Most overrated cricketer

[flibbertyjibber]

Completely disagree. Except for here on CW, most cricket fans I've seen go for the likes of Lillee and Akram. And nobody, even my biased self has ever made the claim that Malcolm is the undisputed greatest fast bowler. Anyway, he's definitely top 5. If that's overrated, then all of fast men are overrated as well.

I claim he is number 1. Best I have seen. Just an amazing bowler.

 

[BazBall21]

Marshall was underrated. Check his ranking in Wisden cricketers of the century and ESPN legends of cricket.

 

[the big bambino]

Strangely enough I think pace has lost some of it's luster since 90 mph bowlers are so common now.

This occurred to me during the India-Pak game last month when, even without Bumrah, you had 4-5 bowlers from both sides consistently bowling 140mph.

I think this is because of the different formats now, particularly T20, where bowlers can go for top speed for a few overs. Not only can regular long format bowlers go flat out knowing they wont have to conserve their energies but it keeps players like Tymal Mills, Rauf and Milne (even a Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes) in the game. Whereas before T20 cricket they'd have to seriously think about retiring or cutting their pace.

 

[Spark]

Kane Williamson ... I know it's a bit controversial but a lot of people overlook his record away from home against the top sides ..
His averages against the top 6 sides of his era in their backyard/ UAE :

Australia - 42.85
England - 30.53
South Africa - 21.17
India - 33.53
UAE - 64.70
Sri Lanka - 26.71

I mean you do expect better from someone whose rated as highly as Williamson is.

This would have been controversial as hell three years ago (I got yelled at for saying something very similar) but it definitely isn't now, the common consensus is that Williamson's away record is too patchy to hold up to, say, peak Smith's.

Not a cricketer but a factor that is highly overrated is bowling speeds. Gives a very one dimensional view of fast bowling.

What speed guns show is not directly proportional to what a batsman experiences.

I really, really firmly believe that this sort of sentiment is one of those things which is flat out invalidated by the first three words.

Like, we can judge a hell of a lot here from the sidelines with stats and endless video analysis and more scorecards than you could dream of, but there a handful of things that absolutely cannot be properly evaluated - or, like, judged at all - without direct experience and "how much does bowling speed matter, really" is one of them.

 

[wpdavid]

Mike Brearley.

As a captain? Yes, quite possibly.

 

[Coronis]

That’s fine but let’s not pretend that WG was any good by 2022 standards as a cricketer

And would a 2022 cricketer be any good in Grace’s era? Awful pitches, much smaller bats, completely different bowling? You can’t just move a bloke from 150 years ago into the present and say he’s not any good because his stats don’t match up. You have to take into account era differences and dominance vs their peers.

 

[BazBall21]

It has always made sense to me that people take into account wider contribution and impact on the game when it comes to greatest cricketer activities and tbh it also makes it a lot more fun.

 

[Spark]

And would a 2022 cricketer be any good in Grace’s era? Awful pitches, much smaller bats, completely different bowling? You can’t just move a bloke from 150 years ago into the present and say he’s not any good because his stats don’t match up. You have to take into account era differences and dominance vs their peers.

I mean yeah but I think Grace would have a much harder time competing against blokes who don't fall over themselves the moment someone realises the legside exists.

 

[subshakerz]

Marshall was underrated. Check his ranking in Wisden cricketers of the century and ESPN legends of cricket.

As time has passed, his reputation grows tho.

 

[BazBall21]

As time has passed, his reputation grows tho.

Yeah, which is probably good.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Not a fan of Botham but he unlike Khan, Kallis, and Sobers gave more consistent all-round performances.

Botham has 5 times both scored a century and took a fifer in a match. Kallis 2, Khan and Sobers 1 each.

Meanwhile Ashwin has 3 times



I wonder why.

And yet no one would count Ashwin as an ATG all rounder

So that should tell you all you need to know about such a statistic.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Malcolm Marshall and Sachin Tendulkar.

Both hold divine status among general cricket fans, but I'm certain that there are atleast 5 bowlers and batsmen who are qualitatively as good as they are even though they do not match stats wise.

For Sachin isn’t it the other way around? There are 5 batsmen certainly that are quantitatively better, but not qualitatively - eg Kallis and Sanga.

 

[Slifer]

For Sachin isn’t it the other way around? There are 5 batsmen certainly that are quantitatively better, but not qualitatively - eg Kallis and Sanga.

Sachin isn't overrated he just has the most annoying fan base in sports history. But all biases aside he probably has the most compelling arguments to be the 2nd best after the Don. I've seen people rate him above the Don and yeah those people are on meth and certainly overrate him in that case.

 

[Coronis]

Sachin isn't overrated he just has the most annoying fan base in sports history. But all biases aside he probably has the most compelling arguments to be the 2nd best after the Don. I've seen people rate him above the Don and yeah those people are on meth and certainly overrate him in that case.

Everyone always blames the meth..

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Sachin isn't overrated he just has the most annoying fan base in sports history. But all biases aside he probably has the most compelling arguments to be the 2nd best after the Don. I've seen people rate him above the Don and yeah those people are on meth and certainly overrate him in that case.

Nah, that honour goes to Ronaldo fans.

 

[hassan918]

At the moment, for me the most overrated cricketer is Haide Ali.

 

[Flem274*]

It's definitely Lillee historically. Trueman, Ponting and Viv also up there.

It's Starc if we're talking current players, but obviously not on CW. If anything CW might slightly under-rate him, but mostly just because of TJB and trundler skewing it so much.

I nominate Stokes if we're talking CW-only. Fight me @GIMH.
EDIT: And Ajaz ****ing Patel. A great example of not playing enhancing one's reputation more than playing would.

No one overrates Ajaz. Everyone thinks his treatment is bullshit though.

 

[Slifer]

Everyone always blames the meth..

?????

 

[thundaboult]

Any indian cricketer really

 

[social]

Sachin isn't overrated he just has the most annoying fan base in sports history. But all biases aside he probably has the most compelling arguments to be the 2nd best after the Don. I've seen people rate him above the Don and yeah those people are on meth and certainly overrate him in that case.

One of Social Jr’s friends is an online troll who creates theads like Player X is better than Sachin when he’s bored

Never fails to get thousands of replies no matter how ridiculous the premise

Some of the responses are waaay out there