Geoff Armstrong- The 100 Greatest Cricketers

[social]

Originally Posted by sobers no:1

if barry is different from hobbs / gavaskar / hutton (lets frgt trumper , sehwag.. )

procter is different from hadlee / imran
a match winning batsman + ATG bowler + very good fielder
only miller can b a match ( but his wkt-match ratio is very low )
that means procter is as unique as barry

Watch some videos of Imran at his best as a bowler - unbelievable

Check this out (Imran Khan vs India 1982/83 in Pakistan - YouTube) and bear in mind the conditions (super flat) and opposition (Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Armanath, Viswanath, Dev, etc.)

He also averaged 50+ as a batsman for an extended period and unified the uncontrollable Pakistanis as a captain

A talented guy whose best performances were for Gloucestershire cannot compare

[hendrix]

Originally Posted by social

Watch some videos of Imran at his best as a bowler - unbelievable

Check this out (Imran Khan vs India 1982/83 in Pakistan - YouTube)

so awesome. Huge, hooping inswingers first up, reverse swing starting at 2:30 (check out delivery at 3:18), pace clocked at above 140, bowling average under 20 throughout the 80s...and then the batting as a bonus. Greatest player of all time, IMO.

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by Monk

I'm only going on what I've read/heard about Barry Richards. But seriously good judges of cricketers (I.Chappell, Benaud, Bradman, Thomson) say that he was the best (or close to the best) batsman they ever saw. A technically correct, very aggressive opening batsman.

Procter was good, no doubt.

Interestingly Holding didn't rate him that highly, he thought county cricket ruined him and created deficiencies in his technique when it came to international cricket.

Originally Posted by social

Watch some videos of Imran at his best as a bowler - unbelievable

Check this out (Imran Khan vs India 1982/83 in Pakistan - YouTube) and bear in mind the conditions (super flat) and opposition (Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Armanath, Viswanath, Dev, etc.)

He also averaged 50+ as a batsman for an extended period and unified the uncontrollable Pakistanis as a captain

A talented guy whose best performances were for Gloucestershire cannot compare

A great bowler, I wonder if the bottle top featured during this period? I remember some footage of Rodney Hogg walking back to his mark in a Test match around this period and picking the seam. The commentators thought i amusing, so I imagine all the bowlers were up to it.

Personally I don't see the big deal, bowlers are always up against it. Less bouncers, better bats, shorter boundaries. Who cares if they pick the seem or suck lollies to keep up the shine or rub the ball in the dirt or use resin like the old timers use to.

[Coronis]

Originally Posted by social

Watch some videos of Imran at his best as a bowler - unbelievable

Check this out (Imran Khan vs India 1982/83 in Pakistan - YouTube) and bear in mind the conditions (super flat) and opposition (Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Armanath, Viswanath, Dev, etc.)

He also averaged 50+ as a batsman for an extended period and unified the uncontrollable Pakistanis as a captain

A talented guy whose best performances were for Gloucestershire cannot compare

Everyone always brings up him averaging 50+ for his last 10 years. He only scored 5 centuries, and 6 overall. His batting is very overrated. The only allrounders with worse batting are Hadlee and Kapil. He was an excellent bowler, but a very, very average batsman.

[hendrix]

Yeah, I agree that his batting wasn't that great, but his bowling was truly excellent and would get him picked in most ATG teams alone. There was a good long period where it would be tough to even pick Malcolm Marshall above him.

The batting is just a bonus. A bonus that happens to be more than what Kapil or Hadlee provided.

[the big bambino]

From 67 to 94 the world had these all rounders: Proctor, Rice, Hadlee, Dev, Imran, Akram, Botham and Marshall. Golden age for sure. Australia had Phil Carlson and Trevor Laughlin. We're still searchin'.

[watson]

Originally Posted by Coronis

Everyone always brings up him averaging 50+ for his last 10 years. He only scored 5 centuries, and 6 overall. His batting is very overrated. The only allrounders with worse batting are Hadlee and Kapil. He was an excellent bowler, but a very, very average batsman.

Imran is what he is. A superb No.8 batsman, an excellent No.7 batsman, a passable but ultimately out of his depth No.6 batsman. No more no less.

[kyear2]

Would add Greg Chappell and Bobby Simpson to that list.

[watson]

Also, for one brief moment during the World Cup and one Test series against the West Indies Gary Gilmour was as good as any allrounder in the world.

[Migara]

Originally Posted by watson

The omission of Anil Kumble is indicative of Armstrong's philosophy when selecting his ATG players;



Geoff Armstrong prefers players who brought something new and exciting to the game, or inspired by their uniqueness. Successful, but 'run-off-the-mill' players seem to get the shaft for the most part.

So what was "new" thing that Shane Warne brought to the cricketing world other than masking agents?

And not to see Saqlain Mushtaq who brought something new to the game . . .

Blatently pro-English I'd say.

[the big bambino]

Being reasonable for a second I think Warne brought more to the game than just that.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by watson

Also, for one brief moment during the World Cup and one Test series against the West Indies Gary Gilmour was as good as any allrounder in the world.

Gary Gilmour! What a legend.

[Coronis]

Originally Posted by Migara

So what was "new" thing that Shane Warne brought to the cricketing world other than masking agents?

And not to see Saqlain Mushtaq who brought something new to the game . . .

Blatently pro-English I'd say.

Some revival of leg spin or something, most people reckon.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Coronis

Some revival of leg spin or something, most people reckon.

Yeah, we owe all the leg spinners currently in their countries' best Test elevens right now to Shane Warne making it cool again when they were all kids 15 years ago.

Without him, we probably wouldn't have the genius on show of .. umm.. err.. Jeevan Mendis and Imran Tahir.

Hmm.

[Satyanash89]

Originally Posted by Migara

So what was "new" thing that Shane Warne brought to the cricketing world other than masking agents?

And not to see Saqlain Mushtaq who brought something new to the game . . .

Blatently pro-English I'd say.

Blatantly anti-Warne post, this.
Warne has stats comparable to Murali and was far more exciting to watch than any other spinner. Theres no denying how unique and special he was in terms of entertainment.
It was always great fun to watch him work out a plan for every batsman and more often than not, he executed it perfectly.