Captains of each international team

[Jono]

Lots of debate regarding captaincy has occurred over the last 12-18 months for a variety of teams. Australia the obvious one right now, but of course there was England as well during the KP saga, and there has been talk about how long Graeme Smith will go on for, as seen with him letting go of ODIs soon.

Are there any captains, whether it be in Test, ODI or T20 cricket, who you believe should not be captain, for one reason or another?

Maybe you believe they aren't the best tactically, and someone is better. Maybe you believe they are a good captain but there are better alternatives. Maybe you believe by being captain, their own cricket is being negatively effected. Or maybe you believe they are a good captain but don't make the best XI of the team.

I'll get started. I think Sanga is a decent captain, and is one of my favourite players. But I believe Mahela was a better captain, and for whatever reason Mahela gave up the job (fatigue, dealing with selectors or whatever), the best man for the job isn't the captain of the SL cricket team right now.

 

[irottev]

SL seem good with Sanga, SA have Smith who seems very solid, Ponting for Australia who some are calling for his head but he's done a good job over the years. Dhoni seems to led by example and be quite influential. Vettori is amongst the worst. West Indies and Pakistan have big captaincy issues.

 

[Athlai]

SL seem good with Sanga, SA have Smith who seems very solid, Ponting for Australia who some are calling for his head but he's done a good job over the years. Dhoni seems to led by example and be quite influential. Vettori is amongst the worst. West Indies and Pakistan have big captaincy issues.

Na.

 

[smash84]

Lots of debate regarding captaincy has occurred over the last 12-18 months for a variety of teams. Australia the obvious one right now, but of course there was England as well during the KP saga, and there has been talk about how long Graeme Smith will go on for, as seen with him letting go of ODIs soon.

Are there any captains, whether it be in Test, ODI or T20 cricket, who you believe should not be captain, for one reason or another?

Maybe you believe they aren't the best tactically, and someone is better. Maybe you believe they are a good captain but there are better alternatives. Maybe you believe by being captain, their own cricket is being negatively effected. Or maybe you believe they are a good captain but don't make the best XI of the team.

I'll get started. I think Sanga is a decent captain, and is one of my favourite players. But I believe Mahela was a better captain, and for whatever reason Mahela gave up the job (fatigue, dealing with selectors or whatever), the best man for the job isn't the captain of the SL cricket team right now.

Misbah should not be captain of the Pakistan team

On a more serious note I don't see too much wrong with Sanga's captaincy. And like you said that Mahela gave up the captaincy for whatever reasons I don't see who is a better alternative to Sanga.

Dhoni is definitely good for India although his own batting seems to have gone to the dogs in the last one year or so.

Ponting, Strauss, and Vettori are best choices for their respective teams.

Darren Sammy for WI????? Hmmm.........well WICB is a bit of a joke like the PCB. To be fair to the WICB they are maybe not as bad as the PCB.

So I don't see what's wrong with the captaincy in world cricket barring the two usual suspects (Pak and WI).

 

[Jono]

I don't think Sanga is a bad captain by any stretch, nor do I think it's bad for SL cricket him being captain. I do find it interesting however where, and I think most SL fans agree, the better captain is still playing cricket in the team, but has chosen to no longer to lead.

It's not a bad situation, just an interesting one. Was Jayawardene's captaincy affecting his batting in real terms? It may have in his own mind, but I wonder if it did affect his results.

Additionally I wonder if he is doing any better or worse after giving it up.

 

[Athlai]

I don't think Sanga is a bad captain by any stretch, nor do I think it's bad for SL cricket him being captain. I do find it interesting however where, and I think most SL fans agree, the better captain is still playing cricket in the team, but has chosen to no longer to lead.

It's not a bad situation, just an interesting one. Was Jayawardene's captaincy affecting his batting in real terms? It may have in his own mind, but I wonder if it did affect his results.

Additionally I wonder if he is doing any better or worse after giving it up.

Both Jaya and Sanga have awesome batting averages as captain.

 

[vcs]

Australia have appointed four captains since 1984. Amazing stat.

