Best Fielder After Rhodes????

[silentstriker]

To me, catching is the gold standard, whether in the slips or elsewhere. Ponting is exceptional there, and Collingwood too among the ones still playing.

I don't really care for outfield fielding much.

 

[Richard]

Colin Bland was supposedly up there with Rhodes. I haven't seen much of his fielding, but from what I've heard he was an absolute cracker.

Colin Bland was probably as good as Rhodes from what I've seen and read. I'd have those two just ahead of anyone else. Roger Harper was magnificent too. Derek Randall is probably this country's best, .

Of those I've seen, Symonds is probably the best of the rest. Hussey is superb too. The best pre-1970s was probably Gilbert Jessop.

Interested to hear about Mahanama, had never heard a thing about his fielding. Agree completely about the Lankans > Indian\Pakistanis in fielding as-a-rule thing, have thought it for ages, and yeah it's extremely strange.

BTW, this is all based on outfielding. The best close catchers ever were the likes of Eknath Solkar, Garry Sobers, Ian Botham and Mark Waugh.

 

[Richard]

To me, catching is the gold standard, whether in the slips or elsewhere. Ponting is exceptional there, and Collingwood too among the ones still playing.

I don't really care for outfield fielding much.

Obviously, catching > outfielding easily, in Tests, but that doesn't mean outfielding is unimportant or close to.

 

[Swervy]

King Viv was pretty good in his youth

 

[silentstriker]

Obviously, catching > outfielding easily, in Tests, but that doesn't mean outfielding is unimportant or close to.

Never said it was unimportant - just that I don't care much for it.

 

[Jono]

To me, catching is the gold standard, whether in the slips or elsewhere. Ponting is exceptional there, and Collingwood too among the ones still playing.

I don't really care for outfield fielding much.

Lol. Why don't you just appreciate all bits of cricket?

 

[silentstriker]

As Richard mentioned, I've heard really great things about Solkar. I know Tony Greig rates him as the best close in catcher he has ever seen, and so do most bowlers who played with him. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any of his matches/catches, so I can't really judge.

 

[stumpski]

I was beginning to wonder when someone was going to mention Randall. David Gower and (apparently) Hobbs and Bradman were exceptional cover fielders as young men, and Learie Constantine I've been told was outstanding.

 

[silentstriker]

Lol. Why don't you just appreciate all bits of cricket?

I wish I could - I really do. But I just can't seem to really love power batting, or ground fielding. Even catching is meh for me. When I watch cricket, I really focus on a few things I enjoy.

A session with a bowler bowling some good traditional or reverse swing at decent speed beating a batsmen and the bowler getting beaten by a perfect technique when he goes wayward is just about nirvana for me. It's not that I don't enjoy other stuff, but it's a hierarchy. I can certainly appreciate good ground fielding, but I wouldn't keep watching the game if that was the only thing going on....it's pretty low on the totem pole for me. Whereas if I was watching a great bowler operate, or some great technique on the screen, it would keep me glued to the screen regardless of the match situation.

 

[bond21]

Um...Andrew Symonds is the best fielder of all time.

No contest.

 

[bond21]

Paul Collingwood beating Symonds....lmfao...I wont even begin to describe how utterly stupid that is.

If Panesar was in the poll he would be beating Symonds, its a popularity contest, no cricket knowledge in this topic whatsoever. The stupidity is beyond belief.

 

[silentstriker]

Um...Andrew Symonds is the best fielder of all time.

No contest.

He is quite possibly part of the top three or four ground fielders of all time.

 

[bond21]

and Collingwood is the best fielder of all time...if you dont count 30 or 40 other players...

 

[Richard]

Um...Andrew Symonds is the best fielder of all time.

No contest.

Let's leave it at this: no, he's not. Symonds has never stopped singles on reputation alone, the way Rhodes did for years and years.

 

[Richard]

Even catching is meh for me.

Catching being poor = no good fast-bowling being effective.

Good-quality catching is the #1 ingredient in good-quality cricket.

 

[Richard]

King Viv was pretty good in his youth

So was WG Grace, but of course, as most of the surviving pictures of him picture him in his 40s and 50s and overweight, that means he was always hopeless.

 

[Langeveldt]

None of them...

Trevor Penney..

 

[steds]

Gary Pratt.

 

[Richard]

Let's see if we can go though it country by country:
England: close-catching - Botham; outfielding - Randall.
Australia: close-catching - Mark Waugh; outfielding - Symonds.
South Africa: close-catching - almost certainly be Graeme Smith by the end of his career; outfielding - Bland\Rhodes.
West Indies: close-catching - Sobers; outfielding - Harper.
India: close-catching - Solkar; outfielding - hard to say.
Pakistan: close-catching - Inzamam?; outfielding - probably Asif Iqbal.
New Zealand: close-catching - Fleming; outfielding - hard to say, there's a good few contenders. Harris didn't play enough for mine else it'd probably be him.
Sri Lanka: close-catching - M Jayawardene?; outfielding - Mahanama
Zimbabwe: close-catching - Carlisle; outfielding - Wishart

A few guesses in there though. Mostly from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s mind, which makes sense.

 

[Richard]

None of them...

Trevor Penney..

Penney was the Rhodes of English domestic cricket.