Who are the most important players in each side?

[adharcric]

The absence of four regulars from the English side on the current tour to India brought this question to my mind: who are the most crucial & invaluable players in each team at the moment? In another sense, who are the players that teams depend on the most today? For example, losing Flintoff would've been a far more deadly blow to England than losing Trescothick.

India ~ 1 Dravid ... 2 Kumble ... 3 Pathan
England ~ 1 Flintoff ... 2 Pietersen ... 3 Trescothick/Jones/Vaughan (English fans?)
Australia ~ 1 Warne ... 2 McGrath ... 3 Ponting
Pakistan ~ 1 Inzamam ... 2 Akhtar ... 3 Akmal
Sri Lanka ~ 1 Muralitharan ... 2 Vaas ... 3 Sangakarra

I'll stop there for now. I know there will be plenty of disagreement. Your thoughts?

 

[andyc]

New Zealand-- 1. Bond... 2. Vettori... 3. Fleming? Not entirely sure.

 

[Nuts]

England: 1.....Flintoff - Obvious really, consistantly the best performaner with both bat and ball 2.....Trescothick - Just edges out Pieterson imo. Losing him for this series has been a real blow and our batting has struggled for it. 3.....Pieterson - Great player to have in the squad and has been a fantastic addition to the team. Vaughan is close behind, and so is Steve Harmison.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Flintoff aside I think Jones is out most valuable player at the moment. Vaughan's time looks up, so I'd put KP third.

 

[Dasa]

For Australia I'd have McGrath ahead of Warne. The team seems to lose a lot more without McGrath in there.

 

[Nate]

New Zealand - 1) Bond, 2) Vettori, 3) Astle
Bond, as proven in this last Test, really wins matches for the Kiwis. Vettori is the glue that holds New Zealand together, he`s awesome. And Astle is their most consistent batsman IMO.

Australia - 1) Warne, 2) McGrath, 3) Ponting
Pidge is close to being number one, but Warne is just so amazing. Any other replacement is unworthy, and The Ashes showed how much we needed him. Of course, it also showed how much we needed McGrath, but Warne kept us in it. And Ponting just demonstrates his authority every game.

 

[Tim]

I'd agree with Bond, Astle & Vettori.

Fleming doesn't seem to turn up to a game often enough.

 

[howardj]

For Australia I'd have McGrath ahead of Warne. The team seems to lose a lot more without McGrath in there.

Furthermore, there's such a huge gap between McGrath and whoever replaces him. By contrast, the gap between Warne and his replacement (MacGill) is decidedly smaller. Not to say that Warne is not invaluable, though.

 

[alternative]

IMO

Australia = McGrath, Warne and Ponting
England = Flintoff, S Jones and KP
NZ = Bond, Vettori and Astle
WI = Lara , Gayle and Chandrapaul
India = Dravid, Kumble and Sachin (just his presence makes the difference)
Pakistan = Inzi, Shoaib and Mohammed Yousef
Sri Lanka = Murali, Vaas and Jayasuriya
Bangladesh = Ashraful, Mortaza and Bashar
South Africa = Kallis, Pollock and smith

 

[Barney Rubble]

England - Flintoff, Trescothick, S Jones
Australia - Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist (big call putting him ahead of Ponting I know)
India - Dravid, Kumble, Sehwag
Pakistan - Inzamam, Akhtar, Afridi
Sri Lanka - Muralitharan, Vaas, Sangakkara
New Zealand - Bond, Vettori, Fleming
West Indies - Lara, Bravo, Chanderpaul
South Africa - Kallis, Smith, Pollock
Zimbabwe - anyone with any international experience
Bangladesh - Ashraful, Bashar, Mortaza

 

[Dasa]

Australia - Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist (big call putting him ahead of Ponting I know)

That's a good call. The Ashes demonstrated how important Gilchrist (in good form) is to Australia - the English bowlers never let him get away and counter-attack as he does when early wickets fall.

 

[Jono]

I shall have a crack. These are for tests I'm assuming.

India - Kumble, Dravid, Sehwag

Kumble is a more valuable member to the Indian team IMo, and I know that's a huge call but I think whilst Dravid is clearly our best batsman, we do have other very good batsman in the team. Whereas whilst Harbhajan is a good spinner and bowler in general, (forgetting for a minute he is out of form) he doesn't add what Kumble adds to the team. Not even close actually, whereas Sehwag has performed extremely well at times, and Sachin, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan have also contributed at tiems when Dravid has failed. When Dravid is out of form or fails, the team may be weaker but its not as weak as a Kumble who isn't bowling well. If that happens, India doesn't even look like taking 20 wickets in a match.

England - Flintoff, Trescothick, S Jones
Australia - McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist (Agree with Barney, great call)
Pakistan - Inzamam, Akhtar, Akmal
Sri Lanka - Muralitharan, Vaas, Sangakkara
New Zealand - Bond, Vettori, Astle
West Indies - Lara, Bravo, Chanderpaul
South Africa - Kallis, Pollock, Smith
Zimbabwe - No idea.
Bangladesh - Ashraful, Bashar, Mortaza

 

[marc71178]

England - Flintoff, Trescothick, S Jones

I'd have those as well.

Trescothick is the rock around which the top of the order is based, Flintoff is obvious, and Jones is the bowler most likely.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I'd have those as well.

Trescothick is the rock around which the top of the order is based, Flintoff is obvious, and Jones is the bowler most likely.

Exactly the reasons I had those three down as well.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

West Indies - Bravo, Bradshaw, Ramdin, Chanderpaul.

Contrary to popular belief, at this stage, Brian Lara is not the most important player in the West Indies team. He has probably a year left before he calls it a day, and the West Indies need to learn without the cushion of knowing he's still to bat.

When he was out for a first-baller in the first Test against New Zealand, I was really hoping that the West Indies could finish the deal without him and validate all the hard work that came before.

The West Indies played their most competitive overseas Test match in a very long time, and they did so with 5 runs from Lara. That's a very good sign.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

England - Flintoff, Trescothick, S Jones

Spot on. Simon Jones is probably the most inexperienced bowler to be so crucial to his team's success. He hasn't even taken 100 Test wickets yet, but his mere presence in the England team makes it look so much stronger (and ***ier).

 

[tooextracool]

England ~ 1 Flintoff ... 2 Pietersen ... 3 Trescothick/Jones/Vaughan (English fans?)

Pietersen?????!
you're joking surely?

 

[Loony BoB]

New Zealand: Bond, Vettori, Fleming, Astle.

I put Fleming just above Astle in importance to the side because of his captaincy. People shouldn't look past such things.

 

[Langeveldt]

South Africa - Graham Smith, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis

 

[tooextracool]

South Africa - Graham Smith, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis

i would think that a South African would at least be able to spell the name of the captain of his country