Pakistan have probably had that many in the last year alone.

 

[irottev]

Na.

He's not better than Ponting, Sanga, Dhoni, Smith or Strauss IMHO,. How would you rank them?

 

[Athlai]

He's not better than Ponting, Sanga, Dhoni, Smith or Strauss IMHO,. How would you rank them?

Amongst those names, but they're pretty good captains.

 

[superkingdave]

Don't rate Strauss as a captain at all, think he is tactically poor, but there aren't really any better options atm.

 

[andyc]

Australia have appointed four captains since 1984. Amazing stat.

Pakistan have probably had that many in the last year alone.

5, tbh. Border, Taylor, Waugh, Ponting, Gilchrist (assuming you were including Border in that).

 

[vcs]

5, tbh. Border, Taylor, Waugh, Ponting, Gilchrist (assuming you were including Border in that).

I thought of Gilchrist but he was a stand-in, not a proper appointment IMO. Got it from Peter Roebuck's article on Clarke.

Peter Roebuck: Is Clarke up for the captaincy job? | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

 

[Matt79]

Agreed. Gilly was not appointed captain, he was appointed VC, and in that capacity captained some matches when Waugh or Ponting were temporarily out through injury.

 

[G.I.Joe]

IMO it'd be interesting to consider captain swaps. Graeme Smith brings his experience of leading a rebuilding side to Australia. Dhoni takes charge of Pakistan, booting out Akmal and making sense of the mess. Vettori leads SA with distinction, also giving their attack a spin dimension. Shakib becomes a younger version of Vettori for NZ.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I didn't mind Chris Gayle as captain. I think any criticisms of him, outside of the recent contract signing dispute (which obviously isn't leadership material), tended to centre around his attitude, but I think that they are unfair aspertions to make without being around the squad.

Would be interested to see if there are any player driven criticisms of Gayle's captaincy.

 

[smash84]

IMO it'd be interesting to consider captain swaps. Graeme Smith brings his experience of leading a rebuilding side to Australia. Dhoni takes charge of Pakistan, booting out Akmal and making sense of the mess. Vettori leads SA with distinction, also giving their attack a spin dimension. Shakib becomes a younger version of Vettori for NZ.

LOL.....this does sound like an interesting proposition

 

[Jono]

IMO it'd be interesting to consider captain swaps. Graeme Smith brings his experience of leading a rebuilding side to Australia. Dhoni takes charge of Pakistan, booting out Akmal and making sense of the mess. Vettori leads SA with distinction, also giving their attack a spin dimension. Shakib becomes a younger version of Vettori for NZ.

That would be interesting.

I reckon if Mahela was in charge of the Australian side of 2004-2007 there would have been some absolute carnage. He is naturally a very attacking captain, so whether you think he'd have done better than Ponting, what I definitely think is Australia would have been an amazing team to watch.

 

[Spark]

That would be interesting.

I reckon if Mahela was in charge of the Australian side of 2004-2007 there would have been some absolute carnage. He is naturally a very attacking captain, so whether you think he'd have done better than Ponting, what I definitely think is Australia would have been an amazing team to watch.

There was plenty of carnage in 2006-7 tbh.

Granted that was with one of the most frighteningly powerful lineups ever assembled in the history of the game.

 

[four_or_six]

Strauss definitely the right man for us right now.

I do worry who we're going to get next looking down our batting lineup. Cook isn't in the ODI team, Bell has been in and out, Trott by what we hear wouldn't be suitable, and Collingwood is too old. And KP... no thanks. Perhaps a bowler, maybe Broad? We don't really have a stand-out candidate.

 

[Jono]

There was plenty of carnage in 2006-7 tbh.

Granted that was with one of the most frighteningly powerful lineups ever assembled in the history of the game.

Tbf I wasn't having a go at Ponting.

I just think Mahela, unlike Sanga, Ponting and many other captains, is a naturally attacking captain.

If he was given the team of Australia 2004-2006 it'd have been some captivating viewing. I'm not saying he'd have been better or worse than Ponting, but it'd have been quite different IMO.