KP V Ponting

PearlJ wrote:

S F Barnes wrote:

PearlJ wrote:

S F Barnes wrote:Firstly: Punter hasn't had to face Warne and McGrath in his career. Neither has he had to face Mohammad Asif since Asif's uninspiring test debut.

Compare the first 2.5 years of Punters career with the that of KP. If KP improves to the degree Punter has in the last 6/7 years of his career he will be averaging around 70 after such a period of time.

Right now, I'd say they're about even. Let's see how things pan out.

He has faced Murali, Kumble, Donald, Pollock, etc....

Plus he was 5 years younger than KP when he made his debut......

They are nowhere even... Ponting averages 7 more than KP over a much longer period of time....

Yeah, whatever. If KP were Aussie I'm sure your argument would be reversed.

Ask any cricket fan of any nation and they will tell you who is better.....

Aye it's premuture to say KP is better, Ponting imo is no.1 bat and has been for a long time, i'm a fan of KP but i still think there are 2/3 batsmen who are better than him out there atm.

Best way to compare them both is when they retire, i'm sure KP wlll be up there with the greats.

Punter is the best batsman around right now.

I'm more excited watching KP bat though, and thats not to say Ponting isn't exciting either.

Ponting gets big hundreds, KP seems to get bored...

Pietersen lacks the brain to be as good as Ponting, but in my opinion has as much ability. He needs to focus it. He probably won't. Wasted talent is how he'll probably be described, with a Test average just above 50. When KP gets going, it's pretty scary. He always seems to be either on the verge of getting out, or doing something incredible. That's why he's much more entertaining than Ponting.

I hate this "KP gets bored" rubbish. No he doesn't. He has lapses in concentration. Saying he gets bored implies that he doesn't care if he carries on to get huge scores. He clearly does. Gets bored my crack.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:I hate this "KP gets bored" rubbish. No he doesn't. He has lapses in concentration. Saying he gets bored implies that he doesn't care if he carries on to get huge scores. He clearly does. Gets bored my crack.

Semantics...

Well, he doesn't care enough.

Either way IMO, I think I would take Ponting over KP as my teams premier batsman given the choice!

How old is KP now?

26 maybe?

I think anyone saying that KP doesn't use his brain is doing him a disservice. He is a very clever, calculating batsman most of the time, and when he's in he can toy with the field at will. He's always thinking about where his next run is coming from, whether he should be going forward or back, etc (the way he played R P Singh at Lords off the back foot to accoutn for the huge swing was absolute poetry)

The problem is that, whilst this thinking of his can lead to a spectacular and match-winning innings, the same processes can at times lead to the wrong conclusions, resulting in a completely unnecessary heave across the line followed by shattered stumps, or, even worse, an ill-advised duck into a 'ferocious' Dwayne Bravo bouncer.

He's still learning. What he definitely is not is a Flintoff-esque strokemaker who doesn't know when to stop and relies more on his eyes than his head to get him scores.

Ponting is 32 (nearly 33), Pietersen is 27. Ponting might play for another 5 years, Pietersen another 7 to 10.

Way too early for comparisons.

As Mudge says, we should at least wait until Pietersen has played a couple of games v Bangladesh ... because ... Ponting's figures have been considerably bolstered by his games v Bangladesh.

lardbucket wrote:Ponting is 32 (nearly 33), Pietersen is 27. Ponting might play for another 5 years, Pietersen another 7 to 10.

Way too early for comparisons.

As Mudge says, we should at least wait until Pietersen has played a couple of games v Bangladesh ... because ... Ponting's figures have been considerably bolstered by his games v Bangladesh.

Too true, Pontings average falls from 59.29 all the way down to 59.14 if you remove his games against Bangladesh.

Welcome to NSR-land , Mal.....

I'm sincerely hoping that Mal 'got' my drift, which was really directed at Trevor.

Ponting's had an incredible few years, and if he maintains that, or somewhere near that, for the remainder of his career, he's going to go down as a true all time great.

If Pietersen got anywhere near that over a career, he too would be an all time great. At that point, saying one is better than the other is pretty moot. You're just talking about two legends of the game.

Shoeshine wrote:Ponting's had an incredible few years, and if he maintains that, or somewhere near that, for the remainder of his career, he's going to go down as a true all time great.

If Pietersen got anywhere near that over a career, he too would be an all time great. At that point, saying one is better than the other is pretty moot. You're just talking about two legends of the game.

I can see Ponting with over 15,000 runs and 50 tons if he keeps it up for the next few years.

One legend, and one player who has had a great start to his career.

lardbucket wrote:One legend, and one player who has had a great start to his career.

Remember how good both Strauss and Smiffy looked earlier in their careers?

I do. I also remember how crap Jaques Kallis looked at the start of his career.

And Steve Waugh looked out of his depth as a batsman, but a useful change bowler.

lardbucket wrote:I do. I also remember how crap Jaques Kallis looked at the start of his career.

And Steve Waugh looked out of his depth as a batsman, but a useful change bowler.

And not just the comb-over, yeah?

He looked like the new Ken Rutherford for a while.

tac wrote:

lardbucket wrote:One legend, and one player who has had a great start to his career.

Remember how good both Strauss and Smiffy looked earlier in their careers?

Which is why it's actually unfair on Pietersen to make the comparison right now.

What I do find interesting with him though (and not being Australian I never had the opportunity with Ponting to see him regularly enough to do this), is to watch the way he works out problems. When a bowler has him in trouble, either on the day or over a series, and seeing how he combats that. For all KPs repuation as someone who smacks the ball, he clearly thinks very deeply about his game. I wouldn't be surprised if Ponting was exactly the same, because the ability to adapt is what usually marks out the special talent.

There's no doubt he's a very very talented player. How he copes with adversity, a run of outs, a run of bad decisions, an injury, being dropped ... these things will determine whether he will ever earn 'legend' status, or if he'll be remembered as another player who 'coulda been a contender'.

I get the feeling that pitches could become more "sporting" over the next few years as the sport wearies batsmen ruling the roost. This could have a serious impact on quite a few younger batsmen.

I sadly get the feeling most boards just want the game to go 5 days even if it does mean no real contest between bat and ball.