Barry Richards combined the technical skill of Sunil Gavaskar or Len Hutton with the ferocity of Viv Richards or Walter Hammond.Ina full test career I would have backed Barry to even overshadow Sachin Tendulkar by a matter of afew inches.More than Barry's staggering statistical figures it was the way he scored his runs.It was realy sad that Barry could not play international cricket in the time of the Viv which prevented cricket from having arguably it's best ever battle for suprmacy for the title of the world's best batsmen.Overall sadly Barry would be rated marginally below the likes of Viv Richards ,Jack Hobbs or Sunil Gavaskar as he hardly had the opportunity to play at Intyernational level.Significantly Bradman rated Barry as the best bat of his time but this could have well been unfair to Viv Richards or Sunil Gavaskar.

Arguably no batsmen ever could blend batting technique and destructive strokeplay as perfectly as Barry Richards who could pulverize the best of bowling attacks like a bomber raiding an airbase but still display the methodology of a technician.Barry's strokes had the technical perfection of an architect,the power of a boxer and the creativity of a sculptor.Barry was debatably the closest to the perfect and most complete post-war batsmen. Barry even overshadowed fellow mate Viv Richards in world series Packer cricket when scoring 207 in 1977-78 in the final supertest and 125 in the supertest final in 1978-79.Barry averaged 79.16 in packer cricket,the highest by any batsmen.His domination in 1972 when averaging 109.86 in a first class season and scoring 1583 runs was like a re-incarnation of Bradman as well as his innings of 356 .Hade he had a proper test career I would have backed Barry to have been the best batsman after Bradman.

Barry Richards was the greatest batsman I have ever seen. In a way there was a certain randomness and unpredictability about him because he had trouble motivating himself for county games day in and day out but you always felt that when he was in the mood or when there was a showcase for him like a match against a touring side or a battle against a world class bowler or a televised Sunday League match he would invariably do well. I saw him batting on TV on about 5 or 6 occasions in the Sunday League and he made hundreds in 3 of them. His 354 against a Western Australian attack including Dennis Lillee and Graham Mckenzie and his averages of over 70 in 4 tests and 5 World Series games shows what might have been. The tragedy of his exclusion from test cricket lends a tragic quality to his story and a romantic aura surrounds him in the cherished memories of those fortunate enough to have caught fleeting glimpses of his genius.