• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

The Ten Best Cricketers Of All Time

adharcric

International Coach
Apparently. The logic is that the batsman knows if he fails the team goes down the drain, so he has much more on his shoulders etc.
Isn't it all about expectations? The quality of the lineup, attack or fielding side may help you (ie Murali vs Warne) but pressure is primarily based upon expectations more than anything else, right? Anyways, time to go for me ...
 
I would have WG Grace umber 2 behind Bradman and just ahead of Sobers. Anything after that is highly debatable, but IMHO those three are all nailed on.
IMO,everything apart from Don Bradman is highly debatable including Gary"I could bowl every style crapily which apparently makes me the greatest allrounder ever"Sobers.
 
Last edited:

pasag

RTDAS
Isn't it all about expectations? The quality of the lineup, attack or fielding side may help you (ie Murali vs Warne) but pressure is primarily based upon expectations more than anything else, right? Anyways, time to go for me ...
Yeah, don't really care one way or the other tbh, just saying that both sides of the debate try and use the pressure argument to their advantage. I see merit in both sides tbh and see it as a further reason as to why they're both brilliant, but not necessarily as a valid reason for one to be greater than the other, imo.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Lovely thread, agree with everything except that Imran's batting was at his best at the END of his career, not in the beginning.

My top 10:

1.Bradman - don't have a choice there. Is Don, Is good.
2.Warne - the greatest match-winner and spinner of all time. Consistently great whilst being the man for the moments. The guy you want when the chips are down. The Miracle maker. I believe if South Africa had one Warne, then Australia would have met their equals in this past decade and a half.
3.Sobers - the greatest batsman behind the Don. If he was better in the bowling department I'd rate him second.
4.Viv Richards - the most explosive batsman of all-time perhaps. Definitely the most consistently and unrelentingly powerful batsman. His legacy, like some others, outdoes his stats.
5.Lillee - who I rate as the best fast bowler of all time. For the fact that he was so good and could do everything. That not only batsmen were in awe of him but so were his rival bowlers.
6.Murali - whatever you want to say about his action - and this includes my own rants - the reasons for his large haul and great stats, he wouldn't be far off Warne anyway. If you have Warne up the list, you gotta have Murali near by.
7.Lara - it was either him or Sachin, and I think that Brian had similar disadvantages yet did it for longer and kept the standard, that Sachin has dropped from, to retirement.
8.Hobbs - "The Master", the greatest opener ever. 'Nuff said.
9.Khan - Simply the most balanced all-rounder ever. Extremely good bowler who was more than capable in the lower-middle-order.
10.McGrath - if I want someone to bowl with Lillee it's McGrath. His career speaks for itself. The DEFINITION of consistency.
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
1. Don Bradman
2. Garry Sobers
3. Imran Khan - as captain, he probably reached heights never achieved by any other allrounder ever. With 2408 runs at 52.34 and 163 wickets at 19.20, it could be argued that he was both Pakistan's best batsman and bowler, all at once.
4. Sydney Barnes - only played against Australia and South Africa but almost everyone who saw him thought he was the best bowler they had ever seen. On a perfect wicket Barnes could swing the new ball in and out very late, could spin from the ground, pitch on the leg stump and miss the off. Barnes was creative, one of the first bowlers really to use the seam of a new ball and combine swing so subtly with spin that few batsmen could distinguish one from the other. At Melbourne, in December 1911, Barnes in five overs dismissed Australia's five best batsmen for a single. At his very best, between 1910 and 1914, he was frequently unplayable, and during this time took an astonishing 122 wickets at 14.08. Also, 24 5-fors is more than many great bowlers manage in a career, despite playing several times as many matches.
5. Jack Hobbs - No one could deny that he was the world's best batsman for years, scoring runs all over the world phenomenally consistently. Don Bradman said he was the most complete player he had ever seen (he saw a few!!), and in terms of percentage of innings over 10, he was the most consistent Test batsman ever.
6. Muttiah Muralitharan - the best spinner ever by a country mile. As I have shown many times before, statistically there is no comparison between Murali and the much hyped Shane Warne, by far the most overrrated cricketer ever.
7.Walter Hammond - A greater batsman than Viv Richards, probably the best slip fielder ever (with Bob Simpson and Mark Waugh), and a very useful bowler. I see no reason for his non-selection in any top 10 other than a bias towards more hyped modern players. On ability alone he's a certainty for me. IMO to compare Hammond to Richards and Tendulkar is an insult to Hammond. I cannot conceive any reasons why modern players like Richards and Tendulkar, who average lower than him anyway, could be considered better given relative pitch conditions. He was also surely a better looking player. I'd not say Viv Richards was a certainty in the top 10, far from it - IMO there have been plenty of better West Indian batsmen.He dominated weak attacks like England and India, while his record against the high quality Pakistan and New Zealand lineups is not worthy of an all-time great. Also he never had to face the mighty West Indian bowlers.
8. Malcolm Marshall - I think Lillee is overrated. In reality, he was an outstanding but far from complete fast bowler, he was less effective against left-handers and not as good as some at running through the tail due to the lack of a good yorker. As a matter of fact Lillee had his off days and McGrath is a far more reliable fast bowler. Please note im not questioning his status as a great bowler, just think he is overrated and not the very best. Lillee's stats are less impressive than McGrath even though he played in a lower scoring era, and McGrath is the rarely thought of as the very best fast bowler. IMO Malcolm Marshall is the best and most complete paceman ever, closely followed by Richard Hadlee who would be my 11th greatest, with Sunil Gavaskar 12th, Graeme Pollock 13th and Brian Lara, Wilfred Rhodes, Bill O'Reilly, Curtley Ambrose, Ken Barrington, WG Grace and Glenn McGrath making up the top 20.
9. George Headley
10. Keith Miller
 
