Wisden's Cricketers of the Century

[BhupinderSingh]

1. Don Bradman
2. Imran Khan
3. Viv Richards
4. Jack Hobbs
5. Garry Sobers

 

[SJS]

1. Don Bradman
2. Imran Khan
3. Viv Richards
4. Jack Hobbs
5. Garry Sobers

Shocking BS !!

Imran below Bradman

 

[BhupinderSingh]

Shocking BS !!

Imran below Bradman

Sir,you might not rate Imran so highly but is it necessary to make fun of me because I differ in opinion with you on this matter?

 

[silentstriker]

The reason for the weighting of such numbers was that this is approximately equivalent to the relative amount of time spent in Test cricket by such countries in said century.

That's not really true though. WI have been a Test side for most of this century (since 1928), and they didn't have 75% of the vote for the English.....they had much less than half.

 

[SJS]

Sir,you might not rate Imran so highly but is it necessary to make fun of me because I differ in opinion with you on this matter?

I am just kidding BS. I honestly have no issues with your rating Imran so high.

 

[SJS]

And I rate Imran very high indeed. Maybe not as high as you do but I have not seen more unplayable spells of fast bowling with the ball moving so late and so sharply as Imran did in a couple of series it was my privilege to watch.

 

[Richard]

1. Don Bradman
2. Imran Khan
3. Viv Richards
4. Jack Hobbs
5. Garry Sobers

Hobbs and Sobers > Richards.

Surely that is incontestable?

 

[Ikki]

Hobbs and Sobers > Richards.

Surely that is incontestable?

Why is that?

 

[Swervy]

Why is that?

don't start him off

 

[Richard]

Why is that?

Hobbs changed the face of batsmanship more than perhaps anyone other than WG Grace. He was also just a little bit good at scoring runs. Better, dare I say, than Viv Richards.

As for Sobers, well, I might start to consider Richards somewhere close - and no more - to him if he could bowl wristspin, fingerspin and seam-up to a decent standard.

 

[SJS]

Hobbs changed the face of batsmanship more than perhaps anyone other than WG Grace. He was also just a little bit good at scoring runs. Better, dare I say, than Viv Richards.

As for Sobers, well, I might start to consider Richards somewhere close - and no more - to him if he could bowl wristspin, fingerspin and seam-up to a decent standard.

Frankly, Sobers was a better batsman then Richards even if he had never bowled a single delivery in his life. His bowling was a bonus - and a huge one at that.

 

[Richard]

You don't have to tell me. I'd have Sobers over Richards as a specialist bat any day of any week.

 

[Engle]

Sobers came in to bat at a lower order after much of the bowling had been demolished (Ok, weakened) by the likes of Kanhai, Lloyd, and earlier WIndian batsmen stalwarts.

Richards came in earlier in the order and was the one doing the demolishing.

 

[Richard]

Yet Sobers' record at three and four, though not extensive, betters his record anywhere else.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I'm not sure who the 100 who voted were but 10 of them didn't even vote for Sobers and only 30 voted for Hobbs. Rumour had it that some deliberately didn't vote for Sobers because he was bound to have enough votes to finish second and they wanted to use their votes on another player..........complete farce.

1. Sir Donald Bradman 100
2. Sir Garfield Sobers 90
3. Sir Jack Hobbs 30
4. Shane Warne 27
5. Sir Viv Richards 25
6. Dennis Lillee 19
6. Sir Frank Worrell 19
8. Wally Hammond 18
9. Denis Compton 14
10. Imran Khan 13
10. Sir Richard Hadlee 13

**Edit**

I've just seen the full list of votes and voters.

The link doesn't work so I'll have to copy and paste the info

1. Sir Donald Bradman 100

2. Sir Garfield Sobers 90

3. Sir Jack Hobbs 30

4. S. K. Warne 27

5. Sir Vivian Richards 25

6. D. K. Lillee 19
Sir Frank Worrell 19

8. W. R. Hammond 18

9. D. C. S. Compton 14

10. Sir Richard Hadlee 13
Imran Khan 13

12. S. M. Gavaskar 12

13. S. F. Barnes 11
Sir Leonard Hutton 11

15. W. J. O'Reilly 10

16. I. T. Botham 9

17. H. Larwood 6
R. R. Lindwall 6
S. R. Tendulkar 6

20. R. Benaud 5

G. A. Headley 5
Kapil Dev 5

23. R. G. Pollock 4
W. Rhodes 4
V. T. Trumper 4

26. T. G. Evans 3
M. D. Marshall 3
Wasim Akram 3

29. Sir Alec Bedser 2
C. V. Grimmett 2
F. S. Trueman 2
F. E. Woolley 2

33. C. E. L. Ambrose 1
K. C. Bland 1
A. R. Border 1
B. J. T. Bosanquet 1
B. S. Chandrasekhar 1
I. M. Chappell 1
Lord Constantine 1
A. A. Donald 1
A. P. Freeman 1
L. R. Gibbs 1
M. A. Holding1
C. H. Lloyd1
S. J. McCabe1
B. Mitchell 1
K. S. Ranjitsinhji 1
M. W. Tate 1
Sir Pelham Warner 1



