He scored against a 3rd string attack.

[Adamant]

25 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

Look man I get it you are new to internet after Jio made it affordable for you. Nobody is happier than me that you get time to browse cricket forum between delivering meals.

 

But you have to stop with those stale insults. It's all been done on this forum way back in 2006 and we grew bored of it. Can you do better than make me yawn?

Ok so where did you pick this from. 

Reddit? or some other forum where dumbf*cks like you   make merry. 

 

I know it's a weekend and your boss has probably removed the dog belt from your collar but it doesn't mean that you defecate on a public forum. 

 

Now just * off mate,  I've heard enough. 

[Serpico]

1 minute ago, Stan AF said:

Ponting's peak was from 1999-2006/07 ashes. He started going down after Warne/Mcgrath/langer and damien martyn quit test cricket. You can very well say he was only good as his team.

 

Smith is second only to Bradman. He averages 62 now and is scoring almost 100 runs per test. 7500 runs in 77 matches. BUT, but

 

He has to really work hard and keep up his run scoring affair on the 2nd half of his career. If he screws it up he can still be averaging in his mid-late 50s but his career won't have the same shine as before.

Ponting excelled in early 2000s which was a batsmen friendly era and he had a cushion of two great openers and a strong middle order.  Smith on the other hand is basically carrying this Aussie team in away conditions and still has away average of 60+ in relatively bowling friendly era.. he is just on another level, no comparison with punter. Even if he hits a decline and have a mediocre career from here, he should still be remembered as greatest Aussie batsman in modern era

[Adamant]

7 minutes ago, Serpico said:

He looked burnt out in the IPL and LOI series in Aus. I hope its just anxiety of pregnancy and not the beginning of the end. We need him to be at the top of his game for at least another 3-4 years

But he looked quite solid in the first innings of adelaide where he was literally robbed of a hundred, so not sure about the decline. 

[Stan AF]

4 minutes ago, Serpico said:

Ponting excelled in early 2000s which was a batsmen friendly era and he had a cushion of two great openers and a strong middle order.  Smith on the other hand is basically carrying this Aussie team in away conditions and still has away average of 60+ in relatively bowling friendly era.. he is just on another level, no comparison with punter. Even if he hits a decline and have a mediocre career from here, he should still be remembered as greatest Aussie batsman in modern era

 

I've said that man. Smith is 2nd only to Bradman. My only wish is he replicates the same in his 2nd half of his career.

[Serpico]

8 minutes ago, Stan AF said:

This is a very pertinent point. Smith managed to score a 100 only after Bumrah/Shami/umesh left. There was no Ishanth as well. He scored against a 3rd string attack.

Shami/Umesh never troubled smith. He was troubled by Ash and Bumrah in first two matches and then came back well against them and scored a hundred in sydney.. got run out in first innings and got out during declaration batting in second. Sundar replicated Ashwin's trap so perfectly at Gabba and Siraj bowled an excellent short ball in second innings to get smith out, a ball even our first string pacers will be proud of. He should be ahead of Umesh in the pecking order from now on

[adi B]

Ponting can only dream of batting like Smith did in India 

[MechEng]

@Gollum @Ankit_sharma03 @PunterLog

 

There was a great answer from a poster in another forum back in 2019 abouth Smith vs Ponting comparisons.

He gave a very technical answer but I don't remember exactly what was written, so I'll simplify his comment.

 

Ponting has a textbook technique and likes to play with a straight bat like Tendulkar, because of his orthodox batting approach he pre meditates his shots by reading the shine position of the ball, use of bowling crease and etc. so a lot of mental work is required. 

 

Smith on the other hand is like Sehwag who relies so much on hand eye coordination. He literally sees the ball and hits the ball with minimal amount of mental work. Because he plays the ball so late with extraordinary hand eye coordination, he scores runs so easily in England as he reads late swing easily at his peak. Which is why bowlers find it so hard to get Smith out, because there is no specific plan to which you can stick to as a bowler.

 

At their primes, Smith is harder to get out than Ponting. But due to effects of ageing Ponting will last longer due to his orthodox batting approach.

[Stan AF]

19 minutes ago, Serpico said:

Shami/Umesh never troubled smith. He was troubled by Ash and Bumrah in first two matches and then came back well against them and scored a hundred in sydney.. got run out in first innings and got out during declaration batting in second. Sundar replicated Ashwin's trap so perfectly at Gabba and Siraj bowled an excellent short ball in second innings to get smith out, a ball even our first string pacers will be proud of. He should be ahead of Umesh in the pecking order from now on

Ash and bumrah were tired and carrying injuries by the 3rd test and they eventually got taken off for injuries by the 4th test. No way they were bowling at the best of their potential. Bumrah himself was terribly overbowled. It was plain as day for everyone too see.

[Nikhil_cric]

12 hours ago, rangeelaraja said:

 

7 year peak of Ponting's play - 2002-2008 = Ponting amassed as many runs ( 7500 )  at a better average ( 65 ) than Steve Smith's entire career ( 61) 

 

Ponting's 7 year peak

 

Ultimate Ponting ended his career with a Test Batting average of 51 odd. 

 

Steve Smith too will experience a few years of 40-45 average ,that will bring down his career average to early 50's.

 

This has been true for SRT as well, who in 7 year his peak from 1996-2002 averaged 60+ but ended with a career average of 53.

Tendulkar's 7 year peak

 

 

Take Smith's golden period as beginning from Jan 1 2014 and ending after 2019 Ashes. Ponting and Smith have identical peaks!!

[Serpico]

12 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Take Smith's golden period as beginning from Jan 1 2014 and ending after 2019 Ashes. Ponting and Smith have identical peaks!!

No. Smith's peak dwarves Ponting's peak. He is averaging 75 in the period you mentioned

[Lone Wolf]

I seriously doubt Kohli will finish at career average of 50..  He is on a downward spiral already.  He was at his peak when he was 29-30 year old..  Same way like Root has started now.  This year will decide which way Kohli's gonna end. 

Smith is a weirdo..  His career average of 60+ gives him a cushion but that loss of one year that too when he was at his peak may come back to bite him. 

[nevada]

1 hour ago, Serpico said:

The whole thread feels like a wish list by people who hate/jealous of smith than any real analysis. Why would you compare "peak" of a player with entire career of another? Similar cherry picked peak of smith will be in stratosphere. And age related decline isn't unique to smith, most batsmen face that in their careers.. if a 61 averaging batsmen hits decline and ends up in mid 50s, what does a 53 averaging batsman will end up at? 

Yeah, as much as I despise Smith and hate seeing him score heavily against us, I am not interested in his downfall or shortfall against another batsman's peak. Some opponents are just too good, we need to acknowledge and move on. 

[Nikola]

23 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Take Smith's golden period as beginning from Jan 1 2014 and ending after 2019 Ashes. Ponting and Smith have identical peaks!!

 

No, Smith has 75 avg.

 

Also if we filter runs scored against top 5 teams (home & away) he is well ahead of others.

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Nikola

[rangeelaraja]

10 minutes ago, Nikola said:

 

No, Smith has 75 avg.

 

Also if we filter runs scored against top 5 teams (home & away) he is well ahead of others.

 

 

And Ponting was similarly well ahead of his peers in a 5 year window. So whats your point ?

 

Ponting SO far ahead of the rest in his peak years