The bowler of the 90s and 00s

[viriya]

As far as Warner goes, guy's gun. Slayed the then best side in the world in their own backyard...3 tons in 3 games. Enough said. It's a bit too much to say he changed the way test cricket looked at openers. How many other openers have we got like that now? Just Warner. You could argue Sehwag was one of a kind - he was; but I doubt we'll see too many following his footsteps. Warner - Sehwag or no Sehwag - would have played the same way he is and has been playing.

Warner explicitly said in an interview that sehwag gave him the confidence to try test opening when they played together in the IPL. He didn't consider himself a test opener till then.

 

[Dan]

I think that the last couple of years of Ponting's career have somewhat clouded just how ****ing good he was for a large proportion of his career.

I swear, the smug little bastard never seemed to get out between 2002ish and 2008ish. Ton after ton after ton in big match situations, albeit very average captaincy.

 

[Jassy]

Warner explicitly said in an interview that sehwag gave him the confidence to try test opening when they played together in the IPL. He didn't consider himself a test opener till then.

He said Sehwag was the one who told him he would be a better test player than T20 player and Warner's reply to that was that he hadn't even played first class cricket. Look, a 100 test veteran giving tips and a word of encouragement is great but it is hardly something that could be used to raise Sehwag's standing as a batsman. Sehwag is good but like I said Ponting is Ponting. Tendulkar aside, I don't think there has been another batsman as prolific away from home and in the big tests(first test of a series he would invariably ton up in huge first innings) post Richards and Gavaskar. Even Lara arguably did not match up in that regard.

 

[weldone]

Ambrose and Muralitharan are slightly above the rest in my opinion.

 

[Jassy]

I was just having a look at Murali's stats recently after a long time and I was surprised at how much his away average vs the top 8 seems to have fallen(28 plus). Did he deteriorate that much towards the end of his career? I can't seem to remember too much about his last tests except that he got to 800. Anyone?

 

[OverratedSanity]

I think that the last couple of years of Ponting's career have somewhat clouded just how ****ing good he was for a large proportion of his career.

I swear, the smug little bastard never seemed to get out between 2002ish and 2008ish. Ton after ton after ton in big match situations, albeit very average captaincy.

Last 4 years tbh. But yeah I agree. Have never seen anyone look so invincible as he was in that period. There was a sense of inevitability when he came in to bat. "Oh **** he's going to get another hundred " and he usually did.

 

[Valer]

(Ponting) along with McG, Warne and Gilly, he was the biggest reason for the dominance of the great Australian side. W

DWTA

Australia's batting depth was a lot stronger than its bowling depth in those years. I'm not sure how problematic removing Ponting actually would have been.

 

[smash84]

DWTA

Australia's batting depth was a lot stronger than its bowling depth in those years. I'm not sure how problematic removing Ponting actually would have been.

This

 

[smash84]

I remember that despite Pakistan having wasim, Waqar, shoaib, Saqlain, and mushy I was always dreading them to come up against the aussie batting juggernaut. Gilchrist, slater, hayden, waughs, Ponting, martyn, lehmann, langer. The list seemed never ending

 

[Valer]

I remember that despite Pakistan having wasim, Waqar, shoaib, Saqlain, and mushy I was always dreading them to come up against the aussie batting juggernaut. Gilchrist, slater, hayden, waughs, Ponting, martyn, lehmann, langer. The list seemed never ending

For comparison here is a bowling list for 1990-2009 Qual 60 wickets *denotes games played before / after the given date.
SK Warne 1992-2007
GD McGrath 1993-2007
B Lee 1999-2008
JN Gillespie 1996-2006
CJ McDermott 1991*-1996
SCG MacGill 1998-2008
MG Hughes 1990*-1994
MG Johnson 2007-2009*
MS Kasprowicz 1996-2006
PR Reiffel 1992-1998
SR Clark 2006-2009
DW Fleming 1994-2001
CR Miller 1998-2001

 

[CricAddict]

For comparison here is a bowling list for 1990-2009 Qual 60 wickets *denotes games played before / after the given date.
SK Warne 1992-2007
GD McGrath 1993-2007
B Lee 1999-2008
JN Gillespie 1996-2006
CJ McDermott 1991*-1996
SCG MacGill 1998-2008
MG Hughes 1990*-1994
MG Johnson 2007-2009*
MS Kasprowicz 1996-2006
PR Reiffel 1992-1998
SR Clark 2006-2009
DW Fleming 1994-2001
CR Miller 1998-2001

The aussies were awesome in both the batting and bowling departments. Can't say which is better. Not for nothing were they the best after the old West Indians.
Just like Smali, being from that era, had always dreaded on India facing the aussies outside India. And we had Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad for Wasim and Waqar.

 

[Valer]

The aussies were awesome in both the batting and bowling departments. Can't say which is better. Not for nothing were they the best after the old West Indians.
Just like Smali, being from that era, had always dreaded on India facing the aussies outside India. And we had Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad for Wasim and Waqar.

It was originally a comment about depth. Warne Mcgrath and to a lesser extent Gillespie aside its not really particularly scary list.

Dunno I'd much rather have Ponting out for a series even when he was on fire in than than Mcgrath/Warne/Gilly

 

[viriya]

The aussies were awesome in both the batting and bowling departments. Can't say which is better. Not for nothing were they the best after the old West Indians.
Just like Smali, being from that era, had always dreaded on India facing the aussies outside India. And we had Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad for Wasim and Waqar.

The best ever - get it right. Batting line-up was better, fast bowling was worse, spin bowling was way better (since WI didn't have any).. and results were much, much better.

 

[OverratedSanity]

The best ever - get it right. Batting line-up was better, fast bowling was worse, spin bowling was way better (since WI didn't have any).. and results were much, much better.

I think theyre the best ever, too, but let's not be stupid

 

[viriya]

The Aus team of the early 2000s were the winningest team of all time and it's not even close. So the results were much, much better.

 

[smash84]

The Aus team of the early 2000s were the winningest team of all time and it's not even close. So the results were much, much better.

Ummm. Do you know that west Indian team went unbeaten for 15 years right? That to me is an even bigger achievement.

 

[viriya]

Ummm. Do you know that west Indian team went unbeaten for 15 years right? That to me is an even bigger achievement.

Yes, but the Aus team would take more of a risk for a result as teams do nowadays. It depends on what you consider being more impressive - being unbeaten or winning more. Maybe I shouldn't have said "much much better results" though, just "much better" would suffice

 

[Furball]

DWTA

Australia's batting depth was a lot stronger than its bowling depth in those years. I'm not sure how problematic removing Ponting actually would have been.

Australia owed a massive amount of its batting strength to Ponting though. It was Ponting who was invariably setting the tone for a series by tonning up and battering the opposition bowlers into submission.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yeah no way Australia's results were "much, much better", lets be real. Australia lost several series, and WI lost none.

 

[Furball]

Australia won far more Test matches though, and twice won 16 straight Test matches on the spin.

For a bit of perspective, if England had done that then they would be 3-0 up in the current series, have beaten Sri Lanka 2-0 and completed a double whitewash in the Ashes.