Since the nuggety one officially announced his retirement whilst the forum was on holidays I thought we'd give him his own thread now.

A superb player who's often been drawfed in a team of champions.

The same goes for his retirement, playing third fiddle behind Warne and McGrath.

Anyway, congrats Justin, you've done your country proud.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by Hass:
A superb player who's often been drawfed in a team of champions.

Nice.

But to me he is just a garden knome who brown noses and received copious amounts of luck at the crease (Srinath should know)

Making your test debut on on a dodgy track in the most important game for your country in years against Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop and Benjamin is "lucky"?

His head stayed on his shoulders didn't it?

That makes him 'lucky'.

The worst regular member of the Aussie top 7 of this century. Did put in one good performance however, at Hobart in 99 with Gilly

Loved this quote from his retirement press conference:


"There hasn't been a waking moment for the last 20 years where I haven't thought about playing Test cricket and wearing the baggy green cap, so this is a tough moment. There hasn't been a moment where Test cricket hasn't been on my mind."

Probably explains why his four daughters are called Lords, Tugga, Gully and Box.

He crapped all over Martyn and at least matched Hayden.

quote:

Originally posted by Fred Nerk:
He crapped all over Martyn and at least matched Hayden.

You're dreaming about Marto

He may have been the worst regular member of our top 7 but he still managed a very respectable average, 7500 runs and was in the second most prolific opening partnership of all time. Not a bad effort. Besides, I'd put katich behind Langer and Clarke (until this ashes series) in the same boat. And you can't tell me that Langer is worse than Symonds.

quote:

Originally posted by JGK:
Loved this quote from his retirement press conference:


"There hasn't been a waking moment for the last 20 years where I haven't thought about playing Test cricket and wearing the baggy green cap, so this is a tough moment. There hasn't been a moment where Test cricket hasn't been on my mind."

Probably explains why his four daughters are called Lords, Tugga, Gully and Box.

I hear they're planning on naming their next kids, siamese twins, Glenn and Shane.

Are we talking about Langer post-2001 or pre-2001?

Post-2001 he's been a fantastic opening batsman. Compare his stats with ... oh, I don't know .... how about Lawry?

quote:

Originally posted by Dwayne W II:

quote:

Originally posted by Fred Nerk:
He crapped all over Martyn and at least matched Hayden.

You're dreaming about Marto

And I thought the Hayden comparison would be the one to draw the flak....

So, who are the candidates to replace him?

Rogers and some Dubber hack called Jaques.

SDHCJ is still second in line now, but fading fast. Jewell (for example, poss others as well) might be ahead of him by season's end, and with the team staying home next spring it could be open slather for any opener who chalks up two tons before Cup day.

Then there's that bloke who's already in the team, has about 40 FC centuries from the top of the order. Same initials as that other opener....

Actually there aren't that many other candidates unless someone like Shaun Marsh or Callum Ferguson steps up to open.

Paine might be one to watch.

Justin Langer was a far more successful and influential player than Damien Martyn.

Marto had two glory series in 2004.

Langer consistently provided Australia with a solid, often flying, base at the top of the order. That's not to mention his important knocks pre-2001.

Such as his 179 not out at Adelaide in 1998 that set up Australia retaining the Ashes.

Not to mention his 127 at Hobart in that Test win.

And his blistering run a ball century at Hamilton in 2000 - it was a dead rubber, but first showcased the flashy player inside.

Langer was not a 'great' batsmen, but he did have one characteristic I find common in all great batsmen. He was able to capitalise on good fortune.

Too many batsmen get a chance - be it a dropped catch or a close LBW call and don't grasp it with both hands. Langer wasn't lucky at all. He just made his chances stick.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by Fred Nerk:

Then there's that bloke who's already in the team, has about 40 FC centuries from the top of the order. Same initials as that other opener....

Maybe I'm just a sadist but I really like the demoralizing aspect of having to see your opponents shoulders drop when they've dismissed the openers and realize that they then have to bowl at Drunky and Paris. Keep that rock solid middle order of Drunk, Paris and Kid. Slot in Watto as opener (since he's better up the order anyway) and keep the other all-round Billy at 6 :P. Still I think that Froggy needs a good run at opener (even with his rubbish year this year he's averaging over 56 in FC cricket and over 40 in one day cricket).

The NLWL at Middlesex was probably a big factor in the emergence of Strauss.

He didn't help us win much while he was there, but inspired the likes of Shah, Dalrymple and Joyce too.

Pity he doesn't bowl - we might not have got relegated!

He has now said he wants to be the man to lead Somerset out of the doldrums.

quote:

Originally posted by Hass:
Justin Langer was a far more successful and influential player than Damien Martyn.

That ain't right. Marto - better average, more consistant all around the world (alfie only averaged 29, 30 and 32 in India, South africa and Sri Lanka respectively, compared with Marto's 55, 41 and 52) and better away average

Then there's Marto's ODI record.

Firstly, I'd expect a batsmen in the middle-to-lower order to have a higher average than an opener.

The fact Hayden and Langer average so highly makes us foregt that.

Martyn may have been 'consistent' getting a lot of pretty 30 and 40's. But Langer played dominating innings that made a difference.

As for his one-day record - it's a selectorial disgrace that he only played eight matches.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by Hass:
Firstly, I'd expect a batsmen in the middle-to-lower order to have a higher average than an opener.

The fact Hayden and Langer average so highly makes us foregt that.

Martyn may have been 'consistent' getting a lot of pretty 30 and 40's. But Langer played dominating innings that made a difference.

Yet you could only name 3, and 2 of them aren't impressive at all. Marto had 10 knocks that were as you described

Langer - better than Clarke, Hayden, Katich, Symonds and Martyn.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwayne W II:

quote:

Originally posted by Hass:
Firstly, I'd expect a batsmen in the middle-to-lower order to have a higher average than an opener.

The fact Hayden and Langer average so highly makes us foregt that.

Martyn may have been 'consistent' getting a lot of pretty 30 and 40's. But Langer played dominating innings that made a difference.

Yet you could only name 3, and 2 of them aren't impressive at all. Marto had 10 knocks that were as you described

Your having a laugh aren't you?

Martyn was a lovely strokemaker but Langer was by far the better of the two with regards to value to the Australian team.