Top ten greatest bowlers and batsmen of all time

[bagapath]

Bags, you said Lara was > Tendulkar.

Been working closely with the Indian maestro on a documentary for the past 18 months. Besides being a champ, he is a gracious host and a great raconteur in person. Had the pleasure of checking out all the bats he has used from his debut till his retirement. Spent a few evenings with him talking about his cricketing career in detail. Have loads of stories to share - from hundreds of hours of audio recordings - that will not make it to the final cut.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Been working closely with the Indian maestro on a documentary for the past 18 months. Besides being a champ, he is a gracious host and a great raconteur in person. Had the pleasure of checking out all the bats he has used from his debut till his retirement. Spent a few evenings with him talking about his cricketing career in detail. Have loads of stories to share - from hundreds of hours of audio recordings - that will not make it to the final cut.

Comes out in may doesn't it? Really hyped for it.

 

[honestbharani]

Been working closely with the Indian maestro on a documentary for the past 18 months. Besides being a champ, he is a gracious host and a great raconteur in person. Had the pleasure of checking out all the bats he has used from his debut till his retirement. Spent a few evenings with him talking about his cricketing career in detail. Have loads of stories to share - from hundreds of hours of audio recordings - that will not make it to the final cut.

Lol.. I get all that and in my own humble way from the few interactions I have had with him and people who have been involved with him, I have had no doubts as to that side of the great man. But none of that explains how he suddenly became a better batsman than Lara in your eyes.


For your list to truly be objective, you now have to work on documentaries of the other greats too and spend time with those who are still with us.


And as an aside, I cant wait for the movie. Gonna be fun to watch. Must be the only time I have been excited to see a kinda docu-drama in a big movie theatre but the MSD movie experience made me believe.

 

[Howe_zat]

Dale Steyn has got himself into everyone's lists despite playing solely after this thread started

 

[watson]

Are they in sides picked after about 2010? And according to whom?

Mainly Burgey.

 

[bagapath]

Lol.. I get all that and in my own humble way from the few interactions I have had with him and people who have been involved with him, I have had no doubts as to that side of the great man. But none of that explains how he suddenly became a better batsman than Lara in your eyes.

I am an unadulterated hypocrite. Is that a good enough explanation?

For your list to truly be objective, you now have to work on documentaries of the other greats too and spend time with those who are still with us.


And as an aside, I cant wait for the movie. Gonna be fun to watch. Must be the only time I have been excited to see a kinda docu-drama in a big movie theatre but the MSD movie experience made me believe.

This is an out and out docu. Made for cricket nuts. Not really a "mass" film like MSD.

 

[vcs]

I am an unadulterated hypocrite. Is that a good enough explanation?



This is an out and out docu. Made for cricket nuts. Not really a "mass" film like MSD.

Awesome. I assume you will supply CW users with a handy link so we can "acquire" it?

 

[Burgey]

Mainly Burgey.

Ponting would make my all time Australian team. Probably ahead of Chappell.

 

[Coronis]

For me at the moment, I have the best Aussie batsmen as Bradman, Chappell, Ponting, Border and Waugh. Smith will definitely be up there soon, he averages above 40 everywhere and against every opposition he's faced, which neither Ponting, Border or Waugh can claim.

 

[stephen]

For me at the moment, I have the best Aussie batsmen as Bradman, Chappell, Ponting, Border and Waugh. Smith will definitely be up there soon, he averages above 40 everywhere and against every opposition he's faced, which neither Ponting, Border or Waugh can claim.

Surely that may change though.

 

[Zinzan]

Smith makes my top 10 Australian bats of all-time already.

Well, here my top 9 since I felt it's too close between several batsmen to select a 10th

Bradman
Ponting
Chappell
Border
Waugh
Trumper
Smith
Harvey
Ponsford

 

[Coronis]

Surely that may change though.

May, or may not. He will definitely be a contender for the second greatest Aussie batsman if he continues the way he's playing now.

