The Ten Best Cricketers Of All Time

[Fiery]

I've always been a believer in that old cliche there is no "I" in the word team.Marshy was good but when it came to autographs/PR for the game etc it was always "What's in it for me?"
Grout was just Grout.What you saw was what you got.A bloody good sport[no false appeals]If he appealed for a caught behind you knew you were out.A tough fighter when the chips were down..was prepared to put his head down and make you buy his wicket where Marsh would come in with that cavalier attitude and start swinging sometimes it worked most time it didn;t.BUT the game evolved so quickly between Grout and Marsh once again it is one persons iterpretation of the game at that time.It would be really remiss of me not to mention Don Tallon..I had to just about toss a coin between him nad Grout.With the batting lineup those two had they only had to be a good gloveman..Marsh had to bat.Australia has ben fortunate in having great keepers but I think the unluckiest two would have to have been MacLean and Jarman.Jarman even Captained the Aussies once and Porky MacLean had to retir afetr breaking his fingers.

Have a soft spot for Marsh. I went over to Aus when I was a youngster and my uncle bought me his book "Gloves, Sweat and Tears" which I took to a game and got personally signed by him...so he's OK by me

 

[JBMAC]

Have a soft spot for Marsh. I went over to Aus when I was a youngster and my uncle bought me his book "Gloves, Sweat and Tears" which I took to a game and got personally signed by him...so he's OK by me

Aaah,Fiery, You are letting your heart rule your head

 

[Fiery]

Aaah,Fiery, You are letting your heart rule your head

My heart doesn't lie with any Australian cricketer sorry

 

[JBMAC]

WHAAAAT not even Trevor Chappell

 

[Fiery]

Especially not Trev

 

[wpdavid]

1.Bradman-- no explanation needed
2.Sobers----- ditto
3.May--------- a gentleman of the first order..brilliant bat/tactician
4.Hutton-------the greatest opener of all time?
5.Warne-------701 Test wickets speak for themselves
6.Imran--------Pakistans best ever Captain and allrounded cricketer
7.lloyd---------Leader of the most dominant side in world cricket for quite a few years
8Grout---------Solid team man handy bat ..best gloveman the Aussies have had
9.Lillee---------All heart,great fast bowler/competitor
10.Trueman--Maybe the best fast bowler England has produced
11.Miller[K]---Fantastic all rounder,new ball bowler,Captain of the 2nd AIF team to play in England as the first test match after the war in 1946

I have seen all bar Hutton play.Could make a second eleven which would give even that side a run for their money and include the likes of Benaud,Dexter,Graveney,D'oliviera,Richards etc etc etc.

When did you see Bradman play btw?

 

[JBMAC]

When did you see Bradman play btw?

see answer to fiery

 

[wpdavid]

(re seeing Bradman play) see answer to fiery

Now you've lost me, and I've looked a couple of times. Never mind. It's good to have you around anyway.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I've always been a believer in that old cliche there is no "I" in the word team.Marshy was good but when it came to autographs/PR for the game etc it was always "What's in it for me?"
Grout was just Grout.What you saw was what you got.A bloody good sport[no false appeals]If he appealed for a caught behind you knew you were out.A tough fighter when the chips were down..was prepared to put his head down and make you buy his wicket where Marsh would come in with that cavalier attitude and start swinging sometimes it worked most time it didn;t.BUT the game evolved so quickly between Grout and Marsh once again it is one persons iterpretation of the game at that time.It would be really remiss of me not to mention Don Tallon..I had to just about toss a coin between him nad Grout.With the batting lineup those two had they only had to be a good gloveman..Marsh had to bat.Australia has ben fortunate in having great keepers but I think the unluckiest two would have to have been MacLean and Jarman.Jarman even Captained the Aussies once and Porky MacLean had to retir afetr breaking his fingers.

I remeber Grout being involved in some issue of really good sportsmanship, can you remember?

 

[Fiery]

Now you've lost me, and I've looked a couple of times. Never mind. It's good to have you around anyway.

It was in the "Introduce Yourself" thread:

While Bradman retired after the 1948 "invincibles" tour of England, he continued to play club cricket and Testimonial "tests" for retiring players of his era.I was fortunate enough to be at the Lindsay Hassett Testimonial where Bradman score 17 and 80* in 1954.You need to understand cricketers were not paid a lot of money in those days[actually a pittance] and these special matches were a way for them to retire with a little bit of the ready.So, I have been fortunate enough to see most of the post war cricketers and played with some.My first coach was Ken Mackay and later Wes Hall to "name drop" just a couple.

 

[wpdavid]

It was in the "Introduce Yourself" thread:

Thanks Fiery

 

[Fiery]

Thanks Fiery

no worries mate

 

[archie mac]

I remeber Grout being involved in some issue of really good sportsmanship, can you remember?

