The CW50 - The Top 3

[bagapath]

is the first XI something like this?

grace
hobbs
bradman
tendulkar
richards
sobers
gilchrist
imran
warne
marshall
barnes

 

[stephen]

With all the votes now in, we now compile the top team of all time:

Grace
Hobbs
Bradman
Tendulkar
Richards
Sobers
Gilchrist +
Imran
Hadlee
Marshall
Warne

Incidentally, other than Gilchrist, all of the players here were in the top 10 ranked. Given Gilly was by far the highest ranked keeper, this team practically picks itself. Warne at #11 means that this team has an excedingly strong tail, to back up a batting lineup including Bradman and Sobers.

Also:

2 English
3 Australians
3 West Indians
1 Indian
1 Pakistani
1 New Zealander
0 Sri Lankans
0 Zimbabweans
0 Bangladeshis

From page 3

 

[bagapath]

The team that they would play against is decidedly weaker:

Hutton
Gavaskar
Hammond
Lara
Headley
Miller
Botham
Dujon+*
Syd Barnes
Murali
McGrath

*Dujon as keeper is my addition as I'm pretty sure that Gilly was the only keeper in the top 50.

miller and botham in one team is over kill. one should make for a genuine fast bowler. may be lillee for botham. not sure of the rankings though.

 

[Days of Grace]

Here was my top 25:

1. Don Bradman
2. W.G. Grace
3. Shane Warne
4. Sir Garfield Sobers
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Jack Hobbs
7. Imran Khan
8. Adam Gilchrist
9. Muttiah Muralitharan
10. Victor Trumper
11. Viv Richards
12. Ian Botham
13. Brian Lara
14. Sydney Barnes
15. Malcolm Marshall
16. Keith Miller
17. Dennis Lillee
18. Denis Compton
19. Glenn McGrath
20. Wally Hammond
21. Allan Border
22. Harold Larwood
23. Jacques Kallis
24. George Headley
25. Wasim Akram

 

[Burgey]

Reckon that team could play a hundred matches against any opposition you care to place them against and not lose a match...

Not if McGrath plays in the other side. Would have him over Imran tbh, but meh, that XI is a great one.

 

[Days of Grace]

Reckon that team could play a hundred matches against any opposition you care to place them against and not lose a match...

Lara might have his day now and then and this time have the support to back him up.

 

[NUFAN]

My top 25
1 Don Bradman
2 Garry Sobers
3 Imran Khan
4 Malcolm Marshall
5 WG Grace
6 Sachin Tendulkar
7 Muttiah Muralitharan
8 Viv Richards
9 Richard Hadlee
10 Shane Warne
11 Curtly Ambrose
12 Sydney Barnes
13 Jack Hobbs
14 Glenn McGrath
15 Brian Lara
16 Wally Hammond
17 Dennis Lillee
18 George Headley
19 Ricky Ponting
20 Wasim Akram
21 Jim Laker
22 Keith Miller
23 Greg Chappell
24 Sunil Gavaskar
25 Adam Gilchrist

I think 23 made the top 25. I had Laker and Gavaskar but Hutton and Botham made it.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Forget the rankings, just enjoyed what The Sean had to write about everyone of the fellas who made it in. Hope Paul Strang gets the same treatment sometime soon; probably a better bowler than Warne considering he probably took some wickets in India.

Don't shoot me.

 

[zaremba]

even the person who voted for warney on top or the one who left bradman out or the one who voted for jardine on top would have a logical reason for it.

FTR I didn't have any particularly good reason for putting Jardine top or leaving Bradman out. It was tongue in cheek. But I was well aware that neither decision would have the slightest impact on the top 25, otherwise I wouldn't have done it (and I was quite surprised that it propelled Jardine even to number 50). If I was being fully serious I would have put Bradman top although it would make equal sense to plump for Grace.

My other choices were all fair dinkum though, although of course heavily distorted by personal preference and prejudice.

 

[honestbharani]

FTR I didn't have any particularly good reason for putting Jardine top or leaving Bradman out. It was tongue in cheek. But I was well aware that neither decision would have the slightest impact on the top 25, otherwise I wouldn't have done it (and I was quite surprised that it propelled Jardine even to number 50). If I was being fully serious I would have put Bradman top although it would make equal sense to plump for Grace.

My other choices were all fair dinkum though, although of course heavily distorted by personal preference and prejudice.

lol.. I think almost ALL of our choices would have been distorted by personal preference, bias and prejudice..

 

[Craig]

I have to say very well done to Sean for such an effort in doing this. Well done Sir.

 

[Matt79]

The next two hightest ranking semi-regular 'keepers were actually Flower and Sangakarra, but the next highest real gloveman was Don Tallon.

Healy criminally underrated as a player these days I reckon.

 

[NUFAN]

Healy criminally underrated as a player these days I reckon.

Yeah but it's extremely hard to find room for someone like Healy when only selecting 25 players. If you did All Time World XI A, ATWXI B, ATWXI C etc he'd most likely make the 4th to 8th best team, which is still bloody good.

 

[Somerset]

This has been a memorable countdown Sean, and you've done an excellent service providing us with the write-ups of the top 50 almost on a daily basis. Definitely something to look back on in future.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah but it's extremely hard to find room for someone like Healy when only selecting 25 players. If you did All Time World XI A, ATWXI B, ATWXI C etc he'd most likely make the 4th to 8th best team, which is still bloody good.

Depending on team balance issues, I'd have him third, after Gilchrist and Knott. If the balance of the team meant I absolutely needed someone who could bat at an alltime top 6 standard, Flower would sneak in, but in the All-Time 2nd XI, or 3rd XI, there are allrounder options that mean that a Knott or Healy at 8 is fine.

 

[stephen]

Healy criminally underrated as a player these days I reckon.

Agreed. A match winning ton at the Gabba against Ambrose/Bishop/Walsh being by far his batting highlight. Not many proper batsman have that credit to their name.

 

[Furball]

Sean, quick query - how did you allocate points from my list to Ambrose and Walsh, given that I ranked them equally?