CW'S 50 Best ODI Cricketers of all time (voting now open)

[bagapath]

Hard to see him do too badly in this format if he had a run in it tbh.

equally great choices as sobers would be keith miller, jack gregory, waltair hammond, clem hill and vic trumper (SR of 69). unfortunately we never did see them play in this format. better to stick to what we really know.

 

[Hurricane]

Like who? ODI cricket evolved in the 1990's and players started adapting from then on. People playing the ODI's in the 70's and 80's were just so averse of it and did not really adapt to the game.. If any I would only select players from the 90's. Apart from Kapil Dev, Joel Garner, Allan Border, Dean Jones not many are worth their salt and these 4 have played atleast 100 games.

It does not make sense to select players with less than 100 games. At least 75 should be a criteria. If i had to nominate i would not select people who have not played 100 games.

AB and some of these players were good for their time but his SR of 70 is pretty average now. We therefore might not include even him by todays standards. Reckon the 1980s players should be judged against their own era. I dont think it was a case of 1980s players being averse to the game. I just don't think they had figured it out. Back then Aussie used to experiment with Craig Mcdermott opening the batting to get them of to a flyer only to find out that he would be overwhlemed by the situation and would get out for a duck. So people did try things. NZ used to experiement with Crowe opening the batting as well.

 

[weldone]

Apart from Kapil Dev, Joel Garner, Allan Border, Dean Jones not many are worth their salt and these 4 have played atleast 100 games.

Yeah, certainly Hashim Amla knows more about ODI batting than Viv Richards.

Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell would **** in their pants if they saw the greats Tillekaratne Dilshan, Abdul Razzaq, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum's real ODI batsmanship.

And, Richard Hadlee should take a lesson or two about ODI bowling from Ajit Agarkar.

Desmond Haynes didn't know about opening the batting in ODIs, and should start shadow practising after watching Marcus Trescothick's footages.

 

[gvenkat]

Yeah, certainly Hashim Amla knows more about ODI batting than Viv Richards.

Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell would **** in their pants if they saw the greats Tillekaratne Dilshan, Abdul Razzaq, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum's real ODI batsmanship.

And, Richard Hadlee should take a lesson or two about ODI bowling from Ajit Agarkar.

Desmond Haynes didn't know about opening the batting in ODIs, and should start shadow practising after watching Marcus Trescothick's footages.

Oh please.. you want to list every name from the 80's and compare.. Spare me that.. If you want please do that and I can name an equal if not better player than them..

 

[weldone]

Oh please.. you want to list every name from the 80's and compare.. Spare me that..

Compare? No way. I give it all to players from 1990 onwards.

Why only 1990? Make it 2000 I say. They didn't make 300+ in 1990s all the time.

And only those batsmen with SR of over 90 and an excellent T20 record should be eligible.

 

[gvenkat]

Compare? No way. I give it all to players from 1990 onwards.

Why only 1990? Make it 2000 I say. They didn't make 300+ in 1990s all the time.

And only those batsmen with SR of over 90 and an excellent T20 record should be eligible.

What makes you think that the 80's players were superior and 90's and 2000 players are inferior?. The problem with cricket fans like you is they anoint/think some one as great and then have parameters for greateness around them.

How do you think Sanath Jayasuriya is any less than than Say Greg Chappell or Zaheer Abbas... Carry on smartly now..

 

[weldone]

What makes you think that the 80's players were superior and 90's and 2000 players are inferior?. The problem with cricket fans like you is they anoint/think some one as great and then have parameters for greateness around them.

How do you think Sanath Jayasuriya is any less than than Say Greg Chappell or Zaheer Abbas... Carry on smartly now..

Nothing makes me think that 80's players were superior and 90s and 00s players are inferior....simply because I don't think so.

Unlike you, I think that the only way to fathom a player's greatness is to compare him with his contemporaries.

Can write a page or two about that, but won't bother.

 

[Prince EWS]

Nothing makes me think that 80's players were superior and 90s and 00s players are inferior....simply because I don't think so.

