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Best cricketer for this decade ?

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Not really, Indian players have been known to be best players of spin bowling.

Pretty well known fact that Warne has been terrible against Indian batsman.
Over-simplistic assessment. Warne during the times he was terrible against India (1991/92 and 1997/98-2000/01) was also terrible against all other sides.

Warne bowled reasonably enough against India in 2004/05, the only point in his career when he faced India at a time when he was in the middle of a spell of bowling well. Had he faced India more often when doing so it's likely his record would be merely average rather than terrible.
 

R_D

International Debutant
Over-simplistic assessment. Warne during the times he was terrible against India (1991/92 and 1997/98-2000/01) was also terrible against all other sides.

Warne bowled reasonably enough against India in 2004/05, the only point in his career when he faced India at a time when he was in the middle of a spell of bowling well. Had he faced India more often when doing so it's likely his record would be merely average rather than terrible.
Well I thought I’ll check and see how much truth is in that statement. As it turns out Warne seems to go out of form when he plays India...
Here are results: I won’t even bother with 91-92… as Warne was just starting his career and it wouldn’t have been easy for debutant to bowl against some of the best players of spin.
AS for 1997/98 series.. Warne’s two series before playing India were South Africa and NZ

Trans-Tasman Trophy (New Zealand in Australia), November 1997/98
3 6 170.4 36 476 19 5/88 7/160 25.05 2.78 53.8

South Africa in Australia Test Series, December 1997/98
3 6 187.1 51 417 20 6/34 11/109 20.85 2.22 56.1 2


Yep those sure look like figures of man not bowling well…. Warne's subsequent series were not so good which is expected as he was coming back from a shoulder injury.. so only played one match against England and didn’t fair too well against WI either.
Just before Series 2000-01.. Warne’s figures against NZ


Trans-Tasman Trophy (Australia in New Zealand), March 1999/00
3 6 129.2 33 414 15 4/68 7/160 27.60 3.20 51.7 0

And Here are his figures after the Indian series…
The Ashes (Australia in England), July2001
5 10 195.2 41 580 31 7/165 11/229 18.70 2.96 37.8 3


Again you can see he was bowling pretty well during this time as well. He did have a crap series against NZ after the Ashes but that was more due to NZ playing exceptionally well rather than Warne bowling crap. McMillan and Carins were really good in that series.

As for 2004/05... India played Warne pretty well despite Sachin being injured for half of series and out of touch due to his well known injury and there could be case for Indian team being out of touch.... not playing test cricket for more than 6 months. Warne did ok in that series.
Overall Warne has been pretty terrible against India. Even when he’s been bowling well, his bad series have been against India. I believe its becauseof where he pitches his bowls. Warne worked on a leg stump line and Indian batsman are brilliant off their pads and plus they are good players of spin bowling so that’s why Warne hasn’t had much success against India. Not because he’s been out of form when playing India.
 
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DingDong

State Captain
So what people are saying is that warne wasn't fit, out of form etc etc everytime he played india during his 15 years. don't say silly things ok.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
Well I thought I’ll check and see how much truth is in that statement. As it turns out Warne seems to go out of form when he plays India...
Here are results: I won’t even bother with 91-92… as Warne was just starting his career and it wouldn’t have been easy for debutant to bowl against some of the best players of spin.
AS for 1997/98 series.. Warne’s two series before playing India were South Africa and NZ

Trans-Tasman Trophy (New Zealand in Australia), November 1997/98
3 6 170.4 36 476 19 5/88 7/160 25.05 2.78 53.8

South Africa in Australia Test Series, December 1997/98
3 6 187.1 51 417 20 6/34 11/109 20.85 2.22 56.1 2


Yep those sure look like figures of man not bowling well…..
Richard got the start date of Warne's first injury wrong. Warne did go into the IND 98 fit, he got injured after that series which kept out of cricket for the remainder 98.

The argument for Warne's failures in IND 98 was because he did not have any serious bowling support from the fast bowlers, McGrath, Dizzy nor Fleming toured. Thus he had the impossible task of being both the attacking & defensive bowler - which in IND againts those players of spin he was always going to be up againts, thus he struggled.


