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Greatest Australian bowlers and batsmen of all time?

Ikki

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Burgey said:
Gideon Haigh would consider Warner over Bradman I think.

Lillee's WPM figures are great. Right up there iirc.
Click to expand...
I think he feels Warne's box-office+ability is even less likely to be repeated than another Bradman, but I don't think I've read him saying Warne is better than Bradman as a cricketer.
 
SJS

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
It is shocking to see Grimmett ommitted not just because he is not in the last five but because he isn't in the 25 at all. Before the Warney 'phenomenon' swamped the cricketing world (despite the Murali miracle) it was widely accepted that Oreilly and/or Grimmett were way ahead of any spinners to come out of Australia. Bradman, in fact considered O'reilly the greatest bowler of all times - all types ! Of course there were those who felt Syd Barnes was better but thats another debate.

The debate about who was better between Grimmett and O'reilly wasn't settled during their cricketing years as well. It was only when Bradman, whose differences with Grimmett and whose famous dropping of the maestro are part of cricketing folklore, rooted for O'reilly as the better bowler that the support for O'reilly grew with latter day cricket lovers in general.

It is well known that Grimmett took 216 wickets in just 37 tests (the first man to take 200 test wickets). Grimmett and O'reilly bowled together in 15 tests before Grimmett was unceremoniously dumped by the Don. They bowled in an era when Australia had virtually no top fast bowling combination and batsmen like McCabe bowled more overs with the new ball than any other regular new ball bowler ! Yet, in an era dominated by some of cricket's tallest scoring, these two, between them took 169 wickets in the 15 test matches ! With Bradman in the batting line up, these two were all Australia needed to retain a firm grip as the number one Test nation (bodyline series excepted).

Here are their figures for these 15 tests :-

Code: 
Bowler         	Tests	Overs	Runs	Wkts	10-fors	5-fors	Avg	St. Rt	Ec. Rt

Grimmett	15	986	1835	88	4	9	20.85	67.2	1.86
Oreilly      	15	900.4	1739	81	2	6	21.46	66.7	1.96
The period was 1932 to 1936. It is important to remember, however, that these were the last 15 Tests for Grimmett who, as mentioned earlier, did not play after this. Oreilly went on to play for ten more years.

The figures are telling not just of how great the two bowlers were and how devastating but also that the debate of Grimmett versus O'reilly defies even the number -crunchers :-))
 
Last edited:
Redbacks

Redbacks

International Captain
Most likely to be a function of our history I would say Australians aren't ever too keen on discussing the past. As such our cricket media never tend to delve back too far past the invincibles. I suppose the 120 players asked should be well in tune with the greats of yesteryear.
 
H

hang on

State Vice-Captain
quite right. rather underwhelming. quite enjoyed brearley's piece though there was an element of what can loosely be termed 'heroworship'.
 
H

hang on

State Vice-Captain
SJS said:
It is shocking to see Grimmett ommitted not just because he is not in the last five but because he isn't in the 25 at all. Before the Warney 'phenomenon' swamped the cricketing world (despite the Murali miracle) it was widely accepted that Oreilly and/or Grimmett were way ahead of any spinners to come out of Australia. Bradman, in fact considered O'reilly the greatest bowler of all times - all types ! Of course there were those who felt Syd Barnes was better but thats another debate.

The debate about who was better between Grimmett and O'reilly wasn't settled during their cricketing years as well. It was only when Bradman, whose differences with Grimmett and whose famous dropping of the maestro are part of cricketing folklore, rooted for O'reilly as the better bowler that the support for O'reilly grew with latter day cricket lovers in general.

It is well known that Grimmett took 216 wickets in just 37 tests (the first man to take 200 test wickets). Grimmett and O'reilly bowled together in 15 tests before Grimmett was unceremoniously dumped by the Don. They bowled in an era when Australia had virtually no top fast bowling combination and batsmen like McCabe bowled more overs with the new ball than any other regular new ball bowler ! Yet, in an era dominated by some of cricket's tallest scoring, these two, between them took 169 wickets in the 15 test matches ! With Bradman in the batting line up, these two were all Australia needed to retain a firm grip as the number one Test nation (bodyline series excepted).

Here are their figures for these 15 tests :-

Code: 
Bowler         	Tests	Overs	Runs	Wkts	10-fors	5-fors	Avg	St. Rt	Ec. Rt

Grimmett	15	986	1835	88	4	9	20.85	67.2	1.86
Oreilly      	15	900.4	1739	81	2	6	21.46	66.7	1.96
The period was 1932 to 1936. It is important to remember, however, that these were the last 15 Tests for Grimmett who, as mentioned earlier, did not play after this. Oreilly went on to play for ten more years.

The figures are telling not just of how great the two bowlers were and how devastating but also that the debate of Grimmett versus O'reilly defies even the number -crunchers :-))
Click to expand...
very nice little write up!
 
C

charisse

Cricket Spectator
BATSMEN
1.Don Bradman
2.Ricky Ponting
3.Greg Chappell
4.Allan Border
5.Steve Waugh
6.Niel Harvey
7.Mathew Hayden
8.Michael Hussey
9.Michael Clarke
10.Bill Ponsford

(Others i considered were,Doug Walters,Arthur Morris,Adam Gilchrist,Victor Trumper)

BOWLERS (after Mcgrath its hard to say,but think this would be pretty close)
1.Shane Warne
2.Dennis Lillee
3.Glenn McGrath
4.Bill O'Rilley
4.Ray Linwall
5.Keith Miller
6.Allan Davidison
7.Richie Benaud
8.Brett Lee
9.Stuart Mcgill
10.Jeff Thompson
 
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