Your All-time Top 5's

[Bonnie Prince C]

Personal I would too. But I feel that his keeping was not good enough to merit him being on an all-time list.

 

[Uppercut]

When the thread is finished maybe we can have a poll for the Top 5 chuckles.
The two that got me were Farokh Engineer as a batsman wicketkeeper (more to do with people not in the list) and Saqlain Mushtaq as one of the spinners.

Awesome idea- maybe then we can concentrate all of LT's general snobbishness towards people with different opinions into one manageable, bitesize thread.

 

[stephen]

I'm having a quiet chuckle that anyone should place Ian Healy in their Top 5 wicketkeepers of all time.

Top 5 Australian keepers since WW2, maybe. But even then, only just.

Obvious nostalgia/hype bias there.

Healy was better than all his contemporaries and better than his replacement (who was at worst on a par with the best of his contemporaries). Given that Healy kept to Warne (and did a fantastic job at it) so successfully, I would not find it difficult at all to believe that he's in the top 5 wicket keepers of all time.

His batting wasn't too shabby either. Making a ton against some of the best WIndies quicks (Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop) is no mean feat.

From cricinfo: "He beat Wally Grout, Don Tallon, Rod Marsh et al to the keeper's job in the Australian team of the 20th century."

 

[Anil]

greatest openers

barry richards
sunil gavaskar
len hutton
jack hobbs
bert sutcliffe

greatest middle order players

don bradman
graeme pollock
viv richards
brian lara
garry sobers

greatest wicket-keepers

godfrey evans
alan knott
bob taylor
ian healy
don tallon

greatest all-rounders

garry sobers
imran khan
ian botham
keith miller
alan davidson

greatest fast bowlers

malcolm marshall
dennis lillee
curtly ambrose
richard hadlee
glenn mcgrath

greatest spin bowlers

muthiah muralitharan
bill o'reilly
shane warne
jim laker
erapalli prasanna

greatest players

don bradman
garry sobers
imran khan
viv richards
jack hobbs

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Welcome to CW mate. Hope you enjoy here.

Your lists are all pretty good, but the relative placement of the two bolded players in the bit I quoted here is likely to be fairly strongly disagreed by a lot of people. The general view is, in my experience, that Hobbs was the greatest of openers. Meanwhile, opinion on Hayden is pretty strongly divided in these parts. Many, myself included, rate him very highly, while others feel he wouldn't have had the success he did in another era. Either way, even he fans probably wouldn't place him above the other 4 you've named there.

Arguably Hobbs is the greatest opener based on myths, opinions, etc.

On the otherhand, Hobbs did play in an era which featured unlimited days and days off. Nowdays, openers can fatigue from spending days in the field before getting sent in to bat in the last hour and a half of play. Hobbs, obviously wasn't put at that disadvantage.

Hayden & Gavaskar are the two best openers, IMO. If you check hundreds scored overall by Opening Batsman then they are way ahead of the rest of the pack. Hayden's scored 100's more regulary then any other batsman of the modern era. Statistics don't do Hayden justice because he wasn't as selfish as Gavaskar and didn't bat for his average.

 

[thierry henry]

Awesome idea- maybe then we can concentrate all of LT's general snobbishness towards people with different opinions into one manageable, bitesize thread.

At the least the "chuckles thread" might then be able to branch off in to a "top 5 wankiest Lillian Thomson posts in the chuckles thread thread" or some such.

 

[Evermind]

I'm having a quiet chuckle that anyone should place Ian Healy in their Top 5 wicketkeepers of all time.

Top 5 Australian keepers since WW2, maybe. But even then, only just.

And even then, all the good work with the gloves is undone by the drivel from the mouth in the commentary box.

 

[thierry henry]

Hayden's scored 100's more regulary then any other batsman of the modern era.

While this may seem significant, you will soon learn from your CW elders that it's irrelevant cuz Hayden suxorz.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

While this may seem significant, you will soon learn from your CW elders that it's irrelevant cuz Hayden suxorz.

Hayden suxorz? Only Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Kallis and Dravid are better then him from the modern era and even then, Kallis and Dravid are debatable.

CW Elders can say what they want. Completely dominated the last forum I was on.

 

[aussie]

Top 5 Openers:

Sunil Gavaskar
Sir Jack Hobbs
Barry Richards
Sir Len Hutton
Gordon Greenidge



Top 5 Middle-Order Batsmen:

Sir Donald Bradman
Sir Gary Sobers
Sir Viv Richards
Sachin Tendulkar
Greg Chappell


Top 5 All-rounders:

Mike Procter
Keith Miller
Imran Khan
Sir Ian Botham
Sir Gary Sobers


NOTE: I think the wicket-keepers need to split into best glovesmen & batsmen keepers. Since the if you mix them up together into a "best 5 ever", i feel we sort of under-value the two respective roles.

Top 5 Glovesmen:

Godfrey Evans
Allan Knott
Ian Healy
Wally Grout
Jack Blackham


Top 5 Batsmen-Keepers:

Adam Gilchrist
Andy Flower
Kumar Sangakkara
Les Ames
Dennis Lindsay


Top 5 Fast-Bowlers:

Dennis Lillee
Malcolm Marshall
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Glenn McGrath


Top 5 Spin-Bowlers:

Shane Warne/Muttiah Muralitharan
Bill O'Reilly
Lance Gibbs
Clarie Grimmett


Top 5 Greatest players:

Sir Donald Bradman
Sir Gary Sobers
Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Viv Richards
Shane Warne

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Awesome idea- maybe then we can concentrate all of LT's general snobbishness towards people with different opinions into one manageable, bitesize thread.

