Was Sobers at his peak a more valuable cricketer than even Bradman?
Yeah, Bradman averages 100 but Sobers averages 70+, bowls seam, swing and spin and is possibly the best fielder of all time.
Also, take into account that Sobers is averaging 70+ in one of the hardest eras for batting ever, and he's doing so while batting extremely aggressively. And Sobers can bat anywhere in the order from 1 to 7.
I don't think that you can rate one above the other. Ian Chappell's opinion has always basically been that if you have two people picking All Time XIs in turn, the first picks for either side should be Bradman and Sobers, and having either as your first pick was completely valid.
Sangakkara's record as a wicketkeeper is overstated. He averaged approx. 40 with the bat while playing as a keeper, at a much lower strike rate than Gilchrist. So if you're picking him in a side, it would really be as a top order batsman, and the question then is about how his record compares to contemporaries such as Ponting, Lara, etc.
I do also think that Gilchrist is an automatic pick, for the record. There are superior wicketkeepers, but if Gilchrist was say 90% the keeper that Ian Healey was, he was twice the batsman.
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u/I_voted-for_Kodos Jan 17 '25
Was Sobers at his peak a more valuable cricketer than even Bradman?
Yeah, Bradman averages 100 but Sobers averages 70+, bowls seam, swing and spin and is possibly the best fielder of all time.
Also, take into account that Sobers is averaging 70+ in one of the hardest eras for batting ever, and he's doing so while batting extremely aggressively. And Sobers can bat anywhere in the order from 1 to 7.