Best Cricketer of the Past Twenty Five Years

[Berty23]

Kallis frequently played down the order though - say at 6. Generally easier runs there. Excellent player though.

Of his 13000 test runs kallis has scored ninety/90 nine zero runs at number six. He has scored 600 at five. The other 12000 plus have come in the top four.

Fair to say that is not an accurate assertion.

 

[Berty23]

So being the fifth bowler who bowls the donkey overs such as 70 to 80, fielding in the slips all day so concentrating every ball and then going off and immediately padding up; that is chuffing impressive.

 

[Trevor]

Of his 13000 test runs kallis has scored ninety/90 nine zero runs at number six. He has scored 600 at five. The other 12000 plus have come in the top four.

Fair to say that is not an accurate assertion.

I stand corrected

 

[vegster]

Kallis for me, can do it with bat and ball. His batting average at 55 is higher than that of Sachin, and he's taken nearly 300 wickets on top of that.

And that's why he has my vote. Warne is obviously the best bowler by numbers but unfortunately can't keep his trap shut. Sachin and Lara both great batsmen but offer little else for the team. Lara in particular needed to sleep off a big innings and would frequently be " too tired " to field for a session after getting out. Sachin was just a run machine and in later life a slight liability in the field.

There are others who could warrant a mention although they did not sustain such a long career as those in the poll. Wasim Akram, Michael Bevan, Kapil Dev and Carl Hooper spring to mind.

 

[El Presidente]

There are others who could warrant a mention although they did not sustain such a long career as those in the poll. Wasim Akram, Michael Bevan, Kapil Dev and Carl Hooper spring to mind.

I would put Sir Viv ahead of any of those, although I appreciate he is outside the 25 year limit.

 

[Mackenzie]

Kallis for me.

 

[vegster]

I would put Sir Viv ahead of any of those, although I appreciate he is outside the 25 year limit.

yep Sir Vivian would have been mentioned but for the 25 year provisio. If we went back to his time we would probably spend months just whittling it down to 10 cricketers. how about Aravinda deSilva, Sunil Gavaskar,Steve Waugh, Malcolm Marshall, Sir Richard Hadlee..... and that's without some obvious England cricketers !

 

[Berty23]

If murali was Australian and Warne Sri Lankan he would be accepted as the best bowler ever.

 

[Berty23]

My favourite bowler was curtly. Scary.

 

[Zen Frenzy]

Thought Warne was brilliant but trumped by Gilchrist. Sort of love the fact that the Aussies can't rub our noses in it any more but would be more satisfying if the opposition was a bit stronger - with these boys and Ponting, Waugh etc long gone their class as a team has declined. If the poll was strectched back in time for a few years I would have voted for Beefy.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

My favourite bowler was curtly. Scary.

Indeed, even in the bar at the Cricketeers, a giant of a man....

 

[The Modfather]

For me, Tendulkar just edges out Warne

 

[Pevenseagull]

Indeed, even in the bar at the Cricketeers, a giant of a man....

One day I was in there and realised Allan Donald was next to me at the bar. I imagine I would have felt the same if I'd bumped into Darth Vader when I was 8.

 

[brakespear]

Viv Richards was still playing 25 years ago so him. But of the six listed then Warne.

edit: and having read the thread and being reminded then Curtley Ambrose would be above any of those six too.

 

[Billy the Fish]

A superb all rounder but all time? Sobers and Hadlee for me.

Additionally, there have only been 20odd occasions when a player got a ton and a five-for in the same test, Botham did it 5 times.

That said Kallis has been there or there abouts with bat, ball and in the field for pretty much all of his career.

To make up the 5 all rounders of all time I'd put Dev in there to make up numbers.



Another reason to have Sobers as the best all rounder ever is there is some debate over whether he was naturally fast medium or spin

I've had this debate with my uncle who remembers watching Sobers play at sussex in county cricket, he picks Sobers every time. He also plays the Kapil Dev card as well!

It's always been difficult to compare different eras in cricket, I just think you can't argue with the stats in this case and the fact he's lasted so long at the top level. I'm obviously biased though, because I didn't see the others play live.

 

[big nuts]

Viv Richards was still playing 25 years ago so him. But of the six listed then Warne.

edit: and having read the thread and being reminded then Curtley Ambrose would be above any of those six too.

I didn't put Richards in purely because he was at the tail end of his career, he retired in 1991 and his last couple of years he found runs relatively tough to come by.

As for Ambrose alongside Walsh a fearsome opening pairing, but like Alan Donald also I didn't believe they deserved to be alongside the six I listed. That being said I feel bad for not having one single fast bowler in the six, but there are so many quality one's to choose from particularly around the early nineties when it seemed every team had at least one World class bowler or more.

Off the top of my head:-
Donald, Pollock, Walsh, Ambrose, Bishop, McGrath, Waqar & Wasim.

It's no surprise that the perceived World class batting average was 40+ then compare that with 50 now and a huge factor in that is the quality of bowlers has diminished massively over the past 5 or so years. I reckon if you put Hick & Ramprakash in today's era they would be run machines in test cricket.

 

[vegster]

Voted for Warne but got me wondering why I chose him over Murali.

He got more wickets (800/708) in fewer innings (230/278) at a better average (22/25) so why does Warne get so much more praise?

It's probably because of the furore Murali's action, and also because Warne tore England apart time and time again whereas we didn't see as much of Murali against England. Perhaps Murali was also aided by the pitches on the subcontinent.

Sub-continent pitches tend to take spin as the pitches are drier and dustier plus it's bloomin hard to steam in in 40 C heat.However, all the sub-continent batsmen are weaned on spin and as such in order to winkle them out you have to be a really good spinner. You can't just turn up and expect wickets down there, you have to work at it so Murali really was a king amongst spinners.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Kallis frequently played down the order though - say at 6. Generally easier runs there. Excellent player though.

He's batted at number 3 for quite a bit of his test career.

 

[joeinbrighton]

There are others who could warrant a mention although they did not sustain such a long career as those in the poll. Wasim Akram, Michael Bevan, Kapil Dev and Carl Hooper spring to mind.

Carl Hooper? He wouldn't even make the West Indies best team of the last 25 years, never mind a debate about the best player of the last 25 years.

 

[Triggaaar]

Shane Warne is the best bowler of that time

Murali for me. Warne had the benefit of playing for the best side.