Best Cricketer of the Past Twenty Five Years

[Mackenzie]

What about the opening pairing of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer? Those two could score some runs and quickly too. Then when you finally got them out Ponting would arrived. Then Gilchrist at number 6 would Quickfire a century. Glen McGrath and Bret Lee would rip through the opening order especially Atherton,I think McGrath got him practically every time. Then warne would mop up the innings. That was a bloody good side. Glad they're gone to be honest. Although Gilchrist was an honest batsman and would wall most times,how many catches did he claim that hadn't been edged.

I would have loved to see that Australian side up against the WIndies team of the 80's....what a match that would have been!

 

[knocky1]

What about the opening pairing of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer? Those two could score some runs and quickly too. Then when you finally got them out Ponting would arrived. Then Gilchrist at number 6 would Quickfire a century. Glen McGrath and Bret Lee would rip through the opening order especially Atherton,I think McGrath got him practically every time. Then warne would mop up the innings. That was a bloody good side. Glad they're gone to be honest. Although Gilchrist was an honest batsman and would wall most times,how many catches did he claim that hadn't been edged.

Absolutely. I tried this on another thread. Cricket trivia. 2006/7 Ashes. McGrath, Brett Lee and Warnes last Ashes series. 5-0 whitewash as they all performed at the top of their game. Who topped the Australian bowling averages and took the most wickets? Interesting trivia indeed.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Cricket trivia. 2006/7 Ashes. McGrath, Brett Lee and Warnes last Ashes series. 5-0 whitewash as they all performed at the top of their game. Who topped the Australian bowling averages and took the most wickets? Interesting trivia indeed.

Stuart Clark?

 

[Surf's Up]

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.

Agree with this, a superb all round cricketer.

 

[Luke93]

Kallis can easily manipulate his average though because he bats down the order, meaning he finishes not out quite often (thus significantly helping the average). Openers can rearly bat through. However Warne is the best player for me because he has played the best verses 'better' nations.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Kallis can easily manipulate his average though because he bats down the order, meaning he finishes not out quite often (thus significantly helping the average). Openers can rearly bat through. However Warne is the best player for me because he has played the best verses 'better' nations.

He doesn't really bat down the order though. He doesn't bat at number 6 like a traditional all-rounder, he batted at number 4 in the recent series v Pakistan and against England last summer. He often used to bat at number 3 until Hashim Amla started playing for South Africa. Although an all-rounder, he is unusual in the sense that he's a batting all-rounder, whereas most of the great all-rounders of the past 35 years have been first and foremost bowlers.

 

[mona]

Voted for Warne. Would have added Steve Waugh to the list as he often got runs when the going was tough.

 

[Kumquat]

Sachin for me just because of the enormous pressure he was under and the fact that he maintained his consistency in the light of it. Lara's comments recently only reinforce it.We will never see his like again. Warne and McGragh were part of an extremely successful team for the entirety of their dominance. Tendulkar, like Lara, carried teams. India are a force now and have been since the nineties because of him.

 

[big nuts]

Sachin for me just because of the enormous pressure he was under and the fact that he maintained his consistency in the light of it. Lara's comments recently only reinforce it.We will never see his like again. Warne and McGragh were part of an extremely successful team for the entirety of their dominance. Tendulkar, like Lara, carried teams. India are a force now and have been since the nineties because of him.

Disagree Indian have always produced great batsman;-
Sehwag, Dravid, laxman & Ganguly off the top of my head, whereas Lara had very little, as Chanderpaul wasn't as good during the Lara era.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Voted for Warne. Would have added Steve Waugh to the list as he often got runs when the going was tough.

Steve Waugh surely would go down as the cricketer who made more of his talent than anyone else in the past 25 years. It took him 26 tests to score a century, but he ended up averaging over 50 and seemed to produce his best when he or his team were under pressure. I remember when he scored a century in the Oval test in 2001 despite playing with a hamstring injury which had kept him out of the previous test. His brother was more technically gifted, but Steve Waugh was incredibly obdurate and determined.

 

[Kumquat]

Disagree Indian have always produced great batsman;-
Sehwag, Dravid, laxman & Ganguly off the top of my head, whereas Lara had very little, as Chanderpaul wasn't as good during the Lara era.

Absolutely agree. But the Tendulkar affect made kids want to be batsmen. Pre 90s India were being destroyed by other cricketing nations. He carried the nation's cricket. Lara to be fair had his work cut out. Most west indian kids were turning to basketball where the money was. There's no doubting his talent and maybe he is in terms of skill a better batsman than Tendulkar, but Sachin was carrying a nation with real passion for cricket. Lara was playing for himself most of the time.

 

[matthew]

Murali clearly the greatest bowler of all time, and he was not a 'chucker' his arm physically can't go back all the way, plus he got cleared anyway!

Also why isn't Sangakkara on the list? Out of all of the leading run scorers he averages the highest plus be basically carries Sri Lanka in every single game, if Tendulkar misses out India have plenty of great batsman to cover.

Maybe I just like Sri Lanka because they're a tiny island and compete against countries many times as big but I seriously think if he had played as many tests and ODI's as Sachin we would be talking about him as the greatest ever.

 

[colinz]

I would have loved to see that Australian side up against the WIndies team of the 80's....what a match that would have been!

Dean Jones reckoned that not many from that great recent Australian team would have been picked ahead, of the Players from the Great Windies team of the 80s.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

In 2000, Wisden announced their 5 Cricketers of the Century. This wasn't just the decision of the editorial team, it was canvassed far and wide. They were.....
Jack Hobbs
Don Bradman
Garfield Sobers
Viv Richards
Shane Warne

Warne made this list even though he still had some years ahead of him. That was his standing in the game then.
Enough said.

 

[keaton]

Kallis for me

 

[Durlston]

Brian Lara did brilliantly and held a very average Windies team together so often. He was under the most pressure because of it.

Allan Donald hasn't been mentioned much. One of the world's top fast bowlers to get South Africa back amongst the world's best.

Have to vote for Shane Warne though. Just incredible.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Ok abit more than 25 years,but this player was not bad !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9WKSiG4qdA

 

[crodonilson]

I can't believe this, I clicked on the thread expecting The Little Master to have 95-100% of the vote. Good job the peple within cricket treat him with the respect he deserves.

 

[Berty23]

Kallis can easily manipulate his average though because he bats down the order, meaning he finishes not out quite often (thus significantly helping the average). Openers can rearly bat through. However Warne is the best player for me because he has played the best verses 'better' nations.

Good point. Fewer than 1000 of his 13000 runs have come lower than 4. So actually a terrible point given sachin scored a higher percentage batting lower and more on flat pitches!

 

[Berty23]

Another who could be argued into this list is pollock. He averaged more than flintoff with the bat and about 22 (guess) with the ball.