Cricketers who have had a lasting impact on how the game is played.

[four_or_six]

Reading one of the other threads, I was thinking about players who have had a lasting impact on how the game is played today. Two that spring to mind are Jayasuria, since hard hitting openers are now a must in LO cricket, and Gilchrist who has set a different expectation for wicket-keepers in terms of batting.

But really, I was trying to think of more quirky examples, maybe players who aren't that famous, or players who have had an impact by mistake. Ideas anyone?

 

[kingpin]

Gilchrist for his approach......And Hayden also....Well their are many others.....Their impact is sooo less we cant even recognize it.....

And under arm incident made bowler's to bowl upper arm.....Big impact you know....ICC have made new set of rule's after that incident.......

 

[BoyBrumby]

Two first examples I thought of were:

Bernard Bosanquet, progenator of the googly (or "The Bosie" as Richie always called it, after its creator). Bowled fewer than 1000 balls in tests, but def changed wrist spin forever.

Mark Greatbatch, averaged a tick over 30 in tests but was the first player to really make a go of "pinch hitting" in ODIs. Seems incredible it was only 18 years ago.

 

[vcs]

Mark Greatbatch, Jonty Rhodes.

 

[Jarquis]

Mankad?

 

[G.I.Joe]

Mark Greatbatch Kris Srikkanth imo

 

[GIMH]

Douglas Jardine

 

[Jamee999]

Waugh and Border, for sure.

 

[fredfertang]

WG's brother Edward Mills Grace - until he ignored convention and started playing the pull shot it was considered unsporting to play the ball with anything other than a straight bat

 

[chicane]

Sarfraz Nawaz.

Saqlain Mushtaq?

EDIT: Micheal Bevan had a big impact on ODI play.

 

[weed wizard]

let me remember

Ok first one,
Miandad jumping lyk a chimp in a match against india.
Hilarious , great foster ad.

Second one,
Watching brett lee bowl.

Last one,
England winning ashes-2005. First in front my eye.
Thankyou cricket.

 

[Spudsy2061]

Andy Flower. He was a great WK, I think 2nd only to Gilchrist, and I also think he's going to turn out to be a gem of a coach. Also in terms of having a lasting impact on a single country's cricketing passion/influence, I think Shakib Al Hasan is going to do some marvelous things in his career for the state of cricket in Bangladesh. I have an odd feeling that 20 years from now, after he's retired, we'll be talking about how far they've come and how much Shakib has been such a positive influence for them. He's gonna be a true Bangladeshi Cricket Rolemodel. Those who I see in today's game as changing the sport. Of course besides the obvious legends I can't say who since I haven't been into cricket long enough.

 

[Faisal1985]

Imran Khan's bowling brought a great deal to fast bowling imo. From reverse swinging pacey bowls to what Akram and Waqar went on become based on those bowling techniques of raw pace and swing. England won Ashes where reverse swing played a big role as well...so all in all i think starting from Sarfraz but Imran really put the theory in to practicality and made it look so good that youngsters wanted to be like him...

 

[weldone]

Certainly not Bradman. Nobody was good enough to copy him, to an extent also.

 

[stumpski]

WG's brother Edward Mills Grace - until he ignored convention and started playing the pull shot it was considered unsporting to play the ball with anything other than a straight bat

Funny, I read only today of how he once pulled a ball from outside off stump, and when the aggrieved bowler called out, "hey, that's not cricket!" he replied "it may not be cricket, but it's four runs."

I'd also mention Ranjitsinjhi for supposedly being the first to master the leg glance, and Compton for helping to popularise the sweep.

 

[cover drive man]

Probably an obvious one but Shane Warne helped revive interest in spin bowling as well as being a great and controversial (Controversy creates cash as Eric Bischoff said ) personality to the game. He came about the same time as fellow-spinner Murali (and Kumble) and they became the two (three) highest test wicket takers of all time. But Warne seems to stand out as the icon though I would say (of course I'm letting his ashes performances cloud my view of Murali)

 

[weed wizard]

doughlas marielier

Zimbabwean who invented paddle scoop.
A household name in limited over cricket.
Very cheeky.

 

[Uppercut]

Certainly not Bradman. Nobody was good enough to copy him, to an extent also.

SJS wrote a piece that rather disproves this notion: Cricket Web - Features: Bradman to Sehwag : Redefining Great Batsmanship by Defying Tradition (Part 1)

 

[Himannv]

Probably an obvious one but Shane Warne helped revive interest in spin bowling as well as being a great and controversial (Controversy creates cash as Eric Bischoff said ) personality to the game. He came about the same time as fellow-spinner Murali (and Kumble) and they became the two (three) highest test wicket takers of all time. But Warne seems to stand out as the icon though I would say (of course I'm letting his ashes performances cloud my view of Murali)

I reckon Qadir had a pretty large part to play as far as reviving leg spin bowling.

 

[zaremba]

Probably an obvious one but Shane Warne helped revive interest in spin bowling as well as being a great and controversial (Controversy creates cash as Eric Bischoff said ) personality to the game. He came about the same time as fellow-spinner Murali (and Kumble) and they became the two (three) highest test wicket takers of all time. But Warne seems to stand out as the icon though I would say (of course I'm letting his ashes performances cloud my view of Murali)

Without wishing to detract from Warne's greatness, I think his actual influence on the world of spin bowling is perhaps over-rated. It's not as though there's been a crop of quality legspinners emerging after he did. There have been a few (Kaneria and a couple from India) but no more than there were before he emerged.