Crash Craddock's Top Ten Cricketers of the Decade

[howardj]

Interesting

Kallis, not Smith, should be top of the pops for mine.

Interesting list though:

Smith
Gilly
Murali
Warne
Ponting
Hayden
McGrath
Kallis
Flintoff
Tendulkar

 

[archie mac]

Interesting

Kallis, not Smith, should be top of the pops for mine.

Interesting list though:

Smith
Gilly
Murali
Warne
Ponting
Hayden
McGrath
Kallis
Flintoff
Tendulkar

Don't agree with the order, but not a bad list

 

[GIMH]

Yeah, a fair list

 

[Richard]

Crass Craddock rather than Crash Craddock surely?

 

[Athlai]

Flintoff aside that would be basically my ten.

 

[GIMH]

Who would you have ahead of Flintoff?

 

[Athlai]

Who would you have ahead of Flintoff?

Anyone who isn't English tbh.

If it was a sentimental day I was having I'd throw in Shakib for being Bangladesh's greatest thing ever.

Less sentimentally I'd rate Pollock, Dravid, Sanga and maybe even Vaas ahead of Flintoff.
Pollock would be my first choice.

 

[GIMH]

You'll be surprised to hear I think Flintoff deserves his place

 

[BoyBrumby]

As "marquee" players he's probably not a million miles away. I'd take Sanga over Fat Gray in terms of batting 100% of the time without hesitation, but the big-boned fella did win a test series in Oz as skipper.

 

[bagapath]

Interesting

Kallis, not Smith, should be top of the pops for mine.

Interesting list though:

Smith
Gilly
Murali
Warne
Ponting
Hayden
McGrath
Kallis
Flintoff
Tendulkar

any two of sanga, sehwag and dravid could replace flintoff and tendulkar

 

[G.I.Joe]

Where's Sehwag?

 

[Streetwise]

Edit: Wonder who the captain is.

 

[NUFAN]

Edit: Wonder who the captain is.

It's obviously Smith after reading the article.

Would be great if he selected a top 11 instead. All brilliant cricketers, great list IMO for someone who follows Australian Cricket.

 

[Goughy]

Amazed at Smith topping the list. Just amazed.

A very ordinary captain for most of the decade and his batting was more known for its technical issues that its successes.

Obviously he has had success but no where near being the player of the decade when all things are considered.

 

[The Sean]

South African allrounder Jacques Kallis was the only player chosen on numbers because his numbers simply smack you over the head.

At some point cricket is going to have to concede that statistically he loses nothing in comparison to the great Sir Garfield Sobers even if he has a quarter of the charisma.

Mike Atherton may be right that Kallis goes with rather than changes the flow of a game but he has been so good for so long you can only dip your lid to his achievements. To take more than 200 wickets with his seamers on top of his 10,000-plus runs makes him a non-negotiable entry.

Some of Craddock's article is good and some of it is tosh IMO - but I reckon he absolutely nails Kallis there.

 

[The Sean]

Amazed at Smith topping the list. Just amazed.

A very ordinary captain for most of the decade and his batting was more known for its technical issues that its successes.

Obviously he has had success but no where near being the player of the decade when all things are considered.

Agree heartily with this - I've come to admire and respect Smith tremendously as time has gone on, but no way in hell is he the player of the decade.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Interesting

Kallis, not Smith, should be top of the pops for mine.

Interesting list though:

Smith
Gilly
Murali
Warne
Ponting
Hayden
McGrath
Kallis
Flintoff
Tendulkar

Would have Dravid or Sehwag over Graeme. Otherwise mostly uncontroversial, even if Ashes-heavy.

Flintoff's figures not spectacular either (7,065 runs @ 32.2 & 387 wkts @ 28.9 in all cricket; compare, say, Pollock's 4,817 runs @ 28.2 & 550 wkts @ 24.8), but I guess it's his legacy in the Ashes what does it.

 

[Goughy]

WHEN Graeme Smith was named South African captain in March, 2003, the cricket world shook its head.

A 22-year-old captaining a Test team? What were they thinking? The boy had played only eight Tests.

I think we know exactly what they were thinking

 

[Richard]

Well you've done a decent job of convincing me that they wanted someone who would toe the party-line.

 

[DaRick]

Interesting

Kallis, not Smith, should be top of the pops for mine.

Interesting list though:

Smith
Gilly
Murali
Warne
Ponting
Hayden
McGrath
Kallis
Flintoff
Tendulkar

I'm no fan of Craddock, truth be told. So there are quite a few issues I have with his listings. Some are quite obvious, like Murali, Warne, Ponting, McGrath, Tendulkar, etc. But Kallis should be higher and although I love the guy, there is a case for adding Pietersen, Sehwag, etc. if you add Hayden, even though he was masterful at setting the tone for Australia's dominance.

I believe that Adam Gilchrist, as the first of his kind (a competent wicketkeeper who is a Test-class batsman) should probably be first.

I don't know where I'd place Smith - the guy's record is similar to that of many other batsmen and he remains a seriously flawed tactician, even though he leads by example and was at the helm when SA won some landmark series. He'd be near the bottom of this list for mine.