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Captains

roseboy64

Cricket Web Content Updater
Who in your estimations are the best captains ever for each Test side?I'll start us off.

Australia - Allan Border
West Indies - Frank Worrell
Bangladesh - Habibul Bashar(1st victory)
New Zealand - Stephen Fleming
England - Mike Brearley
South Africa - Hansie Cronje
Sri Lanka - Marvan Atapattu
Pakistan - Imran Khan
India - Saurav Ganguly
Zimbabwe - Andy Flower
 
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Beleg

International Regular
Pakistan - Imran
India - The Patodi Guy?
WI - Lloyd
Australia - Taylor
England - Peter May
SA - Cronje
Sri-lanka - Ranatuga
Zim when it mattered - Flower
NZ - Flemming
 

ReallyCrazy

Banned
Australia - Waugh
England - Brearley
India - Ganguly
Pakistan - Imran
Sri Lanka - Ranatunga
New Zealand - Fleming
West Indies - Lloyd
South Africa - Cronje
 

Hit4Six

U19 Debutant
ReallyCrazy said:
Australia - Waugh
England - Brearley
India - Ganguly
Pakistan - Imran
Sri Lanka - Ranatunga
New Zealand - Fleming
West Indies - Lloyd
South Africa - Cronje
right on brudah
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Erm, all those players were withing the past 25/30 years... surely from Cricket's 125 years there are some captains who beat the past 25 years? I can think of a fair few contanders...
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
Australia - Richie Benaud
West Indies - Frank Worrell
Bangladesh - Habibul Bashar
New Zealand - Stephen Fleming
India - Saurav Ganguly
England - Mike Brearley
South Africa - Hansie Cronje
Sri Lanka - Arjuna Ranatunga
Pakistan - Imran Khan
Zimbabwe - Andy Flower
 

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
From what I've seen (from 1980)

England - Mike Brearley
Australia - Steve Waugh
Pakistan - Imran
India - gavaskar
W.I - lloyd
Sri lanka - Rangatunga
NZ - Flem
S.Africa - Cronje ( before the silly buggers began)
Zimb - Campbell

My top 5 are in no particular order are....

FLEMING- (given his limited resourses over the years)

LLOYD -(although captained the greatest Windies side, always lead by example)

BREARLEY -( only problem being he wasn't good enough as a player)

WAUGH - (learn't from Border + Taylor and took ruthless captaincy to a new level - I think Ponting will probably do the same)

CRONJE - Incredible win/loss ratio. Before he lost the plot and threw it all away, he was so well respected world wide as a skipper.
 

GermanShepherd

School Boy/Girl Captain
Tom Halsey said:
Are you having a laugh?!
No, he's being realistic -- India have never really had a good captain in the past.

Ganguly may not be the greatest tactician but he did provide strong leadership to Indian cricket at a time when they most needed it. He took the reigns in 2000 in the wake of a home series defeat by South Africa and more significantly, the match fixing scandal. India were languishing close to the bottom of the test table at that time -- now they're ranked 3rd ( and while John Wright deserves a fair bit of credit for that so does Ganguly).

So yeah while he may not compare to S Waugh or Frank Worrell, in terms of what India have had -- he's far better than a lot of captains I've seen.

I've seen a fair bit of Indian cricket (I've also coached there) over the last 20 years and Ganguly is definitely the best skipper I've witnessed in that time.

And from what I've heard, Indian skippers before that time aren't worth talking about.
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
GermanShepherd said:
No, he's being realistic -- India have never really had a good captain in the past.

Ganguly may not be the greatest tactician but he did provide strong leadership to Indian cricket at a time when they most needed it. He took the reigns in 2000 in the wake of a home series defeat by South Africa and more significantly, the match fixing scandal. India were languishing close to the bottom of the test table at that time -- now they're ranked 3rd ( and while John Wright deserves a fair bit of credit for that so does Ganguly).

So yeah while he may not compare to S Waugh or Frank Worrell, in terms of what India have had -- he's far better than a lot of captains I've seen.

I've seen a fair bit of Indian cricket (I've also coached there) over the last 20 years and Ganguly is definitely the best skipper I've witnessed in that time.

And from what I've heard, Indian skippers before that time aren't worth talking about.
Spot on mate. :)

Almost everyone in this thread had named Ganguly as India's best captain yet the Essex boy has a go at me only. :unsure:
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Well here's my picks. I've briefly tried to justify them:

Australia: Allan Border- lead Australia out of the dark ages. Not one to dominate by force of personality, he sowed the seeds that have borne the fruit under subsequent regimes. Hard to overestimate his importance in Australia’s current pre-eminence.
Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar- only ever winning Bangladesh skipper. Also drew first test with The Windies last year, outscoring their hosts in the first innings.
England: Douglas Jardine- England’s most thinking & most ruthless captain. Such was his innovative genius that cricket's rules were changed to counter it. 11 wins from 15 tests.
India: Kapil Dev- lead India to surprise triumph in ’83 WC & 2-0 series victory in England. Captaincy seemed to enhance rather than diminish him.
New Zealand: Bev Congdon- lead New Zealand to the first victory over Australia. Made New Zealand a serious force in the game.
Pakistan: Imran Khan- lead Pakistan to the ’92 World Cup & their first series win in England. His Pakistan were also the only team to seriously contest The Windies pre-eminence.
South Africa: Ali Bacher – only four tests in charge, but 100% record against a more than useful Oz team. I absolutely refuse to consider Cronje.
Sri Lanka: Arjuna Ranatunga- made the Sri Lankans a force to be reckoned with. A street-fighting politician of a captain, one may have occasion to question his actions, but one can’t help but admire his intense loyalty to his players.
West Indies: Clive Lloyd- laid the foundations for two decades of dominance. Used fast bowling to greater effect than any test captain since Jardine.
Zimbabwe: Alistair Campbell- lead Zimbabwe to their finest moment, the 1-0 series win in Pakistan in 98/99. Also oversaw creditable 0-0 draw with England in 96/97.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
i find it hard to believe that people can put waugh down as the best australian captain, both the captains before him were far better.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
England : Brearley
Australia : Mark Taylor
India : Pataudi Jr
Pakistan : Imran
West Indies : Lloyd
Sri Lanka : Ranatunga
New Zealand : Fleming
South Africa : Cronje
 

C_C

International Captain
Jardine didnt come up with Bodyline. It was in practice in ENG before the bodyline series and i believe that ENG got a taste of bodyline from the WI bowlers(Constantine) before the Ashes.

In response to the question of the thread, i would say these are the best captains produced by the respective countries.

Australia: Ian Chappell
Bangladesh: Bashar
England: Brearley
India: Pataudi
NZ: Fleming
PAK: Imran Khan
RSA: Clive Rice
SL: Ranatunga
WI: Clive Lloyd
ZIM: Andy Flower.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
C_C said:
Jardine didnt come up with Bodyline. It was in practice in ENG before the bodyline series and i believe that ENG got a taste of bodyline from the WI bowlers(Constantine) before the Ashes
Legitimate "Leg theory" was practiced in England for a good 20 years before 32/33, but arguably only the pace & accuracy of Larwood & Voce made it into "Bodyline".

The Windies toured England in 1933 (the English summer after The Bodyline tour). Martindale & Constantine were both quick enough to hurry up the best tho, Wally Hammond had his chin cut open in the Old Trafford test. Jardine, for the record, scored a chanceless 127 in the same test.
 

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