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Who is Sri Lanka's best ever cricketer?

Who is Sri Lanka's best ever cricketer?

  • Muttiah Muralitharan

    Votes: 34 81.0%
  • Kumar Sangakkara

    Votes: 3 7.1%
  • Mahela Jayawardene

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Aravinda De Silva

    Votes: 4 9.5%
  • Chaminda Vaas

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    42

viriya

International Captain
Best player for each country - clear cut

Australia - Bradman
Sri Lanka - Murali
New Zealand - Hadlee
Zimbabwe - Andy Flower
Bangladesh - Shakib

There would be a big debate over the others:
West Indies ????
South Africa ????
Pakistan ??????
England ??????
India ?????
I think for India it's pretty clearly Sachin? Maybe if you equate all-rounder = cricketer then you would have to pick Kapil but I don't they think are equivalent.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
PHP:
I think for India it's pretty clearly Sachin? Maybe if you equate all-rounder = cricketer then you would have to pick Kapil but I don't they think are equivalent.
Perhaps Kapil or I was also thinking the guy who averaged 65 as the opener against the greatest fast bowling attacks the world is ever going to ser:

All-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

13 100s against the Windies in 27 tests!

Shame Sunny is such a terrible commentator.
 
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Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I think for India it's pretty clearly Sachin? Maybe if you equate all-rounder = cricketer then you would have to pick Kapil but I don't they think are equivalent.
India - Tendulkar
West Indies - Sobers
Pakistan - Imran

England and South Africa are difficult though. I think I'd lean towards Hobbs and Kallis but they're very debatable.
 

cnerd123

likes this
One thing most people can agree on is that if he did "break the rules", it probably wasn't really on purpose and he's a great guy, not a "cheater"
No Murali did break the rules. What happened was that the ICC then found out that practically every other bowler alive was breaking the rules too. So they modified the rules to fit everyone. Not just Murali.
 

AldoRaine18

State Vice-Captain
Best player for each country - clear cut

Australia - Bradman
Sri Lanka - Murali
New Zealand - Hadlee
Zimbabwe - Andy Flower
Bangladesh - Shakib

There would be a big debate over the others:
West Indies ????
South Africa ????
Pakistan ??????
England ??????
India ?????
WI - Sobers
SA - G Pollock
Pak - Imran Khan
England - Jack hobbs
India - Tendulkar!
 

viriya

International Captain
PHP:
Perhaps Kapil or I was also thinking the guy who averaged 65 as the opener against the greatest fast bowling attacks the world is ever going to ser:

All-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

13 100s against the Windies in 27 tests!

Shame Sunny is such a terrible commentator.
Those 13 tons are not as impressive as you might think. I think only 4-5 were against a full-strength WI attack from what I remember when I checked. Still amazing though.
 

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
India - Tendulkar
West Indies - Sobers
Pakistan - Imran

England and South Africa are difficult though. I think I'd lean towards Hobbs and Kallis but they're very debatable.
South Africa is a really interesting one. It's Kallis by a mile if one looks at the numbers, but the likes of G Pollock & B Richards are held is such high esteem by opponents at the time and of course then there's the likes of Steyn, who it could be argued was more of a match-winner than Kallis. Probably Kallis though.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
that was mark greatbatch and rod latham in 1992
As much as I love Greatbatch for most of those innings his strikerate was below 100, even though he may have came out swinging he didn't press the issue like the sri lankans.

Sanath was hitting 50's at a strikerate of around 200, Twenty20 stuff. He was attack, attack, attack. There's a reason his hitting is better remembered than Greatbatch's
 
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Flem274*

123/5
you're not accounting for era.

jayasuriya is remembered more because sri lanka won. if nz won the 1992 world cup paddy would be given his rightful dues.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Imran, Marshall and Botham retire

Warne, McGrath and Pollock begin

Ambrose, Donald and Wasim last through it all


It's not like the bowling quality dropped or anything... I'd say Sanath helped usher in this new era
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
look plenty of batsman prior to sanath were attacking but none were as dominant and ridiculous as him.

I know "LOL WIKIPEDIA" but heres a little snippet

"At a time when 50 or 60 runs in the first 15 overs was considered adequate, Sri Lanka scored 117 runs in those overs against India, 123 against Kenya, 121 against England in the quarter-final and 86 against India in the semi-final."

I think against Kenya especially they hit like 80 off the first 6 overs lol. Yes it's against Kenya, but it's still in WC when everyone is watching. Doing it on that stage is gonna turn heads

I specifally remember commentators sayin stuff like "100 off the first 15 is a great start" a year or two later during ODI series, and as a kid I thought getting the 100 off the first 15 was a pretty common occurrence. Sanath made it common and the rest is history
 
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G.I.Joe

International Coach
Yeah, but there's a difference between doing it better than most and doing it first.

Everyone falls into the trap of assuming they did it first. The little Sri Lankans do it, the little New Zealanders do it...
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
yeah fair enough. "literally revolutionised" was a hyperbole that I didn't think would incite the reply it did from the dude on the previous page

And there was no "doing it better than most" they were definitely the best at it, at least in '96
 

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
though I do love big Lances 6 sixes. I always wished Lawry got to commentate all 6, he was going nuts after the first 2. Ian black hole of charisma Chappell came in for the back half
 

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
though I do love big Lances 6 sixes. I always wished Lawry got to commentate all 6, he was going nuts after the first 2. Ian black hole of charisma Chappell came in for the back half
Indeed. I remember thinking the exact same thing when I first saw that footage. Chappelli saying 'that must be an incredible bat he's got' in the most monotone voice one could imagine after Lawry had just gone crazy.
 

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