Unlike you, I think that the only way to fathom a player's greatness is to compare him with his contemporaries.

Can write a page or two about that, but won't bother.

Haha AWTA. I just didn't bother replying to him at all. The idea that one era is inherently stronger than another grinds my gears like nothing else so I don't bother trying to refute it; I just ignore it to protect my blood pressure.

 

[gvenkat]

I just didn't bother replying to him at all. The idea that one era is inherently stronger than another grinds my gears like nothing else so I don't bother trying to refute

Look yourself in the mirror.. You cannot agree that modern day ODI players had to go through a lot than their predecessors and hence it grinds your gears..

 

[gvenkat]

Unlike you, I think that the only way to fathom a player's greatness is to compare him with his contemporaries.

You say this and you contradict yourself in your previous post

Yeah, certainly Hashim Amla knows more about ODI batting than Viv Richards.

Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell would **** in their pants if they saw the greats Tillekaratne Dilshan, Abdul Razzaq, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum's real ODI batsmanship.

And, Richard Hadlee should take a lesson or two about ODI bowling from Ajit Agarkar.

Desmond Haynes didn't know about opening the batting in ODIs, and should start shadow practising after watching Marcus Trescothick's footages.

 

[Flyonthewall]

Yeah, certainly Hashim Amla knows more about ODI batting than Viv Richards.

Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell would **** in their pants if they saw the greats Tillekaratne Dilshan, Abdul Razzaq, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum's real ODI batsmanship.

And, Richard Hadlee should take a lesson or two about ODI bowling from Ajit Agarkar.

Desmond Haynes didn't know about opening the batting in ODIs, and should start shadow practising after watching Marcus Trescothick's footages.

Majorly AWTA. There's still a fair claim for Richards being the greatest ODI batsman and Garner the greatest ODI bowler, which along with many other greats of the format like Zaheer Abbas, Dean Jones, etc. makes the idea that we should write off 80s ODI cricket because of the differences in how it's played to the game 20 years on pretty stupid, really.

Sanath Jayasuriya may just be of greater value to the team than Zaheer Abbas if you factor in his left-arm orthodox, but his batting in the format certainly isn't as good (Zaheer has a much higher average at a roughly equivalent strike-rate - equivalent because the run-rate at the time Zaheer Abbas played was much slower generally) and Chappell also has the value of a very good record with his medium-pace, which IMO would tilt the balance in favour of Greg. I reckon Jayasuriya's overall performances as a one-day batsman get overstated a fair bit because of the whole pinch-hitting/fielding restrictions thingy, he was exceptionally hit-or-miss, which couldn't be applied to someone like Abbas. The only real reason I can see for favouring Jayasuriya in fact, is the weight of games he's played, but it's hardly Chappell/Abbas's fault that they played in an era when much less one-day cricket was played.

 

[smash84]

Yeah, certainly Hashim Amla knows more about ODI batting than Viv Richards.

Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell would **** in their pants if they saw the greats Tillekaratne Dilshan, Abdul Razzaq, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum's real ODI batsmanship.

And, Richard Hadlee should take a lesson or two about ODI bowling from Ajit Agarkar.

Desmond Haynes didn't know about opening the batting in ODIs, and should start shadow practising after watching Marcus Trescothick's footages.

well said weldone.

And your post reminds me of the fact that two of the best ODI bowlers ever i,e. Wasim and Waqar learned to bowl reverse swing and the yorker from Imran (another player of the 80s). The 80s produced some of the greatest cricketers ever.

 

[smash84]

Majorly AWTA. There's still a fair claim for Richards being the greatest ODI batsman and Garner the greatest ODI bowler, which along with many other greats of the format like Zaheer Abbas, Dean Jones, etc. makes the idea that we should write off 80s ODI cricket because of the differences in how it's played to the game 20 years on pretty stupid, really.

