MCC Cowdrey Lecture 2011 - Favourite Players | The Spirit of Cricket 

Dravid knows what he's talking about!

Many more times silence plays more vital role than the shout! Like wise Rahul Dravid always will be a silent warrior! My only gentleman legend of the gentleman's game!

Greatest Batsman for Sri Lanka have ever produced...I'll would like to pay to watch him batting everywhere anytime

I think majority of players ( ex and contemporary ) who have seen/ played with Lara rate him as the best they have seen in his times ... He was miles ahead in terms of brilliance, finesse and ability !!!

Days will gone by and all those records 200 tests,51 tons everything will remain in the record book but Prince will be remained in our heart.... Sir Ian Bothams words: thats the way he played , he took the game to the opposition and provided huge entertainment..

class is class and that is sir Brian Lara king of cricket.Ohh how i wish he was still playing.

For me, Sangakkara, Lara n Sachin are the tree kings of Cricket. They all are equally the fastest men to reach 10000 test runs. They all have played in all conditions around the world and have excelled in all kinda wickets whether they were fast,bouncy,fat or slow. In addition, They've all faced the greatest bowlers ever to play the game of Cricket such as Akram, Walsh, Murali, Warne,McGrath and so on.But Sanga tops this group coz he's excelled not only as a batsman but also as a Wicket keeper.

Best ever I think ,holding highest test ,first class, leading test runs (held for a short time),most runs in a test over

Till 1999 outside the subcontinent, Sachin averaged 49.81 in 53 inns while Lara averaged 55.68 in 97 inns. This includes the dip in form Lara had between 1996 - 1999 barring the Aus series.

You will never get bored , whenever there would be discussion on Brian and sachin batting style. Even the coming generation will be in awe whenever they watch their batting. Lucky to have seen batting at same .

Lara's wicket meant them game for his whole career, not just the 90s and he didn't have legends like Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Ganguly to bat with.

B Lara is the guy ,,, untouchable N unmatchable in the history of world cricket.

There are two pairs in the history of world cricket perhaps would never exist in the future cricket in a single era. Sachin / Lara and Murali / Warne. The era was gifted to see these 4 greatest ever players to keep pushing the limits in their own disciplines. Both pairs had such amazing stats plus amazing moments they created in games that unbiased viewers found it difficult to differentiate. somehow Warne and Sachin had more media, branding, and hype created for them cos of where they came from. I'd love to see more such pairs popping up in cricketing world!!

No one should compare any batsman we were privileged enough to watch both of them and we should enjoy that only....

Rahul dravid is one of the best player

flairness and flamboyance, Brian Lara deserves these words.You always want to watch him play, unbelievable player.

Sachin is a Mathematician but Lara is an Artist. Know lara, know cricket.

Guys I will listen this more than anything else

uncomfortable chairs!

No doubt it is always pleased to watch GOAT 🐐 Brian lara batting at the crease. ❤️😊

"He was most taken in by Tendulkar's technique, compactness and his shot production and had asked his wife to have a look at the Indian as he felt that Tendulkar played like he had. Jessie agreed that they appeared similar. - BRADMAN

@86elche Merry Christmas, Sachin's already gave us the biggest gift of how to play cricket, i cannot ask for more :)

very nicely put and I have said so earlier myself we all have our favorites :)

Superb conversation.... As much as I love watching SRT, I respect BCL.

Lara and Tendulcar are in a class by themselves...why dont we just appreciate that they both are thr greatest batsmen of their generation. Lara had more flare and was more attractive but Tendulcar was more compact and consistent...that does not make one better than the other. They are almost inseparable in my mind. Hail Lara AND Sachin!

Sachin was equally entertaining like lara till 2002..after which he had multiple injuries which changed his game forever :(

LARA = Most talented batsman of all time hands down. He never took the game seriously and never played up to his true potential consistently and yet almost any cricket pundit or contemporary player would LARA over anyone. I wish it was early 90's again and I could have the chance to watch a magician for 18 years once again!

buddy, you may definitely want to relook at test bowling average of pacers like mcgrath,lee,steyn in india..they wrech havoc even here :) not to mention that it's a heaven for spinners..and almost unplayable sometimes on 5th day pitches unlike abroad tests.

I am an Indian and if the comparison is between Lara and Sachin then it's Lara all hands down. Lara has played blinders... Lara is special gifted true massacre bowlers..

Very nicely put.

The best two voices are among these we have ever heard.... can you guess?

Lara also had shockers when playing Australia both in Australia and at home (apart from decisions, Waugh catch - Healy stumping, ...). The reason I produced those stats is because one other poster was pulling down Lara, Tendulkar's numbers are so impressive due to his excellent performances in the extended subcontinent. I never claimed he ONLY produced in sub-C but his ODI stats do allude to it. Outside, Lara and Tendulkar have similar numbers with Lara ahead (imho).

