Best performance streaks

[Burgey]

Peter Hore has a good record, though still unproven in the sub-continent.

I was at Tommy Smith's funeral when he disrupted it. Absolutely a mad ****. Terrible for the family.

 

[benchmark00]

I was at Tommy Smith's funeral when he disrupted it. Absolutely a mad ****. Terrible for the family.

How's what he reportedly did at Michael Hutchence's funeral? Such a **** act.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, diabolical really. man is certifiable.

Well, if he isn't he's just a ****.

 

[smash84]

Stunning numbers there by Murali and Barnes. Having said that, as soon as I saw the title of this thread I thought of Waqar. He had quite a streak himself. Mushtaq Ahmed was a bit of a surprise though but was always a very underrated bowler IMO.

Even I had thought of Waqar when I was about to begin reading this article. He had quite a stunning streak at one point in time and his strike rate was mind boggling. Mushtaq and Imran were a bit of a surprise. The only name that did not surprise me there was Murali. the guy was not human, he was a wicket taking machine. The thing that did shock me though is that super streak lasted for 90 tests. Bloody ****ing awesome.

Imran Khan is generally very close to the top too, which is quite incredible for someone who was also a more than a handy bat. More I see these ratings more Imran grows in my estimation.

In the bowling peak he is at number 3 of all time. That is something (only behind Barnes and Lohmann). I agree with you too Ankit that the more I see these types of ratings the more Imran grows in my estimation too. Add to that his persona on and off the field, his exceptional leadership qualities being one of the greatest cricket captains of all time, his commanding presence, his aristocratic good looks, and his never say die spirit and I, for one, would put him right up there as one of the greatest sports personalities of all time. Has a very good case for being the 3rd greatest cricketer ever after Bradman and Gary Sobers.

 

[marc71178]

Such a great, great cricketer.

But actually quite a way behind Sobers when using those peaks as a guide.

 

[smash84]

But actually quite a way behind Sobers when using those peaks as a guide.

Obviously there is no comparison in their batting.

 

[marc71178]

I was actually comparing their weaker suits (ie Imran's batting and Sobers' bowling) - that's without considering combining the 2.

For ultimate peaks I'd consider Sobers in the 1960's to be up there - bar a couple of brief drops to 11 he was inside the world's top 10 bowlers for about 6 or 7 years (whilst being almost solely the world number 1 batsman - did dip a couple of times to number 2)

February 1964 was probably the tip of the iceberg - number 1 with the bat and number 4 with the ball.

 

[ankitj]

I was actually comparing their weaker suits (ie Imran's batting and Sobers' bowling) - that's without considering combining the 2.

For ultimate peaks I'd consider Sobers in the 1960's to be up there - bar a couple of brief drops to 11 he was inside the world's top 10 bowlers for about 6 or 7 years (whilst being almost solely the world number 1 batsman - did dip a couple of times to number 2)

February 1964 was probably the tip of the iceberg - number 1 with the bat and number 4 with the ball.

Worth mentioning that Ian Botham had a highest batting rank of 3 and bowling rank of 1. Don't know if that happened simultaneously.

In terms of rating points, he is the only one to have crossed 800 points both as a batsman and a bowler. If not for his rapid decline, he would have easily challenged Sobers for the title of greatest all-rounder of all time.

 

[smash84]

Worth mentioning that Ian Botham had a highest batting rank of 3 and bowling rank of 1. Don't know if that happened simultaneously.

In terms of rating points, he is the only one to have crossed 800 points both as a batsman and a bowler. If not for his rapid decline, he would have easily challenged Sobers for the title of greatest all-rounder of all time.

So true. Botham just so totally fell away in the later stages of his career otherwise he would have probably been the best all rounder ever. Not even Sobers would have come close what Botham was at his peak.

 

[smash84]

I was actually comparing their weaker suits (ie Imran's batting and Sobers' bowling) - that's without considering combining the 2.

For ultimate peaks I'd consider Sobers in the 1960's to be up there - bar a couple of brief drops to 11 he was inside the world's top 10 bowlers for about 6 or 7 years (whilst being almost solely the world number 1 batsman - did dip a couple of times to number 2)

February 1964 was probably the tip of the iceberg - number 1 with the bat and number 4 with the ball.

