Distance - guilt in sport reporting

How do you compare different sports players when at the back of your mind you know they are real people? Something in your conscience tells you you are doing something wrong when you compare people's strengths and flaws against each other in such an open public sphere.

I did this in my last blog post. I compared the South African test openers to the Pakistani test openers. I felt guilty about comparing people, about saying some people are better than others for this and this reason. It is because I know they are real people. I don't think I would like someone comparing my abilities with someone else's when I am under such pressure to perform for millions of people, my country's pride, my team and my captain.

Under the skin of the player is the heart of a person. A real person. I just thought I'd share this. It is something I will probably struggle with as a journalist one day. Even though many believe journalists are merely supposed to bring attention to things, raise concerns, and not give their own opinions; just by reporting on certain chosen issues and obeying your boss's orders you may be bending the public's viewpoints on real people who deserve respect. 

How can I keep a distance between my freedom and desire to write, and the people I am writing about?

England's Graeme Swann (33) is currently 7th in the world in test bowlers according to the ICC player rankings. Doesn't he look pretty normal in this photo? Picture taken from http://www.mirror.co.uk

What I hope to avoid. Picture taken from http://www.funnyjunk.com

Who has the better openers?

I have not written anything in this blog for some time and am desperately craving something more creative and new to write about, but dealing with cricket. I am also very busy now, doing honours full-time and working as a tutor and research assistant. I decided though to just sit down with this short space of time I have and blog.

The Proteas test team almost always opens the batting with Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen. Pakistan will probably from now on open with Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed, at least in my future predictions. Which team has the better opening batting pair?

SMITH AND PETERSEN

Gmith (32) is an unorthodox but powerful and confident left-handed batsman who likes to dominate the bowlers. He recently extended his leg-sided shot emphasis to playing more around the wicket. He used to get out Leg Before Wicket often but has since improved in that area also. Smith captains the test team. His stats are as follows:

Graeme Smith's Batting and fielding averages (from http://www.espncricinfo.com)

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	108	189	12	8700	277	49.15	14585	59.65	26	37	1105	23	154	0
ODIs	189	186	10	6887	141	39.13	8468	81.32	10	47	780	43	100	0
T20Is	33	33	2	982	89*	31.67	770	127.53	0	5	123	26	18	0
First-class	148	255	17	11968	311	50.28			35	48			212	0
List A	250	244	15	9155	141	39.97			14	66			130	0
Twenty20	81	81	6	2282	105	30.42	1847	123.55	1	11	281	49	35	0

Alviro Petersen (32) is a more orthodox but also confident right-handed batsmen. He is good with cover drives and the pull and hook shots especially. He doesn't have as high a strike rate as some batsmen but can hold an innings together and has often done that for the Lions, sometimes batting at number 3.

Alviro Petersen's Batting and fielding averages (from http://www.espncricinfo.com)

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	22	40	2	1561	182	41.07	3043	51.29	5	5	188	9	15	0
ODIs	17	15	1	437	80	31.21	525	83.23	0	4	44	3	3	0
T20Is	2	2	0	14	8	7.00	19	73.68	0	0	1	0	1	0
First-class	155	274	14	10325	210	39.71			31	41			119	0
List A	148	142	10	4497	145*	34.06			7	27			52	0
Twenty20	72	67	9	1629	84*	28.08	1340	121.56	0	13	166	41	38	0

Petersen (left) and Smith (right) reached 84/0 at lunch after being put into bat by England in the second test at Headingley in 2012.  The Proteas won the series 2-0 and became the number one test team. They still are number one. (Image taken from http://www.thenews.com.pk)

HAFEEZ AND JAMSHED

I must admit that I don't know a great deal about Mohammad Hafeez (32). I just know that he is a right handed batsman and one of the more experienced players that Pakistan have right now. He is also a good off-spinner and it must be noted that he is selected as part of the Pakistan squad for that reason as well. He is not just a batman, like the other three players discussed here are. 

Mohammad Hafeez's Batting and fielding averages (from http://www.espncricinfo.com)

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	30	58	5	1967	196	37.11	3656	53.80	5	8	246	12	20	0
ODIs	110	110	4	2892	139*	27.28	4207	68.74	4	15	320	26	35	0
T20Is	42	40	0	927	71	23.17	812	114.16	0	4	105	21	14	0
First-class	163	279	11	9466	196	35.32			20	46			139	0
List A	198	198	9	6294	139*	33.30			9	39			79	0
Twenty20	104	98	5	2440	100	26.23	1892	128.96	1	15	287	66	40	0

Hafeez's Bowling averages (from http://www.espncricinfo.com)

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	30	48	2572	1063	33	4/16	4/48	32.21	2.47	77.9	2	0	0
ODIs	110	102	4523	3024	92	3/17	3/17	32.86	4.01	49.1	0	0	0
T20Is	42	38	668	750	32	4/10	4/10	23.43	6.73	20.8	1	0	0
First-class	163		12664	5639	210	8/57		26.85	2.67	60.3		6	2
List A	198		8833	5935	180	4/23	4/23	32.97	4.03	49.0	2	0	0
Twenty20	104	95	1802	1888	91	4/10	4/10	20.74	6.28	19.8	3	0	0

Nasir Jamshed (23) is a left-handed aggressive batsmen. He is only playing in his first test matches in this current series between SA and Pakistan. He is a very exciting batsman, as are all young and aggressive batsmen, and has done very well so far in the shorter formats for Pakistan. 

Nasir Jamshed's Batting and fielding averages (from http://www.espncricinfo.com)

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	1	2	0	48	46	24.00	80	60.00	0	0	8	0	0	0
ODIs	22	22	3	955	112	50.26	1073	89.00	3	6	111	13	8	0
T20Is	11	11	1	263	56	26.30	217	121.19	0	2	20	10	4	0
First-class	74	129	8	5114	182	42.26			15	23			63	0
List A	76	75	5	2691	128	38.44	2988	90.06	7	13			30	0
Twenty20	63	60	5	1502	86*	27.30	1189	126.32	0	10	156	38	21	0

Jamshed (left) and Hafeez (right) each hit 45 to beat Australia in a T20 international at Dubai Stadium in September 2012. (Image taken from http://www.thenews.com.pk)

So who has the better opening test batsmen? According to batting statistics South Africa does. But does that mean the South Africans are better players of spin? I don't think so. And does that mean the scores of these 4 players are already determined before they walk to middle? No. Jamshed is a young batsmen who is yet to reach his full potential. I believe the other 3 batsmen, being 32 years old and having played international cricket for some time, have  already showed the world how good they can be. Hafeez also contributes with the ball, which the other 3 do not.

If  we were comparing apples and pears on sweetness, the apples being Smith and Peterson and the pears being Hafeez and Jamshed, then the apples are sweeter but the pears are younger and have a richer flavour at different times.