5 Most Influential Cricketers of All Time

[akilana]

He wasn't. Ya lame excuses home conditions, minnows and what not.

 

[Ikki]

Warne wasn't more attacking than Murali? LOL, ok.

 

[akilana]

double LOL if you don't agree with that

 

[archie mac]

Pure bull**** because this fella has never seen Qadir in action. And vicleggie thinks that Warne has revolutionized legspin (and my be speaking out of arsehole!).

Qadir was umpteen times more attacking than Warne and because he was so attacking some times went for runs. Add Chadrashekar to that, even bowled bouncers at batsmen!. And setting up batsmen, look at how Kumble did it. And if numbers are the ones you look at then Murali and O'Riely are far ahead of Warne.

Get off your patriotic high horse. Warne was a fine bowler, but never revolutionized leg spin. He perfected an already known set of skills, that it. And all the crap about pressure, setting up blah, blah, was done by all the great spinners of cricket, Warne hasn't revolutionized that aspect either.

Don't want to be involved in this silly argument but can you please spell Tiger's name correctly

 

[Migara]

Don't want to be involved in this silly argument but can you please spell Tiger's name correctly

Never able to get it right BTW. But I am not English, so you may pardon me.

 

[archie mac]

Never able to get it right BTW. But I am not English, so you may pardon me.

My apologies mate, you write well, so I forget sometimes

 

[morgieb]

He certainly was, and although Murali's SR is 2 points better, it can be explained away by several reasons - minnows and home conditions, for example.

The difference between Qadir's SR and Warne's is 15 points. That can't be explained away.

Maybe I'm confusing myself, but wasn't Pakistani cricket really slow and defensive back in the 80's?

Still a decent find though.

 

[Ikki]

In what way? Why would they try to bowl out the opposition slowly?

If you're referring to the pitches, he actually did far better at home.

 

[ankitj]

bradman's mom

+1

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Hopefully Steve Davies will be regarded as one in the future. I think it is safe to say he isn't the only gay cricketer in the world so if he helps others the good on him.

 

[fredfertang]

What would be the ideal would be for him to be remembered as the best wicketkeeper/batsman England has produced, and for his ***ual preferences to be forgotten about

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Totally agree FF but if he is accepted and it allows others to follow him in coming out he will be remembered as being the man who was the first and broke down the barriers.

 

[Migara]

In what way? Why would they try to bowl out the opposition slowly?

If you're referring to the pitches, he actually did far better at home.

Don't try to argue for the sake of it. We both know that even if Murali had lesser SR, Warne was more attacking in his method. Being in all out attack may not be successful all the time. Qadir never bowled those defensive lines, can say inadvertently sometimes. But he was a role model for attacking wrist spin.

 

[Ikki]

Murali had a lesser SR, but for different reasons...he wasn't a more attacking bowler. Maybe that has a lot to do with the team he was in and so he looked to frustrate runs rather than take a wicket at times; whereas Warne could afford to simply look for the wicket at the expense of a few runs. In any case, the difference between them in SR is slight. The difference between Warne and Qadir is a country mile. Ponting is an attacking batsman...but he doesn't come close to Sehwag on those terms.

Qadir was a role model...for who? You say Qadir was "umpteen times more attacking than Warne" and that's pure BS. Unless you go back decades to Tiger or Clarrie, no leg spinner comes near Warne. That's why he is thought of being a revolution - no spinner could come close to the attacking prowess of pace bowlers. It's until Warne came, and later Murali, that spinners were worked again as such options. They were relegated to tying ends and mostly did well when the conditions suited them. That's why it was thought of as a dying art, in that respect. Not that no one bowled spin anymore but no one could bowl it to the success that someone like Warne had, and that trend had been going on for decades.

 

[smash84]

Murali had a lesser SR, but for different reasons...he wasn't a more attacking bowler. Maybe that has a lot to do with the team he was in and so he looked to frustrate runs rather than take a wicket at times; whereas Warne could afford to simply look for the wicket at the expense of a few runs. In any case, the difference between them in SR is slight. The difference between Warne and Qadir is a country mile. Ponting is an attacking batsman...but he doesn't come close to Sehwag on those terms.

Qadir was a role model...for who? You say Qadir was "umpteen times more attacking than Warne" and that's pure BS. Unless you go back decades to Tiger or Clarrie, no leg spinner comes near Warne. That's why he is thought of being a revolution - no spinner could come close to the attacking prowess of pace bowlers. It's until Warne came, and later Murali, that spinners were worked again as such options. They were relegated to tying ends and mostly did well when the conditions suited them. That's why it was thought of as a dying art, in that respect. Not that no one bowled spin anymore but no one could bowl it to the success that someone like Warne had, and that trend had been going on for decades.

As much as I love Warney I would have to say that his armory wasn't as diverse as Qadir's. I think the key here is how you would define influential. Influence on the masses or influence on the way the game was played. I think there is a lot of merit in Qadir showing to the world the possibilities that a leg spinner can have in his arsenal. However no spinner comes close to Warne in capturing the public imagination. If you know what I mean.

 

[Ikki]

The point about armoury really wasn't relevant to what I was addressing though. Warne in the first part of his career had several different deliveries; however, towards the end his stock leg break did enough. After surgery it became harder to bowl different types and, ironically, he had more success without them. Even if we were to say that Qadir had more deliveries, it is delusional to say "Qadir was umpteen times more attacking than Warne". That is silliness of the highest order. Qadir may be attacking for the 2nd tier of spinners underneath the first (which would be Tiger, Clarrie, Warne and Murali) but he isn't close to Warne in terms of attacking batsman, and actually getting wickets.

Again, to reemphasise out something I said in the discussion about Bradman; sometimes the difference between players is too much to have a reasonable comparison.

 

[Sanz]

For me the 5 most influential cricketers would be :-

1. Don Bradman
2. Gary Sobers
3. Richie Benaud
4. Ian Botham
5. IVA Richards

 

[Sanz]

On the Warne, Qadir debate. Both overrated, Qadir a lot more than Warne. Their influence is also heavily overrated. Neither did Qadir keep the leg spin alive nor did Warne revive the art of leg spin bowling. Yes Qadir was the only legspinner worth his salt in the 80s, but India did produce some good leg spinners like Siva and Hirwani, both of whom faded away due to non-cricketing reasons. And as much as Warne is credited with leg spin revival or something of that sort, let's not forget that he had no hand in the emergence of Mushtaq Ahmad, Anil Kumble and Stuart Mcgill. And its not like world is suddenly full of great leg spinners since warne's retirement. I don't see a single leg-spinner from England, Australia (Fans from these two countries talk about Warne's influence the most )

That said it is pure jingoism that is driving the claims of Qadir being better than Warne or having more tricks up his sleeve than Warnie.

 

[Howe_zat]

I don't think anyone can really compare Qadir to Warne in terms of what they achieved as bowlers. But I do think that any fan of Warne would have to acknowledge Qadir as a huge part of legspin's resurgence from its nadir. For me, Qadir was a massively influential cricketer.

 

[shashy]

1. WG Grace
2. Bradman
3. Tendulkar
4. Constantine
5. Lillee