5 stylish batsmen who were considered better than they actually were

In the game of cricket, there are primarily two types of batsmen – normal ones and great ones. However, there is another category which belongs to the batsmen who show signs of being great but end up with average careers.Their batting style may be pleasing to the eye and they may even leave the likes of a Bradman or a Sobers behind on their day, but these days tend to come once in 10 innings leaving much to be desired from them.The following 5 stylish batsmen were tipped to make giant strides in international cricket and break several records, but somehow they flattered to deceive despite having got more than adequate opportunities.

#5 Nasser Hussain (England)

Nasser had his own unique style of batting

What made England’s Nasser Hussain great to watch was the fact that he had his own technique which was as different as anything you will ever come across. He was surely one of the better Test captains that England had, but not sure if you can say the same about his batting.

At times, his uniqueness made him look spectacular; however, on most other occasions, it looked like he was struggling to even put bat to ball. Hussain’s Test batting records are a testimony to his largely inconsistent form in his playing days.

There were several periods in his career, which lasted as many as 96 Tests, when runs dried up for Nasser and it took a while before he got amongst the runs once again. This was a trend which remained with him throughout his career and strangely enough, he managed to get an unbeaten century in his final Test innings.

There was a time when Nasser Hussian was being tipped to become England’s next batting great, but he was not able to live up to the English expectations.

#4 Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka)

The former Sri Lankan skipper’s fluid batting was a visual treat

For a man who scored 5 ducks in his first 6 Test innings, Sri Lanka’s former captain Marvan Atapattu did quite a decent job of resurrecting his career. But if you take into account the talent he displayed during his playing days and compare it with his career statistics, you will find a huge void that was left unfulfilled.

The Sri Lankan batsman is joint fifth on the list of most double hundreds in a Test career alongside greats like Javed Miandad, Virender Sehwag, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar. It is baffling that a man who rubs shoulders in cricket record books with such greats did not even average 40 in his career.

The answer lies in what happened in the many innings he played between those occasional doubles. Atapattu managed just 33 scores of above 50 including his double tons in the 156 innings he played throughout a 17-year long career. He has also registered 22 ducks in his Test career which is the most by a pure batsman.

Despite his natural batting flair and a knack of getting big scores, Marvan Atapattu can at best be termed as just a good batsman, not a great one.

#3 Carl Hooper (West Indies)

Carl Hooper’s batting was beautiful to watch at times

Batting elegance has got nothing to do with how great a player one goes on to become and Carl Hooper is one of the prime examples of this. One of the most stylish batsmen in world cricket during the 1990s, Hooper failed to some extent in living up to the hopes he had generated of ending up among his country’s best.

He produced an incredible innings here and there, but as a whole his career was quite a disappointment. Hooper enjoyed his time playing a few teams, particularly India and Pakistan and his career average in Tests landed in the mid-thirties primarily due to his exploits against both these nations.

However, against most other teams, he found runs difficult to come by despite having many strokes in his armoury. His record in the 50-over format was decent too with more than 5,000 runs and a 35 plus average.

But considering that Hooper had a career which lasted for 15 long years, he could have done a much better job with the skills that he possessed.

#2 Ian Bell (England)

Ian Bell is one of the most stylish batsmen from the modern era

It is extremely difficult to find a more stylish batsman in world cricket at present than England’s Ian Bell. Some of the shots that he has in his armoury, particularly the cover drive, will make even some of his biggest critics stand up and applaud. But 118 Tests into his career, he has still not lived up to the mighty expectations that he had set up for himself with his exploits in the early part of his career.

Bell’s career so far has been a story of a few purple patches and many more lean patches proving that the prophecies about him being among England’s best ever were a bit too far-fetched. A quick comparison between the elegant batsman and his skipper Alastair Cook should be enough to show you why he is a part of this list.

Cook has only played 4 more Tests than Ian Bell, but has scored 2,053 more runs at an average of 47 plus which is much higher than the latter’s 42.69. True, the graceful England batsman has played some great knocks for his country, but he may never been able to set the standards which many believed that he would.

#1 Mark Waugh (Australia)

Australia’s Mark Waugh was elegant to watch when in full flow

If there is a poll to pick a batsman who could be defined as a personification of elegance, former Aussie batsman Mark Waugh would certainly be one of the primary contenders. Playing in the Australian team alongside his brother Steve Waugh, Mark was always tipped to be the more successful of the two.

But as luck would have it, it is Steve who sits pretty among the legends of the game, whereas the other Waugh remains an example of a career which promised a lot but did not deliver as much.

There was a point in Mark Waugh’s career where his name was taken in the same breath as some other talented batsmen of that time who became future legends like Tendulkar and Lara. However, his tendency to be inconsistent with the bat amid occasional flashes of brilliance cost him dearly as a career which lasted 128 Tests produced just a shade over 8000 runs at an average of just over 41.

Towards the fag end of his career, Waugh’s form had reached such a low ebb that he had to be dropped from the squad and this prompted him to announce his retirement from international cricket in 2002.