Warne's subsequent series were not so good which is expected as he was coming back from a shoulder injury.. so only played one match against England and didn’t fair too well against WI either.
Just before Series 2000-01.. Warne’s figures against NZ


Trans-Tasman Trophy (Australia in New Zealand), March 1999/00
3 6 129.2 33 414 15 4/68 7/160 27.60 3.20 51.7 0

It was actually a year before that series. Warne going into that 2001 series did play test for a year & just 2 FC Games Victoria in that 2000/01 season. He just the home ODI series vs WI & ZIM, which really is no preparation for an IND tour after coming up his second injury.



And Here are his figures after the Indian series…
The Ashes (Australia in England), July2001
5 10 195.2 41 580 31 7/165 11/229 18.70 2.96 37.8 3


Again you can see he was bowling pretty well during this time as well. He did have a crap series against NZ after the Ashes but that was more due to NZ playing exceptionally well rather than Warne bowling crap. McMillan and Carins were really good in that series.
Warne bad period as a bowler which inclued his shoulder injury after IND 98 & finger injury after NZ 2000 - began from SCG 99 to Chennai 01, where he averaged 35

In ENG 2001 was when he & finally gotten out of that injury plagued 2 year period. Which was always likely to happen given that ENG where always poor againts leg-spin, even though ENG went into that Ashes series in very good form.

As for 2004/05... India played Warne pretty well despite Sachin being injured for half of series and out of touch due to his well known injury and there could be case for Indian team being out of touch.... not playing test cricket for more than 6 months. Warne did ok in that series..
Tendy was the only IND batsman who was out of form in 04/05. The rest of the batting where worked out technically by the AUS pace trio. Although it is true IND did play Warne fairly ok - since he was in very good form then.

But thats the general point with Warne if he had a strong bowling attack in 2004 back in 98 & 01 he would have had decent record in IND, since it is a FACT that IND have played Warne better than anyone else.


Overall Warne has been pretty terrible against India. Even when he’s been bowling well, his bad series have been against India. I believe its becauseof where he pitches his bowls. Warne worked on a leg stump line and Indian batsman are brilliant off their pads and plus they are good players of spin bowling so that’s why Warne hasn’t had much success against India. Not because he’s been out of form when playing India.
This was definately a factor - but it is not THE MAIN why his record in IND is poor. It is bad for reasons i have stated above.
 
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Migara

International Coach
The argument for Warne's failures in IND 98 was because he did not have any serious bowling support from the fast bowlers, McGrath, Dizzy nor Fleming toured. Thus he had the impossible task of being both the attacking & defensive bowler - which in IND againts those players of spin he was always going to be up againts, thus he struggled.
Your argument defeats you right there. Murali never had the support bowling in India. Vaas was utter crap on Indian wickets. But he single handedly destroyed Indian batting lineup taking 7/100 or similar sorts in Madras, which Warne never had done. In SL, on less spin friendly wickets Muralis everal times destroyed India, although he had support from Vaas and Mendis
 

bagapath

International Captain
Once Warne had a strong pace attack to back him to work the tactics that made AUS win in 2004, he certainly would troubled all of them.
you guys are talking of that series as though warne won it for australia. he was a support act at best; not befitting a great player of his stature at all. in the two tests that australia won, warne took 2-78, 2-115, 2- 47, 2-56. warne wasnt as effective as he would have wanted to be despite sachin not playing for most of that series. this assessment is not a slur on warne though. no leg spinner in the last 20 odd years could succeed against india anyways. it is okay to fail against that batting line up. well, it is not okay. but that is how it panned out and warne will have to live with that blot in his record. finding excuses for him is what makes him look weak. sobers was a flop against new zealand. warne was terrible against india. they are among the greatest cricketers of all time without an iota of doubt. i dont find these sentences contradictory at all.
 
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bagapath

International Captain
FTR, the great west indies teams of the 80s repeatedly failed against leg spinners - abdul qadir, narendra hirwani and bob holland won matches against them single handedly. this didnt make those teams any worse though. no one had to invent excuses for them. they still were considered the best of the decade despite that hole in their CV.

on the other hand, the indian teams of warne's times always handled leg spinners with total disdain; warne, mcgill, kaneria and mushtaq (and qadir before that) couldn't make any impact on them like murali and saqlain could with their off spinners or simon doull and umar gull could with swing. warne bowled to indian batsmen who were the best in playing leg spin - this didn't make them gods as ikki wanted to know. they were just simply too good for the craft warne practiced. thats all. you dont have to invent excuses for shane. he is still a great player.
 
