5 great batsmen and their famed weaknesses

Great batsmen, despite their greatness, often remind us of their all-too-human weaknesses. It is this vulnerable side of theirs that they earnestly try to cover up so it isn’t exposed, but sometimes there is no escape.The flaws are laid bare for the world to see, the weaknesses are exploited to the full and the illusion of supremacy is shattered emphatically.These weaknesses are often unhelpfully non-uniform. For some, it is an old nemesis that causes their brain to freeze. For others, it may be the match situation. For still others, it might be a particular brand of bowling, no matter who the bowler.Here's a look at five of the most notable weaknesses among great batsmen:

#1 Michael Atherton - Glenn McGrath

Atherton and McGrath share a lighter moment, but theirs was a famous duel of yesteryear

Glenn McGrath’s status as one of the most eminent seam bowlers of his generation – indeed, of all time – is undisputed. While lacking the raw pace of contemporaries like Shoaib Akhtar or teammate Brett Lee, his needling accuracy was military in its precision and frightening in its ease.

McGrath made batsman swing fruitlessly at thin air over and over. Every so often, one of those balls would be edged to the slips, or would smash ruthlessly into off stump.

Given his prodigious skill, it comes as no surprise that many a prominent batsman was cut down to size. But of all the duels that McGrath often emerged victorious from in his career, none possesses the notoriety of his fencing matches with Michael Atherton.

It seems forgotten that not only the ‘Pigeon’ but also Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh (both 17 times) claimed Atherton’s wicket a few times too many. Shane Warne, too, hit double figures against the former England skipper.

Despite all that, McGrath was Atherton’s Kryptonite, really. 17 Tests they crossed paths, with McGrath having the last laugh on 19 occasions – the most for a bowler against any one batsman. There were three dismissals on zero as well.

For a batsman who so memorably bested Allan Donald, Atherton never really came to terms with batting against McGrath. Simply put, the word ‘bunny’ would trigger images of a nervy looking Atherton stepping back uncertainly in his crease only for McGrath to unleash his customary mouthful of choice words.

#2 Donald Bradman - Hedley Verity

A wild swing from Bradman sends the ball straight up, and it is pouched. The bowler, it hardly needs to be added, is Hedley Verity.

Oh, look. Another bunny.

It is impossible to imagine the Don bending to the whim of anyone. It is, therefore, even more impossible to imagine him being someone’s bunny. Yorkshire left arm spinner Hedley Verity, however, had the Don on a leash when the two came up against each other.

That Verity had Bradman’s number is obvious, to the point where the great man would certainly have contemplated getting a new one. There is no bowler who quite muzzled the lion inside Bradman as effectively as Verity.

In the 17 Tests England and Australia played when these two fantastic cricketers coincided, Verity gave away 401 runs against Bradman. Just 401 runs.

This was a batsman who had made a career out of habitually scoring 400 runs in one game. The sum of his haul against Verity was unprecedented.

Verity also dismissed Bradman 8 times, the most anyone managed against the Don. The Australian could only score at half his career average against Verity. Journalist Robertson-Glasgow, in the Yorkshireman’s obituary for Wisden in 1944, felt that Verity was the sole reason Bradman’s average didn’t reach 150.

Bradman, for his part, had great respect for Verity as a cricketer and as a gentleman. For someone who dominated bowlers throughout his career, Bradman claimed he was “never sure” against Verity who, according to him, had “no breaking point”.

No higher compliment can be awarded.

#3 Sachin Tendulkar - left arm spin

Modest spinners like Monty Panesar often claimed the prize scalp of Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar’s susceptibility to left arm spin has been widely documented. Parallels have frequently been drawn with Bradman and Gavaskar, two greats who Tendulkar is often compared to, given they had similarly struggled against left arm spinners.

Bishan Singh Bedi went one step further, attempting to establish that short batsmen have historically struggled against left arm spin, name checking Javed Miandad along the way.

Like so many other challenges in his career, Tendulkar found some way around left arm spin by hook or crook, but the success of such bowlers, even distinctly unimpressive ones, cannot be disputed. Out of 92 dismissals to spin, Tendulkar has fallen prey to the left arm variety on 25 occasions.

Two of the top three most successful spinners against Tendulkar are left armers: Daniel Vettori (5 dismissals) and Monty Panesar (4 dismissals). Bowlers who would otherwise have been freely carted all over the ground – Paul Harris and Ray Price – also make the top 10.

The trend extends to ODIs as well. Sanath Jayasuriya is tied with Muralitharan for first (5 dismissals), and Daniel Vettori features again, sending the Little Master back on three occasions. The largely forgotten performances of Grant Flower (twice) also make the top 10.

#4 Vinod Kambli - The short ball

Vinod Kambli was mercilessly exposed by the short ball during the West Indies tour of India in 1994.

The short ball is the scourge of batsmen everywhere. Seeing expansive stroke makers duck and weave with a little cannonball whizzing two inches past their head at 92 miles an hour is an unedifying sight.

Certainly, several Indian batsmen have encountered their fair share of problems – Sourav Ganguly and Suresh Raina have encountered well known difficulties. So why is Kambli being mentioned here? It was his utterly shocking drop-off following special treatment from the short ball that merits Kambli's inclusion in the list.

After joining the select pair of Wally Hammond and Donald Bradman as the only two batsmen to score two double hundreds on the trot, Kambli was stratospheric. 1993 was when the Mumbai boy was in vogue, his vibrant, outgoing personality a perfect backdrop to becoming the quickest Indian to 1,000 Test runs.

Strong performances at home were matched by success on a trip to Sri Lanka, and on the surface it looked like Kambli was well equipped for the visit of the West Indies in late 1994. But there had been whispers that Kambli was not all that he was made out to be. The three Test series was confirmation of those suspicions.

Kambli’s fall was extraordinary; after a tremendous 1993, he was destroyed to the point of no repair by the rising ball from the Caribbean pacers. The short stuff was unforgiving; from scoring two hundreds in Sri Lanka, Kambli could now only manage a pathetic 64 runs from the three Tests. He batted in all six innings.

The short ball was a weapon that traumatised him. Kambli could never really regain his place in the side for an extended period and called time on his career after just 17 Tests.

#5 Michael Clarke - The fourth innings

Michael Clarke seemed to have brain freeze when asked to bat last in a Test match.

Rather surprising? If the statistics are to be believed, Michael Clarke could only perform when the slate was clean, when there was the absence of a target on the scoreboard or that of a lead to whittle down.

Michael Clarke played 115 Tests over 10 years, and a total of 198 innings. Out of those, 36 were fourth innings. He did not bat on 12 of those occasions (meaning only two thirds of his documented fourth innings produced a score). In 24 fourth innings, Clarke only scored 670 runs.

This works out to a rather weak average of 31.904, significantly below his career average but much closer to the overall form of the past 18 months or so – a period when Clarke was almost unequivocally regarded to be at his worst. Even then, his fourth innings average is noticeably steroided with three not outs. Remove those and you are left with 27.91.

There are four fifties in these 24 innings, and just one century. A paltry return no doubt, but one that Michael Clarke can now put behind him.