Jim Laker - Better than Swann?

[salman85]

With Swann's retirement and a ton of people calling him the best spinner England produced,the only name that came up as an alternative to Swann as England's best ever spinner was Underwood.

In all that, how come Laker never got mentioned? He is surely a very strong contender for the tag of England's best.Had a phenomenal Test and First Class record.Maybe even a better contender than Swann?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Easily better than Swann imo. Laker's the second greatest offie ever after Murali

And are people really calling him England's greatest spinners? I love Swann, but that's over rating him a bit

 

[fredfertang]

Swann was a better bowler than Illy and Laker, imo, was better than either of them. It's a difficult comparison though as unlike Swann Laker was rarely a lock in the England side, so he didn't always get to play on wickets that wouldn't help him, and in addition he usually played alongside a top class left arm spinner (Lock or Wardle) as well

 

[harsh.ag]

England's greatest spinners - Verity and Underwood. Then Rhodes, Laker, Wardle, Swann. Don't know much about the very early guys like Peel, Blythe, Briggs. Not counting Barnes here though we probably should,

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah Laker was comfortably ahead of Swann.

I don't think I've actually heard anyone say Swann's the best spinner England have produced; closest I've heard is stuff like "best English spinner since covered wickets", "best English spinner I've seen in my lifetime", "best English spinner since Underwood" etc. I'd be interested to see some sort of source that straight up claims him to be the best ever.

 

[ankitj]

Laker, Verity, Underwood all better than Swann.

 

[Coronis]

Yeah all I've seen is best since Underwood. Laker comfortably ahead, and wouldn't disagree with him being second greatest offie of all time.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So difficult to know, basically a different game back then with uncovered pitches but no DRS.

Would be great to swap them for a year at peak and see how they did in each others conditions.

 

[wpdavid]

So difficult to know, basically a different game back then with uncovered pitches but no DRS.

Would be great to swap them for a year at peak and see how they did in each others conditions.

Spot on.

 

[Adders]

Yeah all I've seen is best since Underwood.

Yeah that seems to be the most common reference........I don't think I've seen any claim that he's Englands best ever.