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Current & All Time Best Captain?

Current Best ODI Captain?

  • Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh)?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Younis Khan (Pakistan)?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sunil Dhaniram (Canada)?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • William Porterfield (Ireland)?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Jeroen Smits (Netherlands)?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ryan Watson (Scotland)?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    32

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Romaine was so dedicated in developing Leverock and co that he forgot to mention to anyone that his name was really Irving not Irvine.
 

subshakerz

International Coach
Current, it has to be Graeme Smith. Not the most creative captain, but he's given his team a sense of determination and steel, and leads from the front.

All-time, it has to be Imran Khan. Lead the team from the front (with a batting average of 50 and bowling average of 20 as captain). Persisted with players like Inzamam, Waqar, and Abdul Qadir who selectors either ignored or dropped and groomed them into stars, and switched the team mindset from a defensive to aggressive one. He played against a superior team in the West Indies thrice and never lost. All this with the most unstable side in test cricket.
 

ozone

First Class Debutant
Smith, best captain in ODIs and Test ATM. Dunno about who would be the all-time best because I don't know enough about pre-1970 cricket. Will go for Douglas Jardine, based mainly on the fact he upset a lot of Aussies.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Don Bradman. Because he more than compensated his captaincy skills with inspiration
Possibly but also because his batting meant that his team was almost unbeatable

Unfortunately, it's hard to be a great captain without decent players so that really narrows the field
 

Uppercut

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Case in point

Made a mediocre side better but was very rarely the difference between winning and losing because the players under him werent good enough
No, i think he really did make a difference. Maybe not a huge one, but New Zealand's results were better than the quality of their players.

Even more stark is the difference in India's performances under Dhoni and under Kumble in recent times.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
No, i think he really did make a difference. Maybe not a huge one, but New Zealand's results were better than the quality of their players.

Even more stark is the difference in India's performances under Dhoni and under Kumble in recent times.
Fleming DID make a difference - he was an excellent captain who got the most out of a committed group of players with his tactical nous and leadership

But his record is mediocre simply because the players werent great

Jury is still out on Dhoni.

He's inherited a side on the up and has done incredibly well but some of his decisions are baffling and he gets very defensive at the slightest sign of pressure.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Because Astle, McMillan, Richardson, Cairns, Twose (ODIs), Bond, Tuffey, Vettori, Nash, Franklin, Parore, Oram and himself are really mediocre.

In saying that he did have to work with Ian Butler and Martin, and I'll concede if we reduced his age to 28 so he could captain the current side in a few years time he'd have an even better record (probably, I'll be dissappointed if many of this lot go down the drain)

Anyway, the best I have seen are Fleming, Waugh and Vaughan
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Well in terms of modern captains we have Smith, Ponting, Jayawardene, Vettori an Dhoni at the forefront.
In terms of man managing I'd say Ponting, Smith, and Vettori have the edge.
In terms of tactics I'd say Jayawardene and Vettori are the best.
So I'd probably go Vettori overall, certainly has the most potential.
 

Perm

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Because Astle, McMillan, Richardson, Cairns, Twose (ODIs), Bond, Tuffey, Vettori, Nash, Franklin, Parore, Oram and himself are really mediocre.
The question is about ODI captaincy, but I get the feeling social was referring to Fleming in the Test environment, in which case he's got a bloody good point. We might have had a few talented players, but how often did they actually play? Cairns, Bond, Tuffey, Nash, Franklin and Oram have all missed large chunks of their careers due to injuries.

Also, only two of those players averaged over 40 with the bat - Fleming (only just), and Richardson. Fairly mediocre I'd say.
 

Burgey

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Currently - Smith or Vettori for mine. Dhoni's not been doing it for long enough, and if he's to captain and keep in three forms of the game, it will be interesting to see how he copes in the medium to long term.

All time - Jardine would be up there, Armstrong must be too given his results though England were weak post-WWI. Benaud is often forgotten here - he was apparently superb and, most importantly, lucky. "You could put your hand in a bucket of **** Benords, and still grab a handful of diamonds" I think was the quote attributed to one of his players. Worrell's unifying influence and symbolic importance was massive as well.

In more modern times, Lloyd was obviously great in managing the Windies sides, though they were great too. Vaughan was good but not for long enough to be considered an all timer imo. Tubby was tactically the most astute of recent Aussie captains by far. Imran was legendary in Pakistan as well.

All time, I'd prob. go Imran, Benaud on a par, then Lloyd and Taylor. Each of the latter took teams on the rise to the next level, and in Taylor's case was a refreshing contrast to Border's conservatism which preceded him.
 

Precambrian

Banned
Fleming DID make a difference - he was an excellent captain who got the most out of a committed group of players with his tactical nous and leadership

But his record is mediocre simply because the players werent great

Jury is still out on Dhoni.

He's inherited a side on the up and has done incredibly well but some of his decisions are baffling and he gets very defensive at the slightest sign of pressure.
Side on the up?

He lost the services of Ganguly and Kumble.

Plus when he inherited the side, it was a bunch of nobodys.
 

Precambrian

Banned
Currently - Smith or Vettori for mine. Dhoni's not been doing it for long enough, and if he's to captain and keep in three forms of the game, it will be interesting to see how he copes in the medium to long term.

All time - Jardine would be up there, Armstrong must be too given his results though England were weak post-WWI. Benaud is often forgotten here - he was apparently superb and, most importantly, lucky. "You could put your hand in a bucket of **** Benords, and still grab a handful of diamonds" I think was the quote attributed to one of his players. Worrell's unifying influence and symbolic importance was massive as well.

In more modern times, Lloyd was obviously great in managing the Windies sides, though they were great too. Vaughan was good but not for long enough to be considered an all timer imo. Tubby was tactically the most astute of recent Aussie captains by far. Imran was legendary in Pakistan as well.

All time, I'd prob. go Imran, Benaud on a par, then Lloyd and Taylor. Each of the latter took teams on the rise to the next level, and in Taylor's case was a refreshing contrast to Border's conservatism which preceded him.
No Bradman? ITSTL. For me, he was the best captain any team could hope to get.
 

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