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Holding vs Smith

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
HoldingWinner
87.5

Holding wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Smith
85.6

Smith wins: Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Cricket

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Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇯🇲 Michael Holding
87.5

Holding leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Whispering Death: 249 Test wickets in the great West Indies pace attack.

1. Michael Holding
87.5
2. Steve Smith
85.6

Category breakdown

Season form · Centuries per year

Career timeline · Centuries per year

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Centuries per year
1. 🇦🇺 Steve Smith5 years played · career day 3,652336 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇯🇲 Michael Holding5 years played · career day 2,921104 runs
-69.0% vs Smith at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇯🇲 Holding000010122
🇦🇺 Smith00000270

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricHoldingRetiredSmithActive
Test wickets249
Tests played60
Best innings figures8
World Cup titles1
Test bowling average23.68
Test runs10,000
Test centuries36
Test average56
World Test Championships1
World Cups1
ICC Cricketer of the Year2
Dominance w25%8884
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%7882
Honours w20%8880
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Holding87.5
Smith85.6
The people
Holding
Smith

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Make your case for Holding vs Smith. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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