Tom Halsey
International Coach
Yeah, a surprise.danish said:No Abdul Qadir?
Yeah, a surprise.danish said:No Abdul Qadir?
SA said:For me Imran is the:
Best bowler of alltime
Best allrounder of alltime
but
he comes 2nd in my ranking of greatest cricketers of alltime.
Imran bowled with express pace on dead wickets where no one had thought to do so.In his last 50 odd tests ,his batting & bowling averages of 50 & 19 put him above the likes of Gary Sobers,Ian Botham,Richard Hadlle & Kapil Dev,in the list of greatest allrounders of alltime.His bowling record is superb against all test playing nations.Under his captaincy,his team drew 3 test series with WI when everyone else was being whitewashed in 70s & 80s & then he lead Pakistan to their World Cup triumph in 1992.Players like him are born in centuries,if not milleniums.Whoever says Imran isn't among the top 10 of alltime is being biased & needs some more knowledge of cricket.Many geats including Richard Hadlee consider him the 2nd best allrounder of alltime but I disagree with them because Imran was the only allrounder amongst them all,who would make his team on the basis of his performances in one department alone.
Lillee has more reputation than substance in my opinion...doesnt take away from the fact that he was an alltime great bowler but its similar to overhyping Ronaldinho to be in Pele's class. Lillee's record against the best batting lineup of his time (the WI) is modest.I'd wager to bet that if you asked all those bowlers who the greatest fast bowler of all time is, they'd say Dennis Lillee. Wasim and Hadlee being two I know of. I believe I heard Davidson saying the same thing about Lillee as well - the best ever. I believe Marshall thought that as well.
IMO the last 2-3 places in the spinner's lineup arnt fixed..i wouldnt bat an eyelash if someone put Qadir and Benaud in and took out Saqlain and someone else.Benaud is the first noticable exclusion. Qadir probably deserves to be in... but I didn't blink seeing that you didn't put him in there.
Best bowler of all time is debatable but there is no way that Imran is the best allrounder of all time or the 2nd best cricket of all time.SA said:For me Imran is the:
Best bowler of alltime
Best allrounder of alltime
but
he comes 2nd in my ranking of greatest cricketers of alltime.
Yeah I'm still waiting as well.sirjeremy11 said:Anyone else notice that the "Thirty Better Bowlers Than Imran" list has yet to arrive?
Francis said:Lillee has more reputation than substance in my opinion...doesnt take away from the fact that he was an alltime great bowler but its similar to overhyping Ronaldinho to be in Pele's class. Lillee's record against the best batting lineup of his time (the WI) is modest.
Thats true.Tom Halsey said:Except statistics aren't the be-all-and-end-all.
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Hey Anil,Anil said:i would rank imran as the 2nd greatest allrounder ever...and he was certainly a fantastic fast bowler in his prime, but one of the 10 greatest bowlers ever, not just fast bowlers....i don't think so....
you are kidding...right? knowing you and your extreme examples, probably not....C_C said:I've seen Lillee bowl quite a bit from clips and stuff....IMO he was a more consistent version of Akhtar and would be in the top 20 for me...still an alltime great...just like Akhtar would be if he could remain bloody fit.
Trolling for the sake of trolling isn't amusing.England, Australia and the West Indies have all produced 10 better bowlers than Imran Khan if you're talking about of all time.
Lillee is overrated, if anything, but comparing him in any way, shape or form to Akhtar is ridiculous.C_C said:I've seen Lillee bowl quite a bit from clips and stuff....IMO he was a more consistent version of Akhtar and would be in the top 20 for me...still an alltime great...just like Akhtar would be if he could remain bloody fit.
To be honest, the reason Sobers bowled spin (Which he was decent at, but not really good, which he apparently was as a seamer) was because there were so many seamers in the Windies side at that time and team interests dictated that one spinner was needed. And since he was decent at it and because it gave them the option of the additional pacer, he bowled spin in the latter half of his career. Now, all of the above is hearsay, and though I think the people I heard it from are credible, it is still open to be doubted. So, if anyone has facts which proves the contrary, plz let me know in this thread.Francis said:top 10 pacers for me ( no particular order) : Wasim, Ambrose, Marshall, McGrath, Hadlee, Imran, Trueman, Donald, Davidson and Holding.
I'd wager to bet that if you asked all those bowlers who the greatest fast bowler of all time is, they'd say Dennis Lillee. Wasim and Hadlee being two I know of. I believe I heard Davidson saying the same thing about Lillee as well - the best ever. I believe Marshall thought that as well.
top 10 spinners : Murali, Warne, Bedi, Chandra, Grimmett, O'Reiley, Laker, Gibbs, Kumble, Gupte, Saqlain.
Benaud is the first noticable exclusion. Qadir probably deserves to be in... but I didn't blink seeing that you didn't put him in there.
For me Imran is the:
Best bowler of alltime
Best allrounder of alltime
but
he comes 2nd in my ranking of greatest cricketers of alltime.
I found this interesting. I don't agree with it, but I always felt Imran was closer to Sobers than people realise. Sobers was by far the better batter... but I always thought that Sobers was overrated as a bowler. I mean people said he could bowl anything... that's all and well, but was he effective? Was he one of the 50 greatest bowlers ever? Nope.
I'll put it to you this way. Is Sobers one of the ten best batsman ever? Yes. Is Imran one of the ten best bowlers ever? Yes. Is Sobers one of the 100 best bowlers ever? Possibly.. Is Imran one of the 100 best batsmen of all time? Possibly. See where I'm going? It'll always be Sobers for me though as the best all-rounder.
Anyway I think he may just squeeze in. After my top seven there are a lot of contenders... I should have included Ambrose in my original contenders. Bur I think I'd have Imran in because of what he could do with the old ball.
......and it isnt swing or seamsocial said:Day in, day out Akhtar only has one of those qualities