A round of applause for MasterG absolutely!! Well said sir!!

@sathwick99 - sorry mate, but the facts are that nobody has ever come anywhere close to matching Bradman. So he played most of his cricket against England. Big deal. He also did some serious damage against SA, as I recall. If England were a poor team at that time (and they weren't), we'd expect to see many of Bradman's contemporaries with similar records to him (as we do with the current Tendulkar/Ponting/Kallis/Lara debate). Had cricket365 been around in the 80's I'm sure we'd be having the same argument about Sunil Gavaskar, who also held the record for most test runs for a time. He's rightly remembered as one of the greats, but there aren't too many people claiming that he was the best ever. I suspect that Tendulkar will be viewed in much the same way within a few years of his retirement. And while I know that there isn't much love in India for Ian Chappell, Shaun Pollock also recently commented that he felt that Lara was the best batsman that he played against due to his ability to manipulate field placings.

Round of Applause for sathwik99 everyone! Brillian tpiece of writing mate!

88_all out, Why exclude Bradman ? We do not know much about him. He has scored 80% of his runs against one team England. He did not tour many countries. In june 2006 after 104 tests Dravid had an average of 58.75 after 104 tests, fourth highest average in the history of test cricket (minimum qualification 20 tests ). Had he quit then would you have rated him better than Sachin Ponting and Kallis.?Please compare the runs on the eve of 100test Dravid had a better average and nearly 800 runs more than Ponting and Kallis. Do you rate him higher than them. While most of the players like Kallis Ponting and Sanga grew into their average, Dravid is consistently maintaining an average of 50 plus since his 39th test and even now after 164 tests. While I like him for my own reasons which endear to me, I always accept the fact that Sachin is cut above the rest. Lara averages 52.88 and recently Ian Chappell rated him above Sachin and Ponting. Numbers did not lead him to that conclusion.
Sachin and Lara do not have a genuine weakness against any bowling. They occupy the premium brand. Dravid gets bogged down and more often than not cannot dominate the bowling. Ponting is not good against turning ball.There is no apparent vulnerability in the technique of Sachin and Lara.
If Ian Chappell is entitled to an opinion, I as a more sensible and relatively less biased human being is allowed for making my own interpretations. You do not have to agree to that.

@Ed, Yea It may not be a big event to others, but for Asian teams it is like a big event te Asia Cup. its like in football, European cup, african nations cup and that, but world cup is the main dinner! I would say the biggest head to heads in Internationla cricket is India vs Pakistan when they play each other, but bigger than the Ashes.

@SAman..." I once said here that one of my favourite cricketers for the way he batted is Marcus Trescothick, and Pom thinks that's a right hoot."...no you said he was elegant. LOL. Over the years you have backtracked as you have become more familiar with cricket no doubt...I agree with you regarding Smith, but I think your strange definition of elegance is confirmed if you honestly believe there is anything elegant about Chanderpauls batting (you would really have to choose to be an idiot to 'choose to see it')...If you can see the elegance in Trescothick and Chanderpaul I expect you might just have a little sex wee if you ever see footage of Peter Wiiley ! LOL...I suggest you switch off the pyjama baseball and watch as much Test Cricket as possible.

@Dhirshg , there were 4 South Africans and 1 Irish player. I am waiting for the day when all 11 players arent born in England

Ever since Kirsten banned artichoke from the SA team menu, they are starting to show nerves of steel. They have pulled off a great coup in NZ !

well done proteas! chokers . . . i think not! what a heist, marchant de lange held his nerve in that final over and we performed a miracle. 2-1 . . . take that kiwis!

@mitch, lol i hope KP continues his inconsistent career and flops against us.

@SAman - agreed about technique here, after all the great Graeme Pollock (who has the 2nd best average of all time after Bradman), said that at the end of the day cricket is just a see ball hit ball game.

@Dhirshg - will you be lol if they do it against the Proteas? KP always seems to come into form at the right time to play them - proving a point maybe?!

@SAman, occasionally batsmen will get away with a waft or two just like bowlers pick up wickets with long-hops and half-volleys.
Smith may be dogged but his technique is not something I would argue for.

Well done to the 3 SOUTH AFRICAN born players - KP, Kieswetter and Dernbach - for securing england's 4-0 whitewash yesterday! Top stuff lads . . . lol.

So many things happened from then to now in world cricket; good ups & downs; twists & turns, good for int'l cricket. And, what a time to be back in: England completing a thrilling whitewash against Pakistan at their 'home' (!?) soil in style; thanks to the brilliance of Cook & KP. Esp. happy for KP for at least he has proved his worth in limited overs. Now all eyes on T20 between the two World T20I Champions, m expecting it to be a cracker as it's different ball game altogether!

On CB series- it's also at the interesting turning & no team would take it (spot in best of 3 finals) for granted. Aus still favorite, not only to reach the final but also to win it too, to me, & between SL and Ind .... well anything is possible but if we look at the progress graph SL looking stronger.

@Mitch : there is a huge difference between elegance and technique. I once said here that one of my favourite cricketers for the way he batted is Marcus Trescothick, and Pom thinks that's a right hoot. I have a thing for bloody-minded openers that will not lie down and die, and Smith is the best example of that since Gary Kirsten. Smith apparently has "one of the worst techniques in world cricket".. you have got to be kidding me. He has had deficiencies and holes in his technique before, like every other batsman.. but he went away and worked on them and corrected them. You don't have the runs he does in 4th innings of Test matches with the "worst technique in world cricket". They used to say he couldn't handle a ball outside off.. then he goes and scores 259 and 277 in England. Then they said he had balance issues and tended to fall over somewhat.. this is still a bit true today when he is not in form, but when he is in any sort of touch anything remotely close to leg stump gets completely murdered.

Chanderpaul is another example of what I'm trying to say : you won't see what he does in any sort of MCC coaching manual, but the basic fundamentals are the same : straight bat, ball played under the eyes, fully forward or fully back with even weight distribution. The elegance in Chander's crab stance is there for those who choose to see it, and that's a different debate. Chanderpaul once went something ludicrous like 8 Test innings without being dismissed. That speaks for itself.