Sober's greatness probably lies in his verstility as a bowler. As Bradman put it he was a 5 in 1 cricketer.

 

[Burgey]

So true. Botham just so totally fell away in the later stages of his career otherwise he would have probably been the best all rounder ever. Not even Sobers would have come close what Botham was at his peak.

Always thought Beefy was destructive but not quite top shelf as a batsman. He played some devastating knocks though. And he remains the tinniest bowler I have ever seen.

Good attitude too.. Knockabout bloke.. Too good for a Pom. Should have been Australian.

 

[Howe_zat]

Always thought Beefy was destructive but not quite top shelf as a batsman. He played some devastating knocks though. And he remains the tinniest bowler I have ever seen.

Good attitude too.. Knockabout bloke.. Too good for a Pom. Should have been Australian.

Yeah, even in his peak years Beefy was inconsistent with the bat. He was one of the best bowlers in the world though, so not really fair to compare him to Sobers. If he kept up the standard of his first 5 years he'd easily be a match for Imran, Miller and the others.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, even in his peak years Beefy was inconsistent with the bat. He was one of the best bowlers in the world though, so not really fair to compare him to Sobers. If he kept up the standard of his first 5 years he'd easily be a match for Imran, Miller and the others.

Yeah think that's right. My calling him tinny wasn't meant as a criticism btw. He just had this ridiculous knack of taking wickets, often from nothing balls too.

 

[ankitj]

Coming back to Murali's 90 match run, it falls neatly in 11 calendar years from start of 1998 to end of 2008. Even after removing Bangaladesh and Zimbabwe, he still took an amazing 475 wickets at @ 21.86 from 70 tests i.e. about 6.8 wickets per test.

And I also did the value of wicket analysis for the same period and it turns out, in those 11 years he was taking wickets with an average value of 28.70 at a cost of 19.94 a piece. This gives him a discount rate of 69.5%, putting him in the same zone where Ambrose and McGrath belonged over their whole careers. Stunning for a spinner! (Removing B/Z is not necessary in such a normalization. But if you do, that figure only changes to 69.9%)

 

[smash84]

Yeah, even in his peak years Beefy was inconsistent with the bat. He was one of the best bowlers in the world though, so not really fair to compare him to Sobers. If he kept up the standard of his first 5 years he'd easily be a match for Imran, Miller and the others.

If he had kept up the standard of those first 5 years he would have been more than a match for imran.

 

[Dissector]

Yeah Murali was utterly amazing for around a 9 year period from 98 to 2006 capturing wickets per match at a rate unmatched by anyone since Barnes who had a much shorter test career. Murali is the greatest bowler in the history of the game IMO.

 

[smash84]

Yeah Murali was utterly amazing for around a 9 year period from 98 to 2006 capturing wickets per match at a rate unmatched by anyone since Barnes who had a much shorter test career. Murali is the greatest bowler in the history of the game IMO.

Murali is right up there with the best of the best.

 

[Cricketismylife]

Only players I think who could compete with Murali are Mcgrath and Ambrose. Both have slightly better averages and better quality of wickets average. However, it could be offset by Murali's number of wickets and the fact that he had to bowl at all times, even if he was bowling badly or conditions didn't suit. It's close.

Would be interesting to see what all the objective computer modelling of their achievements show.

I have excluded Lohmann and Barnes as I feel not enough wickets...although I could understand if someone made a case for them.

 

[Dissector]

Evaluating Murali inevitably gets into the debate of whether it's tougher to bowl in an average team compared to a strong team. Without rehashing those arguments I firmly belong to the camp that says it's tougher to bowl without top-class support at the other end. So I think Murali is even more impressive than his stats as is Richard Hadlee, who is IMO the best fast bowler of the last 50 years.

 

[The Sean]

Yeah, even in his peak years Beefy was inconsistent with the bat. He was one of the best bowlers in the world though, so not really fair to compare him to Sobers. If he kept up the standard of his first 5 years he'd easily be a match for Imran, Miller and the others.

I reckon he's a match for them regardless TBH. Personally I think you can pretty much throw a blanket over Imran, Miller and Botham.