Test Top 5s (as of now)

[S.Kennedy]

I'd have Bairstow somewhere on the batsmens' list. Hazlewood I'd have top before Starc etc, although with Steyn buggered it is a bit hard to say. I might be tempted to go for Rashid (or even Mo) before Shah. I'd be the first to say Mo proved me wrong recently so he'd rank high on my allrounder list.

Good list though.

 

[Bijed]

Yeah, Shah is actually a bit of an odd one here I feel, as he had that fairly terrible run in NZ/Australia which, along with his mixed-but-ordinary-overall tour of England means that he's averaged 36 with the ball since the start of 2016. But it's not like there's been any real challengers to his top 5 spot anyway. Going on averages alone Maharaj must have actually been one of the better ones recently, but is still pretty new.

 

[Groundking]

Surely Jimmy Anderson has to be either no.1 or 2 of any list going, depending if you're picking Steyn or not, having got 130 wickets at 22.77 since 2014. (Min req 40 wickets) The dudes consistently been at the top of the averages for each year and actually plays test cricket instead of being a sick note. At the very least he has to be above Broad in any rankings.

 

[MW1304]

Surely Jimmy Anderson has to be either no.1 or 2 of any list going, depending if you're picking Steyn or not, having got 130 wickets at 22.77 since 2014. (Min req 40 wickets) The dudes consistently been at the top of the averages for each year and actually plays test cricket instead of being a sick note. At the very least he has to be above Broad in any rankings.

I don't think it's controversial to say, as of right now, Broad is the more well-rounded bowler. Jimmy still has the better career, although that could change, but I for one would say Broad is better. It's still close tbf.

 

[Adders]

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

Love what you did there.

 

[_Ed_]

Root is so much better than Williamson, not sure on what metric you can put him ahead.

KW does have a better record away from home (and particularly in Australia), but of course that may change spectacularly in the next Ashes tour.

 

[91Jmay]

All rounders clearly a global dearth (probably always has been given the nature of the role), I wouldn't put Yadav top 5 seamers although he has developed into a good bowler for sure.

Bairstow would be in the top 10-15 but not top 5 for me.

 

[CricAddict]

Keepers

De Kock
Bairstow
Watling
Saha
Sarfraz

Taking into account their whole utility to team (batting +keeping) and not just keeping.

 

[_Ed_]

Sarfraz should be higher with his captaincy, IMO.

 

[TheJediBrah]

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

He's not even in the top 5 in New South Wales

 

[randycricfreak]

Top 5 test players

Steve Smith
Rangana Herath
Ravi Ashwin
Moeen Ali
Any top batsman out of Williamson/Cook/Root

 

[Pratters]

Oh come on. Lyon has to be in there. He has been bowling consistently well for Australia for a while now.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Oh come on. Lyon has to be in there. He has been bowling consistently well for Australia for a while now.

NSW spinners:

1) Steve O'Keefe
2) Will Somerville
3) Gurinder Sandhu slower balls
4) Mason Crane
5) That kid from the Under-19s
.....
Nathan Lyon is at least somewhere in the top 50 to be fair to him

 

[Pratters]

How many test wickets have they taken buddy?

 

[Groundking]

I don't think it's controversial to say, as of right now, Broad is the more well-rounded bowler. Jimmy still has the better career, although that could change, but I for one would say Broad is better. It's still close tbf.

The same Broad who, over the same time period since the start of 2014, has an almost 3 run worse average, a worse strike rate, fewer 5 fors, no 10 fors (Jimmy has 1) and a worse best match?
Jimmy is significantly better than Broad at the minute and has been his whole career, particularily over the past 3.5 years.

 

[ImpatientLime]

Root is so much better than Williamson, not sure on what metric you can put him ahead.

kw convert his starts more often.

we all know how good root is, but he has to go on a monster run and be more ruthless if we're to describe him as 'so much better than kw'.

 

[mr_mister]

still think there's nothing separating the big four and i also think they are far ahead of the 5th bloke, who I think is quite clearly QDK now. Azhar Ali has yet to wow me despite some big ***y hundreds. QDK may catch up one day sure.



I feel like every time one of the big four has a great series(like Root might have in the next few weeks) they just jump to the front of everyone's mind.

 

[ImpatientLime]

still think there's nothing separating the big four and i also think they are far ahead of the 5th bloke, who I think is quite clearly QDK now. Azhar Ali has yet to wow me despite some big ***y hundreds. QDK may catch up one day sure.



I feel like every time one of the big four has a great series(like Root might have in the next few weeks) they just jump to the front of everyone's mind.

i think that was the case say, 12 months ago. but smith has pulled out in front of the other 3 now.

 

[mr_mister]

yeah he's started getting really consistent, and I love him, but i still never feel that confident when he's at the crease. he looks like getting out a lot to me just because of his 'ugly' style.

but yeah as i say this i realise his results are too damn good to ignore. still think he's the most likely to 'fall off' in his late 20s/early 30s and not make the 35+ hundreds we expect all 4 to make. cant really justify this thought other than gambhiring/ugly technique. hope im wrong too

 

[Bijed]

Smith has definitely pulled ahead of the others for me, just keeps on making lots and lots of runs. Root and Williamson I can't really separate, Kohli was godlike for a while but then turned into Chris Martin, so we'll just have to see where he goes from here.

OTOH, whilst I'm not at all doubting of QDK's ability, he will never be one of the 'Big 5' until he bats up the order and carries on doing his stuff there. Not his fault he's not coming in at 4, of course.