Best Australia captain ever

[Victor Ian]

Curious on the ODI front. I can only judge who I've seen - Border onwards - and I still rate Border for taking a pile of turd and winning a world cup back when I didn't even know what the world cup was. Perhaps it was easier then, but I think Waugh, Ponting and Clarke had things too easy to rate them too highly.

At test level, Taylor took what Border passed on and was there as Australia turned from pretty ok to really good. He seemed to manage his men well, whatever that means. Waugh led by example and was known for putting his faith in players and having them come through, but that could have been moreso because it is easy to come through and perform when you have no pressure because you have solid batting and McGrath and Warne to cover over any failings. Ponting may have been good, but really, with the team he had, an ice cream could have done well. Clarke had it tough. He was very entertaining on the captaincy front, but I think he was talked up a hell of a lot. It is easy to take chances and be innovative when you don't have to much talent to use a trusted formula.

 

[Gnske]

If your answer isn't Border, you're worthless scourge of the earth.

 

[Gob]

Don't try and be cool by being obnoxious

I don't have to be obnoxious to be cool braah. Still though I honestly couldn't and still cant properly get his order

 

[Gob]

If your answer isn't Border, you're worthless scourge of the earth.

Mik Clarke>>>>Border

 

[Red]

no way

Still waiting for your well considered explanation to this, Gob.

 

[AndrewB]

I think that it's pretty obvious who my choice as 'best captain' is.

Overall though I like Woodfull and Benaud.


Everyone remembers Woodfull during the Bodyline series, but winning the Ashes 2-1 in 1934 with the deciding victory coming on the very last day of the 5th and final Test is pretty cool.

To be fair, the last Test in 1934 was a Timeless Test so once the series had reached 1-1 the deciding victory had to come (one way or the other) on the very last day.

 

[fredfertang]

My favourite Australian captains were Kim Hughes and Adam Gilchrist

 

[Burgey]

Mik Clarke>>>>Border

Clarke had a lot more to work with than Border. He was tactically good but whereas Border carried his side, half of Clarke's team would have happily carried him out.

 

[AndrewB]

Clarke had a lot more to work with than Border. He was tactically good but whereas Border carried his side, half of Clarke's team would have happily carried him out.

But when Border was carrying a weak side (1985-1989), they were losing twice against a mediocre England team, losing 2 out of 3 series to New Zealand, scraping a home draw with India etc. By the time of the 1989 Ashes, when Border's teams started winning, they had a pretty decent team (Marsh-Taylor-Boon-Border-Jones-Waugh(S)-Healy-Hohns-Hughes-Lawson-Alderman).

 

[The Battlers Prince]

So once he had more than just himself he started winning as captain? Sounds like a pretty good captain.

 

[Furball]

From what I've seen and read the best 3 seem to be;

Taylor, Chappell & Benaud (in no particular order).


Lol @ calls for Ponting, he was many things, a great captain he was not.

Depends what you're looking for in a captain. Reckon Ponting's probably the best leader of men I've seen.

 

[Gob]

Still waiting for your well considered explanation to this, Gob.

Don't think its right tbh

 

[Red]

Don't think its right tbh

quality and well thought out response tbh

 

[Zinzan]

Depends what you're looking for in a captain. Reckon Ponting's probably the best leader of men I've seen.

I place a higher weighting on tactical nous than I do on inspiration, so even granting you the latter he's still nowhere near Ian Chappell, Taylor & Benaud for me.

 

[Burgey]

I dunno, I'd put him ahead of Taylor for inspirational stuff, probably Chappell too. Guess it all depends on what you mean by it. None of them are total mugs at the caper.

 

[Zinzan]

I meant even if I was weighting the two things 50/50 (as opposed to about the 70/30 in favour of tactical nous that I do), I'd still have those 3 ahead of him.

If it was purely based on inspiration, then sure.

 

[Red]

Chappelli was a great leader of men as well as excellent tactically.

 

[Burgey]

I don't know how often Chappell was tested, tactically tbh. Probably in the West Indies in 73 when Lillee broke down. But I don't know that he had to do a lot more than toss the ball to Lillee and Thomson from 74 onwards. He built a very strong side though. He always had to bat three behind some pretty rubbish opening combos as well tbh, once he became skipper. He had Stacky there but Lawry had gone and the quality of openers from then until he retired weren't what you'd call top shelf.

 

[Burgey]

Just to add further to the One True AB legend, here's Greg Matthews talking about day five of the tied test in Chennai and TOTAB's attitude to Ray Bright being dehydrated and back in the sheds after having passed out on the field:

"After about an hour (after play resumed after tea), and we are going nowhere, and I am struggling, I see Dave Gilbert come out of the changerooms.


"I was fielding at long-on, AB was at mid-off. I heard every word AB said – 'Tell him (Bright) to get his f..... arse out here. About 10 minutes later, I look to my right and I see Ray Bright coming from out of the stand.

 

[Red]

A captain is really only as good as his bowlers. Australia's great captains had:

Clarke: Peak Johnson, Harris
Ponting: Warne, McGrath Gillespie
Waugh : Warne, McGrath, Gillespie
Taylor: Warne, McGrath, McDermott
Chappelli: Lillee, Thommo
Benaud: Benaud, Davidson, Lindwall
Bradman: Lindwall, Miller, OReilly, Johnston
Woodful: Grimmett, OReilly
Armstrong: Gregory, McDonald, Mailey