The third best spinner of all time?

[LongHopCassidy]

May well have been discussed before, but let's have a plebiscite anyway.

[kyear2]

Always used to come down between O'Reilly and Laker. But looking at opposition, team structure, conditions ect, Chandra seems to be creeping into contention for me.

[LongHopCassidy]

FMD, knew I'd forgot Laker.

[Geoffboycott]

Where's harbhajan Singh? The second highest wicket taker off spinner? And the fourth highest wicket taking spinner of all time. After harbhajan I'd say Kumble bedi or underwood.

[Flem274*]

Geoff Boycott making a late run for Battle of the Infamous.

[Dan]

Over in India playing for Mumbai, if I'm not mistaken.
Wherever he is, he's nowhere near this list. Stats aren't the be-all and end-all; they lie.

Also, you derailed another thread with this line of argument. In the inevitable event of people disagreeing with you, please do not respond in an overly-aggressive or condescending manner.

[Dan]

Well of course he's supporting Harbhajan - knocked him out of the contest first time around.

Anyway, my answer to the question is O'Reilly. I reckon the way he bowled - quick, with natural and intended variation - worked perfectly in his era and he found the weaknesses of who he bowled to perfectly.

I've posted this quote before but it definitely resonates with me - from Maurice Leyland, generally regarded as one of (if not the) finest players of spin of his day:

Originally Posted by Leyland's Cricinfo Profile

If he knew himself to have the measure of the great O'Reilly, who was no paper tiger, he also retained the respect of one master for another. Describing an over of fearsome hostility, he said: "First he bowled me an off-break, then he bowled me a leg-break; then his googly, then a bumper, then one that went with his arm . . . ."

"But that's only five, Maurice. What about the last one ?"

"Oh, that," said Maurice deprecatingly. "That was a straight 'un and it bowled me."

[Viscount Tom]

Originally Posted by Geoffboycott

Where's harbhajan Singh? The second highest wicket taker off spinner? And the fourth highest wicket taking spinner of all time. After harbhajan I'd say Kumble bedi or underwood.

Not sure if serious of VirutheBest

Walsh took more wickets than Marshall he wan't better though.

Inclined to Grimmet voted Verity because I drank in the club named after him the other week.

[Coronis]

For me its between Grimmett and O'Reilly, with Laker in fifth. Unless you count Barnes as a spinner. Voted Grimmett.

[Maximas]

went for Grimmett over O'reilly on account of him being more inventive - he invented the flipper for instance. However it would have been a tough call if Mckay's back-of-the-hand slower balls were in their.

[benchmark00]

Probably Murali or Warne.

[akilana]

McGill

[BoyBrumby]

The baffling and, frankly, shameful omission of Fred Titmus means only one of the contenders has a Half Man Half Biscuit song named after them, so it's a no-brainer.

[Satyanash89]

Tayfield?

Also

Originally Posted by akilana

McGill

[watson]

If you're going by the testimony of some great batsman then Bill O'Reilly would be very close to being the third best spinner of all time on that list.

I'd like to offer Sydney Barnes though. As well as the many testimonies of admiring batsman he also has superb stat's. Not that O'Reilly's are bad, they're very good. It's just that the Strike Rate and Average of Sydney Barnes were on a level above.

Here is an interesting article that compares the numbers between Barnes and Murali;

Blogs: Barnes and Muralitharan at par | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo