Muttiah Muralidaran's 10 top batsmen

[Flem274*]

Why do you give a **** how I post?

It matters dude. It really matters.

 

[Flem274*]

Kidding, just kidding...

Btw talking about kidding, I wonder if this might be beneficial to this thread:

He has some great facials.

 

[NUFAN]

I could see Crawley flying under the casual fan's radar, but even the most one-eyed Aussie would at least be aware of Thorpey's existence? Chap was our best batsman for a decade.

Would've liked some reasoning behind the choices tho. Lehmann & Martyn the most egregious exclusions IMHO. Were both amazing on the 03/04 tour. IIRC Oz came from first innings deficeits in each test to win three-zip.

Lehmann probably lost a few brownie points for his racial slur against Sri Lanka. Martyn was terrific on that 03/04 tour that you mentioned.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Crawley was a good player of spin bowling and if he could read Murali's wrong one which many English players couldn't then it isn't a great surprise that he has included him in there as you will always have a former teammate/mate ranked higher than they should be.

Not that it matters though as it is his list and i doubt any other bowler in the world would have Crawley in their top 10 unless it was someone like Gary Keedy.

 

[Jono]

Be a pretty short thread if we didn't, tbf.

Like I said, the lack of Murali's reasoning behind the list in the article means we're all guessing as to his ideas. I imagine he has a book coming out, hence the list? Hopefully we'll find out more on its publication.

A Murali autobiography would be the one I would want to read most, more than any of this era's players. More than a Lara or Sachin, more than S Waugh, McGrath's etc. that I have already read.

Not only will he, as a champion cricket, have some amazing moments and battles with players to discuss, but just what exactly he has thought and felt during his controversial career will be interesting.

Plus he generally doesn't speak that much, so it'd be interesting to hear him elaborate a lot.

 

[vcs]

Lehmann probably lost a few brownie points for his racial slur against Sri Lanka. Martyn was terrific on that 03/04 tour that you mentioned.

Martyn was amazing throughout 2004. What he did that year would be the equivalent of someone like Younis Khan touring S. Africa, England and Australia in a year and averaging 70-80 against quality pace attacks.

 

[Migara]

Interesting that he included a few match fixing cheats in his list. Says a lot about the man.

Ya, Salim Malik payed Murali to bowl badly at him . And he did play a blong leg spinner very well too.

 

[Migara]

Now hold on for a second. Murali has never made such a list according to my knowledge. This only appears in a single news blog and other sources just refer to that. Could it be a possiblility of a cooked up story? Just like the Pakistan "match-fix" in the ODI series?

 

[smash84]

Ya, Salim Malik payed Murali to bowl badly at him . And he did play a blong leg spinner very well too.

I had the opportunity to meet Mohd Yousuf a few days back and I asked him about Shane Warne. He was the one who actually told me that Salim Malik was one of the first guys who really had an upper hand on Shane Warne (other than the Indian batsmen of course). He was a master against spin. I don't think he and Azhar are too out of place in this top 10.
The fact that he was a match fixer does not mean that the guy did not have talent. Look at Amer.

 

[Avada Kedavra]

Interesting that he included a few match fixing cheats in his list.

Says a lot about the man.

Yeah he also rates a match fixing druggie higher than himself.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah he also rates a match fixing druggie higher than himself.

You realise Taipan is a Saffie, not an Australian, so abusing Warne isn't going to bother him at all? Or are you trying to annoy someone else?

 

[Migara]

You realise Taipan is a Saffie, not an Australian, so abusing Warne isn't going to bother him at all? Or are you trying to annoy someone else?

Is he?

 

[superkingdave]

John Crawley was a ****ing gun player of spin bowling, shame he never got to play in the subcontinent.

 

[Avada Kedavra]

The list seems to be a fair one.I suppose Fleming,Sehwag,Martyn could have made the list ahead of a couple on that list,but fair enough.

 

[smash84]

Martyn was amazing throughout 2004. What he did that year would be the equivalent of someone like Younis Khan touring S. Africa, England and Australia in a year and averaging 70-80 against quality pace attacks.

Younis doing something like that is pretty much out of the question. Martyn was a much much better batsman than Younis IMO.

 

[vcs]

Younis doing something like that is pretty much out of the question. Martyn was a much much better batsman than Younis IMO.

Yeah, I was just making an analogy. Here was a guy with a reputation for disappearing under pressure, and suddenly he becomes the go-to guy for Australia's batting lineup in the conditions they found the toughest to handle historically. He certainly wasn't the player anyone would have expected to step it up, in the presence of the likes of Ponting and Hayden in the team. Even though it came against India, I couldn't help feeling happy because I was a big fanboy of him.

 

[smash84]

Yeah, I was just making an analogy. Here was a guy with a reputation for disappearing under pressure, and suddenly he becomes the go-to guy for Australia's batting lineup in the conditions they found the toughest to handle historically. He certainly wasn't the player anyone would have expected to step it up, in the presence of the likes of Ponting and Hayden in the team. Even though it came against India, I couldn't help feeling happy because I was a big fanboy of him.

I too was a big fanboy of Martyn. That man could play so elegantly. There were few players who were as elegant as Damien Martyn when in full flow.

I guess in that sense you are correct. Nobody will expect Younis Khan to ever step up to the occasion .........

 

[zaremba]

Interesting that he included a few match fixing cheats in his list.

Says a lot about the man.

 

[Ikki]

It does seem controversial as their are no players from Aus on there. I'd be more interested to know why though.

 

[fredfertang]

It does seem controversial as their are no players from Aus on there. I'd be more interested to know why though.

Possibly if the list were of the 10 best batsmen he'd thrown at there'd be a few there?