14 August 2007

The hardest-hitting pound-for-pound batsman

The reality of working on an experiment involving dozens of sensitive, unreliable and capricious lasers and assorted other pieces of equipment is that it it almost never actually works. As a result, on those rare occasions when it vaguely all comes together (and tonight is essentially the first such occasion in my two years on the project) then you're generally looking at taking data frantically like a headless science-chicken.

Now, data-taking in our lab is a pretty automated process that currently boils down to typing a number and pressing a button every once in a while in the small hours of the night. But before I digress too far off-topic into a physics burble, my point is as follows. During this thumb-twiddling, my lab partner raised the issue:

Who is the hardest-hitting pound-for-pound batsman in world cricket?

Just as armchair fans might compare boxers between weight categories along the same lines, the idea is to pick an explosive international batsman whose hard-hitting strokeplay belies his diminutive stature. So, whilst the likes of Hayden, Flintoff or Inzamam are all dominating strokeplayers, they are marked down on the grounds of body mass!

Who is the best pint-sized powerhouse? Gilchrist? Jayasuriya? Ponting? Bravo? Any suggestions?

And what about his weakest-hitting counterpart?

5 comments:

Ed said...

Jayasuriya has to be up there I guess. Gibbs, Afridi, Gilchrist & Ponting too. But here's a left field one from the past....Vinod Kambli? Lara has to be up there amongst past players too.

I see your question was in the present tense...damn. I'd go for Ponting. Do you have an answer in mind?

David said...

Not intentionally in the present tense, nor do I have a particular answer in mind!

Mark Davis said...

Easy.
That colt I was bowling against at Sunbury last week for the Barmy Army.
I ended up with a straight and a wide Long Off and a straight and a wide Long On and he goes over the screen !

Anonymous said...

I've got to go for Gilly on this one. Not sure if this is true, but there was a story from last year's ashes that apparently during a Gilly innings the England 12th man came on to take the shin guards off the field as there was no longer any need for a bat pad. The story goes that Gilo, fielding at gully took them instead fearing the Gilly cut shot.

Another guy, who is still playing for Tassie, and played a few ODIs for Australia in the late nineties is Michael DiVenuto. He gives it a hammering, especially square of the wicket.

Anonymous said...

As I sparked this debate, I guess it's only fair I should contribute. My vote goes for Ali Brown, he's only a wee little scot but he has scored 250+ in a 50 over game and that takes some doing!

Matthew Hoggard has to be close to the worst pound-for-pound hitter......or Mr McCabe himself perhaps?