The 10 best ODI openers of all time. !!

[SJS]

Who do you people think are the ten best ODI openers of all time and why ?

To get you going I am putting here a list of some who come to mind. There are others for sure.

Please put them in order of ranking and not in alphabetical order as i have done.

Anwar-----------
Astle------------
Atapattu--------
Ganguly--------
Gibbs------------
Gilchrist--------
Gooch-----------
Greenidge-----
Hayden---------
Haynes---------
Jayasuriya-----
Kirsten----------
Sehwag---------
Siddhu----------
Smith------------
Tendulkar------
Waugh M------

 

[Hoggy31]

No way Matthew Hayden should be in there IMO

 

[masterblaster]

Who do you people think are the ten best ODI openers of all time and why ?

To get you going I am putting here a list of some who come to mind. There are others for sure.

Please put them in order of ranking and not in alphabetical order as i have done.

Anwar-----------
Atapattu--------
Ganguly--------
Gibbs------------
Gilchrist--------
Gooch-----------
Greenidge-----
Hayden---------
Haynes---------
Jayasuriya-----
Kirsten----------
Sehwag---------
Siddhu----------
Smith------------
Tendulkar------
Waugh M------

1. Tendulkar
2. Gilchrist

and then the rest follow...............

 

[age_master]

1. Tendulkar
2. Gilchrist

and then the rest follow...............

yeah M Waugh, S GAnguly, V Sehwag, H Gibbs, Jayasuria, Anwar the best of the rest for mine

 

[SJS]

Okay. Here are a few parameters.

The most successful (batting average)

Sachin--------- 49.2
Greenidge------ 45.4
Waugh M------ 44.1
Ganguly-------- 42.1
Kirsten---------- 41.8
Haynes--------- 41.4
Hayden--------- 41.3
Smith------------ 41.0
Siddhu---------- 40.3
Gooch----------- 40.3
Anwar----------- 40.0
Atapattu-------- 38.4
Gilchrist-------- 36.5
Sehwag--------- 36.4
Astle------------- 35.2
Gibbs------------ 35.2
Jayasuriya----- 35.0

 

[age_master]

in order of ranking (after re reading)

Tendulkar
Gilchrist
Jayasuria
Anwar
Waugh
Sehwag
Gibbs
Ganguly

 

[SJS]

The most hundreds as an opener

Sachin---------- 35
Anwar----------- 20
Ganguly-------- 19
Jayasuriya----- 18
Haynes--------- 17
Waugh M------ 15
Kirsten---------- 13
Astle------------- 13
Gibbs------------ 13
Greenidge------ 11
Gilchrist-------- 10
Gooch----------- 8
Sehwag--------- 7
Atapattu-------- 6
Hayden--------- 5
Siddhu---------- 4
Smith------------ 3

 

[howardj]

No way Matthew Hayden should be in there IMO

Very lucky to have kept his place in the Australian ODI team for as long as he has

 

[Hoggy31]

Ok I'll have a go SJS

1. Sachin - just a masterful player
2. Gilchrist - very damaging
3. Waugh - great player
4. Greenidge - heard alot about him
5. Anwar - classy
6. Jayasuriya - can be very damaging
7. Haynes - heard alot about him too
8. Kirsten - good solid player
9. Sehwag - very damaging, could be near the top at the end of his career
10. Attapatu - good classy player

 

[SJS]

Before someone says centuries are directly influenced by number of innings played. Here is another.

Number of innings per century

Tendulkar----- 6.7
Waugh M------ 9.4
Ganguly-------- 10.5
Greenidge------ 10.9
Anwar----------- 11.0
Gibbs----------- 11.4
Gooch----------- 12.4
Sehwag--------- 12.4
Astle------------- 13.2
Kirsten---------- 13.5
Atapattu-------- 13.7
Haynes--------- 13.9
Jayasuriya----- 15.4
Siddhu---------- 15.8
Gilchrist-------- 18.2
Hayden--------- 19.6
Smith------------ 21.0

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Top 5 for me:
Sachin Tendulkar
Adam Gilchrist
Mark Waugh
Gordon Greenidge
Sanath Jayasuria

 

[shankar]

SJS if possible could you order them according to strike rates as well?

 

[SJS]

We all know that in ODI's consistency AS WELL as speed of run getting matter. So here are the run rates. Unfortunately these are career run rates and not run rates as openers.

Runs/100 balls in career(till date for those playing)

Sehwag--------- 96.3
Gilchrist-------- 94.9
Jayasuriya----- 88.6
Tendulkar----- 86.2
Gibbs----------- 81.4
Anwar----------- 80.6
Waugh M------ 76.8
Hayden--------- 76.1
Smith------------ 75.2
Ganguly-------- 74.2
Astle------------ 72.5
Kirsten---------- 72.0
Siddhu---------- 69.7
Atapattu-------- 67.1
Greenidge------ 64.9
Haynes--------- 63.1
Gooch----------- 61.9

Its very important to keep in mind that run rates have changed a lot over time. People like Greenindge and Haynes played in an era when the first 15 overs were not treated with the irreverence of today !!

