The 50 best ODI Cricketers so far
50 Chris Harris
49 Chris Gayle
48 Jonty Rhodes
47 Neil Fairbrother
46 AB de Villiers
45 Michael Holding
44 Shane Watson
43 Allan Border
42 Chris Cairns
41 Martin Crowe
40 Malcolm Marshall
39 Nathan Bracken
38 Gordon Greenidge
37 Greg Chappell
36 Mark Waugh
35 Saeed Anwar
34 Desmond Haynes
33 Shane Bond
32 Inzamam-Ul-Haq
31 Aravinda de Silva
30 Brett Lee
29 Sourav Ganguly
28 Michael Hussey
27 Allan Donald
26 Javed Miandad
25 Andrew Symonds
24 MS Dhoni
23 Curtly Ambrose
22 Zaheer Abbas
21 Saqlain Mushtaq
20 Richard Hadlee
19 Lance Klusener
18 Dean Jones
17 Imran Khan
16 Waqar Younis
15 Jacques Kallis
14 Shane Warne
13 Kapil Dev
12 Brian Lara
11 Sanath Jayasuriya
10 Ricky Ponting
9 Shaun Pollock
8 Muttiah Muralitharan
7 Joel Garner
6 Michael Bevan
Now Numbers 5 to 3..
5 GLENN MCGRATH
Glenn McGrath | Australia Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
Total Points 501
Total Nominations 29/30
Highest Rating 2
McGrath relied on unerring accuracy and subtle seam movement throughout his 250 games for Australia. His uncomplicated method and natural physical fitness were significant factors in the longevity of his career.
He rewrote the World Cup record-books in 2003 with 7 for 15 against the outclassed Namibians, on his way to adding another winner's medal to a bulging collection.
McGrath who holds the record for most wickets in World Cup matches, was adjudged the Man of the Tournament during Australia's successful World Cup campaign in 2007, his final one-day appearance.
Overall Glenn McGrath took 381 at an average of 22.02.
4 ADAM GILCHRIST
Adam Gilchrist | Australia Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
Total Points 505
Total Nominations 30/30
Highest Rating 1
Adam Gilchrist was the symbolic heart of Australia's steamrolling agenda and the most exhilarating cricketer of the modern age. He was simultaneously a cheerful throwback to more innocent times, a flap-eared country boy who walked when given not out in a World Cup semi-final.
Employing a high-on-the-handle grip, he poked good balls into gaps and throttled most others, invariably with head straight, wrists soft and balance sublime. Only at the death did he jettison the textbook, whirling his bat like a hammer-thrower, caring only for the scoreboard and never his average.
He stole the World Cup final from Sri Lanka in 2007 with 149 off 104 balls, slamming 13 fours and eight sixes, and added to his 54 and 57 from his previous two global triumphs.
Gilchrist averaged 35.89 at the outstanding strike rate of 96.94. To go with the batting he took 417 catches and 55 stumpings in his 287 game career.
3 WASIM AKRAM
Wasim Akram | Pakistan Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
Total Points 554
Total Nominations 27/30
Highest Rating 1
A dream cricketer. At his best Wasim Akram played like most of us would wish to. He had complete mastery over swing and seam, and sometimes moves the ball both ways in one delivery. All this comes at high speed from a quick, ball-concealing action, and is backed up by the threat of a dangerous bouncer or deceptive slower delivery.
Akram was a significant figure in the 1992 Cricket World Cup victory. In the final against England, he scored 33 runs off 19 balls. He then took the important wicket of Ian Botham early on the English batting innings and when brought back into the bowling attack later on, with the ball reverse swinging, he produced a devastating spell of bowling which led to Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis being bowled in successive deliveries in one over. His excellent performances earned him the Man of the Match award for the final.
In One Day Internationals, Akram took 502 wickets in 356 appearances, at an average of 23.52 and scored 3,717 runs, at an average of 16.52. He took 2 hat tricks and is ranked second on the all-time wicket taking list behind Muralitharan.