best captain

[andmark]

Looking back at my earlier posts in this thread with embarassment . It's relieving to know I was 10/11 at the time.
My current thoughts about the best captain ever would have to be a propper and full study. How much of an affect did this captain make on the side? Did he just have a great side? Were his tactics fair and justifiable? Did he show a good understanding of the game with his decisions? Was he a great player with captaincy aside? Etc. Going by that guideline, I'd have to say Clive Lloyd.

 

[sumantra]

Looking back at my earlier posts in this thread with embarassment . It's relieving to know I was 10/11 at the time.
My current thoughts about the best captain ever would have to be a propper and full study. How much of an affect did this captain make on the side? Did he just have a great side? Were his tactics fair and justifiable? Did he show a good understanding of the game with his decisions? Was he a great player with captaincy aside? Etc. Going by that guideline, I'd have to say Clive Lloyd.

clive would have been my second choice...as i can see, u have mentioned 5 categories of judgement...do u consider all of them equally important or do u rate one or two of them higher than the others?

 

[andmark]

clive would have been my second choice...as i can see, u have mentioned 5 categories of judgement...do u consider all of them equally important or do u rate one or two of them higher than the others?

I reckon the categories are more or less equally important mainly because they all represent slightly different aspects of Cricket. If I was to say there was a most important one, it'd have to be "how much of an affect did this captain make on the side". With that said, you called say someone like Allan Border (or someone with his power to enstill enthusiasm int his players) was the best captain ever, however I'd say Lloyd excells in the other four categories.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Sumantra you have asked the wrong person. Allow Vijay to answer this question by conducting a full blown analysis.

 

[four_or_six]

Sumantra you have asked the wrong person. Allow Vijay to answer this question by conducting a full blown analysis.

There's no need to have a go at someone who hasn't even posted in the thread.

 

[sumantra]

I reckon the categories are more or less equally important mainly because they all represent slightly different aspects of Cricket. If I was to say there was a most important one, it'd have to be "how much of an affect did this captain make on the side". With that said, you called say someone like Allan Border (or someone with his power to enstill enthusiasm int his players) was the best captain ever, however I'd say Lloyd excells in the other four categories.

ok, fair enough, he probably had the greatest side to effect on also..., just curious, on that one most important category, where would u rate imran khan??

 

[sumantra]

Sumantra you have asked the wrong person. Allow Vijay to answer this question by conducting a full blown analysis.

yes, that's what i should have done i guess...instead of...

 

[JBMAC]

Ritchie Benaud
Frank Worrell
Clive Lloyd
Ted Dexter
Imran Khan

 

[sumantra]

There's no need to have a go at someone who hasn't even posted in the thread.

yes, true...

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Sorry four_or_six and Vijay. Just having a laugh.

 

[four_or_six]

Sorry four_or_six and Vijay. Just having a laugh.

Ta.

 

[BoyBrumby]

There was an interesting stab at applying some statistical rigour to captaincy on Dave Barry's excellent blog a few years ago.

Some surprising results.

 

[kyear2]

Imran Khan
Frank Worrell
Len Hutton
Alan Border

 

[Burgey]

There was an interesting stab at applying some statistical rigour to captaincy on Dave Barry's excellent blog a few years ago.

Some surprising results.

That's an interesting read. Feel sorry for Kim Hughes. He led a strife-torn team post-Packer with senior players wanting Marsh to have the gig.

There are so many aspects of captaincy which are impossible to qualitatively assess by numbers.

 

[smash84]

Difficult to judge those I have not seen but from the late 80s till present it is the man in my avatar.

Interesting list by JBMAC. Putting up those I have not had the privilege of watching. Have heard a lot about Richie Benaud of course

It's very difficult to take you seriously, mate, as long as you have that avatar pic.

awta

There's no need to have a go at someone who hasn't even posted in the thread.

Yeah. Kicking a dead man and all/

Tim De Lisle (Wisden Editor) sums Imran's captaincy perfectly in this episode

Imran Khan - ESPN's Legends of Cricket Part 2 - YouTube

from 10:45 onwards.

"If you are picking an AT11 of the greatest players think I you'd have to pick Imran. He probably should be captain of the All Time World XI. It might annoy Bradman but on merit it probably should be Imran."

Interesting list thrown up by JBMAC. Hadn't heard of Ted Dexter's captaincy skills.

 

[benchmark00]

No doubt.

 

[JBMAC]

Difficult to judge those I have not seen but from the late 80s till present it is the man in my avatar.

Interesting list by JBMAC. Putting up those I have not had the privilege of watching. Have heard a lot about Richie Benaud of course



awta



Yeah. Kicking a dead man and all/

Tim De Lisle (Wisden Editor) sums Imran's captaincy perfectly in this episode

Imran Khan - ESPN's Legends of Cricket Part 2 - YouTube

from 10:45 onwards.

"If you are picking an AT11 of the greatest players think I you'd have to pick Imran. He probably should be captain of the All Time World XI. It might annoy Bradman but on merit it probably should be Imran."

Interesting list thrown up by JBMAC. Hadn't heard of Ted Dexter's captaincy skills.

Bradman was not a good Captain in my opinion.Yes of the 24 Tests he Captained the aussies, he won over half of them BUT he had a brilliant team behind him. I saw him , as the ausies took to the field, turn to them and just say"Scatter". This is NOT good Captaincy,that is just having a champion team knowing what was required. Dexter was not unlike Benaud in his Captaincy style. He was a thinker and good tactician. He won close to a third of the tests he was Captain of England. You must remember that a "draw" was considered an honourable result when both these men plyed their art.

 

[sumantra]

Bradman was not a good Captain in my opinion.Yes of the 24 Tests he Captained the aussies, he won over half of them BUT he had a brilliant team behind him. I saw him , as the ausies took to the field, turn to them and just say"Scatter". This is NOT good Captaincy,that is just having a champion team knowing what was required. Dexter was not unlike Benaud in his Captaincy style. He was a thinker and good tactician. He won close to a third of the tests he was Captain of England. You must remember that a "draw" was considered an honourable result when both these men plyed their art.

what about Mike Brearley? Deserves a place in the top 5?

 

[Himannv]

Either Brearley or Ranatunga.

EDIT: Also Worrell.

 

[smash84]

Bradman was not a good Captain in my opinion.Yes of the 24 Tests he Captained the aussies, he won over half of them BUT he had a brilliant team behind him. I saw him , as the ausies took to the field, turn to them and just say"Scatter". This is NOT good Captaincy,that is just having a champion team knowing what was required. Dexter was not unlike Benaud in his Captaincy style. He was a thinker and good tactician. He won close to a third of the tests he was Captain of England. You must remember that a "draw" was considered an honourable result when both these men plyed their art.

Have heard of "scatter". Has become the stuff of legends I suppose. True that may not be good captaincy but then I am not sure that they Aussie captain after Bradman who would have inherited the same team would have had the authority to say "Scatter".

Also in that video Tim is probably talking about the fact that an All Time XI is an invincible side and Bradman being the best player would probably think himself deserving of captaincy but amongst those XI players Imran stands out as captain