CW's 50 Best ODI Cricketers of all time - The Countdown

[jaideep]

A tad disappointed to see the best batsman not make the top ten even.

Yeah.Lara was the best ODI batsman from 93-98.I was hoping he would be atleast 11th.

 

[Francis]

I'll give you that, Murali did better against India. I remember Warne's tour to India in 1998... it wasn't pretty. Tendulkar's ODI batting in that series was amazing, maybe the best batting peak I've ever seen.

Murali's stats against Australia are a gaping hole, I'd suggest. But then again, Warne never had to play against Australia.

 

[Francis]

You know, Dennis Lillee won't make this top 50. But talking about him in another thread got me thinking, should he have been? His ODI stats would please people here. I couldn't put him in my top 20 because he didn't play many ODI's. But in the ODI's he played, he was very successful. Average of 20 or something.

 

[Maximus0723]

Top 5 will be Viv, Sachin, Wasim, McG, Gilly

 

[Francis]

It will be interesting to see if McGrath gets ahead of Wasim.

 

[bagapath]

I'll give you that, Murali did better against India. I remember Warne's tour to India in 1998... it wasn't pretty. Tendulkar's ODI batting in that series was amazing, maybe the best batting peak I've ever seen.

Murali's stats against Australia are a gaping hole, I'd suggest. But then again, Warne never had to play against Australia.

no way dude. averaging 31 against australia is probably bad for murali's standards. but it is not something he would be embarrassed about. it is still better than warne's record against england, who are much poorer players of spin than the aussies.

 

[Maximus0723]

It will be interesting to see if McGrath gets ahead of Wasim.

As a pure bowler, nothing else, in ODI McG>Wasim.

 

[bagapath]

I am quite happy with the list so far. of the 20 cricketers revealed, I had 17 on my list. and I am sure I have the last five also on mine. if that happens that would make my SR 22/25.

players i did not have in the top 25 but who have made the list are: zaheer abbas, imran khan and curtley ambrose. Instead of them, I had miandad (who came in at 26), allan donald and aravinda de silva.

my top 5 was actually

1 * * * Gilchrist, Adam
2 * * * Richards, Viv
3 * * * Tendulkar, Sachin
4 * * * Akram, Wasim
5 * * * Jayasuriya, Sanath

I had mcgrath at 11.

we are very likely to end up with

richards
tendulkar
akram
gilchrist
mcgrath

 

[Lostman]

It will be interesting to see if McGrath gets ahead of Wasim.

Hope he does.

 

[Redbacks]

It's always been an Australian strategy to see murali off, take it easy and attempt to make him take 0/40 and then attack the other bowlers. Has always worked well, had he played with McGrath and dizzy then it would have made such a tactic less viable.

 

[Francis]

YouTube - Wasim Akram World Cup 1992 Wickets

I'm sorry but wow I just had to post this. What a cricketer Wasim was. That delivery to Lamb remains one of the most unplayable deliveries I've ever seen. There was another one where Waqar yorked Brian Lara which I loved too.

That kind of swing and death bowling is something you guys will never see again in an ODI. Few players could swing the ball like Wasim Akram.

Honestly, while I wouldn't rate him the best Test bowler I've ever seen (in fact I might give McGrath the edge in Tests), he's definitely the most entertaining fast bowler I've ever seen. Guys like Pollock and McGrath was about line and length and patience and getting nicks... with Wasim all he needed was a ball and the stumps. He could swing the ball both ways, generate 140k off a 12 yard run-up, had a tough action to pick. In fact many players said he felt faster than he was because it was hard to pick when his arm would swing around, unlike say Lee.

It's sad when you see the likes of Warne and Wasim retire. Other bowlers might come along who have similar success (even that's unlikely), but I honestly don't think I'll ever see a more entertaining bowler than Wasim Akram.

Respect this man people. ODI perfection to Francis.

 

[Francis]

It's always been an Australian strategy to see murali off, take it easy and attempt to make him take 0/40 and then attack the other bowlers. Has always worked well, had he played with McGrath and dizzy then it would have made such a tactic less viable.

Didn't Murali take 1-90odd against Australia once? I remember at the time those were the worst ODI figures for any bowler ever, before a man named Mick Lewis came along. It was entertaining to see how relieved many of the Sri Lankans were here when Murali had that record taken off him.

I've seen rare occasions when Aussies just saw him off, because in those games they had the game under control. But given their success against him in ODI's, is that a good or bad thing for Murali.

