Which Decade Produced The Greatest Players?

[steve132]

Many debates in this and other sports forums consist of comparisons between players of different eras. I have always thought that each generation has produced players who would have been considered great in every era. In order to test this I created teams based on the decade of their birth, beginning with the 1970's and working backwards as far as I could. Since the oldest players born in the 1980's are now only 33 years old, their careers are still very much in progress and their relative merits are still unsettled. Feel free to add a team from this decade if you wish to do so.

The earliest decade for which I could create a strong team was the 1870's. While I know of some great players born in the 1860's (Lockwood, Lohmann, Trumble, C.T.B. Turner) there were not enough batsmen of quality to assemble a strong team. The only other decade that created any issues was the 1890's, again due to a shortage of quality batsmen. On the other hand, both the 1870's and 1880's could field very strong teams.

I'll postpone my analysis for a later post, apart from saying that competition for some teams (middle order batsmen born in the 1920's included Harvey, May, Walcott, Weekes and Worrell, while the list of fast bowlers born in the 1950's includes Garner, Hadlee, Holding, Imran, Marshall, Roberts and Thomson) was brutal. Here are my selections:

1970's: Matthew Hayden, Virender Sehwag, Ricky Ponting*, SachinTendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Pollock, Waqar Younis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath.

1960's: Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara, Martin Crowe, Steve Waugh*, Aravinda De Silva, Ian Healy, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Curtley Ambrose, Allan Donald.

1950's: Gordon Greenidge, Graham Gooch, Viv Richards, Javed Miandad, Allan Border, Imran Khan*, Ian Botham, Jeff Dujon, Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall, Abdul Qadir.

1940's: Barry Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Graeme Pollock, Greg Chappell, Clive Lloyd*, Mike Procter, Alan Knott, John Snow, Dennis Lillee, Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.

1930's: Bobby Simpson, Bill Lawry, Rohan Kanhai, Colin Cowdrey, Ken Barrington, Garry Sobers, John Waite, Richie Benaud*, Fred Trueman, Wes Hall, Lance Gibbs.

1920's: Arthur Morris, Bert Sutcliffe, Peter May, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell*, Trevor Bailey, Alan Davidson, Godfrey Evans, Ray Lindwall, Jim Laker, Subhas Gupte.

1910's: Len Hutton*, Vijay Merchant, Stan McCabe, Denis Compton, Dudley Nourse, Keith Miller, Vinoo Mankad, Don Tallon, Alec Bedser, Ken Farnes, Eric Hollies.

1900's: Bill Ponsford, Bruce Mitchell, Don Bradman*, George Headley, Walter Hammond, Les Ames, Learie Constantine, Hedley Verity, Bill Voce, Harold Larwood, Bill O'Reilly.

1890's: Herbert Sutcliffe, Bill Woodfull*, Alan Kippax, Clarence Pellew, Vic Richardson, C.K. Nayudu, Jack Gregory, Maurice Tate, Bert Oldfield, Clarrie Grimmett, Ted McDonald.

1880's: Jack Hobbs, Warren Bardsley, C.G. Macartney, Patsy Hendren, Phil Mead, Frank Woolley, Aubrey Faulkner*, Frank Foster, Albert Cotter, Herbert Strudwick, Arthur Mailey.

1870's: Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, K.S. Ranjitsinjhi, C.B. Fry, Warwick Armstrong*, Monty Noble, Wilfred Rhodes, Sammy Carter, Sydney Barnes, Tom Richardson, Colin Blythe.

Feel free to add your own selections for any of these teams.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

50's looks amazing

 

[NUFAN]

You know I think this is the first time I've seen one of these threads based on year of birth, usually it is on debut, so good work.

It's a difficult decision naming the best team, initially I was going to say I would expect a 1950 vs 1900 Final (Bradman factor), but really it is a difficult choice and the winner would likely come down to pitch conditions. 1890s the weakest lineup for mine.

 

[kyear2]

Hard to separate the '50's and the 40's.

 

[NUFAN]

Just a minor suggestion but I would probably bring in Mark Taylor for Jayasuriya and make Tubby captain for the 1960s team. I guess you might like having the extra spin option that Jayasuriya provides. Nothing against the Sri Lankans you chose, but Azharuddin vs. de Silva is close too. Again perhaps his bit of spin bowling helps get Aravinda across the line, in your eyes.

Also, I bet people would rate the 1970s team higher if you cheated a bit and named Dravid as opener instead of whichever opener people rate lower. Id imagine the Hayden and Sehwag opening partnership wouldn't fill many with confidence if the pitch was doing a bit.

