Published: Sep 06, 2015, 05:11 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 06, 2015, 05:11 PM (IST)
West Indies right-hand batsman and medium-fast bowler Dwayne Smith has revealed that former hard-hitting batsman Sir Viv Richards and all-rounder Garry Sobers were his cricket idols when he was growing up. According to Smith no one has been able to replicate Sober’s finesse with both bat and ball, Jaques Kallis comes a close second. The 32-year old cricketer feels that Richards was the most flamboyant, destructive and explosive batsman of his generation. Smith added that Richards is the greatest batsman of ODI cricket in history of the game. Smith said that he felt that Richards strike rate of 90 in ODIs with an average of 47 is simply phenomenal and it would extremely difficult for any great batsman in times to come to beat it. Richards strike rate of 90 was unheard of during his time. Dwayne Smith: CSK is the best cricket team that I have ever been a part of
In a conversation with cricketworld.com he said, “As a batsman, I have always liked Sir Vivian Richards. I guess it came from because my father loved him too. Among fielders I like Jonty Rhodes, Ricky Ponting, Sir Viv as well and then we also had Clive Lloyd, who was very good in the field as well. To top it all, Sir Garry Sobers, who to this day I still have conversations with. They were the people that really stand out for me.” Smith has an average record in international cricket. In 105 ODIs he has an average of 18.57 and a strike rate of 92.69. He has also picked 61 wickets at an economy of 5.02 and a strike rate of 44.6. Talking of Tests, he has featured in only 10 Test matches so far. During his childhood days he used to focus on batting and fielding only but with Sobers as his idol he started to bowl also. READ: Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons among WIPA/WICB Award winners
