Hope I hadn't responded to this already, but love this post.Hadlee overall slightly. Imran is in the top the 10 pacers ever, but Hadlee is in the top 3 ever, and amongst the six(except Bradman)or so I consider to have absolutely mastered their respective disciplines(others being Sachin, Marshall, McGrath, Hobbs, Viv). Even in this group, Sachin and Marshall stand out. The difference between their primary skills and Imran’s bowling is for me equal to the difference between Imran’s batting and Marshall’s odd use as a lower order bat and Sachin’s part time bowling. However in Hadlee’s case the difference between his and Imran’s secondary skill(batting) is lesser than above mentioned and I consider Hadlee to be closer to Marshall than Imran in bowling(if he was midway it would be a tie between him and Imran), so for me the difference in Hadlee and Imran’s bowling is by the slightest margins more than the difference in their batting.
It's flawed logic. Marshall or Tendulkar being no.1s doesn't give them extra points. Marshalls batting and Imran's batting are a huge gulf and the bowler difference is actually minimal and only seem more because we are obsessed with rankings.Hope I hadn't responded to this already, but love this post.
Your top 7 is almost identical to mine, just that you have Viv instead of Sobers (I do have Vivian 8th and Steyn 9th) as well as the reasoning behind it. Just the absolute best at their primary skills.
Player C is massively overrated.I love how we start a comparison thread with player A vs player B…and it turns out to player C vs player D
That’s why we have that ATG arguing thread.
Player D has a huge dong tho…Player C is massively overrated.
He's also very well known for his batting.Player D has a huge dong tho…
He's also very well known for his batting.
I thought it was his keepingHe's also very well known for his batting.
Hahaha this is the best.He's also very well known for his batting.
McGrath and Pollock aren’t close as bowlers. McGrath was the better cricketer.
The second disciplines only matter when comparing players who are in the same tier in their first disciplines.
Agree with all of this.They're not almost equal bowlers though unless you only factor overall bowling average. I can't imagine any of their peers from their era (from neutral countries) NOT saying Hadlee was the better bowler of the two.
think about it, the answer to this question is not hard.Agree with all of this.
Similarly as Paddles was clearly accepted as the better bowler (and pretty good bat), and they are being chosen for that primary skill, why would being better only in the secondary skill (when Hadlee wasn't exactly a bunny) cause one to jump the other?
We just disagree philosophically. I think Hadlee was better with the ball to the extent it supercedes the extra 10 runs with the bat.think about it, the answer to this question is not hard.
So, you already did know the answer? Which incidentally was plastered all over the previous pages. Then why were you putting that question up in the first place?We just disagree philosophically. I think Hadlee was better with the ball to the extent it supercedes the extra 10 runs with the bat.
Even with my preferred 2nd skill, slip fielding I don't replace Sachin with Lara, Hammond or Kallis. And I think that Lara has a better claim than Imran as he was (IMHO) marginally closer to Sachin than Imran was to Hadlee.
It was hypothetical.So, you already did know the answer? Which incidentally was plastered all over the previous pages. Then why were you putting that question up in the first place?
I am guessing you also put Malcolm Marshall as a greater cricketer than Hadlee?
Wouldn't argue with that either, don't agree, but they are really close.yeah, I rate Hadlee > Marshall as a cricketer.
Marshall's batting itself is a bit underrated IMO.Wouldn't argue with that either, don't agree, but they are really close.
Marshall could bat and should have been closer to Hadlee, just didn't apply himself the same way and tbh had less occasions that required the serious match saving knocksMarshall's batting itself is a bit underrated IMO.
He did manage to keep Joel Garner down at 9 afterall.