Mark Nicholas is a gem 💎.

@majesticmaniac Absolutely agree with your comment mate. Brian Lara on his day was the most exciting and dominating batsman of his era, its a pity he didn't get to handover the baton to an upcoming Caribbean talent, kinda like how Viv handed it to him.

Strauss sweating profusely!

Great Rahul

If you look at an earlier article "Batsman analysis by bowler-pitch quality - part 2" which had more fine grained categorizations, Lara had 61.7% compared to Tendulkar's 45.6% in tougher conditions.

When I say outside the subcontinent, I mean to imply conditions which allowed fast bowlers to be more effective than in the subcontinent. Most non-subc teams have that as their major weapon while bowling. Anyways please refer to cricinfo's articles on rating batsmen by pitch conditions and bowler quality, there is a more rigorous attempt at classifying batsmen from *all* eras.

I just checked the stats in detail, for Lara and Tendulkar in cricinfo. Sachin scored hundreds when Allan Donald was at his fastest both in 1992 and in 1996. Lara had a miserable series in 1998 when Allan Donald and company exposed Lara and the whole WI team brutally. But, Lara had a great series in 2003-04, though Allan Donald was missing in this series. Recently in 2011, when Steyn and Morkel were at their best in SA, Sachin was able to score two hundreds against them in their own backyard.

More specifically, Lara played great in his last series in Australia in 2005. Got a great double hundred in Adelaide. Also got given out to a shocking down-the-leg-side lbw off Brett Lee, and a five-bats-wouldn't-have-hit-it caught behind off Shane Warne.

One should never compare sachin and lara because both were great players in their own ways...:)

WI-SA, Ind-SA, WI-Pak, Ind-Pak were unfortunately not so common in the 90s and we missed out on some great competition between these great players. Tendulkar played 69 Tests in 90s, Lara played 65. He was kept out of the team by Viv Richards who favored Keith Arthurton more! One correction to your earlier comment, 4 players: Tendulkar, Lara, Gooch and S Waugh averaged 50+ in the 90s.

Brian Lara is perhaps the greatest cricketer ever existed.In my opinion the thing which really makes him better as batsman than sachin is his ability change the complaction of the game on his own.His massive scores against some of the best teams tell the story.

Since, Lara's mastery over fast bowlers has been brought, I looked his stats in detail against Pakistan and he averaged around 31 against Pakistan in the 6 tests he played against them and that Pakistan team consisted of Wasim/Waqar/Saqlain etc. Though Lara mustered plenty of runs subsequently against Pakistan in 2005-06, when he averaged against them in the 80s, but these teams were not lead by Shoaib Akhtar but bowlers who were handling the new ball were Naved-Ul-Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed etc

Yep, Ponting had a feast, thats for sure.

Your premise was that tendulkar's average receives a big boost which then i showed that sachin and lara have same averages in tougher group and sachin has more or less similar average in easier group as well...i was showing that sachin fared well in both the conditions..

A surge in average post 2000s doesn't necessarily equate to easier conditions. That article from cricinfo easily proves that! It takes pitch conditions and bowler quality into account. The ICC player ratings which does the same thing (takes various criteria into account while rating players so scoring runs in easier conditions is not unfairly rewarded) also shows the same thing.

Some places were still easier to score than others. In the 2000s, the avg in Pak and Ind was 37+. Aus: 34+, Eng and WI: 33+, SA, SL and NZ: around 32. Some places were still harder to score than others!

Check the recent article on batsmen consistency on cricinfo, you will be surprised with Tendulkar, Lara, Kallis and Dravid's numbers :)

Outside the subcontinent in ODIs against the Test playing nations (excluding Bd and Zim) Lara averages 39.89 (*13* 100s in 178 inns), Tendulkar averages 37.30 (*6* 100s in 146 inns)!!!

very nice! thanks for posting it..

Fantastically well put argument by AllOurWisdom, both Sachin & Lara surpass all superlatives. Lara was the more unpredicatable and potentially explosive batsman, Sachin the finest exponent of batsmanship the game will ever see. Maybe it's like comparing Shoaib Akhtar with Glenn McGrath?! Most punters would probably rather see Shoaib steaming in that McGrath landing it on a length six out of six! This is the reason Lara shades it for me - I love the unpredictable genius of his batsmanship.

@Mohit Kumar Saini -> The 2003-04 pitches were not flat. Those were good test wickets. India should have won the series 3-1 if not for rain in the brisbane test and steve waugh in fourth. Dravid and Laxman were the stars in that series.

the article you have showed itself says both lara and sachin have similar averages in both the groups...he has always been in the top group in all these analysis...