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aussie

Hall of Fame Member
Your argument defeats you right there. Murali never had the support bowling in India. Vaas was utter crap on Indian wickets. But he single handedly destroyed Indian batting lineup taking 7/100 or similar sorts in Madras, which Warne never had done.
Warne indeed never destroyed IND at home like Murali's Madras performance. But it was only ONE time. Murali also has an average record in IND averaging 39.50, IND have also played him very well in IND has well. Both these two great spinners where overall where poor in IND & at their "best" with bowling support (Warne 04 with McGrath & co & Murali 05 with Vaas) - they where just decent.

Given i did see SRIs tour to IND in 2005, Vaas bowled fairly well, his 1st test performance immediately comes to mind. On the 97 tour based on cricinfo reports i read, those pitches where absolute roads though, so no fault of Vaas



In SL, on less spin friendly wickets Muralis everal times destroyed India, although he had support from Vaas and Mendis
Irrelevant really since Warne at his best never played IND in AUS.

But overall i do agree Murali did give IND more difficulty that Warne.

Its too bad Warne got injured before he played on the most spinner friendly deck in that 04/05 series in Mumbai. Since he would have certainly spun webs around IND & his critics would quiet now.
 

bagapath

International Captain
Its too bad Warne got injured before he played on the most spinner friendly deck in that 04/05 series in Mumbai. Since he would have certainly spun webs around IND & his critics would quiet now.
on the contrary, had warne played in the mumbai dust bowl india would not have folded so badly since clarke would not have got to bowl and indians would have played warne's leg spin much more easily. even if warne had "spun his web" around india he could not have done better than clarke's 6 wkt haul anyway. and even if he had matched that once in a life time performance from clarke, india would still have won that test. i consider it a disgrace that test cricket was played on that gorund. i dont think of that, or india's win against SA last year, as important wins at all. these kind of wickets are just desperate acts by india to save face. true cricket fans should shun these games as mere farce. still this would not shut up warne's critics now or ever. he has failed against india everywhere and that wont change.
 
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aussie

Hall of Fame Member
you guys are talking of that series as though warne won it for australia. he was a support act at best; not befitting a great player of his stature at all. in the two tests that australia won, warne took 2-78, 2-115, 2- 47, 2-56. warne wasnt as effective as he would have wanted to be despite sachin not playing for most of that series.
Warne was not as effective as he wanted because - the pace trio did their job. Since IND have been a force at home PACE is what wins in IND not spin. You seem to forget in the 3 test Warne played in 2004, the only period when the pitch wasn't assisting the pacers in the 1st innings of the Chennai test - Warne took charge taking 6 wickets.

Plus the hardcore fact that Warne got injured before he could have played in the most spinner friendly track in Mumbai, where clearly if he played he would taken alot of wickets.

this assessment is not a slur on warne though. no leg spinner in the last 20 odd years could succeed against india anyways. it is okay to fail against that batting line up. well, it is not okay. but that is how it panned out and warne will have to live with that blot in his record. finding excuses for him is what makes him look weak. sobers was a flop against new zealand. warne was terrible against india. they are among the greatest cricketers of all time without an iota of doubt. i dont find these sentences contradictory at all.
They are not excuses, its hardcore facts of his career - that between ENG 99 to IND 01 that he was in the worst bowling form of his career & suffered two serious injuries - which coincidentally is the same time he played IND alot. Unfortunately over the years some people refuse to accept this.

That example with Sobers record vs NZ also for that great man is just a statistical oddity, nothing more.
 

bagapath

International Captain
Since IND have been a force at home PACE is what wins in IND not spin.
true. that is why i say indians play leg spin exceptionally well and you cant beat them with it. many pace bowlers have bowled out india. saqlain won the chennai test in 99 with a ten wicket haul. so off spin is also effective against them. but no leg spinner - warne included - could beat india. fit, injured, well-supported or not, warne would always have failed - and he did - against the indian teams of his time.

the only period when the pitch wasn't assisting the pacers in the 1st innings of the Chennai test - Warne took charge taking 6 wickets.
6 for 125 is not "taking charge". just bowling out the bulk of overs and getting wickets in the process. i saw this day's cricket live. he bowled beautifully. but no indian batsman was troubled by him. leg spin is like dal, roti for them. they can whack it in their sleep.

