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Best Ever Fielding XI

C_C

International Captain
Clive Lloyd
Viv Richards
Roger Harper
Gus Logie
Gary Sobers
Jonty Rhodes
Mohammed Kaif
Eknath Solkar
Colin Bland
Michael Bevan
Mark Taylor
 

Barney Rubble

International Coach
He wouldn't make the all-time side, but I'd like to point out that Ian Bell regularly catches flies at short leg for England.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
C_C said:
Clive Lloyd
Viv Richards
Roger Harper
Gus Logie
Gary Sobers
Jonty Rhodes
Mohammed Kaif
Eknath Solkar
Colin Bland
Michael Bevan
Mark Taylor
Michael Bevan and Mohammad Kaif ahead of Ricky Ponting? You can't be serious. The only player who has consistently matched Ponting for ground fielding throughout his career is Jonty Rhodes. Bevan was a quick runner but a crap fielder. In fact his poor fielding was one of the major reasons he was eventually dropped from the Australian team. He was a mediocre catcher and had a shocking arm.

Mark Waugh as the most prolific slip fielder of all time certainly deserves a look-in ahead of the like of Richards as well, as would Walter Hammond.
 

C_C

International Captain
Michael Bevan and Mohammad Kaif ahead of Ricky Ponting? You can't be serious. The only player who has consistently matched Ponting for ground fielding throughout his career is Jonty Rhodes. Bevan was a quick runner but a crap fielder. In fact his poor fielding was one of the major reasons he was eventually dropped from the Australian team. He was a mediocre catcher and had a shocking arm.

Mark Waugh as the most prolific slip fielder of all time certainly deserves a look-in ahead of the like of Richards as well, as would Walter Hammond.
__
I concede on Bevan but you are billing Ponting rather highly. Yes, he's an awesome fielder but fielders like Gibbs, Kaif, etc. are consistently better groundfielders than Ponting. Handily so IMO.
And Mark Waugh deserves a spot- but not ahead of Viv. Viv was a very very good slip fielder- one of the best- but his groundfielding leaves Junior in the dust.
If Junior gets in, then Taylor gets out - those are the only two 'slipper only' fielders in my list and i do believe that Taylor was a better slipper than Junior
So i guess i would drop Bevo and slot Gibbs in.
 

Swervy

International Captain
C_C said:
I concede on Bevan but you are billing Ponting rather highly. Yes, he's an awesome fielder but fielders like Gibbs, Kaif, etc. are consistently better groundfielders than Ponting. Handily so IMO.
And Mark Waugh deserves a spot- but not ahead of Viv. Viv was a very very good slip fielder- one of the best- but his groundfielding leaves Junior in the dust.
If Junior gets in, then Taylor gets out - those are the only two 'slipper only' fielders in my list and i do believe that Taylor was a better slipper than Junior
So i guess i would drop Bevo and slot Gibbs in.
I cant see Gibbs or kaif as being better ground fielders than Ponting I am afraid
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Gibbs isn't even in the same league as Ponting as a fielder. In fact, the likes of Collingwood, Symonds, Clarke, Bravo, Kaif, Dilshan and so on are better than Gibbs as well, who is on the second tier of fielders in world cricket. You only have to look at the fact that Andrew Symonds is almost universally ranked as the best fielder in the world right now when Gibbs is still playing, and that the main competitors to Symonds are Ponting and the guys I mentioned above.

The general state of play with ground fielders in the mid to late 90s was that Rhodes was the best overall, but Ponting only a shade behind. Rhodes let less runs past, but Ponting was more adept at hitting the stumps, which is something he has arguably done more frequently than any test player in history. Ponting is also very versatile, and can field in a number of positions other than point/cover, including the slips where he is quite solid.

I don't necessarily think that Ponting warrants a place in an all-time fielding side, but if you're picking as many ground fielders as that, and including the likes of Gibbs and Kaif, well Ponting is a no brainer as he's comfortably a better fielder than both, even now when he's declined a bit from earlier in his career.

Regarding Waugh, you're right that Taylor (much like Warne, Botham and so on) was a slip-only fielder, but Mark Waugh certainly wasn't. In fact he often fielded outside of the slips for Australia with huge success, particularly in one day cricket. He was a better slip fielder than in other positions, but only because he was such an amazingly good slipper. He certainly wasn't far off the best around cover or midwicket.
 
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C_C

International Captain
FaaipDeOiad said:
Gibbs isn't even in the same league as Ponting as a fielder. In fact, the likes of Collingwood, Symonds, Clarke, Bravo, Kaif, Dilshan and so on are better than Gibbs as well, who is on the second tier of fielders in world cricket. You only have to look at the fact that Andrew Symonds is almost universally ranked as the best fielder in the world right now when Gibbs is still playing, and that the main competitors to Symonds are Ponting and the guys I mentioned above.

The general state of play with ground fielders in the mid to late 90s was that Rhodes was the best overall, but Ponting only a shade behind. Rhodes let less runs past, but Ponting was more adept at hitting the stumps, which is something he has arguably done more frequently than any test player in history. Ponting is also very versatile, and can field in a number of positions other than point/cover, including the slips where he is quite solid.

