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Defining the acronym- ATG

Arachnodouche

International Captain
Tendulkar should be the benchmark for years to come as far as batting goes. It's now gone beyond mere statistics, he's showing the endurance and appetite of the long distance runner. And the basic skillset hasn't deteriorated too much either like in Ponting's case. He changed his game long before the advent of his advanced years so he's been at hom in his new skin for some time now (unlike Ponting, who will find the transition much harder, probably impossible). I find him terribly boring otherwise, but he's fairly unimpeachable on the cricket ground.
 

Flem274*

123/5
(1) Pick someone who is definitely an ATG (apart from Bradman)
(2) If I can't definitively say a player is worse than that guy, he's an ATG

All the other bull**** ways of distinguishing between 2 blokes with near identical records are just based on various innate biases we have which have nothing to do with the players' value as cricketers. Some biases are more popular than others and hence some equally valuable cricketers are more popular ATG selections.
TH takes the words right out of my mouth.
 

Mike5181

International Captain
(1) Pick someone who is definitely an ATG (apart from Bradman)
(2) If I can't definitively say a player is worse than that guy, he's an ATG

All the other bull**** ways of distinguishing between 2 blokes with near identical records are just based on various innate biases we have which have nothing to do with the players' value as cricketers. Some biases are more popular than others and hence some equally valuable cricketers are more popular ATG selections.
Yeah, well said.
 

Top_Cat

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(1) Pick someone who is definitely an ATG (apart from Bradman)
(2) If I can't definitively say a player is worse than that guy, he's an ATG

All the other bull**** ways of distinguishing between 2 blokes with near identical records are just based on various innate biases we have which have nothing to do with the players' value as cricketers. Some biases are more popular than others and hence some equally valuable cricketers are more popular ATG selections.
Pointless rant, the whole reason for the thread is to ask people what they think, not to objectively define the term. By definition, it's going to be subjective all up in here. May as well go into the science thread and have a bitch at all the science.

Not to mention that the term 'all-time great' is, well, pretty subjective anyway......
 
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Jager

International Debutant
I always thought that there were three tiers to rank a gun player. It's still subjective but most people have general feelings towards a player's skill - by that I mean no one thinks Inzy is a **** batsman - but things might differ somewhat between people. IMO it comes down to the 'impact' of a player (basically the 'he was a god' factor. For example...

Gold tier - Wally Hammond, Javed Miandad
Silver tier - Kevin Pietersen, Inzamam Ul-Haq
Bronze tier - Colin Cowdrey, Saeed Anwar
Others - Anyone who you don't feel is worthy of being mentioned in conversations about their nation's best ever XI
 

smash84

The Tiger King
I always thought that there were three tiers to rank a gun player. It's still subjective but most people have general feelings towards a player's skill - by that I mean no one thinks Inzy is a **** batsman - but things might differ somewhat between people. IMO it comes down to the 'impact' of a player (basically the 'he was a god' factor. For example...

Gold tier - Wally Hammond, Javed Miandad
Silver tier - Kevin Pietersen, Inzamam Ul-Haq
Bronze tier - Colin Cowdrey, Saeed Anwar
Others - Anyone who you don't feel is worthy of being mentioned in conversations about their nation's best ever XI
the above list seems pretty accurate as far as Pak all time batting is concerned.
 

Debris

International 12th Man
An absolute minimum is that you be the best at your discipline when you played. For me, the word is thrown around too much. I struggle to actually find enough players I would consider an ATG to make an XI
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Did the player make the World XI squad on Mega Drive's Brian Lara Cricket? If not, he's struggling to be an ATG for my money.
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
But realistically I just consider top Cricketers in each era as ATG's unless the era was completely weak if that could ever happen. ATG can be like a performance hall of fame, it doesn't have to be just the best XI or so players ever.

Overall average is a **** way to determine ATG, performances against the strong countries is extremely important for me.
 

kyear2

Cricketer Of The Year
So top (Gold) tier Batsmen:
Hobbs, Hutton, Gavaskar, Sutcliffe, Trumper, B. Richards, Bradman, Headley, Hammond, Ponting, Richards, Tendulkar, Sobers, G. Chappell, Lara, Pollock, Kallis, Weekes, Border, Miandad, Dravid

Bolwers:
Marshall, Warne, Mcgrath, Lillee, Ambrose, Trueman, Hadlee, Holding, Lindwall, O'Reilly, Laker, Imran, Akran, Younis, Barnes, Donald, Steyn, Miller, Garner.

Keepers/All Rounders:
Gilchrist, Knott, Ames, Botham.

Looks about right?
 
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