• 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 2000 years

James

Cricket Web Owner
Watching the highlights of a England v West Indies Test in 1998 got me thinking about the various dedicates of cricket.

We're already half way through 2007, and getting towards the end of this particular decade.

In going back through the 70s, 80s and 90s we saw in each decade the emergence of many world class batsmen and bowlers in each particular period.

But in the past seven years, have we seen any player come onto the international scene who will ever be considered in the greats of world cricket or even show the ability to be considered one of the greats in the future? I'm only referring to players who made their debut since 2000 so that rules out the obvious ones such as Warne & McGrath.

Are we about to see the weakest decade in terms of players on the international scene? With Warne & McGrath having now retired, are there any true great bowlers even left in the game?
 

PhoenixFire

International Coach
I reckon that Mohammed Asif could be a great, has all the things needed to become a really top-class seam and swing bowler.
 

PhoenixFire

International Coach
Yeah, KP could very well be considered a great, but I think James was more talking about bowlers, which there is a serious lack of at the moment.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Are we about to see the weakest decade in terms of players on the international scene? With Warne & McGrath having now retired, are there any true great bowlers even left in the game?
Bit harsh on Murali there.
 

gunner

U19 Cricketer
well there are mohd asif and umar gul,
bowlers like malinga,tait are unproven in test matches and only bowl good in the death overs.

hoggard is a bowler who isnt celebrated much but will be remembered as a great once he retires
 

stumpski

International Captain
Mohammad Yousuf? I think he made his debut before 2000 but only in recent years has he really established himself on the world stage.
 

pasag

RTDAS
hoggard is a bowler who isnt celebrated much but will be remembered as a great once he retires
Hoggard won't be remembered as great when he retires. Solid, class, quite good. But not great. I was thinking of starting this thread actually. With McGrath retiring and even before that, you'd have to say this is one of the leanest period of Test bowling ever. You can put abit of it on the rules favouring batsmen, the size of the bats, the shortening of boundaries etc, but even with all that, the actual talent is really really dire and there's no indication it's going to get any better in the near future. Some of the bowlers fielded these days in Test sides are truly woeful and they're becoming the rule, not the exception.

Hopefully it's just a cycle that we're nearing the end of. Hopefully.
 

stumpski

International Captain
As for bowlers, Ntini I suppose - there aren't many under-30s at the top of the rankings though.
 

TT Boy

Hall of Fame Member
I reckon that Mohammed Asif could be a great, has all the things needed to become a really top-class seam and swing bowler.
? Not really seen Asif swing the ball much if at all so far in his career, has the ability to seam it both ways though.
 

iamdavid

International Debutant
Pieterson, Cook, Graeme Smith, Michael Clarke....remember Smith and Clarke are still only about 26 if i remember correctly, they have time on their sides, Ponting will certainly be remembered as a great and they are as good and at least as well established in their respective sides as he was at the same age.

There are plenty of batsman around who I can see possibly making that step up....but bowlers....erm
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
? Not really seen Asif swing the ball much if at all so far in his career, has the ability to seam it both ways though.
I've certainly seen Asif swing the bowl considerably. He's a better seam bowler admittedly, but he certainly can swing it both ways as well.
 

cover drive man

International Captain
Hoggard won't be remembered as great when he retires. Solid, class, quite good. But not great. I was thinking of starting this thread actually. With McGrath retiring and even before that, you'd have to say this is one of the leanest period of Test bowling ever. You can put abit of it on the rules favouring batsmen, the size of the bats, the shortening of boundaries etc, but even with all that, the actual talent is really really dire and there's no indication it's going to get any better in the near future. Some of the bowlers fielded these days in Test sides are truly woeful and they're becoming the rule, not the exception.

Hopefully it's just a cycle that we're nearing the end of. Hopefully.
I will remember Hoggard as a great and I'm sure I'm not the only one. He is Englands most consitent wicket taking bowler at the present time and is a fantastic addition to the squad.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
? Not really seen Asif swing the ball much if at all so far in his career, has the ability to seam it both ways though.
???????????

We are talking about Mohammad Asif aren't we? He's quite clearly got just about every wicket-taking skill a bowler could desire IMO. Including both conventional and reverse-swing (though unlike the Wasims and Waqars his reverse-swing isn't likely to get him remembered too much because it's not the most obvious trait of his bowling).
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I will remember Hoggard as a great and I'm sure I'm not the only one. He is Englands most consitent wicket taking bowler at the present time and is a fantastic addition to the squad.
Yes. But he's not as good as Bob Willis or even Angus Fraser IMO. And it's highly debatable whether either of them even fall into the "great" category. Though Fraser, certainly, IMO had the talent to and could easily have done had he not had such bad injury problems.

The last true, undisputable greats of English seam bowling were Alec Bedser, Brian Statham and Frederick Sewards Trueman.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I will remember Hoggard as a great and I'm sure I'm not the only one. He is Englands most consitent wicket taking bowler at the present time and is a fantastic addition to the squad.
Not to be condescending or anything, but I think that post shows your age. Hoggard is a very good bowler, and somewhat under-rated at that, but there have been many, many bowlers like him before and there will probably be many more - none of them have been considered greats though. He'll be remembered as very important to the England team during his time and as a very good bowler, and I think they'll miss him once he retires, but he's definitely not a great.
 

Top