An Oddsworth Opinion
Where our ratings put Shai Hope, the hipster's choice
The story
Wisden nominates Shai Hope as the overlooked candidate for the world's best batter across all formats, arguing that while the familiar names dominate the debate, the West Indies batter's record deserves a place in the conversation that few people think to give it.
Wisden · 24 October at 11:05 BSTShai Hope, the hipster’s choice as the world’s best all-format batterRead the full storyWisden has put Shai Hope forward as the world's best all-format batter that nobody thinks to name, the hipster's choice against the familiar crowd. The back catalogue certainly supports a cult following: in men's ODIs he has 6,590 runs at an average of 51.48, with 21 hundreds from 155 matches.
Our ratings are cooler on him. They place him 16th of 118 men's ODI batters, worth about 4.7 runs a match more than an average player. That is a good player's number, a long way short of a cult hero's.
Has Hope changed his game?
Yes, and the case for Hope rests on it. Over the last two years he averages 61 at a strike rate of 96 in men's ODIs, against 32.99 and 85.1 for top-seven batters in the same period, so the old picture of a batter who scored his runs too slowly to matter no longer holds.
The shape of those runs is the hipster's problem. The July series against New Zealand brought three single-figure scores in four innings, and West Indies lost three of those matches. Then came India, and an unbeaten 162 to chase down 352.
Career average 51.5Not out
The side around him
Hipster bands play small venues, and so does Hope. West Indies sit ninth of ten in our men's ODI team ratings, with a 43% chance of beating an average side.
A batter in that side gets fewer of the big days that stick in the memory, and the one he did get this autumn came after two eight-wicket defeats in the same series.
Is the cult right about Hope's ODI batting?
Mostly, yes. The last two years would get Hope into most one-day sides in the world, and that 162 not out showed what he does when the match is on. Our ratings still have him as a very good ODI batter and no more, and the cult has him higher than the record has yet earned.
The hipster's choice is usually a band on the way up, and the next step for Hope is turning that chase against India from a highlight into a habit. When the hundreds come more often than the single figures, the venues will fill on their own.