 

[steve132]

I selected these teams on the assumption that they would play a seven Test series in a wide variety of conditions - with one match played in Australia, at least one in England (at Lords, of course), one in India, one in Pakistan, one in the West Indies, another in South Africa, etc. A few additional comments on the respective merits of the various teams:

1970's: This is one of the strongest teams, much better than anything that could be selected for players born in the 1980's. The batting is first rate, and a bowling attack of McGrath, Waqar, Pollock and Murali leaves little to be desired.

1960's: The batting is not quite as strong as that of the 1970's, but the front-line bowling attack of Ambrose, Wasim Akram, Donald and Warne is possibly the finest for any decade.

1950's: Spectacular fast bowling (Marshall, Imran and Hadlee), but Abdul Qadir is not in the same league as Warne or Murali. The batting is better than that of the 1960's, although not quite as strong as those of the 1940's and 1970's.

1940's: One of my favorite teams, with an exceptionally strong batting lineup (Barry Richards, Gavaskar, Pollock, Greg Chappell, Lloyd) and a perfectly balanced bowling attack of three fast bowlers and two spinners of contrasting styles.

1930's: Strong batting, although not as stellar as that of the 1940's, and a well-balanced bowling attack. Great though Hall and Trueman undoubtedly were I prefer the fast bowlers of later teams.

1920's: I would rate the bowling slightly higher than that of the 1930's but the batting is not quite as strong, mainly because of Sobers at no. 6 for the latter team. Nevertheless, this is undoubtedly an excellent team.

1910's: Probably the weakest team of the 20th century. Despite the presence of Hutton and Compton other teams are stronger in batting and without exception they are significantly stronger in both pace and spin bowling.

1900's: With Bradman, Headley and Hammond batting from 3 to 5 this is easily the best middle order on any team. The bowling is strong but not exceptionally so.

1890's: By far the weakest of all the teams selected. Herbert Sutcliffe is the only batsman who could have found a place on any other team, and the bowling, while good, is by no means exceptional compared to that of the other teams.

1880's: Excellent batting led by Hobbs and Macartney, but the bowling is weaker than that of any team other than the 1910's.

1870's: The best 19th century team. The batting is light years ahead of the 1890's and at least the equal of the 1880's, while the bowling is stronger than the 80's and at least as good as the 90's.

The best team overall? I like the balance of the 1940's, but I also admire the 1970's very much. My main conclusion is that every decade has produced its share of great players. The 1890's represent the only weak team over the entire period.

 

[steve132]

Just a minor suggestion but I would probably bring in Mark Taylor for Jayasuriya and make Tubby captain for the 1960s team. I guess you might like having the extra spin option that Jayasuriya provides. Nothing against the Sri Lankans you chose, but Azharuddin vs. de Silva is close too. Again perhaps his bit of spin bowling helps get Aravinda across the line, in your eyes.

Also, I bet people would rate the 1970s team higher if you cheated a bit and named Dravid as opener instead of whichever opener people rate lower. Id imagine the Hayden and Sehwag opening partnership wouldn't fill many with confidence if the pitch was doing a bit.

I agree entirely with Taylor over Jayasuriya. In fact, I'm astonished that I missed him in the first place. Azharuddin versus De Silva is a much closer call.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

50's, 70's and 00's look best. Would be great to see the matches.

 

[GirtBySea]

50's, 70's and 00's look best. Would be great to see the matches.

Well I was born in the 80s and only saw cricket in the mid 90s. I know 70s had the WSC break up, first ever ODIs and first ever World Cup. On that I would vote for them considering this poll.
Anyway, I would have to say 2000s and up until now. We have seen Australia have their time of greatness. But even England has now won everywhere, including in Australia, India and South Africa.
South Africa and India have had their moments as well. Say what we like about WI, NZ, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe but we have seen 4 great nations have their time of great success.

 

[The Battlers Prince]

I liked the 30's, 50's and 60's. 00's of course with Bradman but went with the 50's. Great exercise

 

[SpofforthLohman]

It's all good

Many debates in this and other sports forums consist of comparisons between players of different eras. I have always thought that each generation has produced players who would have been considered great in every era. In order to test this I created teams based on the decade of their birth, beginning with the 1970's and working backwards as far as I could. Since the oldest players born in the 1980's are now only 33 years old, their careers are still very much in progress and their relative merits are still unsettled. Feel free to add a team from this decade if you wish to do so.

