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CW's Ranking of Spinners (Tests)
- Thread starter gftw
- Start date
CricAddict
Cricketer Of The Year
Oh really O`Reilly it is at 3? My vote for Sir Jadeja then.
subshakerz
International Coach
Ashwin?
subshakerz
International Coach
I am actually pleased Murali made it to no.1, since it shows how close Warne/Murali are and Murali should get his due.
CricAddict
Cricketer Of The Year
On favourite conditions, one can`t be deadlier than Ashwin and Jadeja.
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
Shows how inaccurate "name your top 20 in order" format is. A few salty posters omitted Murali completely from their lists when mr_mister last ran this. When even a couple of lists give your rival a 20 point lead it's hard to catch up in that format. Murali finished 3rd.
Last edited:
Migara
International Coach
You can at least manage them with reaction time. That is not possible with above four because they are almost medium pace.
PlayerComparisons
International Vice-Captain
O'Reilly
subshakerz
International Coach
How often has Ashwin been dominated in India though?
cnerd123
likes this
Surprised to see the consensus that O'Reilly is 3rd overall. He only has 144 Test wickets, 102 of which came against England.
40 spinners have taken more wickets than him in Test cricket, albeit only one (Jim Laker) at a better average. Having said that, O'Reilly did not bowl against the strongest batting lineup of his era - his own, the one with Bradman in it.
And sure Bradman's word carries a lot of weight, and O'Reilly did lose most of his career to the wars, but 3rd overall? His body of work just isn't there. We have no idea how he would have dealt with foreign conditions, injuries, being worked out, loss of form. Nearly 90% of all his wickets came in just 5 seasons of Test cricket. That's not a long career. We've had a lot of bowlers since who can have an ATG 5 seasons in amongst a long career. Ashwin, for example, has a 5 season stretch where he took 173 wickets @ 21.5. If he were not to play any Tests before or after that, would he be considered better than O'Reilly?
Not even saying O'Reilly being 3rd overall is wrong, just that the consensus here is a bit surprising. I'd definitely have a few other bowlers right up there with him in the same bracket of 'next best after Murali/Warne'.
So yea, my vote goes to Lance Gibbs, tho I'd have Laker/Verity/Grimmet/Kumble/Ashwin in the same bracket.
40 spinners have taken more wickets than him in Test cricket, albeit only one (Jim Laker) at a better average. Having said that, O'Reilly did not bowl against the strongest batting lineup of his era - his own, the one with Bradman in it.
And sure Bradman's word carries a lot of weight, and O'Reilly did lose most of his career to the wars, but 3rd overall? His body of work just isn't there. We have no idea how he would have dealt with foreign conditions, injuries, being worked out, loss of form. Nearly 90% of all his wickets came in just 5 seasons of Test cricket. That's not a long career. We've had a lot of bowlers since who can have an ATG 5 seasons in amongst a long career. Ashwin, for example, has a 5 season stretch where he took 173 wickets @ 21.5. If he were not to play any Tests before or after that, would he be considered better than O'Reilly?
Not even saying O'Reilly being 3rd overall is wrong, just that the consensus here is a bit surprising. I'd definitely have a few other bowlers right up there with him in the same bracket of 'next best after Murali/Warne'.
So yea, my vote goes to Lance Gibbs, tho I'd have Laker/Verity/Grimmet/Kumble/Ashwin in the same bracket.
OverratedSanity
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O'Reilly
CricAddict
Cricketer Of The Year
You missed naming the GOAT in that post.
Nikhil99.99
U19 Cricketer
Was Australia’s batting line up really better than England’s?O’Rilleys stats in fc reads a bowling average of 16.Removing bradman from Australian batting line up,England’s batting line up is a step above and including bradman I would say there isn’t anything between.Bradman seemed to agree O’Reilly was the best bowler of all time .I would say the two finished even in all the battles they had.
What sets tiger apart is he bowled well with Grimmett and he bowled well without Grimmett.The 1938 Australian team had probably their weakest bowling line up ever in the flattest of wickets against arguably Englands best batting line up.O’Reilly took 22 wkts at 27.The 2nd best bowler for Australia fleetwood smith got 14 wickets at over 51.Even in the bodyline series where larwood was taking truckload of wicket and Grimmett struggling to buy one.Tiger took 27 wkts at 26.Everyone of the era seem to agree O’Reilly was step above Verity,Grimmett.
Even player like hobbs agreed O’Reilly was S.f Barnes equal.Even other who saw Barnes agreed there wasn’t much between Barnes and O’Reilly
trundler
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Those England sides were remarkable batting units tbf. Sutcliffe/Hutton, Hammond, Hendren, Leyland and even a solid keeper bat in Ames. You could say O'Reilly is the only spinner in history to dominate the best batting lineup he came up against. Even Laker struggled relatively against WI with the 3 W's. Warne was ass against India and Murali had an even contest.
cnerd123
likes this
Tbf the only reason you couldn't say that about Verity was because of Bradman. He played in the same years as O'Reilly, took just as many wickets, and averaged only slightly higher, and that is despite bowling against Bradman. Deserves to be spoken of at the same level as O'Reilly surely.
The batters around Bradman weren't slouches either - guys like McCadeb, Woodfull, Ponsford, Brown and Morris all averaged 45+ during his career.