Rohan Kanhai
It would be difficult to imagine a more entertaining batsman than Rohan Babulal Kanhai, leading scorer for either country in last season's England v. West Indies Test series. Quick of eye and foot, he times the ball almost perfectly when executing a wide variety of strokes, some of which border upon the audacious, and at his best he can master the most formidable of bowlers.
The Indian opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar named his son Rohan after Kanhai, and wrote of Kanhai, "To say that he is the greatest batsman I have ever seen so far is to put it mildly."
Robert Holland, the Australian spin bowler also named his son Rohan, in honour of Kanhai. There is a
Wetherspoons pub in
Ashington, Northumberland named after him due to his stint there.
I loved to hear tales about Rohan's batting. And one I heard in Guyana is the best. It seems he got a double-century for Guyana against Barbados in a four-day Shell Shield tie. Barbados had an attack comprising Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, Sobers, offspinner Tony White, and left-arm spinner Rawle Brancker. It was a formidable line-up on what was a lively pitch. An old cricket fan said, "The way Rohan hooked Hall and Griffith, maan, was spectacular. They were after him but our Rohan was just too good."
http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154560.html
Kanhai mastered the seaming English pitches, the bouncy Australian and West Indian tracks and the turning sub-continent wickets. When compared to Gary Sobers many critiques pointed out that Sobers came at no 6 while Kanhai came in at no 3, when the bowling was at it's greatest ferocity.
Kanhai scored 6,227 runs at 47.53 in 137 innings covering 79 tests scoring 15 test centuries. In first -class cricket he scored 28,639 runs at 49.29 scoring 83 hundreds. From 1958 to 1973 he played in 14 series and scored a century in 11 of them.
Attorney Albert Baldeo on
Rohan Kanhai
"Rohan Kanhai, my boyhood hero, was undoubtedly the most extraordinary batsman the West Indies has ever produced, one who could eviserate any attack in the world when he chose to. Whereas other batsmen could wear down an attack, Kanhai would dissect it with clinical precision. There was beauty in his craft, so much different in the method of annihilation. Poetry, rather than prose, ballet, rather than dance. Artistry, rather than sheer power, although this never compromised the force with which he hit the ball. He glided in riveting strokeplay, batting with the artistry of a virtuoso. His arrival to the wicket heralded both hush and expectancy. Bars closed as all looked to the drama that was about to unfold before a Kanhai innings.
Writers Michael Manley and Donna Symonds wrote in their “A History of West Indian Cricket”:: “No more technically correct batsman ever came out of the West Indies than Rohan Kanhai .”
C.L.R.James
According to James, “I take Kanhai as the high peak of West Indian cricketing development.
Rajan Bala on Kanhai
For the sheer pleasure that he gave the world as a batsman, Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is my favourite cricketer. Averaging fractionally under 48 in a distinguished Test career that saw him rise to become the captain of West Indies, Rohan had Bradmanesque qualities. This implies that he was ruthless, uncaring of the reputations of bowlers, and daring in his strokeplay. But at the same time he was a crafty batsman who understood the finer points of technique better than most. The great Sunil Gavaskar shares my view that he is the best he has watched and learned from. How many people know more about batting than Sunil?
Ousman Ali said: “His dominance over pace and spin was phenomenal; he possessed the best defence among his contemporaries but was commensurately devastating with shots all around the wicket including his trade-mark and inimitable falling hook shot.”
Writers Michael Manley and Donna Symonds wrote: “ No more technically correct batsman ever came out of the West Indies than Rohan Kanhai….
Comparison of Kanhai with Gary Sobers
Cricket Writer Moyes:
Certainly a finer batsman and a greater menace than his left handed colleague.When he arrived he had nothing like the reputation of Sobers,but by the time he left these shores he had firmly established himself in the hears of all those who loved scintillating batsmanship.
Sunil Gavaskar:
“Rohan Kanhai is quite simply the greatest batsman I have ever seen. What does one write about one's hero, one's idol, one for whom there is so much admiration? To say that he is the greatest batsman I have ever seen so far is to put it mildly. A controversial statement perhaps, considering that there have been so many outstanding batsmen, and some great batsmen that I have played with and against. But, having seen them all, there is no doubt in my mind that Rohan Kanhai was quite simply the best of them all. Sir Gary Sobers came quite close to being the best batsman, but he was the greatest cricketer ever, and could do just about anything. But as a batsman, I thought Rohan Kanhai was just a little bit better."
"Blasting for Runs." In fact,
Gavaskar, Kallicharran and Bob Marleynamed their sons after Rohan Kanhai, a testimony to Kanhai's genius. Gavaskar also hoped that his son Rohan would be at least half as good as the original Rohan Babulal Kanhai, which he said would make him very proud indeed!
In his first class career, he played 505 matches scoring
32,650 runs at an average of 43.64 with 87 centuries and 160 50s,
Martin crowe
As the 20th century drew to an end, Martin Crowe became the standard by which New Zealand batsmanship would be measured. A batsman of elegance, poise and range, Crowe broke through into Test cricket as a 19-year-old, and in a short span of time was heralded as the best young batsman in the world. By the end of his Test career, he was New Zealand's highest run-getter and century-maker, scorer or 10,000 international runs, its captain in the 1992 World Cup who engineered an exhilarating home run all the way to the semi-finals, and a totemic figure in his team's feisty Test performances through the Eighties. The son of a cricketing family, whose father had played first-class cricket, Crowe came from suburban Auckland, destined for greatness. He arrived a complete batsman still in his teens, a technique burnished in both attack and defence, a fierce competitor alongside a devoted student of cricket with an innate game sense. In his prime, Crowe left the viewer with the impression of having a nanosecond more time to play his strokes, with balance in their execution and equanimity in his stance. He was a batsman of clean lines off the front foot, tall, elegant and classically sound, his signature strokes being down the ground, but capable of shots all around the wicket.
Record partnership
In February 1991, Crowe, along with Andrew Jones, added 467 for the third wicket against Sri Lanka at Basin Reserve, Wellington. It was the all-time partnership record for any wicket back then, only to be broken by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in 2006, when the two added 624 runs for the third wicket against South Africa at Colombo. Crowe and Jones are now placed second on the list behind them.
. Wouldn't want that would we?!. I know Hanif is an excellent batsman and can play all day all night, but the way I see it, Wessels might be the weakest of the 4 opening batsman. And McGrath is specially adept at getting an early breakthrough and I expect that wicket to be Wessels. And by regular wickets, I mean like in any other test match, wickets will fall at regular intervals. I did say you will get a formidable first innings score. Of that, I have no doubt.