I don't necessarily think that Ponting warrants a place in an all-time fielding side, but if you're picking as many ground fielders as that, and including the likes of Gibbs and Kaif, well Ponting is a no brainer as he's comfortably a better fielder than both, even now when he's declined a bit from earlier in his career.

Regarding Waugh, you're right that Taylor (much like Warne, Botham and so on) was a slip-only fielder, but Mark Waugh certainly wasn't. In fact he often fielded outside of the slips for Australia with huge success, particularly in one day cricket. He was a better slip fielder than in other positions, but only because he was such an amazingly good slipper. He certainly wasn't far off the best around cover or midwicket.

Err i disagree.
I think Gibbs is a better overall fielder than Ponting and back in the 90s, Gibbs and Rhodes were an echelon above the rest. And Kaif most definately is a better ground-fielder than Ponting. Waugh was an ecellent slipper and decent outside off it but he wasnt anything like Viv - who was almost as good a catcher as Waugh but far and away better practically anywhere else.

Lloyd-Viv-Harper-Logie-Sobers-Solkar-Rhodes-Bland are definately locks for an alltime XI fielding side. I would be inclined to include Kaif over Ponting, Taylor over Waugh(because Waugh wasnt good enough to field around the ground in a team like this- he was good at covers but Lloyd/Bland are a level above at that position but taylor was a good enough slipper to deserve his spot) and Gibbs to round off the XI.
 

kvemuri

U19 12th Man
Matt79 said:
I couldn't see anywhere where this had been done recently - though I'm sure its been done. The third paceman was difficult - I had a mental blank about any quicks who can actually field aside from Flintoff and Lee - no doubt someone can suggest something.

Bob Simpson
Mark Taylor
Ricky Ponting
Mark Waugh
Jonty Rhodes (c)
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Symonds
Don Tallon (wk)
Shane Warne
Brett Lee
Another decent fielding quick.

Fielding coach: Philip Tufnel

A slips cordon of Simpson, Taylor, Warne and Waugh, with Tallon keeping woud be pretty damn imposing - not much is going down there.
Since I have never seen anyone play before 1982, I am going to choose my 11 based on the teams/players that i have seen over the past 24 years.

Clive Lloyd
Mark Waugh
Jonty Rhodes
Allan Border
Mohd. Azharuddin
Dean Jones
Jeff Dujon (wk)
Ian Botham
Michael Bevan
Herschelle Gibbs
Roshan Mahanama

Special mention goes to
Ricky Ponting, Michale Hussey, Yuvraj Singh, Imran Farhat, Paul Collingwood, Mohd. Kaif, Hansie Cronje, Shoaib Mohammed, Ajay Jadeja, Andrew Symonds, Suresh Raina, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Tilakratne Dilshan, Hashan Tilakratne etc.

Edit: Damn this is actually meant for a team of 11 players, while i was concentrating on 11 players that i thought were the best fielders...hmmm ok this is the team

M.Waugh,
H.Gibbs,
D. Jones,
M. Azharuddin,
C.Lloyd (C)
J.Rhohdes
G.Mathews (pretty good spinner, handy batsmen and a pretty good fielder)
I.Botham
J.Dujon (wk)
C.McDermott (know, I know he wasn't anywhere in the above list but he had one of the best arms in outfield)
C.Ambrose (another exclusion in my prev list, but I need a bowler who can field)
 
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Matt79

Global Moderator
Herschelle Gibbs???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

So far as I'm aware Ponting never dropped a world cup whilst showboating.

In a "fielding" team, you would pick the best keeper, not the best batsman/keeper. Hence Tallon. I understand people not wanting to select players they've not seen, but if that doesn't apply, then he's an easy selection. Bradman nominated him the best keeper he ever played with/against, and the best he saw. I could go on.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
There's other contenders to Tallon. Just because Bradman says that Tallon was the best doesn't mean he was. Bob Taylor and Ian Healy stand out as obvious rivals.

I agree that the selection of Herschelle Gibbs is absurd though, especially at the expense of the likes of Ponting.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
FaaipDeOiad said:
There's other contenders to Tallon. Just because Bradman says that Tallon was the best doesn't mean he was. Bob Taylor and Ian Healy stand out as obvious rivals.

I agree that the selection of Herschelle Gibbs is absurd though, especially at the expense of the likes of Ponting.
Fair enough. Tallon is my pick, and Bradman's judgement was agreed upon by many of Tallon's othe contemporaries, but certainly there are other great candidates like Taylor.
 

C_C

International Captain
Matt79 said:
Herschelle Gibbs???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

So far as I'm aware Ponting never dropped a world cup whilst showboating.

In a "fielding" team, you would pick the best keeper, not the best batsman/keeper. Hence Tallon. I understand people not wanting to select players they've not seen, but if that doesn't apply, then he's an easy selection. Bradman nominated him the best keeper he ever played with/against, and the best he saw. I could go on.

I've also seen Gibbs take some unbelievable reflex catches and some awesome ground-fielding. In the 90s, he was not very far from Rhodes in terms of runs-saving and plucking things outta thin air.

But if we are talking best keeper, i would go for Bob Taylor.
 

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