Cricketweb decides the best fielder ever

[cnerd123]

In 5-3-1 order

Ponting
Border
Azhar

Harper
Bland
Dilshan

Rhodes
Mahela
Faf

 

[The Sean]

Harper v Bland - ouch. Either would be worthy winners of the whole thing.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Punter - 5
Azhar - 3
Border - 1

Bland - 5
Harper - 3
Dilshan - 1

Jonty - 5
Mahela - 3
Faf - 1

 

[Noble One]

5-3-1:

Ponting
Border
Azhar

Harper
Bland
Dilshan

Rhodes
Faf
Mahela

 

[honestbharani]

Punter - 5
Azhar - 3
Border - 1

Bland - 5
Harper - 3
Dilshan - 1

Jonty - 5
Mahela - 3
Faf - 1

This.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ponting-5
Azhar-3
Border-1

Harper-5
Bland-3
Dilshan-1

Jonty-5
Mahela-3
Faf-1

 

[watson]

Harper v Bland - ouch. Either would be worthy winners of the whole thing.

Yeah Harper and Bland are the greatest for mine.....

During his playing days, Colin Bland was acknowledged as the greatest outfielder since the beginnings of Test cricket. His entire career overlapped with the phenomenon of Garfield Sobers, and if he was ranked above the West Indian great, that was saying a lot.

Before him there had been people like Gilbert Jessop, Percy Chapman, Jack Hobbs, Don Bradman, Neil Harvey and Leary Constantine. Since then, we have had the young Clive Lloyd, the mercurial Viv Richards, the dashing Derek Randall, the gangly Roger Harper, the amazing Mohammad Azharuddin, a plethora of modern-day livewires and — of course — Jonty Rhodes. Bland walks tall among all these glorious outfieldsmen. And his all-round versatility scores above most, according to the most knowledgeable opinions.

Bland was characterised by his uncanny ability to hit the wicket whilst running at full pace, often in the opposite direction. Most of his run-outs were achieved from cover or mid-wicket, and he often hit the wickets from a side-on position with only one stump to aim at. Another tactic made possible by his brilliance was to place mid-off much deeper than usual, lull the batsman into the security of a safe single from a gentle drive and then have Bland rush across from cover to throw down the bowler’s wicket.

He was also outstanding on the fence — whether placed there by the captain or having reached in pursuit of a travelling ball with panther-like strides. His throws from more than 80 metres travelled in a blink, traversing the whole distance at the level of the bails.

A retiring and shyindividual, Bland was often embarrassed by the adulation he received for his fielding exploits. The secret of his brilliance was rather mundane as most such secrets are — relentless hard work. He was known to train obsessively for hours at the local sports club, throwing at a single stump placed inside a hockey goal-net. And much like golfer Gary Player he would sometimes utter self-effacing statements amounting to: “The more I practise, the luckier I get.”

On that 1965 tour of England, the same one in which he dismissed Barrington and Parks with his bull’s-eye accuracy while engaged in greyhound dash, the South Africans were at Canterbury when a wet wicket held up play. Colin Cowdrey, the captain of Kent, requested Bland to entertain the restless crowd with a fielding exhibition. There are stories of his having been engaged in a similar demonstration with Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, but Bland was normally loath to become the centre of attraction. In this case, perhaps influenced by Cowdrey’s affability, he agreed.

A set of stumps materialised on the outfield. Several times a ball was driven — at different speeds and angles. Bland swooped down from around 20 to 30 yards, and in 15 tries hit the stumps an incredible 12 times. He was a master of the art.

Colin Bland: Arguably the greatest fieldsman of all time - Latest Cricket News, Articles & Videos at CricketCountry.com

 

[watson]

But since Harper was brilliant in the slips as well I guess I'll put him first. So;

Harper
Bland
Dilshan

 

[cnerd123]

Harper wins it for me because his whole bowling MO was basically making the batsmen hit the ball straight back to him so he could field off his own bowling. He's also one of the very few International cricketers from whom 'fielding' was considered the primary criteria for selection.

 

[Hurricane]

Ricky Ponting 5
Mohammad Azharuddin 3
Allan Border 1




Roger Harper abstain
Colin Bland abstain
Tillakaratne Dilshan abstain



Jonty Rhodes 5
Faf duPlessis 3
Mahela Jayawardene 1

 

[cnerd123]

FFS Hurricane stop abstaining and make a choice, it's not the end of the world to pick Colin Bland over Roger Harper or vice versa.

 

[mr_mister]

I really like the funky format you've used here GI Joe. I'd vote but I know nothing about fielding except that Jonty is meant to be the GOAT and Ponting is good at direct hits. Something I never paid much attention too

 

[Victor Ian]

Ricky Ponting
Allan Border
Mohammad Azharuddin

Roger Harper
Colin Bland
Tillakaratne Dilshan

Jonty Rhodes
Mahela Jayawardene
Faf duPlessis

 

[The Sean]

Ricky Ponting
Allan Border
Mohammad Azharuddin

Colin Bland (if only because everyone else has voted the other way)
Roger Harper
Tillakaratne Dilshan

Jonty Rhodes
Mahela Jayawardene
Faf duPlessis

 

[G.I.Joe]

I really like the funky format you've used here GI Joe. I'd vote but I know nothing about fielding except that Jonty is meant to be the GOAT and Ponting is good at direct hits. Something I never paid much attention too

Thanks bud.

From what I see, 4 of the pre-Qs are a formality with second/third place being the only point of interest. The other 4 are closer, like the Harper-Bland one.

Update:

Ricky Ponting Mohammad Azharuddin Allan Border

40 16 16​

Roger Harper Colin Bland Tillakaratne Dilshan

34 30 8​

Jonty Rhodes Faf duPlessis Mahela Jayawardene

40 12 20​

4.5 hours to go

Interesting that Mahela's outranking Faf despite having to qualify for the draw the hard way.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Ponting, Harper and Jonty go through.

Pre-Quarterfinal 4 (of 8)

Rank the players in order of preference (5-3-1 points system, top ranked player makes the Quarterfinals)

AB deVilliers Martin Guptill Derek Randall

​

Pre-Quarterfinal 5 (of 8)

Rank the players in order of preference (5-3-1 points system, top ranked player makes the Quarterfinals)

Herschelle Gibbs Viv Richards Glenn Maxwell

Pre-Quarterfinal 6 (of 8)

Rank the players in order of preference (5-3-1 points system, top ranked player makes the Quarterfinals)

Mark Waugh Bobby Simpson Dave Warner

 

[Coronis]

ffs 6 is hard...

Maxwell
Gibbs
Richards

Warner
Waugh
Simpson

abstaining from the other one as i haven't seen any of them field, nor heard of their accomplishments.

 

[watson]

Randall
De Villiers
Guptill


Richards
Maxwell
Gibbs


Waugh
Simpson
Warner

 

[watson]

The Benaud - Simo partnership. Left handed catch too.

 

[watson]

The Warne - Waugh partnership. Right-handed catch though.