The CW50 - No.6

[G.I.Joe]

Thanks, guys.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

A worthy number six. It's not just the runs and the hundreds, but what he means to the game and India. To go out there with so much pressure on you to perform every single game and be able to continually cope with it as he does, without losing it off the field, is quite extraordinary.

 

[silentstriker]

I would certainly rate Hobbs as the #2 batsman of all time.

 

[Burgey]

A worthy number six. It's not just the runs and the hundreds, but what he means to the game and India. To go out there with so much pressure on you to perform every single game and be able to continually cope with it as he does, without losing it off the field, is quite extraordinary.

Yep, his off-field demeanour is fantastic.

The Tiger Woods of cricket.

 

[Burgey]

I would have him in top 5.
Still can't fathom why Warne would be in top 5.

More pro-Australian bias I imagine.

 

[Matt79]

This. For the complaints that his inclusion is based on FC, i'd point out that Jack averaged 58 in Tests in the period of uncovered wickets. These weren't the flat tracks of the 30s, Hobbs was considered the greatest player on wet or drying pitches of his day. And he played from the time Grace finished til the time Bradman started - a career chronologically as long as Sachin - despite being robbed of 4 years at his peak by WWI.

Well done to Sachin too btw. Awesome player, and one of the most important to the game in it's history. A worthy successor to Bradman.

 

[NUFAN]

Im a little torn on this one (and in a similar vein with Warne) though I have no issue with where he has been placed.

Can a player that isnt head and shoulders above his peers (Lara, Waugh, Ponting, Kallis etc) be included in the top 10 of alltime? On one hand I think not

On the other hand the sheer weight of runs in both Test and OD cricket, the longevity and the ability to excite the masses counts for a lot. It has been an amazing career

It is one of those situations where I didnt have him this high but I can easily understand why others would and understand why he deserves this high position.

Yeah, same actually. I voted Sachin Tendulkar very highly on the basis of like you said sheer weight of runs. But shouldn't a Cricketer ranked 6th of all time, at least make a team of this decade? In Bagapath's Team of the 00s, there is no Sachin..

 

[silentstriker]

He'd make the 90s team I'm sure though. And he was in many all time XIs, including Bradman, Benaud, etc before the year 2000, so obviously they thought he had done enough by then.

 

[Jono]

Yeah, same actually. I voted Sachin Tendulkar very highly on the basis of like you said sheer weight of runs. But shouldn't a Cricketer ranked 6th of all time, at least make a team of this decade? In Bagapath's Team of the 00s, there is no Sachin..

Not necessarily when the player has been playing for 20 years!

 

[NUFAN]

Yeah I know he had a brilliant 90s and it's not as though he's had a bad decade, it's just I doubt anyone else ranked up high would struggle to make a best World XI for the last half of their career.

 

[Jono]

Sure, but I don't really see that being a criteria.

And again, why does 'half' matter?

In the last 3 years Sachin makes a World XI. So his new 'half' of a long career could mean anything.

 

[NUFAN]

Yeah I see your point, but you would still think over a period of 10 years a Cricketer ranked in the top 6 of all time would make a decade team that they played in the whole time in.

For the record I selected Tendulkar at number 6 anyways

 

[NUFAN]

Yeah I see your point, but you would still think over a period of 10 years a Cricketer ranked in the top 6 of all time would make a decade team that they played in the whole time in.

For the record I selected Tendulkar at number 6 anyways

 

[silentstriker]

Yeah I see your point, but you would still think over a period of 10 years a Cricketer ranked in the top 6 of all time would make a decade team that they played in the whole time in.

For the record I selected Tendulkar at number 6 anyways

That's interesting, actually. That might be worth looking into, just for fun for the rest of the list.

 

[pasag]

Had him at 17 but happy to see him at 6 with how freakishly good he's been in ODIs.

 

[NUFAN]

That's interesting, actually. That might be worth looking into, just for fun for the rest of the list.

It's a little different to Warne vs Muralitharan because Murali has made the top 15 of all time too.

Dravid beat out Tendulkar in the decade team, but he's not even rated in the top 50!

 

[bagapath]

88 and counting

And I think it's 197 not 199.

nope. the two hundreds he scored in india for vizzy's team are now officially first class centuries. so 199 it is.

sachin at 6 means we consider him to be the the best middle order bat since bradman. of course i am assuming sobers' higher ranking also has got something to do with his 235 wickets. wonder how sir gary would be rated had he been a batsman alone.

i personally feel hammond (forget the the 85 wickets and 110 catches) and richards (leave the 120 catches) should be ranked above sachin purely as batsmen alone. and lara should not be more than two places behind tendulkar. and sobers should still be above all of them behind only bradman. but sachin is definitely worthy of a top 10 position. all indians, and cricket fans world over, owe a lot to him.

 

[Athlai]

Good spot, never has a player had the pressure of so many fans upon him.

 

[Hurricane]

When Sachin was 16 and touring new zealand - we went to a function with the Indian Cricket team. We couldn't get close to Sachin because he was surrounded by well wishers and women with babies asking for photos. We had to make do with talking to Kapil Dev instead. We got in a long line up and spoke to Kapil when it was our turn for 30 seconds. We told him about a new delivery we had been working on in the nets and showed it to him with a ball that we had brought with us and he interrupted the story and said "no boys always hold the ball along the seam".

 

[bagapath]

When Sachin was 16 and touring new zealand - we went to a function with the Indian Cricket team. We couldn't get close to Sachin because he was surrounded by well wishers and women with babies asking for photos. We had to make do with talking to Kapil Dev instead. We got in a long line up and spoke to Kapil when it was our turn for 30 seconds. We told him about a new delivery we had been working on in the nets and showed it to him with a ball that we had brought with us and he interrupted the story and said "no boys always hold the ball along the seam".

i can still show you hundreds of thousands of indians who would love to see kapil dev in person and many many more who would love to have those 30 seconds with him....