 

[honestbharani]

I just noticed this old thread and could not let it escape without my input! Height of joblessness I think

taking into consideration everything: stats, style, impact on the game, match winning/ saving ability, dominance, anecdotal evidence, expert opinion, personal opinion....

top 10 batters

1. don bradman
2. jack hobbs
3. viv richards
4. sachin tendulkar
5. brian lara
6. walter hammond
7. gary sobers
8. sunil gavaskar
9. denis compton
10. steve waugh

top 10 bowlers

1. syd barnes
2. shane warne
3. dennis lillee
4. richard hadlee
5. muthiah muralitharan
6. malcolm marshall
7. "tiger" o'reilly
8. glenn mcgrath
9. imran khan
10. fred spofforth

top 5 all-rounders

1. gary sobers
2. imran khan
3. ian botham
4. keith miller
5. george aubrey faulkner

Batsmen:

1. Bradman
2. Hobbs
3. Richards
4. Hammond
5. Sobers
6. Lara
7. Tendulkar
8. G.Chappell
9. Trumper
10. Gavaskar

Bowlers:

1. Marshall
2. Barnes
3. McGrath
4. O'Reilly
5. Warne
6. Murali
7. Hadlee
8. Lillee
9. Grimmett
10. Ambrose

All-rounders:

1. Botham
2. Miller
3. Imran
4. Sobers
5. Kallis
6. Kapil
7. Faulkner
8. Gregory
9. Mankad
10. Greig

Wicket keeping allrounders:

1. Gilchrist
2. Sangakkara
3. A.Flower
4. Ames
5. Stewart

I am an unadulterated hypocrite. Is that a good enough explanation?



This is an out and out docu. Made for cricket nuts. Not really a "mass" film like MSD.

Not at all, Bags. Its kinda reassuring that it is indeed that close between them. I will forever think Lara is better because I just feel he achieved a level of batsmanship that I have not seen any batsman since, achieve. But it is also true that Sachin will get you much more on a bad day than Brian ever did. Its just different PoVs and what you think is more important. But it was still fun to journey back in time to see all the flip flops. I promise you, it is the same with me and the bowlers' list or even the batsmen list post #1 and #2.

 

[indiaholic]

Been working closely with the Indian maestro on a documentary for the past 18 months. Besides being a champ, he is a gracious host and a great raconteur in person. Had the pleasure of checking out all the bats he has used from his debut till his retirement. Spent a few evenings with him talking about his cricketing career in detail. Have loads of stories to share - from hundreds of hours of audio recordings - that will not make it to the final cut.

Once the docu is released, do a memory dump here. I am sure people would be fascinated to listen to some of those stories that were deemed not good enough for the final cut.

 

[Bijed]

Chappell and Border are always picked ahead of Ponting in the Australian ATG XI stakes for good reasons.

Wonder how Smith's unorthodox tecnique would go against Roberts, Holding, Marshall, Waqar and Akram?

He'd probably struggle for one match then instantly adapt and hit a ton in the next

 

[harsh.ag]

Chappell, Border, and Waugh all ahead of Ponting for me too. Ponting ahead of Waugh and level with Border (whose pull shot is underrated) purely for the purpose of viewing though.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ponting>Waugh purely for being a proper top order batsman and not a cowardly number 5 hiding down the order.

 

[Gob]

Chappell and Border are always picked ahead of Ponting in the Australian ATG XI stakes for good reasons.

Wonder how Smith's unorthodox tecnique would go against Roberts, Holding, Marshall, Waqar and Akram?

Bullocks. Plenty pick Ponting over Chappell and Border. I'd personally have him behind Chappell as the 3rd best after Bradman.

Anyone can have those 3 in any order and find perfectly good reasons to defend that order

 

[stephen]

The main argument to drop Ponting from an AT Aus XI is that his batting position is taken by the Don. Chappell at 4, Border at 5, Waugh at 6 is so very natural (or pick Miller at 5/6 instead of Waugh if you're so inclined). Having to drop Chappell down to 5 and Ponting to 4 really doesn't feel right for some reason.

 

[Gob]

The main argument to drop Ponting from an AT Aus XI is that his batting position is taken by the Don. Chappell at 4, Border at 5, Waugh at 6 is so very natural (or pick Miller at 5/6 instead of Waugh if you're so inclined). Having to drop Chappell down to 5 and Ponting to 4 really doesn't feel right for some reason.

I doubt that was one of the 'good reasons' to not to pick Ponting by Shane Watson as he always has the tendency to glorify the older players over the current ones. A regular Neil Harvey.

Chappell has to stay at #4 that's where he made most of his runs but you can drop Waugh and push Border down to six and slot Ponting in at five. Might look a tad out of place but who cares.