At the least the "chuckles thread" might then be able to branch off in to a "top 5 wankiest Lillian Thomson posts in the chuckles thread thread" or some such.

I'm deeply honoured boys.......and impressed too. Not so much by the content but the fact that you've both proved you have an opinion on something without needing to use a pocket calculator.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Top 5 Middle-Order Batsman

1. Don Bradman
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Viv Richards
4. Graeme Smith
5. Ricky Ponting

 

[aussie]

I'm deeply honoured boys.......and impressed too. Not so much by the content but the fact that you've both proved you have an opinion on something without needing to use a pocket calculator.

. i love the old guys in this country...

 

[The Sean]

I'm having a quiet chuckle that anyone should place Ian Healy in their Top 5 wicketkeepers of all time.

Top 5 Australian keepers since WW2, maybe. But even then, only just.

A wonderful set of selections, Archie. I wonder whether half the posters here know who half the players you've chosen are.

Geez Zaremba, I'm usually a huge fan of yours but I think you've packed more self-satisfied smugness into those two posts than all your others put together.

Wicketkeeping brilliance, when in comparison with other keepers, is very difficult to judge IMO. Personally I disagree with you, both in terms of your self-satisfied chuckle and your assertion that there were at least 4 better Australian glovemen than Heals since WWII. I thought he was a superb keeper against both pace and spin, durable under all conditions over a long period, and a very valuable lower order bat - hence I rated him as such.

As for half the posters not knowing half the players, you might be right - but maybe we can take this as an opportunity to spread the gospel of these wonderful old greats rather than tsk, tsk, stroke our beards and judge these young 'uns for not having appropriately read up on their cricketing history.

 

[Evermind]

Wicketkeeping brilliance, when in comparison with other keepers, is very difficult to judge IMO. Personally I disagree with you, both in terms of your self-satisfied chuckle and your assertion that there were at least 4 better Australian glovemen than Heals since WWII. I thought he was a superb keeper against both pace and spin, durable under all conditions over a long period, and a very valuable lower order bat - hence I rated him as such.

Well, Sangakkara is also a very good keeper, and Flower was pretty ok too, and their batting averages are incommensurably higher than Healy's. I have no idea what would motivate someone to choose Healy over either of those two. As long as a keeper doesn't miss out too many chances (Ramdin or Akmal style) I think he's alright. And Flower and Sanga are definitely far above that standard.

 

[The Sean]

Well, Sangakkara is also a very good keeper, and Flower was pretty ok too, and their batting averages are incommensurably higher than Healy's. I have no idea what would motivate someone to choose Healy over either of those two. As long as a keeper doesn't miss out too many chances (Ramdin or Akmal style) I think he's alright. And Flower and Sanga are definitely far above that standard.

Understand your point - I actually deliberately changed my title to Most Valuable Wicketkeeper, rather than best Batsman-Keeper, because I wanted keeping to be more important, while still considering the value added as a batsman. I agree with you though, and if I'd ranked as batsmen-keepers then both Sangakarra and probably Flower would have made my list.

My post, and the one I was responding to, was talking more about glovemanship than batting.

 

[King Pietersen]

Top 5 Opening Batsman

1. Sir Jack Hobbs
2. Herbert Sutcliffe
3. Sunil Gavaskar
4. Matthew Hayden
5. Len Hutton

Top 5 Middle-Order Batsman

1. Sir Donald Bradman
2. Sir Vivian Richards
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Ricky Ponting
5. Brian Lara

Top 5 Allrounders

1. Sir Garfield Sobers
2. Keith Miller
3. Jacques Kallis
4. Ian Botham
5. Imran Khan

Top 5 Wicketkeeper-Batsman

1. Adam Gilchrist
2. Alan Knott
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Mark Boucher
5. Andy Flower

Top 5 Spin Bowlers

1. Shane Warne
2. Muttiah Muralitharan
3. Jim Laker
4. Anil Kumble
5. Daniel Vettori

Top 5 Pace Bowlers

1. Malcolm Marshall
2. Glenn McGrath
3. Dennis Lillee
4. Wasim Akram
5. Andy Roberts

Top 5 Cricketers

1. Kevin Pietersen
2. Sir Garfield Sobers
3. Sir Don Bradman
4. Sir Viv Richards
5. Shane Warne

 

[Ikki]

Top 5 Cricketers

1. Kevin Pietersen
2. Sir Garfield Sobers
3. Sir Don Bradman
4. Sir Viv Richards
5. Shane Warne

Welcome to the forum.

 

[The Sean]

Ha ha quality King Pietersen - welcome to CW.

 

[archie mac]

A wonderful set of selections, Archie. I wonder whether half the posters here know who half the players you've chosen are.

Anyhow I'm predictably gratified to see that a certain cricketing backwater on the English South Coast can lay some sort of claim to no fewer than 3 of these players (and, for good measure, a 4th died there).

I know Clem did not die there, so it must have been GG