Also, those who have played both in the opening and other positions may have some variation depending upon number of innings as a proportion of total. Sachin, for example has played over 100 innings in other positions. 70 of them before he played his first innings as opener. Thus he is likely to be affected both by the times in which those innings were played as well as his batting order. I cant sat for sure but I suspect his strike rate as opener to be closer to three digits than we realise.

 

[SJS]

Here is one of my favourite indicators. I think this along with the strike rate should give the best idea of the value of a batsman.

These are the scores above fifty(including centuries) and the figure is number of fifty plus innings per 100 innings .

CONSISTENCY (50+ innings per 100 innings)

Tendulkar----- 66
Haynes--------- 64
Jayasuriya----- 61
Ganguly-------- 56
Kirsten---------- 52
Anwar----------- 46
Gilchrist-------- 44
Waugh M------ 43
Astle------------ 43
Greenidge------ 40
Gooch----------- 29
Gibbs----------- 28
Hayden--------- 27
Atapattu-------- 23
Sehwag--------- 23
Siddhu---------- 21
Smith------------ 21

 

[Zinzan]

The most hundreds as an opener

Sachin---------- 35
Anwar----------- 20
Ganguly-------- 19
Jayasuriya----- 18
Haynes--------- 17
Waugh M------ 15
Kirsten---------- 13
Gibbs------------ 13
Greenidge------ 11
Gilchrist-------- 10
Gooch----------- 8
Sehwag--------- 7
Atapattu-------- 6
Hayden--------- 5
Siddhu---------- 4
Smith------------ 3

I'm pretty sure Nathan Astle has 14 odi 100s and average mid 30s and strikes at around 73 - suprised no mention

 

[Jnr.]

Tendulkar
Saeed Anwar
M Waugh
Ganguly
Gilchrist
Jayasuriya
Sehwag
Gibbs

I haven't seen all of those on the list, and some just weren't worth mentioning.

 

[SJS]

I'm pretty sure Nathan Astle has 14 odi 100s and average mid 30s and strikes at around 73 - suprised no mention

Just a slip.

Corrected.

 

[SJS]

Influencing the match : Innings per MOM award

Greenidge------ 6.7
Tendulkar----- 6.7
Sehwag--------- 8.2
Ganguly-------- 8.4
Astle------------ 9.0
Anwar----------- 9.0
Jayasuriya----- 9.3
Haynes--------- 9.5
Siddhu---------- 9.8
Waugh M------ 10.3
Atapattu-------- 11.0
Gooch----------- 11.1
Gilchrist-------- 11.2
Kirsten---------- 11.6
Gibbs----------- 11.8
Hayden--------- 21.0
Smith------------ 21.3

 

[Adamc]

Although Lara probably won't be remembered as an ODI opener, his brief opening career was a very good one:

51 innings, 5x not out, 2166 runs @ 47.08, 5x100, 15x50, HS 153.

 

[SJS]

If I had to select without looking at the stats I would have selected. (I first wrote down my ten favourites and then went scouting for stats)

1. Tendulkar
(Master batsman. Took what was started by Jayasuriya to new heights and these two between them changed the one day game for ever)

2. Gilchrist
(A murderer of bowlers. I have always felt he is one batsman who could have averaged 50 plus in ODI's with a superlative strike rate if he had just played one dayers as if they were (test matches )

3.Mark Waugh
(A remarkable consistency of performance and a very good strike rate with none of the savagery associated with it. He almost did apologetically what Sachin and Gilchrist do so aggressively)

4. Anwar
(Almost a left handed version of Mark Waugh and that is a huge compliment.)

5. Ganguly
(But for his weakness against the short pitched delivery, discovered late by the world, he would have been close to the very top of this list)

6. Greenidge
(He was everything that current openers are except that he played in diffferent times. i have no doubt his strike rate would have been higher by 10 points if he was playing today but having seen him playing, I wouldnt change a thing from the past if I could)

7. Haynes
(Same as Greenidge but more solid. Excellent judge of the short single and of the game)

8. Jayasuriya
(The first man to show how this game might be played. I still shudder to think, at times, what would have happened to the limited over game if Jayasuriya had failed in his unprecedented tactics.)

9. Gibbs
(Highly disappointing for me. I rate him the biggest under achiever of the current era. a batsman of great gifts. Maybe we will still see him on a high pedestal but time is running out)

10. Kirsten
(A workman like face, a workman like attitude and a workman like persona makes Kirsten appear such a misfit in this brilliant array of stars. But his achievements show there is a big place for a workman in the limited overgame as long as he has an intellect to match)

Having seen the stats, I am not tempted to change them. I feel, by the time his career is finished, Sehwag may make us reconsider his position. Also there is a tendency to judge those who are still playing not by their peak or their overall career but be influenced by their current status. Thus players like Jayasuriya and more so Ganguly may suffer in the eyes of most. But just look back a short period in time and you will recall where they ruled.