• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Most charismatic cricketer ever?

H

hang on

State Vice-Captain
Gun to your head.....

An article about Warne in cricinfo got me thinking about it.

Rob Steen: How will Shane Warne be remembered? | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Miller, Imran, Richards, Compton, Botham, would also certainly figure in the shortlist, apart from the big daddy of them all....the bearded one.

Who would the others in a list be? And how would you define charisma? Before someone pipes up with this one, thought I'd get in first, ha, ha! I leave it upto you.

Also, if you think a poll would be nice, we could get perhaps get a list of 10 and then request the mods to sort one out for us.
 
Last edited:
salman85

salman85

International Debutant
Charismatic cricketers would probably be defined as having achievements bar none on the field,not be boring off it.Having a major tinge of glamor attached to your personality adds up to it,and the ability to inspire millions.

Leading your side to a WC victory,playing country cricket for Sussex and Worcestershire,playing Shield cricket for New South Wales,banging more girls than the number of wickets you've taken,and opening a Cancer Hospital are the ingredients for the most charismatic cricketer of all time :happy:
 
Outswinger@Pace

Outswinger@Pace

International 12th Man
I'd agree with Salman that Imran Khan would be the most charsimatic cricketer ever. Wes Hall, Keith Miller, Sobers, Greig, Viv Richards, Tiger Pataudi and Botham would be pretty close to the top as well. Of course, the good old Doctor was the first real poster-boy of cricket!

I think it's always better to judge charisma among players that you've personally seen on the field. And unfortunately, I was born pretty late (:@) and started watching Test cricket since that epic Aus-WI series in 1999. I started following ODIs after 1998 though. This list would be pretty subjective, which I presume is the intent of this thread. My definition of charismatic would be simply: players who inspire an absolute newbie to take up the game and add to the game’s global appeal.

So, here goes the list of positively charismatic players I've seen in action:

Allan Donald - To me, he summed up everything ***y about fast bowling. The raw athleticism, the divinely beautiful action, the pace, the skill - it just made for compelling viewing. Watching Donald bowl flat-out in Tests made it impossible for me (and a lot of youngsters I personally knew) to discontinue watching cricket. It was like an intoxicant!

As a wide-eyed 11-year-old, Donald represented the pinnacle of professional success to me. Running in and splattering stumps like the White Lightning was all I ever wanted to do! No player since then has had such a deep effect – the ultimate inspiration for a teenager. His coaching of fast bowlers and contribution to cricket just increases his overall worth by leaps and bounds.

Sourav Ganguly: By no means the best Test batsman I have seen, but a true leader of men and a great ODI player. Had the spunk to lead a side of superstars and the audacity to change the way Indian cricket would be viewed - forever! A very articulate and knowledgeable student of the game and a man who led by vision. His field-presence, like Donald's, was a personal inspiration to me.

Wasim Akram: Pure awesomeness to watch and one of the magicians with the ball. The fact that he made a difficult art look ridiculously easy added huge points to his marketability as a cricketer. His off-field persona and his active interest in budding pace/swing bowlers are also factors in his overall charisma.

Stuart MacGill: This may be a strange choice and a tad personal, but MacGill has always enamoured me. A very good-looking action, the way he curved out the ball, the animated appeal and the budding enthusiasm made for very good cricket viewing. There was a stage in my school days, where I genuinely wished that Warne would get injured or be rested so that I could watch my favourite leg-spinner in action.:laugh: And yeah, the guy could pick up wickets and run through sides too!

Chris Cairns: A Greek God representing New Zealand in cricket wasn’t fair, but you wouldn’t hear me complaining. When injury-free, Cairns was one of those magnificent poster-boys for cricket. Could clobber any kind of bowling with the cleanest power-hitting you can imagine and his fast-medium seam bowling was a joy to watch. Perhaps, his most unique trait was the psychological steel he brought into the Kiwi side. His mere name on the scorecard was enough for the opposition not to take the Black Caps lightly and he certainly was one of the true match-winners of the game. Whenever he was out in the middle, the spectators knew that some high-intensity action was in store. I don’t think many other cricketers have had that electrifying appeal in the past that Cairns Jr. had.


There is another name I want to mention, but I am not sure if it would be well received. I am new to this forum and don't know how the members respond to some controversial names! In a sense, this player polarised cricketing opinions like no one else, but was hugely inspirational at one point in his career. Bearing in mind the period I am talking about, maybe you've already guessed who the player is!
 
Last edited:
ankitj

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
MS Dhoni

I can write a long post explaining why, but I will pass unless someone vehemently disagrees.
 
Borges

Borges

International Regular
From among those I have been fortunate to watch, Gary Sobers without a shadow of doubt.

By all accounts, Victor Trumper oozed charisma from every pore.

Does anyone else even come close to these two?
 
ankitj

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Borges said:
From among those I have been fortunate to watch, Gary Sobers without a shadow of doubt.

By all accounts, Victor Trumper oozed charisma from every pore.

Does anyone else even come close to these two?
Click to expand...
Of course. Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Keith Miller among others. They were all about courage and bravado. Alpha male cricketers, as I like to call them. Imran Khan too for a slightly different reason.
 
Last edited:
A

Aborted Ninja

Banned
Lance Klusener was always amazing to watch too. He made one dayers even more exciting than what they were back then, if only we had players like him in todays game.
 
smash84

smash84

The Tiger King
The definition at dictionary.com

"a spiritual power or personal quality that gives an individual influence or authority over large numbers of people."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top