I am sure he remembers better than me, but in a Test in England in the 1960s Hawke (I think) ran into one of the English batsman as he was going for a run, and Grout refused to remove the bails when the English batsman was well short of his ground

 

[JBMAC]

I am sure he remembers better than me, but in a Test in England in the 1960s Hawke (I think) ran into one of the English batsman as he was going for a run, and Grout refused to remove the bails when the English batsman was well short of his ground

That would be spot on!

 

[JBMAC]

self explanatory

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Monday, 13 August, 2001, 02:58 GMT 03:58 UK
Bradman's dream team revealed
Bradman chose Tendulkar and Lillee
Bradman chose Tendulkar and Lillee
Sir Donald Bradman chose his ultimate cricket team shortly before his death and rated India's Sachin Tendulkar as the only current international good enough to make it.

Bradman, considered the greatest ever batsman, chose a contentious XI which featured seven Australians and just one Englishman.

The dream team included South African opener Barry Richards, West Indies all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers, and English bowler Alec Bedser.

Bradman's team
Barry Richards - South Africa
Arthur Morris - Australia
Don Bradman - Australia
Sachin Tendulkar - India
Gary Sobers - West Indies
Don Tallon - Australia
Ray Lindwall - Australia
Dennis Lillee - Australia
Alec Bedser - England
Bill O'Reilly - Australia
Clarrie Grimmett - Australia
12th man:
Wally Hammond - England
England's Wally Hammond was selected as the 12th man. Bradman's biography was released on Monday. Writer, Roland Perry said Bradman's intention was to select an attacking combination, despite it containing only four specialist batsmen.

"If they can't make 500, who can?" was Bradman's argument, according to Perry.

Bradman, nicknamed the Don, selected himself as the number three batsman behind openers Richards and Authur Morris, his team-mate on Australia's Invincibles tour of England in 1948.

Spearheads

He picked Tendulkar at four, then Sobers at five.

Sobers was the first name he put down.


He is, in my opinion, the greatest cricketer of all time
Bradman on Sobers

"He offers balance and variety with bat and ball. He is, in my opinion, the greatest cricketer of all time," Bradman said.

Australia's Don Tallon was selected as wicketkeeper.

Bradman opted for his contemporaries in the leg-spin department, preferring Bill O'Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett to Shane Warne, the current Australian spinner who is rated as the world's best.

Australians Ray Lindwall and Dennis Lillee were the pace spearheads of the five-pronged bowling attack.

Tendulkar: The only curent player considered good enough
Tendulkar: The only curent player considered good enough
The release of Bradman's team was delayed until after his death so that he would avoid being inundated with requests for explanations and interviews, Perry said.

Bradman, who died in February at the age of 92, scored 6,996 runs in 52 tests spanning 20 years until 1948.

His average of 99.94 runs per test innings is far superior to any other batsman.

South Africa's Graeme Pollock is next on the all-time averages standings with 60.97.

 

[BhupinderSingh]

Imran was a better batsman at the start of his career than a bowler, and hence most of of his great batting contributions came at the start of his career

.Imran was a better batsman in the later stages of his career & most of his great batting contributions came in the later partof his career.

I do think his bowling is overrated due to the fact that he never shouldered a massive bowling responsibility for a lot of his career.

For most of his career,Imran alone had to carry the weight of his bowling as the likes of Sarfaraz Nawaz,Intikhab Alam etc were not even half as good as him.Wasim Akram managed to cement his place in 1987 & only in a few tests after that Imran shifted the load of bowling to Akram & started concentrating on his batting more.But by that time,Imran was over 35 & u can't expect genuine fast bowlers after that to do much.He basically played in the team as a specialist batsman and/or captain in most of the tests after 1988.

U've also said that Imran's wkts/match ratio of 4.1 is not impressive.Well,I think its excellent because he played around 20 tests as a specialist batsman(some in 1982-1984 when he was injured & rest in the last period of his career.

You hardly know anything about Imran Khan,so I would suggest u to read about him before making such outlandish statements about the best bowler,allrounder & captain ever.

 

[pasag]

You hardly know anything about Imran Khan,so I would suggest u to read about him before making such outlandish statements about the best bowler,allrounder & captain ever.

Play the post, not the man.

 

[shortpitched713]

The first quoted statement by Francis is pretty outlandish though, unless he is privy to some information about Imran's career in its embryonic stages that we are not.

 

[archie mac]

Play the post, not the man.

Unlike Carlton

 

[Engle]

10 Greatest Cricketers

WG Grace should make the list. His contribution to the game was enormous, arguably greater than any of the others.