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Best timers of the ball you have seen

Pratters

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
People talk of two types of strokes in cricket.. the power shots (Think Hayden, Symonds, Jayasuriya, Sehwag, Afridi) and the well timed ones (an off drive from Ganguly, a flick by Laxman etc). Who are the best timers of the ball you have seen.

I was seeing the highlights of an past match in which Azharuddin was playing. I cant but wonder how he timed the balls so well. True he did have the match fixing thing but there is no doubt about his talent. I would rate him as the best timer of the ball I have seen, even above Tendulkar and Lara in this aspect.

Who are the best timers you have seen?
 
luckyeddie

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
1. Graeme Pollock
2. David Gower
3. Doug Walters

I never saw Bradman (sure, some of you think I'm that old)
 
Craig

Craig

World Traveller
luckyeddie said:
1. Graeme Pollock
2. David Gower
3. Doug Walters

I never saw Bradman (sure, some of you think I'm that old)
Click to expand...
I have some footage of Gower and he was very elegant indeed.
 
I

iamdavid

International Debutant
I define a timer of the ball as someone who is able to get maximum power with minimum effort , just a deft push or a flick of the wrists & the ball seems to race off.

In this regard its hard to go past Laxman , although a few Sri Lankans , Kalu , Jayawardene , De Silva & Atapattu deserve a mention , as do Yousuf Youhana & Saleem Elahi , Azhar was nearly identical to Laxman at the crease , you can see a bit of Azhar in all Laxman's shots.
Damien Martyn , when on song , times the ball as well as anyone in the world today , particularly his drives off the back foot , Mark Vermeulen is similar.
Mark Waugh was superb & for all the big shots through the line he plays , one must admit Matthew Hayden is a superb timer of the ball , frequently what appears to be a mere defensive shot will race past the bowler for 4 , a characteristic he shares with Tendulkar , the defenition of perfect timing.

From the men of yester-year , Greg Chappell & Dean Jones stand out , Doug Walters was also supposedly a superb timer , although I must admit Ive never seen any footage of him :(
 
krkode

krkode

State Captain
Ricardo Powell. :wow:

Dunno if it was timing or just brute force, but boy, could he hit a ball... :O

Other than that, though, Laxman really got it, I feel. His 281 was sublime to watch...
 
Jono

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Azharuddin (my uncles best friend in school) and VVS Laxman definitely. Both of them were superb and the best I've personally witnessed.
 
F

FRAZ

International Captain
Saeed Anwar , No one is even close to him , Closest are Tendulkar's on drives and Ganguly's cover drives, but over all Saeed was the best timer . One thing if some one starts a good thread then each and every respondant gives irrelevent statements , which are way beyond the facts.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Saeed Anwar and Neil Johnson.
Worst - me. If I've hit 10 shots right off the middle in my career I'll eat my computer.
 
H

hourn

U19 Cricketer
The sub continent players are traditionally better timers of the ball as there is very little pace off the wicket, meaning you must have impeccable timing to get the ball off the square.

Best timers i've ever seen would be Saeed Anwar and Mark Waugh. Currently VVS and Dravid are magnificent.

Dave Gower is fantastic.

In the old (admittedly pretty dodgy videos) Bradman is awesome.


Remember about 8-10 years ago NSW Cricket ran a bit of a fun day at North Sydney Oval where they got bit hitters from all over the country to face up to a bowling machine and hit it as far as they could - Richard CHee Quee (more a power hitter than timer) won. Can't remember how far, but i think it was around 120 metres.......

Been told old stories of Imran Khan when he came down to Sydney played at Waverley Oval where there is a bus shelter about 140-150 metres from the stumps at one end and he managed to get the ball to hit it on the first bounce.
 
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