Sanga- Sri Lanka's greatest ever?

Aravinda was very good, as is Mahela, but surely Sanga must now be considered the finest batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced. What a player.

hard to say. he's not scored more than 400 runs in any country besides lanka and pakistan. he certainly looks classy, but outside the sub-con he has only 3 hundreds - 2 in nz and 1 in aus

PA De Silva easily.

The One wrote:hard to say. he's not scored more than 400 runs in any country besides lanka and pakistan. he certainly looks classy, but outside the sub-con he has only 3 hundreds - 2 in nz and 1 in aus

that home/away criticism applies to all Lankan batsmen

Sanga's difference is nowhere near as significant as someone like Aravinda - he has to be streets ahead

Aravinda averaged 52 at home at 36 away.


Sanga has him covered.

look at the quality of bowlers each faced.

This is a ridiculous comparison.

If a guy who averaged low 40s is better than someone that averaged mid 50s just because he faced better bowlers then that means that Dean Jones was a better batsman than the Drunkard

Yes Kumar is the BEST.

Cracking argument.

G.Wood wrote:If a guy who averaged low 40s is better than someone that averaged mid 50s just because he faced better bowlers then that means that Dean Jones was a better batsman than the Drunkard

Deano thinks he is

IMO, its a big mirage that Sanga is a very good batsman away from home.

He averages just 30 in Eng which raises to 40 overall when his home average is thrown in the mix. He averages to 39 in SA which raises to 54 overall. Though he averages just 34 in WI, that doesn't count for much.

He averages 65 in Aus, but thats only due to ridiculously low no. of innings he played in Aus. Forget about McGrath, when Gillespie and Warne are in Aus team, this average reduces to 41.

In Sanga's defence, a lot of those lower scoring series were when he also kept wicket.

i guess his lankan peers dont really have a better away record, so he still edges them. both aravinda and jayawardene piled on the runs in lanka but are usually found missing away from home

Henry wrote:Aravinda was very good, as is Mahela, but surely Sanga must now be considered the finest batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced. What a player.

Find myself agreeing with you Trev, although the word "batsman" superfluous.

Out of Sri Lanka ...excluding Bang and Zim ...minimum 500 runs



res Player Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS AveDescending 100 50 0
KC Sangakkara 2000-2009 33 61 4 2751 230 48.26 7 14 1 investigate this query
TT Samaraweera 2002-2009 21 36 4 1355 231 42.34 4 6 5 investigate this query
DPMD Jayawardene 1998-2009 39 72 2 2899 275 41.41 7 10 8 investigate this query
S Wettimuny 1982-1987 12 22 1 839 190 39.95 2 4 1 investigate this query
PA de Silva 1984-2002 45 80 1 2881 267 36.46 9 8 5 investigate this query
RL Dias 1982-1987 11 20 0 725 109 36.25 1 5 0 investigate this query
ST Jayasuriya 1991-2007 42 78 5 2562 253 35.09 4 12 7 investigate this query
UC Hathurusingha 1991-1999 13 23 0 795 83 34.56 0 6 1 investigate this query
TM Dilshan 2000-2009 21 38 3 1186 145 33.88 3 6 4 investigate this query
LRD Mendis 1982-1988 12 22 0 739 111 33.59 3 3 1 investigate this query
AP Gurusinha 1985-1996 22 39 1 1263 143 33.23 4 3 2 investigate this query
MS Atapattu 1990-2007 36 69 5 2089 185 32.64 5 10 10 investigate this query
HP Tillakaratne 1989-2003 38 65 9 1820 119 32.50 4 7 6 investigate this query
JR Ratnayeke 1982-1989 16 29 6 703 93 30.56 0 5 4 investigate this query
RP Arnold 1997-2004 15 28 1 816 123 30.22 2 5 4 investigate this query
A Ranatunga 1982-2000 42 75 5 2097 90 29.95 0 15 9 investigate this query
RS Mahanama 1988-1998 25 43 0 1136 85 26.41 0 6 2 investigate this query
RS Kaluwitharana 1995-2004 21 39 1 906 103 23.84 2 3 4 investigate this query
WPUJC Vaas 1995-2009 44 78 17 1386 57 22.72 0 5 5 investigate this query
M Muralitharan 1994-2009 48 78 23 565 33 10.27 0 0 14 investigate this query

FTB's stats are greatly boosted by his stats in Pak.

So anyway you look at it he's number 1- Overall average, average at home, and average away.

Clearly the best they've had.

SG, just because you think Sanga is a sook, doesn't make him any less of a batsman.

Henry wrote:So anyway you look at it he's number 1- Overall average, average at home, and average away.

Clearly the best they've had.

Statistically it would seem that way

SG wrote:FTB's stats are greatly boosted by his stats in Pak.

Take out Pakistan and Duleep Mendis becomes the best SL away bat by almost 10 runs per innings ...obviously a lot harder to play Pakistan at home in the 80s than in the '00s

obviously a lot harder to play Pakistan at home in the 80s than in the '00s

Precisely.

Henry wrote:SG, just because you think Sanga is a sook, doesn't make him any less of a batsman.

I never argued that he isn't their best away batsman. Their cupboard is so bare in this regard.

I simply said he isn't as good away as he is made out to be.

FWIW, I reckon he's bloody good. I'd have him in my team over Kallis.

Obviously the best compared with other Sri Lankans but can be overrated if you just look at stats. The ton he made in oz was on a Hobart featherbed.

just saw a shocking stat during the current match. lanka have played only 2 tests each in aus, eng, nz and windies in the last 5 years. they last played in sa in 2002 and will next tour sa in 2012

with such few opportunities afforded to them by those boards its no surprise they struggle so much overseas. they just dont get a chance to get used to those conditions