Last edited:

cover drive man

International Captain
1. Don Bradman- with a 94.96 (or something like that) test average theres really no need to question Bradman being there.
2. George Headley - The black Bradman a superb batsmen.
3. Shane Warne- The greatest bowler of all time.
4. Sir Vivian Richards- Intimidating and brilliant.
5. Sunil gavasker- Simply a fantastic batsmen
6. Jack hobbs - Quality.
7. Joel Garner- Underated the greatest fast bowler ever
8. Ian Botham - One of the few allrounders who I can't decide wether he is a better batter or bowler.
9. Bill o Reily - The Warne of yesteryear.
10. Glen Mgrrath-500 wickets of greatness.
 
Last edited:

Francis

State Vice-Captain
I would have 'Tiger' (Bradman had no doubt) ahead of Warne and Murali with out a doubt.
To be honest, Bradman's praise might have just been a sudden hyperbole, since he said it at O'Rielly's funeral. I normally wouldn't contest this as people trying to discredit testimony is normally a sign that they're reaching. However, I contest this because in his last interview ever given, Bradman was candidly asked who he thought was the best bowler of all time. He said Dennis Lillee. That's significant because Bradman was asked in a somewhat neutral environment, while if he was giving a eulogy, he would probably tend to exaggerrate a little.

And Bradman is just one man. Not to say his opinion shouldn't be highly regarded, but does he know more than say Richie Benaud, who idolised O'Rielly after having seen him play as a teenager, and says Warne is the best.
 

Francis

State Vice-Captain
I have to say I'm a little suprised Sobers isn't a consensus pick for second. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind he belongs at number two. After Bradman, I think the greatest batsman ever could be Sobers, Richards, Tendulkar or Hobbs. I'd give the ever so slightest nod to Viv, because he did it consistently and he did it when it mattered. Viv had so much pride in the West Indies that he always defended them when they needed it most, like Warne trying to save the Ashes for Australia.

However, Sobers is a hair behind, and if you ask the likes of Chappell and Benaud, he was the best batsman they ever saw and definitely the best they played against. Consdiering Sobers is as good as any other batsman after Bradman, and could bowl, I think he's an easy number two. This is coming from someone who thinks Sobers is overrated as a bowler.

I think I convinced one or two people (if any), that Dennis Lillee is the best fast bowler ever based on the absolute stockpile of testimony from ex-players saying he was the best. But that testimony looks small compared to the people who saw and played against Sobers and said he was head and shoulders above the rest.

Easy, easy number 2 for me. After that it gets hard.
 

Francis

State Vice-Captain
1. Don Bradman - I'm 99.94 percent sure that hes the greatest player of all time.
That's a great quote. If anybody questions Bradman's status as number uno with me, I'm going to steal that!
 

nightprowler10

Global Moderator
That's a great quote. If anybody questions Bradman's status as number uno with me, I'm going to steal that!
PF thought of it first tbh.

Anyway, brilliant arguments for your selection. Here's my top 10 (includes not only the test players):

1. Sir Donald Bradman
2. Sir Garfield Sobers
3. Imran Khan
4. WG Grace
5. George Headley
6. Jack Hobbs
7. Keith Miller
8. Bart King
9. Sydney Barnes
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
 

Top