Many teams did see Murali off. I've seen it happen a lot. It's tough to say how this impacted his stats. His economy rate would be higher. But he might have taken more wickets as well!

 

[Redbacks]

Didn't Murali take 1-90odd against Australia once? I remember at the time those were the worst ODI figures for any bowler ever, before a man named Mick Lewis came along. It was entertaining to see how relieved many of the Sri Lankans were here when Murali had that record taken off him.

I've seen rare occasions when Aussies just saw him off, because in those games they had the game under control. But given their success against him in ODI's, is that a good or bad thing for Murali.

Many teams did see Murali off. I've seen it happen a lot. It's tough to say how this impacted his stats. His economy rate would be higher. But he might have taken more wickets as well!

Yeah, we did play him well. In his captains diaries punter mentioned their tactics against him, if we were 1/120 then things would change a little. Suppose it could be considered a weakness that he couldn't force the mistake often enough

I guess the fact that he wasn't supported as well as warne means players didn't have to come at him as much which affected his potency against the top teams.

 

[Francis]

I remember a few years ago during the VB series, Australia played Sri Lanka in the three-game final. Sri Lanka won the first game in a shock win!

In the second game Australia lost three early wickets and were 3 for about 10. Charminda Vass was the destroyer. From there Australia went on to make 350+ in an amazing comeback.

Murali was ineffective, even when Australia were three down and under pressure. In defence of Murali that was an awesome Aussie ODI side, and a reminder to me how awesome they were at winning.

It's no great knock against Murali that he never really hurt Australia that much. I regard Sachin Tendulkar the best batsman I've ever seen and one of the five best cricketers ever. But for years he was terrible against South Africa in South Africa. He's improved in that area since then, but it doesn't erase the fact that he did poorly against them regularly for years.

Magic Johnson wasn't a pure shooter in basketball, who cares? Few great players have perfect careers. Glen McGrath has the most perfect record against most countries of any bowler I've seen. But I wouldn't rate him in the 5 best bowlers ever. In fact I'd rate Murali a better Test bowler than him.

For all the talk about Australia having more talent in those days, they were also mentally tougher and could handle pressure better than they do these days. Australia won the final series 2-1.

 

[Himannv]

Thats the second time today that VB series has been mentioned with regards to Murali. Its the one where he got hit for 90 odd of his 10. One of the few rare bad games that he had. The first final was quite memorable as well. Dilshan won the game on his fielding alone. 4 runouts and a few catches as well.

And yes, the Aussies were in unbelieveable form back then. Their performances in the last two finals were extraordinary. Symonds, Ponting, Gilchrist and Katich all scoring hundreds in those last two games.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Apologies for the somewhat poor bio on the played who finished in 9th.

That is a very important indicator of why Pollock isn't as great an ODI cricketer as his stats would have one believe, IMO. If one can't quickly think up a few superlatives or highlights for a players career, it has more to do with him than the writer.

 

[smash84]

12 of mine in top 25 so far. Expect another 9. Rest 4 were between 26-50.

Mine too

Why Tendulkar and Akram.

1. Sachin Tendulkar
The number of ODI centuries he's scored were phenomenal. His performances in the 2003 World Cup went for granted since Australia won every game they played, but he was Man of the Tournament by far. But the best you'll ever see Tendulkar was in 1998, when he was the best player in the world. Imagine Warne's single-handed heroics in the 2005 Ashes, Tendulkar did the equivelant in ODI's where he single-handedly got India over 300 in a few games, against a very good Aussie side. No doubt in my mind, he's the best.

I'm not a man who likes stats, but no player has Sachin's stats, and I'll make an exception here.

2. Wasim Akram
Watch his first two wickets in the 1992 World Cup final. They were unplayable. To me they were the fast bowling equivalent of the Gatting Ball. Wasim Akram was the best death bowler I've ever seen. It wasn't uncommon for him to keep sides to less than 40 runs off the last 10 overs if you had Akram bowling half the time. Something about his quick arm action made his deliveries hard to pick.

Stephen Fleming has said it, he's the best fast bowler he ever faced. He got 500 wickets so fast. And while Murali overtook him, Akram is just a level above Murali in ODI's. Mark Taylor once said you need four overs to get used to Akram, but in ODI's it's no use. After four overs he's gone. And then he'll come back with amazing swing.

To me he has everything some players who will make the top 10 don't have...

Some players didn't perform on the big stage. Akram made hugely important runs in the 1992 World Cup final, and then backed it up with two amazing deliveries. Poor Alan Lamb! Imran was the leader of that side, but Akram was the star of that game.

