Was Ricky Ponting the best captain ever?

[sledger]

I was wondering this earlier, and having thought about it there isn't any other player who has such a great record as captain in the modern era.

Played the majority of his career as captain of the Aus side in one form or another. 77 test matches as skipper, and 48 of those are wins. 165 ODI wins out of 230 matches at the helm. Cannot think of anyone who has had such an impressive reign, which leads me to the conclusion that he is perhaps the best captain of all time.

And all through the rigours of captaincy his batting remained most unaffected (averaging 51 in tests as captain), basically the best batsman in the side. In my lifetime there just hasn't been anyone close to matching this level of performance. I guess Steve Waugh comes close, but there aren't really other players who come close to having a comparable record imo.

 

[trundler]

Do you mean best at his primary skill whilst being captain?

 

[mr_mister]

Other than the obvious downfall, wasn't Hansies WL record quite impressive too?

 

[trundler]

Other than the obvious downfall, wasn't Hansies WL record quite impressive too?

A literal one in this case...

 

[sledger]

Other than the obvious downfall, wasn't Hansies WL record quite impressive too?

Yeah but Hansie was not nearly as great a player whilst also performing excellently as a captain. And like you say, dodgy af.

 

[mr_mister]

Hansie for the most part had only 1 or 2 stars in his side. Ponting adopted a team of already ATGs

 

[GoodAreasShane]

If not for Vaughan, Trescothick and their Murray Mints, I would definitely say yes. But the way things are his Ashes record holds him back

 

[wpdavid]

In answer to the question

No.
Not even close.
It's all about adding value to what you've got at your disposal.
Inviting England to bat at Edgbaston in 2005 and failing to seal the deal at Glamorgan in 2009 are as much evidence as anyone needs.

 

[cnerd123]

Lol no

Great W/L record but that's a really weak way to evaluate captaincy

Might go for one of Brearley, Worrell or Border tbh. Imran Khan, Benaud, Graeme Smith, Lloyd, Fleming up there too.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

A great captain makes a lot of ballsy moves...

 

[Dendarii]

Other than the obvious downfall, wasn't Hansies WL record quite impressive too?

Pollock has a better W/L ratio in tests than Cronje - 2.80 vs 2.45, and while he was captain he averaged 41.58 with the bat and 21.36 with the ball.

 

[Bijed]

A great captain makes a lot of ballsy moves...

In answer to the question

No.
Not even close.
It's all about adding value to what you've got at your disposal.
Inviting England to bat at Edgbaston in 2005 and failing to seal the deal at Glamorgan in 2009 are as much evidence as anyone needs.

Ballsy is all well and good, but turning to Marcus North at that point wasn't so much ballsy as bollocks

 

[wpdavid]

Lol no

Great W/L record but that's a really weak way to evaluate captaincy

Might go for one of Brearley, Worrell or Border tbh. Imran Khan, Benaud, Graeme Smith, Lloyd, Fleming up there too.

Plus Mushtaq, Howarth, Taylor, Armstrong, Vaughan, Strauss and Hutton.
Not to mention Ganguly and Wadekar.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Shut up sledger

 

[Daemon]

Highly suspicious posting from sledger. I suspect he will introduce Tendulkar into the discussionat some point.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Ballsy is all well and good, but turning to Marcus North at that point wasn't so much ballsy as bollocks

It's ballsy just to think about it.

 

[cnerd123]

Plus Mushtaq, Howarth, Taylor, Armstrong, Vaughan, Strauss and Hutton.
Not to mention Ganguly and Wadekar.

Eh I don't really rate Strauss and Ganguly as captains. Good leader of men, which is important, but tactically...eh.

Haven't read much about Mushtaq or Hutton's captaincy. Rest I agree with.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Which England captain took his team mountain climbing to build comraderie and morale before a tough tour some years ago?

 

[Daemon]

Which England captain took his team mountain climbing to build comraderie and morale before a tough tour some years ago?

Strauss. They even had boxing or something and Anderson broke a rib as a result.

EDIT: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/oct/19/pre-ashes-boot-camps-team-building

lmao they made him spar with Tremlett? Wtf.

vs

 

[sledger]

Results (and the captain's contributions to said results) are the only way to assess a captain's worth and, consequently, Punter was the best ever captain.