The earliest decade for which I could create a strong team was the 1870's. While I know of some great players born in the 1860's (Lockwood, Lohmann, Trumble, C.T.B. Turner) there were not enough batsmen of quality to assemble a strong team. The only other decade that created any issues was the 1890's, again due to a shortage of quality batsmen. On the other hand, both the 1870's and 1880's could field very strong teams.

I'll postpone my analysis for a later post, apart from saying that competition for some teams (middle order batsmen born in the 1920's included Harvey, May, Walcott, Weekes and Worrell, while the list of fast bowlers born in the 1950's includes Garner, Hadlee, Holding, Imran, Marshall, Roberts and Thomson) was brutal. Here are my selections:

1970's: Matthew Hayden, Virender Sehwag, Ricky Ponting*, SachinTendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Pollock, Waqar Younis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath.

1960's: Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara, Martin Crowe, Steve Waugh*, Aravinda De Silva, Ian Healy, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Curtley Ambrose, Allan Donald.

1950's: Gordon Greenidge, Graham Gooch, Viv Richards, Javed Miandad, Allan Border, Imran Khan*, Ian Botham, Jeff Dujon, Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall, Abdul Qadir.

1940's: Barry Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Graeme Pollock, Greg Chappell, Clive Lloyd*, Mike Procter, Alan Knott, John Snow, Dennis Lillee, Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.

1930's: Bobby Simpson, Bill Lawry, Rohan Kanhai, Colin Cowdrey, Ken Barrington, Garry Sobers, John Waite, Richie Benaud*, Fred Trueman, Wes Hall, Lance Gibbs.

1920's: Arthur Morris, Bert Sutcliffe, Peter May, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell*, Trevor Bailey, Alan Davidson, Godfrey Evans, Ray Lindwall, Jim Laker, Subhas Gupte.

1910's: Len Hutton*, Vijay Merchant, Stan McCabe, Denis Compton, Dudley Nourse, Keith Miller, Vinoo Mankad, Don Tallon, Alec Bedser, Ken Farnes, Eric Hollies.

1900's: Bill Ponsford, Bruce Mitchell, Don Bradman*, George Headley, Walter Hammond, Les Ames, Learie Constantine, Hedley Verity, Bill Voce, Harold Larwood, Bill O'Reilly.

1890's: Herbert Sutcliffe, Bill Woodfull*, Alan Kippax, Clarence Pellew, Vic Richardson, C.K. Nayudu, Jack Gregory, Maurice Tate, Bert Oldfield, Clarrie Grimmett, Ted McDonald.

1880's: Jack Hobbs, Warren Bardsley, C.G. Macartney, Patsy Hendren, Phil Mead, Frank Woolley, Aubrey Faulkner*, Frank Foster, Albert Cotter, Herbert Strudwick, Arthur Mailey.

1870's: Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, K.S. Ranjitsinjhi, C.B. Fry, Warwick Armstrong*, Monty Noble, Wilfred Rhodes, Sammy Carter, Sydney Barnes, Tom Richardson, Colin Blythe.

Feel free to add your own selections for any of these teams.

Must have taken serious research to get the decades these guys were born in mate, KUDOS.Most decades if not all have been sensational for varying reasons, every decade is stacked with former superstars so where do we begin ?. I suppose the first decade of tests was slightly weak compared to all later ones as the English didn't take it all seriously enough at first but after being shown the abilities of Blackham, Spofforth, and Giffen early on humiliated them into getting serious. I count the end of the 1870's and the 80's as the same decade, just that its 13 years. I can't say which era was the best but if I had to choose I choose to watch Bradman any day. He was the greatest ever but he also played in an era where England had some players superior than any England have produced since the 50's. It wasn't as if Bradman faced inferior bowling. Tate, Bedser, Larwood, Voce, need I say more. The Golden age and the early 20's i would have loved to see as well, that would be just incredible from an Australian point of view, Trumper, McCartney, Mailey and above all, to see Gregory bat and bowl with McDonald when those two were unplayable and very intimidating. Throw in the chance to see Armstrong, Noble, Trumble, Cotter and some great poms like Syd Barnes, Ricgardson, Lohmann, Grace, Ranji, CB Fry. etc..... amazing. Add to this fact that I was there from Lille and Thomson to now I have already witnessed all of it and gee it's been great hasn't it. (staement not a question)
TBH I really cannot pick any single decade to see above the others, I would have died to see Spofforth and Lohmann wiping out every batting line they put in front of them, they must have been just as incredible to watch as it has been to see Lilllee and Thomson and Roberts and Ambrose or McGrath albeit with far less short stuff.