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Test Top 5s (as of now)

91Jmay

International Coach
Not seen a thread like this, might be fun to track periodically how our lists change:

Batsmen:
1) Steve Smith
2) Kane Williamson
3) Joe Root
4) Virat Kohli
5) Azhar Ali

HM: De Kock, Pujara, Ross Taylor, Dave Warner

Pace bowlers:
1) Dale Steyn
2) Mitchell Starc
3) KG Rabada
4) Josh Hazelwood
5) Stuart Broad

HM: Vernon Philander, Trent Boult

Spin bowlers:
1) R Ashwin
2) Rangana Herath
3) Yasir Shah
4) Nathan Lyon
5) Ravi Jadeja

All rounders:
1) Ben Stokes
2) Shakib Al Hasan
3) Angelo Mathews
4) R Ashwin
5) Moeen Ali

Assorted comments, Spinners first 3 picked themselves but after that I'd say there is a real paucity of quality options going around. Ali might be contentious to some at 5 on the batsmen slot but I rate him very highly and edges out Warner/Taylor et al because he has scored runs in a good variety of conditions. I expect De Kock to rapidly move up the list though, potentially going as far as 1#. Pace bowlers there to me a clear and obvious top 3, with 4-8 or so being a real logjam of good bowlers. All rounders is hard as basically all of them are primary skilled in one discipline with a bolt on extra.
 
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Tom Flint

International Regular
Shakid got to be in the spinners top 5. Always seems to pick up 2/3 for very few runs. And has done it consistently for a number of years
 

91Jmay

International Coach
Shakid got to be in the spinners top 5. Always seems to pick up 2/3 for very few runs. And has done it consistently for a number of years
Yeah, I will make an all rounders top 5 thinking about it. He could probably be in over Lyon/Jadeja but I don't feel strongly about it either way.
 

StephenZA

Hall of Fame Member
I dont think you can include Steyn at the moment, we don't even know if/when he will come back for certain. Philander probably deserves to be top 5. And Morkel deserves an HM with the way he has bowled recently.
 

91Jmay

International Coach
I dont think you can include Steyn at the moment, we don't even know if/when he will come back for certain. Philander probably deserves to be top 5. And Morkel deserves an HM with the way he has bowled recently.
Yeah, I just can't not have Steyn 1# until he has retired. Vern was very close, him and Broad was virtually a tie but I reckoned over 18 month period (roughly my window) Broad had stayed a bit fitter basically. Morkel was at the back end of the mentioned logjam, would have had a few before him.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
- Azhar Ali definitely above Kohli for me.
- Starc seems overrated there.
- Jadeja > Shakib > Lyon
- All rounders are --> Stokes, Shakib, Matthews, Moeen, Ashwin
 
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91Jmay

International Coach
- Azhar Ali definitely above Kohli for me.
- Starc seems overrated there.
- Jadeja > Shakib > Lyon
- All rounders are --> Stokes, Shakib, Matthews, Moeen, Ashwin
Yeah, Starc maybe slightly high. Lyon has done more away from home than Jadeja at this point, still not sure I'd really pick Jadeja as a lone spinner anywhere outside of Asia where as I certainly would with Lyon. It's fair call that he is far better than Lyon in spinning conditions though, again I don't feel strongly about that though and could be wrong. Mathews is a good call as an allrounder, he will go straight into edited list.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
what sort of a bracket is your "now"? Last 12 months?
When I asked this, for some reason the below post had not loaded. Sorry JMay..

Yeah, I just can't not have Steyn 1# until he has retired. Vern was very close, him and Broad was virtually a tie but I reckoned over 18 month period (roughly my window) Broad had stayed a bit fitter basically. Morkel was at the back end of the mentioned logjam, would have had a few before him.

But even if you take 18 months, I dont think Steyn will be ahead by that much.
 

91Jmay

International Coach
Yeah I should have written it in the original post, fair call. I am probably being disingenuous including him at 1# given my own criteria but he is top 5 all time for me so I still can't comfortably move him yet.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
yeah.. its tough to be objective with ATGs. :) I know the feeling. I never had Lara as anything less than #1 for as long as he was playing. Even when he obviously was not #1. :)
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
I'll put Morris as 5th all rounder. Can bowl and bat. The pace he came up with recently in that ODI was quite some thing. Don't like Morris but he has a fair bit of talent.
 

grecian

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Root is so much better than Williamson, not sure on what metric you can put him ahead.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Would have been better placed were South African policies not focused on giving coloured players more opportunities.
He wouldn't. They have far better bowlers and he isn't a good enough batsman to be at number 6/7.
 

Shri

Mr. Glass
Batsmen:
1) Steve Smith
2) Kane Williamson
3) Joe Root
4) Virat Kohli
5) Azhar Ali

HM: De Kock, Pujara, Cook

Pace bowlers:

1) Josh Hazelwood
2) Vernon Philander
3) K Rabada
4) Stuart Broad
5) Umesh Yadav

HM: Dale Steyn, Trent Boult

Spin bowlers:

1) Ravi Jadeja
2) Ravi Ashwin
3) Rangana Herath
4) Yasir Shah
5) Nathan Lyon

All rounders:

1) Ben Stokes
2) Ravi Ashwin
3) Shakib Al Hasan
4) Ravi Jadeja
5) Moeen Ali
My opinion.
 

Bijed

International Regular
Can Mathews really be called an all rounder? Don't they like have to bowl?
He bowls himself with the new ball these days tbf

But I wouldn't have him in anyway, his batting recently has been nothing special and whilst from memory his bowling has been actually quite tidy, it's not as if he's been a big wicket-taking threat.

I'd probably replace him in the list with Herath who has definitely been the roundest player in the last 18 months
 

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