Sanath Jayasuriya may just be of greater value to the team than Zaheer Abbas if you factor in his left-arm orthodox, but his batting in the format certainly isn't as good (Zaheer has a much higher average at a roughly equivalent strike-rate - equivalent because the run-rate at the time Zaheer Abbas played was much slower generally) and Chappell also has the value of a very good record with his medium-pace, which IMO would tilt the balance in favour of Greg. I reckon Jayasuriya's overall performances as a one-day batsman get overstated a fair bit because of the whole pinch-hitting/fielding restrictions thingy, he was exceptionally hit-or-miss, which couldn't be applied to someone like Abbas. The only real reason I can see for favouring Jayasuriya in fact, is the weight of games he's played, but it's hardly Chappell/Abbas's fault that they played in an era when much less one-day cricket was played.

Good point

 

[vcs]

While I don't agree with the idea of imposing a cutoff on the number of matches, it is hard to see how it is possible to make any kind of meaningful comparison between Zaheer Abbas and Tendulkar. I mean, Abbas played 62 games in his career.. Tendulkar took around 80 matches just to score his first hundred in the format. But then, I guess these kinds of comparisons are futile in any case.

 

[gvenkat]

I reckon Jayasuriya's overall performances as a one-day batsman get overstated a fair bit because of the whole pinch-hitting/fielding restrictions thingy, he was exceptionally hit-or-miss, which couldn't be applied to someone like Abbas. The only real reason I can see for favouring Jayasuriya in fact, is the weight of games he's played, but it's hardly Chappell/Abbas's fault that they played in an era when much less one-day cricket was played.

Classic.. I meant sarcastically...

He has won a WC, Changed the way the top order batters should bat.. Literally created terror to the bowlers, played for 21 years almost and you call him hit or miss..

 

[Flyonthewall]

Classic.. I meant sarcastically...

He has won a WC, Changed the way the top order batters should bat.. Literally created terror to the bowlers, played for 21 years almost and you call him hit or miss..

Did Jayasuriya win the World Cup on his own then? IMO, De Silva was the most important player to winning the tournament in '96, especially with his hundred and three-for in the final. Even then, if winning a World Cup is what counts here, then the argument for not including Viv Richards (and only a ludicrously dogmatic person or someone lacking in cricketing knowledge would make an argument against his inclusion in this list in the first place) shrinks even further considering his unbeaten 138 in '79 final and also his game-changing fielding in '75 final, along with what a large majority of people consider to still be the greatest of all ODI innings, the 189* against England in 1984 (not a final but still bloody remarkable nonetheless). Also Clive Lloyd considering his ton in '75 (at a strike-rate of 120, no less) along with many other fine innings.

By the way, Jayasuriya never literally created terror to anybody, he's a Buddhist, I'm led to believe they're very peace-loving people.

 

[Teja.]

FOTW should post more imo.

 

[gvenkat]

Did Jayasuriya win the World Cup on his own then? IMO, De Silva was the most important player to winning the tournament in '96, especially with his hundred and three-for in the final. Even then, if winning a World Cup is what counts here, then the argument for not including Viv Richards (and only a ludicrously dogmatic person or someone lacking in cricketing knowledge would make an argument against his inclusion in this list in the first place) shrinks even further considering his unbeaten 138 in '79 final and also his game-changing fielding in '75 final, along with what a large majority of people consider to still be the greatest of all ODI innings, the 189* against England in 1984 (not a final but still bloody remarkable nonetheless). Also Clive Lloyd considering his ton in '75 (at a strike-rate of 120, no less) along with many other fine innings.

By the way, Jayasuriya never literally created terror to anybody, he's a Buddhist, I'm led to believe they're very peace-loving people.

That Buddhist reference was funny.. But ask Venky Prasad and Kuruvilla.. They were terrorised..

 

[smash84]

That Buddhist reference was funny.. But ask Venky Prasad and Kuruvilla.. They were terrorised..

Terror he sure did create

 

[gvenkat]

Terror he sure did create

Yep. Ask Aamir Sohail, Ata-Ur-Rehman and Aqib. Even Waqar was not spared at one point.