Who was your first cricketing icon?

[LongHopCassidy]

Bevan. Always liked that way he never looked like he was going for a target, but he'd always get there with 2 or 3 balls to spare.

One of the first ODIs I was ever exposed to was the New Year's ODI in 1995/96. Might have set expectations a bit high.

 

[Sanz]

Kapil Dev and Md. Azharuddin.

 

[honestbharani]

Who?

Guys who know my views on Lara V Tendulkar..

 

[Son Of Coco]

Dennis Lillee

I remember hearing when I was really young that the optimal height for a fast bowler (old science I think haha) was 6'1" and so I wanted to be that tall.

Good thing about my cricket obsession when I was little was I went from being terrible to pretty good in an off-season. Bad thing was sore back in my teens.

 

[Evermind]

Mark Greatbatch. I was 10 years old during the '92 world cup, and he set the whole thing alight. Loved watching him bat!

 

[Ikki]

Sir Viv. I was very very small, I think 2-3 years old when I started watching cricket and this great man batting just rocked my interest at such a young age, enough so that I'd remember him. I come from a footballing (soccer) family so loving cricket has been hard to do since when I was younger I wasn't given the few hours to watch cricket whilst everyone else thought it was boring. I moved to NZ when I was still very young 4-5 years old and for a few years it was Chris Cairns and his poster adorning my room

Later I moved to Australia and a blonde spinner named Warne emerged. Ever since he's been mesmerising me, the opposition and his own team.

 

[Redbacks]

Bevan, loved his ability to steady the ship and guide Australia home

 

[Zinzan]

W G Grace for me, Never forget watching him blazing the ball to all parts as a young fella

 

[sammy2]

Walsh and Ambrose

Amazing.

 

[Matt79]

Steve Waugh, circa 87 World Cup. The fact he could never quite get his maiden test ton just sealed the deal.

 

[The Sean]

Bradman remains my first and greatest, despite missing his playing career by several decades. In fact many of my greatest idols played before I was born.

Of those I saw live, Sir Viv and Greg Chappell were probably the first two. Though over the following years AB played a bigger role.

 

[completeNZer]

Brendon McCullum (before he was cool to like) remeber him and Papps debuting and scoring 50's against RSA.

I think it must've been because he had the 'same' GM bat as me and when he changed to Puma I remember telling my mum that maybe I should too

 

[zaremba]

Tony Grieg - this was in the mid-late 70s when I was about 3.

Botham obviously in the early 80s, although I'd like to think that while recognising his brilliance I always thought he was a bit of a pillock.

But my first proper cricketing hero was David Gower.

And I had favourites from reading about the history of the game, most notably Maurice Tate - partly because he played for Sussex and partly because of the nice things that Bradman wrote about him in the Art of Cricket.

 

[Joe Ninety]

Doug Walters, then Greg Chappell.

 

[Xuhaib]

Growing up in the '80s in Pakistan, there wasn't a kid who didn't idolize Imran Khan. I was no different.

just replace 80's with 90's and Imran Khan with Wasim Akram.

 

[Xuhaib]

Growing up in the '80s in Pakistan, there wasn't a kid who didn't idolize Imran Khan. I was no different.

btw Fusion you are a lucky guy that you are old enough to remember the 80's Pakistani team probably the best Pak side in history

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Trevor Gripper.

I know, it's ridiculous.

Haha

 

[Beleg]

just replace 80's with 90's and Imran Khan with Wasim Akram.

what he said

 

[masterblaster]

When I was younger I was a huge fan of Kapil Dev and David Boon. Both of them were probably my first two cricketing icons. Later on as I grew up it became Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.

 

[Prince EWS]

Haha

It's compounded by the fact that I decided to take up off spin seriously the first time I saw Jason Krejza bowl in Australian domestic cricket. I certainly have my quirks.