A one-liner on this sachin-lara debate : "The Prince was better in tests & The little master was better in ODIs"

Sanga never thought highly of Sachin... someone who has 100 hundreds

God I miss cricket 💯

yes,pretty comparable...and it's shame sachin didn't get to play as many as he would want due to the ties between pak and india and also india didn't play as many tests in 90s...but sachin scored some gems against those combos if you look at those innings...

it is not only the average BUT how you score the runs.

If you look at the surge in his average post 2002 then you'd know what i mean...he did infact feast on easier conditions when it has become easier to bat on and all the average batsmen started to average in 50s since then...

My favorite is no doubt the West Indian batting god Brian C Lara, none compares really. Tendulkar was consistent but he didn't score at the rate and devastating fashion of Lara. His scores of 400, 375, 277, 226, 221 are just out of this world. He broke the world record twice, TWICE. And his 400 not out will likely never be broken in our or the next generation's lifetime.

Sangakkara 😍

Again if we remove lara's home runs, Sachin - (50-INN 2400-RUNS 52.17-AVG 9-100s) Lara - (43-INN 2153-RUNS 51.26-AVG 6-100s) almost similar stats...

Allan Donald talks abt Sachin ,Lara ,Steve waugh in an interview in 2009 , I had been watching Sachin Tendulkar on and off before we (South Africa) were readmitted in 1991. Everything about him is just so exceptional. He is wonderful technically and he has everything - class, speed, all the shots, and he is cool under pressure. Cricketers always talk about his amazing balance, even the Aussies. I've seen tapes of Sunil Gavaskar and if you split the screen between him and Tendulkar, they look virtually identical. I have never seen a man with such immaculate balance - it is freakish. People go to a Test match just to watch Tendulkar. I, for one, would rather watch him than bowl against him. Actually, I'm glad I'll never have to bowl to him in a Test match again, though I've been quite successful against him. He is No. 1 in my book - the best player I have ever had the privilege of bowling to. There's Steve Waugh and there's Brian Lara, who was wonderful in 1995, but Tendulkar is a class above, consistently special. The best knock I can remember him playing was at Newlands in 1997, when he was just unstoppable. We only got him thanks to a blinding catch by Adam Bacher off a hook shot, otherwise he would have gone on and on. Under Hansie Cronje we studied hard for a Tendulkar weakness. We thought he might be vulnerable, especially early in his innings, to the ball that is bowled from wide of the crease, coming back in off a good length. He might then be bowled through the gate, or be lbw, especially on English wickets. We also tried peppering him with short balls - not many top-class batters like that - but it didn't really seem to bother him. The one thing that might rattle him is being restricted. He loves scoring, and scoring quickly, and if he is frustrated, sometimes he goes out and looks for the big shot. I don't think he really gets rattled by sledging. Glenn McGrath tried it and Tendulkar just kept running at him and hitting him back over his head for four. I think that, like Steve Waugh, sledging just makes him more focused: I don't think it is a good idea to have a word. Tendulkar is already a legend so I'm not sure how he'll be remembered - what comes after legend? . He's the best in the world, one of the most magnificent players there's ever been. He's also a nice guy, a soft-hearted bloke who gives 110% and just loves playing cricket.

Away averages for subcontinental batsmen is skewed as it includes matches against their other neighbors. Most non-subcontinental people will agree that conditions in the subcontinent are fairly similar. Check the averages I've posted outside the subcontinent in other comments.

Lara genius....

Of all the modern day batsmen, Brian Lara is the greatest. That is not an insult to players like Tendulkar or Ponting, that's just fact.

remember Sangakkara's chant "thirty-five...thirty-five" when Tendulkar was trying his heart out to surpass Gavaskar? :) :) :) :)

By that i meant wasim-waqar and donald-pollock in tandem...which he never scored a hundred against...ofcourse i know he scored a 190+ when pollock was still around in 2002..

One thing about Kumara, I admire his class and elegance as a batsman and he is definitely one of the top 10 of his era, but there is a also an inferiority complex about him when it comes to India. I have no problem with his opinion on Lara being slightly better than Sachin (Lara certainly dominated Test bowling attacks and particularly spinners more often than Sachin,but I felt he had problems facing express fast bowling on non-flat wickets. Sachin to me was the slightly better of the two against pace bowling). But Kumara has always had an edgier side to him which comes across in the way he spoke when India were the No. 1 side in the world and also the Sehwag 99* incident when he asked his bowler to bowl a no-ball when India needed a run to win and Sehwag was batting on 99, he didn't want to give Sehwag the chance to get his 100. Very petty of him. Not one of his good days I guess.

