Ponting... The Batting God: The Much Awaited Sequal...

After my, shall we say, "stimulating" article on the run scoring feats of Sachin Tendulkar against the lesser teams I started to think:

"Hang on... this can't be fair, surely the same must apply to the other great batsman... it can't just be Tendulkar who's record is heavily embellished by ridiculous scoring against the poorer cricketing nations?"

So this time I thought I'd look at the record of Ricky Ponting and see if he has any hidden little "boosters" to his stats.

Like Tendulkar, his test match record is phenomenal, with almost 12,000 runs at an average of 55.67 with 39 centuries. But it's actually even better when you consider that he has only scored 550 of those runs against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Which is surprisingly low when compared with the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid who have both got an excess of 1,500 runs.

Sure, he would almost certainly have racked up similar numbers if he had played the lesser teams as many times as the sub-continental batsmen, but the fact is quite simple: He has played a greater portion of his tests against the more testing cricketing nations than a great deal of modern batsman and his record is still one of, if not, questionably the best.

Being harsh on the likes of Dravid and Tendulkar it's quite clear that without playing over 20 tests against the poor bowling attacks put out by the minnows there records would not be as spectacular as they are.

In Tendulkars defense though his scoring feats against the likes of the mighty Australians on a regular basis do make his record a truly great one, even with all the runs pillaged against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. But this does not mean that Tendulkar should be considered on the stats, which are the best way to compare cricketing peers, any greater than Ricky Ponting.

I think it best to look at who the best players have scored their runs against in this case. So here are the records of Lara, Tendulkar, Kallis, and Ponting against the three most consistently strong test nations of the past 15 or so years (Australia, India, and South Africa):

1. Lara—Innings: 122 Runs: 5573 Av: 46.44 Centuries: 15

2. Tendulkar—Innings: 91 Runs: 3950 Av: 47.59 Centuries: 13

3. Ponting—Innings: 82 Runs: 3917 Av: 51.53 Centuries: 14

4. Kallis—Innings: 65 Runs: 2548 Av: 44.70 Centuries: 6

In comparison with his modern batting peers, with possibly the exception of Lara who of course has clearly scored far more than any against the toughest opposition, Ponting's record is exceptional. In only nine more innings than Ponting the gap in runs between Tendulkar and Ponting is only 33 runs . He looks very much on the facts to be Tendulkars equal, a great feat, bearing in mind that this also includes Sachin's record against Australia.

Sifting through these numbers though, I can’t help but think, can Ponting really, be in anyway compared to the hero worshipped Tendulkar?

Of course he can, it would take a blind fool to consider Tendulkar's test record greater than Ponting's. If anything, Ponting's is greater against the stronger nations and, when you take away runs scored against New Zealand, the West Indies, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe (the four weakest teams of the last decade). The top three run scorers look like this:

1. Lara—Innings: 209 Runs: 10854 Av: 53.46 Centuries: 31

2. Tendulkar—Innings: 188 Runs: 8762 Av: 51.23 Centuries: 30

3. Ponting—Innings: 173 Runs: 8570 Av: 53.22 Centuries: 28

Lara is clearly miles ahead of Tendulkar and Ponting, people probably won't agree with that...but it really doesn't lie. However Ponting and Tendulkar are remarkably close, in only 15 more innings Tendulkar can only boast 192 more runs . It would, looking at his career, take a monumental dip in Ponting's form for him to not score 192 runs in over seven games!

The facts do not lie; Ponting is one of test crickets modern greats and undoubtedly one of the all time greats, standing very much shoulder to shoulder with the little master amongst others.

You might even say he was a batting god...if you were an idiot.