West Indies all-time 5

[Craig]

The West Indies has named their five greatest cricketers.

For those to lazy they are:

George Headly
Sir Viv Richards
Sir Frank Worrell
Brian Lara
Sir Garry Sobers

IMO it would have been more fairer had they done five for batting, 5 for fast bowling given the WI proud fast bowling history (sadly not now), and maybe 5 for spinners, and say three for wicket-keepers.

 

[Adamc]

The West Indies has named their five greatest cricketers.

For those to lazy they are:

George Headly
Sir Viv Richards
Sir Frank Worrell
Brian Lara
Sir Garry Sobers

IMO it would have been more fairer had they done five for batting, 5 for fast bowling given the WI proud fast bowling history (sadly not now), and maybe 5 for spinners, and say three for wicket-keepers.

Mm would have been good to see the likes of Malcolm Marshall up there. I doubt there would be much point in doing a 5 greatest spin bowlers award though...

 

[Richard]

Personally I think just 10 of the best. Five really isn't fair, especially as three pick themselves.
Sobers (for obvious reasons), Headley (for possibly even more obvious reasons) and Worrell (for reasons more to do with captaincy than excellence rather than brilliance with the bat) can't be left-out so that leaves two more.
Personally I'd have gone for Weekes and Marshall, but if you had ten you could get:
Headley, Sobers, Worrell, Weekes, Walcott, Gibbs, Marshall, Holding, Richards, Lara.
Even that ignores such mighties as Garner, Roberts, Ramadhin, Hall and the like.
Picking a small number from a massive list of greats is no easy task.

 

[Richard]

Mm would have been good to see the likes of Malcolm Marshall up there. I doubt there would be much point in doing a 5 greatest spin bowlers award though...

Gibbs, Ramadhin, Valentine...

 

[pskov]

Personally I think just 10 of the best. Five really isn't fair, especially as three pick themselves.

I'd say 4 pick themselves: Headly, Worrel, Sobers & Viv Richards.

I would have put Marshall in there ahead of Lara for the 5th spot to provide some kind of balance to the selection. And he is after all the greatest pace bowler of the modern era.

 

[roseboy64]

Worrell should never have made it.So too Viv.My 5 are:Lara,Headley,Sobers,Dujon(to add a 'keeper),Walsh(because of his record)

 

[Swervy]

Worrell should never have made it.So too Viv.My 5 are:Lara,Headley,Sobers,Dujon(to add a 'keeper),Walsh(because of his record)

no way..Dujon over Viv????

Walsh over Marshall?????

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Worrell should never have made it.So too Viv.My 5 are:Lara,Headley,Sobers,Dujon(to add a 'keeper),Walsh(because of his record)

Worrell was a fine player as well as a brilliant tactician and captain.

My 5:

Worrell
Sobers
Lara
Marshall
Headley

 

[roseboy64]

Worrell never did anything spectacular as a batsman.I'm doing this on stats.Headley has the best average.Lara the most centuries.Dujon the best keeper/batsman.Walsh most wickets.Sobers best allrounder.I don't know how they played or how beautiful their shots looked so i'm going on stats.

 

[Swervy]

Worrell never did anything spectacular as a batsman.I'm doing this on stats.Headley has the best average.Lara the most centuries.Dujon the best keeper/batsman.Walsh most wickets.Sobers best allrounder.I don't know how they played or how beautiful their shots looked so i'm going on stats.

well he did average nigh on 50 in tests...and for the first ten years of his test career he was up near 60...but more than that, he unifies the islands to play as one solid unit, which basically laid the foundations for the dominating teams the WI had a decade after he stopped playing.

By all accounts a true legend..and certainly deserves mention above Dujon or Walsh or probably Lara for that matter

 

[roseboy64]

He was like Clive Lloyd.Never did anything spectacular with the bat but was a great captain.

 

[Swervy]

He was like Clive Lloyd.Never did anything spectacular with the bat but was a great captain.

what do you mean Lloyd never did anything spectacular batting...go watch film of the World Cup final in 75..i have rarely seen a better striker of the ball as Lloyd

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He was like Clive Lloyd.Never did anything spectacular with the bat but was a great captain.

You clearly need to revise your West Indian history. Ever read 'A History of West Indian Cricket' by Michael Manley? A fine book that. I've got two copies and have read it about 5 times.

 

[Craig]

Worrell should never have made it.So too Viv.My 5 are:Lara,Headley,Sobers,Dujon(to add a 'keeper),Walsh(because of his record)

As the old saying goes 'stats don't tell the full story' and it is true on this occasion.

Nobody will ever deny Walsh his spot in history, he is one of my favourite cricketers of all time (partly because I share the same surname), but have you not read about Malcolm Marshall?

For your keepers I don't suppose the names like Gerry Alexander and Derrck (sp) Murrary don't mean much do they?

Worrell was one of the finest captains WI has ever had, like Swervy said he brought the islands together, and told them when they were on the field, they were West Indians, not Bajans, Guyanese etc. and his tatics were first class. Brian Lara and some previous captains could have taken a leaf out of his book.

 

[Craig]

You clearly need to revise your West Indian history. Ever read 'A History of West Indian Cricket' by Michael Manley? A fine book that. I've got two copies and have read it about 5 times.

The one I have read was published after the WI Tour of New Zealand in 86/87, is that the same or a an updated edition?

 

[Richard]

Anyone saying Worrell wasn't all but a certainty clearly hasn't read-up on their stuff.
But for Worrell West Indies probably wouldn't have had any success.
As has been said, once, Worrell unified the islands and laid the foundations for the success (which had been seen fleetingly in the Goddard-Stollmeyer-Ramadhin-Valentine days) which followed for the next 30 years.
Add to this he was a very, very fine batsman even if not quite as good as Weekes, Walcott or Sobers.
I'd not say Viv Richards was a certainty, though, far from it - IMO there have been plenty of better West Indian batsmen.
In less important games, Viv didn't value his wicket enough, however well he played when it mattered most.

 

[Mr. P]

My 5 in no particular order...

Worrell
Sobers
Headly
Marshall
Ramadhin/Valentine

 

[a massive zebra]

Sobers
Headley
Marshall
Weekes
Ambrose

 

[a massive zebra]

I'd not say Viv Richards was a certainty, though, far from it -IMO there have been plenty of better West Indian batsmen.
In less important games, Viv didn't value his wicket enough, however well he played when it mattered most.

And he dominated weak attacks like England and India, while his record against the high quality Pakistan and New Zealand lineups is not worthy of an all-time great. Also he never had to face the mighty West Indian bowlers.

 

[marc71178]

And to think I've got 2 of the named 5 in my Lords side