That example with Sobers record vs NZ also for that great man is just a statistical oddity, nothing more.
why resort to this excuse? just say you believe sobers had diarrhea every time he played new zealand, just like warne was always injured when he played india in his 15 year test career (or he was too raw, or he was not well supported or others took all the wickets). might as well insult all the greats if you are pulling down one!
 
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Migara

International Coach
Warne indeed never destroyed IND at home like Murali's Madras performance. But it was only ONE time. Murali also has an average record in IND averaging 39.50, IND have also played him very well in IND has well. Both these two great spinners where overall where poor in IND & at their "best" with bowling support (Warne 04 with McGrath & co & Murali 05 with Vaas) - they where just decent.

Given i did see SRIs tour to IND in 2005, Vaas bowled fairly well, his 1st test performance immediately comes to mind. On the 97 tour based on cricinfo reports i read, those pitches where absolute roads though, so no fault of Vaas
Now, Aussie bowlers average 32.64 in India, which is very respectable. Warne averages 43.1 on this basis. His average is 8.5 runs worse than the composite average. But on other hand SL bowlers average 43.96 in India which is dire. But Murali does well even when the support is crap. He averages 39.58 in India, 4 runs better than his support.

The real difference lies there. If Murali had the Aussie fast men bowling for him in india, he would have taken lesser wickets, but at much lesser cost, with a better average.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
on the contrary, had warne played in the mumbai dust bowl india would not have folded so badly since clarke would not have got to bowl and indians would have played warne's leg spin much more easily.
Haaa. That ball was turning all over the place in the test, IND being good againts leg-spin would not have stopped Warne from taking bucketlaods on that raging turner come on. If Warne could have taken 6 wickets on earlier in that series on a flat Chennai deck, Mumbai would have been the perfect fairwell to his tours to IND. Since like Murali in 2005, Warne just need ONE performance in IND where he destroyed them at home & critics could say nothing.

even if warne had "spun his web" around india he would not have done better than clarke's 6 wkt haul anyway.
He didn't have to take 6 wickets exactly like Clarke, he just had to spin webs around them over the course of those two innings. Which one really has to believe he would have given his great ability & how helpul the pitch was.

and even if he had matched that once in a life time performance from clarke, india would still have won that test.
Doesn't matter if IND would have won or not. Just whether hollywood would have finally got his chance to spin webs around IND on a very helpul pitch.

i consider it a disgrace that test cricket was played on that gorund. i dont think of that, or india's win against SA last year, as important wins at all. and these kind of wickets are just desperate acts by india to save face. still this would not shut up warne's critics now or ever. he has failed against india everywhere and that wont change.
Those kind of pitches pop up in the sub-continent all the time. IND spinners usually take of it & along with Murali over in SRI. So no issue if the opposition for once has bowlers to to give them back & bit of their own medicine.
 

Migara

International Coach
true. that is why i say indians play leg spin exceptionally well and you cant beat them with it. many pace bowlers have bowled out india. saqlain won the chennai test in 99 with a ten wicket haul. so off spin is also effective against them. but no leg spinner - warne included - could beat india. fit, injured, well-supported or not, warne would always have failed - and he did - against the indian teams of his time.



6 for 125 is not "taking charge". just bowling out the bulk of overs and getting wickets in the process. i saw this day's cricket live. he bowled beautifully. but no indian batsman was troubled by him. leg spin is like dal, roti for them. they can whack it in their sleep.



why resort to this excuse? just say you believe sobers had diarrhea every time he played new zealand, just like warne was always injured when he played india in his 15 year test career (or he was too raw, or he was not well supported or others took all the wickets). might as well insult all the greats if you are pulling down one!
Only legspin that could beat India would have been Anil Kumble's variety. Fast, flat and straight, and when it hit the dust it misbehaves. Possibly that is teh way to bowl to Indians. Murali when bowling loopy offies over the wicket got hammered. But when he bowled flat, fast off breaks round the wicket, pitching it within stumps later in his career, that's when Indians started to struggle.
 

bagapath

International Captain
Those kind of pitches pop up in the sub-continent all the time. IND spinners usually take of it & along with Murali over in SRI. So no issue if the opposition for once has bowlers to to give them back & bit of their own medicine.
sure. but warne being a leggie would not have been able to. he would have been taken to cleaners by the indian batters anyway. if you talk about "if" s and "but"s my guess is as good as yours. if warne played on a totally spin friendly wicket.... if he were fully fit... if he had supporting bowlers who were superb, but did not take all the wickets.... if the indian batters were suffering from food poisoning.....

just talk about what actually happened. what really happened was hollywood was a colossal flop against bollywood.
 
