The World's Best Batsmen

There's something about watching a batsmen who clearly looks better than everyone else. You get a fair dose of it playing cricket growing up, there's that kid who can pull the most feared bowler in your age group without flinching. They've just got it, if you're bowling to them, good luck but if you're watching them just sit back and enjoy the show.

That's how I felt watching Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. I mean ABDV bats with a cloth hanging out his pants, that's how good he is. When Amla opts not to rock the liquor logo on his uniform thanks to his Muslim beliefs, no one really cares. He can do what he wants. I love them because they are awesome to watch, it's different to watching Rahul Dravid or Shiv Chanderpaul who take their time and show a mental desire un-matched. Amla and ABDV are silky, they simply swing their bat and the ball pings off the middle, there's no effort, they don't force anything. They just simply enjoy themselves.

Amla, you could put him in the Dravid and Chanderpaul category but he averages 54 in ODI's vs 51 in tests. When you're this good at batting, you have the ability to do it all and both Amla and ABDV are able to match cricketing smarts (knowing when to leave, when to defend and when to hunker down) with pure run scoring. It's the ease at which they get runs and they certainty at which they do so - if you bowl full outside off, you're picking the ball up from the boundary. 

Who else can be classified alongside Amla and ABDV as the world's best? Well Kumar Sangakkara certainly can. Sanga obviously has similar traits to Amla and ABDV, the timing, the precision, how easy he makes batting look but there's something different. Ah, he's a leftie! A cover drive from a left hander just looks absolutely gorgeous and Sangakkara makes nearly every shot look gorgeous. When you're graced with an eagle eye, you don't have to be uber strong to smack it around the park and Sangakkara is someone who simply lets the bat do the talking.

Mention the Niche Cache and get 20% off most cricket gear at Sports First

That's my top 3 right now. There are others who could work themselves in to the mix - Faf du Plessis is there or there abouts. He averages 52 in tests but his ODI average is only around 36 so he doesn't quite have the same record as the other 3, however I love him. He's a bit more grittier than the others but he still makes batting look stupidly easy. Not as fluid as Amla and ABDV but his ability to work the ball around and dictate proceedings puts him up there.

This is where things get tricky. There are a host of names who slide up the list in to the mix - Virat Kohli and Alistair Cook spring to mind but it's hard to go past that bloody Aussie David Warner. As hate-able as he is, I love him. If you're wondering about Warner, think back to when he burst on to the scene as a T20 specialist. Now he's one of the world's most dangerous batsmen and is perhaps Australia's most important batsmen with Michael Clarke's lack of form and injuries. Warner averages 47 in test matches, not bad huh? He's got to that point by simply playing smart, he knows that if you bowl in his key areas, that he can easily dispatch it to the boundary. But his defensive game has ensured that he's a success in the longer format.

There's something about watching these guys in motion. Their shot making is gorgeous, but they have the ability to be awesome at the things that make cricket so tough. The mental fortitude, the expert knowledge of your own strengths and the precision make the difference. At the international level, everyone can hit a ball out of the screws, but these lads stand head and shoulders above the rest.