Waugh vs Border

[ykickamoocow]

Alot of people have compared these two people, and for good reason, they both has remarkable averages (over 50) and have scored nearly identical runs over the same amount of inninings. But who is better?

Steve Waugh
http://content.cricinfo.com/australi...ayer/8192.html

Alan Border
http://content.cricinfo.com/australi...ayer/4174.html

These links have the players stats so please look at them before posting.

[Cordy]

I think Border looks better because he became captain at a time when Australia were pretty ordinary and things got much better under him. Personally, I am more of a Waugh fan - I prefer his work ethic and his superstitious nature - but going on statistics I think it would be difficult to pick between them. I haven't actually checked out your links yet, but I'm guessing they're stats.

[Seamer]

Tough call this one. Both were very determined captains. They were both determined bastmen often playing lone hands. Both were effective bowlers on their day as well.
I would have to go with Border as the strength of bowling in world cricket at the time was far stronger than Waugh had to face.

[ykickamoocow]

Originally Posted by Seamer

I would have to go with Border as the strength of bowling in world cricket at the time was far stronger than Waugh had to face.

I wouldnt have said that. I actually think the strength of batting was very low during Border's career, i think the bowling was pritty simular to todays standards.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by ykickamoocow

I wouldnt have said that. I actually think the strength of batting was very low during Border's career, i think the bowling was pritty simular to todays standards.

The standard of wickets in the 70's and 80's were no way near as high as they are now. This was the era of the great Windies pace bowling quartets, throw in Hadlee, Khan, Willis, Botham, Dev, Quadir and you have most of non-Australian bowling greats in the modern era. Another factor is Australia played the Windies on a regular basis in those days, so Border had to face quality bowling attacks on a much regular basis.
Waugh. Batted in an era where good batting tracks became the norm. Apart from Ambrose and Akram, he did not face many of the graets except in the early part of his career when he regularly failed. He did not score his first test hundred until 1989.

[Maranello]

I agree with Seamer on all of the above, and have made this point in many other places on these boards. There is no comparison between the quality of the bowling during the 1980s and the bowling we see around now; as a result, there is an absence of a stern test of batsmanship, and every other bat is averaging over 45 or 50; and this is excluding their 'exploits' against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, which skew modern-day statistics anyway.

Waugh though played most of his cricket during the 1990s, when the Windies still had Ambrose & Walsh, Pakistan had Wasim, Waqar, Mushtaq and Saqlain, SA had Donald and Pollock, so it was not as bad as it is now. Still not the same as the 1980s though in terms of overall standards.

[acker]

Waugh seemed to have a toughness of character that he probably learnt and picked up from Border, remember Border captained young Steve, then was a party to the dropping of young Steve and then was a party to the ressurection of a much wiser Steve.
I think Border desrves a pat on the back for his part in shaping the end product Australian captain Steve Waugh.

[GlennMcGrath500]

I like border better than waugh just more style and more runs

[The229club]

Allan Border...since I have to choose...he was the best player in a poor Australian team from 1978 to 1987...the amount of innings he saved Australia from further embarrassment..and who can forget his efforts in the West Indies tours.
Steve Waugh...was playing in a glorious era for the majority of his career, and this swayed me to go for AB. Both would be in my all time team if they had to play for my life

[The229club]

....and happy 50th for AB tomorrow!