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Originally Posted by Nostromo Gary Kirsten might have decent ODI figures, but somehow, I cannot see him as an inspirational ODI batsman that crowds queue up to watch [...] Someone like Afridi, Dhoni or Gibbs might fail 4 or 5 times before they play that innings, but it is usually worth waiting for. |
No one in world cricket is more watchable than Dravid: he is supremely elegant in his strokeplay - seemingly never off balance, with all the time in the world and delightful timing. The complete antithesis of Kirsten, really: the latter was never as aesthetically pleasing in his strokeplay.
With that said... the interest of cricket as a spectacle lies in the contest between bat and ball... and it's entirely feasible for less than elegant strokeplay to be facinating... so I've never had an issue with watching Kirsten bat: he had the class to make the contest interesting... unlike Afridi and Dhoni, who simply lack class to even survive a genuine contest between bat and ball.
This all time SA XI has Ntini opening with Pollock, Donald coming on at first change and Klusener and Kourie doing the rest. One hope the opponent would have a similarly good line-up: perhaps McGrath opening with Lee, backed up by Lillee, Warne, Symonds and the Waugh brothers, or Ambrose, Garner, Marshall, Roberts and Sobers aided by the odd over from Viv.
Against bowling that good... Kirsten would offer far, FAR greater entertainment than most... because unlike sloggers like Dhoni and Afridi, he'd be happily batting with every expectation of carrying his bat to post a a big score rather than returning to the pavillion with ducks quacking across TV screens!