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Great Players Who Are Difficult To Compare With Other Great Players

Francis

State Vice-Captain
WASIM AKRAM v GLENN MCGRATH
I hate comparing these two guys. Akram was definitely the more exciting player. He could swing the ball both ways. It's said he was a bit like Keith Miller in that he only needed a few steps to generate 140km. Wasim had the whippy actions. The thing about Wasim is that if he didn't strike early, then he'd be taken off, because he didn't bowl long spells. Viv Richards once said Wasim was the best he ever faced. Stephen Fleming did too, but his opinion doesn't count. McGrath was the opposite. He'd wear you down with longer spells. He was more about accuracy and working off a length, then pitching it up and swinging it. They're impossible to compare to me.

GEORGE HEADLEY v WALLY HAMMOND
The obvious reason it's impossible to compare these guys is because nobody at CW would have seen them play. Richie Benaud once said that if Bradman never played, he doesn't know who would be the best number three of all time. Hammond scored 905 in one Ashes Series, which is second only to Bradman's 1930 Series (Bradman made 60 more runs or so, but with two fewer innings). Bill O'Reilly ranked Headley as the best non-Australia player he bowled to, I think, and found it impossible to bowl him out during one tour.

SHANE WARNE v MURALI
This is very difficult. I always go with Warne, but I never care when people say Murali. This has been done to death. Warne bowled with McGrath which gives him an advantage because of the pressure McGrath provided. But Murali had less competition for wickets. Which way do we go? Murali played easier competition like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe more, but Warne didn't perform well in one Test against Bangladesh, and Warne didn't perform well against India. Murali bowled in dust-bowls, and outside of Sri Lanka his bowling average is 27 (worse than Warne), whereas Australia isn't generally a spin-friendly country, so Warne's bowling is generally better abroad.

We all know the arguments in the Warne/Murali debate. There have been threads here that have been shut-down because they've been overdone.

ALAN BORDER v STEVE WAUGH
Both were tough competitors. Both were more the type of player you'd want to bat for your life. Border's stats are interesting. Border went three years without making a century in a Test, and yet his batting average never dipped below 50, because his batting was so consistent. He therefore made more runs than Waugh. Waugh, however, made more centuries, and because of that probably won more Tests for Australia. And while it's not like standing up to Curtley Ambrose isn't tough enough, the images of the bowling Border had to face when he made 100 and 99* in the West Indies are incredible - all around him falling, he's trying to save a Test, and he pulls off a miracle. I can't separate them.

If you wanted someone to consistently make good but not great scores, you'd go with Border. If you wanted a larger score, you'd go with Waugh. Both were tougher than woodpecker lips!
 

Francis

State Vice-Captain
BOB WILLIS v JOHN SNOW
Ian Chappell regards John Snow as the best bowler he ever faced. A person I trust says that Snow was the best English fast bowler he ever saw. And yet Willis' heroics in Botham's Ashes were remarkable, and really he was a huge reason why England had it over Australia in so many Ashes Series in the late 70s/early 80s.
 

Daemon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Viv Richards once said Wasim was the best he ever faced. Stephen Fleming did too, but his opinion doesn't count.
lol'd

I'd say McGrath and Marshall are harder to compare
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
GEORGE HEADLEY v WALLY HAMMOND
The obvious reason it's impossible to compare these guys is because nobody at CW would have seen them play.
Not sure that's true. JBMAC was there when the first shepherds stuck a ball in a sock and whacked it about with a pitch fork.
 

Francis

State Vice-Captain
O'Reilly never bowled to Headley.
Really? I thought I saw an interview of Don Bradman saying that O'Reilly rated him very highly. I thought I also saw on ESPN's Legends of Cricket a story about how O'Reilly constantly tried to bowl him out by bowling around his legs...

I'm probably wrong...
 

TheJediBrah

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WASIM AKRAM v GLENN MCGRATH
I hate comparing these two guys. Akram was definitely the more exciting player. He could swing the ball both ways. It's said he was a bit like Keith Miller in that he only needed a few steps to generate 140km. Wasim had the whippy actions. The thing about Wasim is that if he didn't strike early, then he'd be taken off, because he didn't bowl long spells. Viv Richards once said Wasim was the best he ever faced. Stephen Fleming did too, but his opinion doesn't count. McGrath was the opposite. He'd wear you down with longer spells. He was more about accuracy and working off a length, then pitching it up and swinging it. They're impossible to compare to me.
You wouldn't think it considering the perceptions of these 2 but McGrath actually had a better Strike-rate than Wasim
 

Kirkut

International Regular
SUNIL GAVASKAR v VIV RICHARDS

Both best players of fast bowling, Gavaskar would wear down an attack with his technique and ability to leave the ball, Viv would clobber them.

While Viv could win you any game, he was never put in a situation where his bowlers bowled terribly and he had no other option but to bat 120 odd overs to save a game. Gavaskar has played few top rearguard innings like his 229 vs England and 80 odd on a square turner against Pakistan.
 

the big bambino

International Captain
Really? I thought I saw an interview of Don Bradman saying that O'Reilly rated him very highly. I thought I also saw on ESPN's Legends of Cricket a story about how O'Reilly constantly tried to bowl him out by bowling around his legs...

I'm probably wrong...
O'Reilly debuted in 27/28 then was posted by his employer, NSW education I think, to a place where "the crows fly backwards". He didn't play fc cricket again until 31/32; the season after Headley toured. Unless the WI played a minor country game where O'Reilly was selected in opposition, I can't find where they would have had an opportunity to play against each other. More's the pity.
 

viriya

International Captain
...Murali bowled in dust-bowls, and outside of Sri Lanka his bowling average is 27 (worse than Warne)...
This away average comparison needs more context. 30%+ of Warne's away matches were against England because of the Ashes, while Murali had to bowl to the GOAT team as well. Murali's vs Eng away record is actually better than Warne's, so if the proportion of games were similar across the board Murali would actually have a better away average.

Not trying to start another Murali vs Warne but that statistic is a bad way to compare the two.
 

weldone

Hall of Fame Member
They are not great and nobody will compare them - but I'm just saying that Utpal Chatterjee was so much better than Ashley Giles it's not funny.
 

CricAddict

Cricketer Of The Year
Sachin vs Lara vs Ponting should be at the top of this list. That might have had the highest number of threads in CW.
 

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
Really? I thought I saw an interview of Don Bradman saying that O'Reilly rated him very highly. I thought I also saw on ESPN's Legends of Cricket a story about how O'Reilly constantly tried to bowl him out by bowling around his legs...

I'm probably wrong...
Fairly certain it was Grimmett, iirc he got him out early in the tour and Headley worked so hard on playing his leg spin that he found it extremely hard/impossible to get him by the end of the tour.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
  • Sydney Barnes - So little is known about the kind of bowling he did. His stats are eye popping, and gets very high praise from contemporaries. At the same time it is difficult to assess how much to discount for the mating pitches from the era.
  • Wasim Akram - Such a skillful bowler; no one I have seen beats him on sheer skill. Gets very high praise from contemporaries, but take an objective look at stats, especially in tests, and it is difficult to regard him as the greatest fast bowler ever as he appears to naked eye.
  • Viv Richards - Similar reasoning to Wasim Akram's
  • Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock and George Headley - Careers cut short by circumstances outside their control. So we don't have enough sample from test cricket to do concrete assessment.
 
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