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Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
why resort to this excuse? just say you believe sobers had diarrhea every time he played new zealand, just like warne was always injured when he played india in his 15 year test career (or he was too raw, or he was not well supported or others took all the wickets). might as well insult all the greats if you are pulling down one!
Please, you're being intellectually dishonest here. IIRC Warne had two career threatening injuries in the period he played all his series against India bar 2 - one at the very start of his career and one at the end. For whatever reason, you can try to play down his injuries - which I am not quite sure how anyone can do - but it is a fact that he played 3 series against India in that period.

92 - Warne in his first 2 tests against India was incredibly raw.
98 - Injured/out of form
99 - Injured/out of form
01 - Injured/out of form
04 - Had a decent series and probably would have finished with the best numbers by a spinner in India for a long time had he played the last test.

The Sobers bit doesn't even relate; AFAIK he was not injured and just didn't do well against NZ for whatever reason; much like Ponting in India. In fact, in that period he was doing worse against NZ and WIndies.

please try to disprove me with facts, not snide remarks.

and you are questioning my honesty, ikki? i am no blind fanboy to ignore obvious facts when analyzing a player's career. your defense of warne's record against india with all sorts of excuses is as pathetic as someone trying to defend sachin's record against SA at home. i am a huge warne fan and he was crap against india because the indian teams of his time could slaughter leg spinners at will.
Maybe you should reflect a bit more. Aussie and I keep bringing facts, you keep calling them excuses. So who is being snide here? You say you don't ignore facts, but you go and do it blatantly. And there you go pandering out "I am a huge Warne fan...but the Indians were gods".
 
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bagapath

International Captain
Please, you're being intellectually dishonest here.
dont say this again ikki. it is very insulting. i have written before clearly that indians were never bothered by any leg spinner for the past two decades and more. and that pace bowlers and off spinners have got the better of them both in india and abroad. warne failed against them because his craft means nothing to them. you never responded to those posts because you could not argue against that logic. now u r coming back to question my integrity????

also by writing about west indies of the 80s failing against leggies i have explained my position clearly that one blot doesnt mean i consider warne any less than i would if he had a perfect record against india. still u question my integrity! this has to stop now.

92 - Warne in his first 2 tests against India was incredibly raw.
98 - Injured/out of form
99 - Injured/out of form
01 - Injured/out of form
04 - Had a decent series and probably would have finished with the best numbers by a spinner in India for a long time had he played the last test.

The Sobers bit doesn't even relate; AFAIK he was not injured and just didn't do well against NZ for whatever reason; much like Ponting in India. In fact, in that period he was doing worse against NZ and WIndies
u cant give excuses for 12 years. to anybody. definitely not for warne. he failed against india. period.
 
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bagapath

International Captain
"I am a huge Warne fan...but the Indians were gods".
when the **** did i call indians gods? you have to answer this question. i cant let you accuse me of things i didnt claim and walk away
 
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Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Now, Aussie bowlers average 32.64 in India, which is very respectable. Warne averages 43.1 on this basis. His average is 8.5 runs worse than the composite average. But on other hand SL bowlers average 43.96 in India which is dire. But Murali does well even when the support is crap. He averages 39.58 in India, 4 runs better than his support.

The real difference lies there. If Murali had the Aussie fast men bowling for him in india, he would have taken lesser wickets, but at much lesser cost, with a better average.
You can't really deduce that with great certainty at all. He may have been hit for less runs, and gotten even less wickets respectively, and that may have even increased his average.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
when the **** did i call indians gods? you have answer this question.
I guess saying "they slaughter spinners at will" and that they could play him "in their sleep" was you being modest about their talents. You call it a big IF to suggest Warne would have bettered his record in the test he missed at Mumbai; even though Clarke and Hauritz took you guys to the cleaners on the same pitch.
 
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