THE ELECTORATE
England (28)
Jonathan Agnew
Trevor Bailey
Jack Bannister
Sir Alec Bedser
Scyld Berry
Dickie Bird
Brian Close
Lord Cowdrey
Ted Dexter
Matthew Engel
Alf Gover
Tom Graveney
Frank Keating
Tony Lewis
George Mann
Vic Marks
Christopher Martin-Jenkins
Derek Pringle
Netta Rheinberg
Mike Selvey
E. W. Swanton
Bob Taylor
Fred Trueman
Crawford White
John Woodcock
Ian Wooldridge
Peter Wynne-Thomas

Australia (20)
Greg Baum
Percy Beames
Richie Benaud
Bill Brown
Richard Cashman
Ian Chappell
Mike Coward
Alan Davidson
Gideon Haigh
Murray Hedgcock
John Inverarity
Bill Lawry
Peter McFarline
Jim Maxwell
Arthur Morris
Jack Pollard
Paul Sheahan
Bob Simpson
Cec Starr
Steve Waugh

South Africa (11)
Ali Bacher
Eddie Barlow
Colin Bryden
Russell Endean
Trevor Goddard
Norman Gordon
Michael Owen-Smith
Peter Pollock
Krish Reddy
Peter van der Merwe
John Waite

West Indies (11)
Gerry Alexander
Tony Becca
Sir Carlisle Burton
Tony Cozier
Esmond Kentish
Clive Lloyd
Reds Pereira
Allan Rae
Donna Symmonds
Sir Clyde Walcott
Sir Everton Weekes

India (10)
Mihir Bose
Dilip Doshi
Sunil Gavaskar
Ayaz Memon
R. Mohan
K. N. Prabhu
Raj Singh
Kris Srikkanth
Polly Umrigar
S. Venkataraghavan

New Zealand (8)
Dick Brittenden
Don Cameron
Walter Hadlee
Don Neely
John R. Reid
Bert Sutcliffe
Lindsay Weir
Graeme Wright

Pakistan (8)
Arif Abbasi
Fareshteh Gati
Hanif Mohammad
Intikhab Alam
Javed Burki
Mushtaq Mohammad
Omar Kureishi
Qamar Ahmed

Sri Lanka (3)
Stanley Jayasinghe
Ranjan Madugalle
Gerry Vaidyasekera

Zimbabwe (1)
Dave Houghton

 

[subshakerz]

Warne definitely belongs in the top 5. While Qadir resurrected the ' ailing art ', Warne made it look cool, chic and colorful. Quite the opposite of the metronomic McGrath

While Warne made spin cool, I would pick bowlers like Marshall and McGrath any day of the week, as they are more likely to get cheaper wickets against any opposition on any surface than Warne is. Warne no doubt was a better entertainer, but I don't feel greatness should be diminished if their are more effective at your craft without necessarily being as entertaining.

 

[subshakerz]

IMO, Imran Khan is the one who most deserves to be in the top 5 after Bradman and Sobers. An all-time great bowler, specialist batsmen, and one of cricket's finest skippers. He almost singlehandidly transformed an underwhelming and fractitious group of cricketers into a world-beating force, his influence on his own country is incomparable.

After that it gets difficult. Perhaps Viv, the most outstanding batsman when bowling was at its finest? Perhaps Malcolm Marshall, the most complete fast bowler of all time? Or Jack Hobbs, who set the ultimate batting standards on horrible wickets? Even Richard Hadlee has a good stake.

 

[SJS]

28 Australians in that panel of 'selectors' and 27 votes for Warne ...hmmm...wonder who didn't vote for him

 

[Ikki]

Frankly, Sobers was a better batsman then Richards even if he had never bowled a single delivery in his life. His bowling was a bonus - and a huge one at that.

Sobers' batting is appreciated way too much. Compare eras and you'll notice Richards played in a more difficult era. Sobers took great advantage of poor Pakistani and Indian bowling. Even if we do consider his bowling, I'd still take Richards.

 

[JBMAC]

Interesting to note ...Only one Englishman in top 5..Hobbs...Desrvedly so IMPO