Three batsmen- who rules the roost?

Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the most outstanding batsmen of their generation and three of the most gifted men to ever wield a willow.

Who is the greatest? Sachin Tendulkar is, to many, the clear answer to this question. But this does not mean Ponting and Lara are not without their skills.

Lara, along with Virender Sehwag, stands as one of the greatest "momentum players" in cricket history. That is to say, that once a momentum player gets going, they are unstoppable and invariably go on to record a mammoth score.

The Trinidadian still holds the world record for the highest Test match score, an unfathomable 400 during the fourth Test against Englandin 2004. Brian has made scores the likes of which Ricky and Sachin could only dream of. Sachin lacks but two milestones on an otherwise impeccable record- a coveted triple ton, and an average higher than that of Donald Bradman's 99.94, while Ponting's highest score in Tests is 257.

Ponting has a talent for carving spectacular innings for his country when they need them, as is evidenced by his enviable fourth innings record. This was an skill which, other than on one famous occasion in particular deserted Lara more often than not and particularly at crucial junctures. Tendulkar's second innings record lags significantly behind other more advanced components of his game.

But Tendulkar is poised to well and truly run away with all the records, and deservedly so. Many had already been labelling him the "new Bradman" but in 1999, when invited to Bradman's birthday, Sir Donald let Sachin know he was his modern embodiment. There could be no higher compliment.

Tendulkar is currently Test cricket's highest run scorer with 13,647 runs to his name. He also stands head and shoulder above everyone else in terms of centuries scored, in both forms of the game- he has scored 46 ODI hundreds and 48 Test hundreds. At 37, and with 94 tons in total, there is enough hope left for Sachin's fans that he has time enough to become the first man to score 100 international hundreds.