Akram was the first ODI player to take 500 wickets, so he had the longevity. But he did it faster than anybody I've seen. He did it against everybody. Australians feared him.

The best left-arm bowler in cricket history. The best death bowler in history. Maybe the best swing bowler in history. He ticks every box.

One of the best tributes ever paid on CW I think (but I am new around here ..)

There are 5 players better than Bevan? I find that hard to believe.

Me too

Garner was from an earlier time though, so his achievements are less likely to be remembered by most posters.

Bevan was definitely better than Punter, tbh, and played sooo many awesome innings to win impossible games. Still Ponting was very good however.

I rated Bevan as the best ODI batsman ever in my list. I put him above the likes of Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar.

393 wickets @ 24 at 3.6 ER

3519 runs @ 26 at 86 SR

Needs a temple.

Puts all those specialist ATG bowler hacks in shame tbh.

.......Teja you do have a way with words.....

YouTube - Wasim Akram World Cup 1992 Wickets

I'm sorry but wow I just had to post this. What a cricketer Wasim was. That delivery to Lamb remains one of the most unplayable deliveries I've ever seen. There was another one where Waqar yorked Brian Lara which I loved too.

That kind of swing and death bowling is something you guys will never see again in an ODI. Few players could swing the ball like Wasim Akram.

Honestly, while I wouldn't rate him the best Test bowler I've ever seen (in fact I might give McGrath the edge in Tests), he's definitely the most entertaining fast bowler I've ever seen. Guys like Pollock and McGrath was about line and length and patience and getting nicks... with Wasim all he needed was a ball and the stumps. He could swing the ball both ways, generate 140k off a 12 yard run-up, had a tough action to pick. In fact many players said he felt faster than he was because it was hard to pick when his arm would swing around, unlike say Lee.

It's sad when you see the likes of Warne and Wasim retire. Other bowlers might come along who have similar success (even that's unlikely), but I honestly don't think I'll ever see a more entertaining bowler than Wasim Akram.

Respect this man people. ODI perfection to Francis.

That Allan Lamb delivery is just unplayable. Left arm around the wicket. And I would agree. IMO there has never been a better death bowler in ODIs than Akram.

 

[vcs]

Top 10 are virtually indistinguishable for me.. you could order them virtually any way you like.

I am one of the (probably rare) people who would rate Ponting above Bevan. Agree with Burgey that the guy who scores the winning runs and bails his team out from impossible situations tends to stick in the mind. A guy like Bevan is an incredibly valuable asset to a team (and turns a very good team to an unbeatable one), but I would say Australia's top order (which revolved around Ponting after M. Waugh's retirement) would get the job done atleast 7/8 times out of 10. And I would rate the guys who tend to set things up with that kind of regularity a bit higher. Not saying Bevan isn't a top 10er, mind you.

 

[JBH001]

Didn't Murali take 1-90odd against Australia once? I remember at the time those were the worst ODI figures for any bowler ever, before a man named Mick Lewis came along. It was entertaining to see how relieved many of the Sri Lankans were here when Murali had that record taken off him.

I've seen rare occasions when Aussies just saw him off, because in those games they had the game under control. But given their success against him in ODI's, is that a good or bad thing for Murali.

Many teams did see Murali off. I've seen it happen a lot. It's tough to say how this impacted his stats. His economy rate would be higher. But he might have taken more wickets as well!

Yeah, I remember that game. He went for 0 - 99 and I was glad that Clarke, IIRC, only managed to cart Murali's last delivery for a 4 over square leg and not a 6. That record was soon overhauled though not just by Lewis but by a few others since then too. That latter trend is part of the change in ODI cricket in the noughties bought about by 20/20 cricket that sees higher ER for a number of bowlers. Btw, you really should post more, Francis.

Also, I'd be interested in knowing why you might even rank Murali ahead of Mcgrath as a test bowler. That, to my knowledge, is a rare assessment to have. Certainly, I'd hesitate to rank Murali ahead of McGrath.

 

[Cevno]

They have basically the same figures once you account for minnows.

Bowling records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Bowling records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

The whole minnow concept should not exist to a large extent in ODI's .

Except the absolute no hopers like Bermuda.

And if you do except a couple of teams in the starting years almost everyone was a minnow to the West indies.
Besides if you think Zimbabwe were minnows compared to the current newzealand team which got whitewashed in Bangladesh ,then i don't know what to say.