Retiring as the best ever....

[bagapath]

This is a list of players who left the game as the best ever in their disciplines. they were eventually replaced by others who managed to overhaul their achievements. but at the time of retirement, they left the game with not too many people disagreeing with the "best ever" title bestowed on them by fans, critics, fellow cricketers and statisticians alike.

best batsman ever - wg grace, victor trumper, replaced by jack hobbs then eventually overtaken by don bradman who may probably remain at the top forever

best bowler of all time - fred spofforth, sydney barnes, tiger oreilly, dennis lillee, richard hadlee, malcolm marshall, warne-murali

best all rounder ever - wilfred rhodes, keith miller, gary sobers

best wicket keeper batsman ever - les ames, andy flower, adam gilchrist

 

[vcs]

Is it about retiring on a high? Because then Glenn McGrath and Imran should be there. Not sure if Warne-Murali were unequivocally proclaimed the best bowlers when they called it a day, perhaps best spinner ever would be closer to the truth.

 

[bagapath]

Is it about retiring on a high? Because then Glenn McGrath and Imran should be there. Not sure if Warne-Murali were unequivocally proclaimed the best bowlers when they called it a day, perhaps best spinner ever would be closer to the truth.

mcgrath and imran retired on a high. but this is not about that. as far as I know, they were not proclaimed as the best ever in their disciplines when their careers finished. imran retired as the second best after sobers. mcgrath is still not considered better than malcolm marshall or even lillee. OTOH both warne and murali have significant number of supporters who justifiably call them the greatest bowlers ever. i am trying to make a list of players who, like warne-murali, didnt have too many players above them, if any at all, from history who were considered better than them at the time of retirement.

I was thinking of keith miller retiring form the game as the best all rounder of all time, only to see sobers taking the mantle from him within 10 years. ever since sobers retired in 1974, he has remained the name to emulate and overtake for any aspiring allrounder. if one could topple him, in the eyes of the majority, then he would be the greatest all rounder ever. a lot of the greats, imran, botham and kallis, ran him close but no one has managed, so far, to take the title away from him for sure. i was trying to extrapolate this equation to other departments as well.

 

[Dissector]

My personal list would be:
Batsmen: Grace, Hobbs, Bradman
Bowlers: Spofforth, Barnes, Hadlee, Murali
Batting all-rounder: Grace, Sobers
Bowling all-rounder: Rhodes,Miller, Imran

 

[Migara]

Take the records and then we have very good comparisons. For example Murali will retire as the highest wicket taker in both Test and ODI and SRT, as the highest rungetter in tests and ODIs.

 

[bagapath]

Take the records and then we have very good comparisons. For example Murali will retire as the highest wicket taker in both Test and ODI and SRT, as the highest rungetter in tests and ODIs.

it is easy to make a stats based list. but kapil or walsh for example did not retire with the reputation of being the greatest bowler of all time even though they held the world records. neither did border leave the game as the greatest batter of all time. we are not talking about that. i dont think sachin (or anyone else of that caliber) would ever be considered the greatest batter of all time. that title will remain with bradman. warne or murali on the other hand have done enough to topple oreiily and barnes and spofforth and be called the greatest bowler ever.

 

[hang on]

gilchrist would also come into this category. flower would be marginally behind. walcott, though a tremendous batsman, was a mediocre - and that's putting it politely! - keeper, when he did keep, that is.

 

[honestbharani]

Ajit Agarkar...

 

[Maximus0723]

Murali/Warne are not best ever. Right now the argument in bowling department stops at Marshall.
Let's not forget that "greatest" and "best" are two different things.

 

[Teja.]

The choices below are based on my opinions rather than the general consensus:-

Batsmen:-Grace, Bradman

IMO, Herbie Taylor was the most 'valuable' batsman of the Trumper-Hill period(His batsman-ship on SA minefields against Barnes at his best is one of the greatest cricketing achievements ever imo), but Grace was still better than him.

Bowler:-Lohmann

All-Rounder:-Grace, Miller-Sobers, Imran

 

[a massive zebra]

Going back a little further...

Batting: Richard Newland, John Small, William Beldham, Fuller Pilch, WG Grace, Jack Hobbs, Don Bradman.

Bowling: David Harris, William Lillywhite, George Freeman, Fred Spofforth, Sydney Barnes

All rounder: Richard Newland, William Beldham, Alfred Mynn, WG Grace, Garfield Sobers

Wicket keeper: Tom Sueter, Ned Wenman, Ted Pooley, Jack Blackham, Don Tallon

 

[Jono]

McGrath

 

[Xuhaib]

Mohammad Aamer retired as the best ever 18 yr old.

 

[vcs]

Mohammad Aamer retired as the best ever 18 yr old.

 

[sledger]

Warne.

 

[sledger]

Mohammad Aamer retired as the best ever 18 yr old.