Sir,not just cricinfo there have been many all-time XIs done by many cricket legends,experts,commentators everyone have picked sachin but most of them have excluded lara...you heard them all and they have almost unanimously agreed sachin is the best modern day batsman...i'm not a lara hater while you may misunderstand me as one,i'm his fan as well but i think he comes a close second to sachin in modern day cricket..that's all i say

Trying to listen but her leg's are fantastic...... :-*

Great stats..

Well... I don't know how Jayasuria comes in list of Tendulkar and Lara... Sanga needs a mental checkup and yeah if Dravid found Lara to be the guy to bowl to.. It does not mean Sachin can't tame any bowler or any team... And yeah how much run did Lara scored in subcontinent to become the best player of spin?

Most subcontinent batsmen play more inns inside the subcontinent (almost like home) where visiting pace bowlers are mostly ineffective (can't reverse swing) and 'home' batsmen aren't troubled by spinners. Btw, if you exclude Zimbabwe and Bangladesh both Lara and Tendulkar have similar averages (52.53/52.61) and outside the subcontinent, Lara has *10K* runs at 51.69 while Tendulkar has *6K* runs at 50.90!!!

Nothing more to reply to you. Already explained everything.

Lara's the best !

Btw, unlike the subcontinent pitches in the Caribbean still allow fast bowlers to take wickets which is the main attack of most non-subcontinental teams!

So...Rahul dravid says...Brian Lara is his favorite player...Wtf

Can anyone tell who is the guy in the middle (host)... Is he a cricketer?

Did Sangakkara really have to mention that incident and take Dravid's name? I think he meant to say that Lara is better than Sachin..

@coolpratheek not ridiculous. when players have the same averages/100's etc, then you check highest scores. Tendulkar's highest score is a 248, while Lara has massive scores of 374, 400 and a 250+ score. Lara has 12 double centuries which is MORE THAN DOUBLE what Tendulkar has. Tendulkar's away stats are also skewed by Bangladesh, which he has played so many matches against and averages 100+ against

Please do not claim I'm hiding something by arbitrarily changing the context. Your claim was Lara feasted in easier conditions. The article shows Lara scored 74.7% of his career runs in tougher conditions where as Tendulkar scored 48.8%. What stats, relevant to this context, did I hide, what difference does it make how many inns one played? Does playing more inns mean, you will have higher % in easier conditions? Also, please refer to the other articles which shows greater disparity.

Pakistan was so good 70s-90s Holding said it right! Majid Khan and Zaheer Abbas. Have a look at Kerry Packer World Series cricket where the worlds best were playing including so many Pakistanis !

When brian is on wicket dont think about winning cuz raining starts but when sachin is on wicket ah just shield infront of wickets who does fail but lets call it just shield.

Outside subc and both away, Tendulkar: 50.37 in 135 inns, Lara: 45.27 in 93 inns. This does not take the conditions or bowler quality into account. For e.g. no McGrath/Warne in all but one Aus tour for India. In the matches they played their next closest team mates: Dravid: *54.14* in 116 inns, Gayle: 42.07 in 28 inns, Laxman: 41.26 in 100 inns, Ganguly 40.11 in 76 inns, Chanderpaul: 36.92 in 62 inns. Lara was best for his team, while Dravid for India!

@Trinavara.. yeah Lara was an Alien!

brian lara is the best player in the world

@bolt0710 I agree with you...no doubt. Just look at the shots...Lara make them so easy. I am Indian and I am great great fan of sachin but if we talk about the class, the panache ....only one player owns it and he is none other than Brian Charles Lara

The WALL

You always like the neighbour's tricks more than your brother's.

Just the fact that he scored 226 and 277 against Australia and 375 and 400 against England which were two of the top teams in world cricket should speak for itself! He loss the world record to Mathew Hayden was still was able to regain it 10 years later close to his retirement stage is incredible. soon after this he scored 501 just a genius he was. Lets all be honest with ourselves. He was indeed the best and most entertaining batsman of his era if not all time.

Sachin apperance at pitch never hurt opsitions as much as if lara inzi pointing were on crease that was difference so sachin become sachin i think in gradual procesoss he was never a gem of cricket but he desrve lot of respect due to his long love for game and deep intense and hardworking which make him different

who is the anchor?

there is a difference...it says "percentage of his career runs"...by that the article says david gower scored 99% of his runs in tougher conditions does that mean he is the best?the number of innings do matter when you are saying the percenatege of his career runs..also,as i have pointed out both have similar stats in tougher group category...

@baldeepsingh THIS IS SAAAACHINNN

WI,just like other countries had flat tracks right from the 2000s..right when lara started amassing runs...

gr8 lara ... i loved when he payed

Just to let them know Lara's son biggest idol is not lara but Sachin. Lara himself said to his son if u wanna learn batting he should learn it from sachin

I digress, but who is the lady in the video?