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Richard Hadlee vs Ian Botham

Who is the greater test cricketer?

  • Botham and it’s not close

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    31

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Link to Radio Times list below.

TMS Top 100 (1999): 1 Bradman, 2 Grace, 3 Hobbs, 4 Sobers, 5 Lara, 6 Botham, 7 Viv Richards, 8 Hutton, 9 Warne, 10 Wilfred Rhodes, 11 Hammond, 12 Gavaskar, 13 Tendulkar, 14 Lillee, 15 Barry Richards, 16 Barnes, 17 Holding, 18 Imran, 19 Compton, 20 O'Reilly

21 Herbert Sutcliffe, 22 Shrewsbury, 23 Headley, 24 Benaud, 25 Kapil Dev, 26 Lohmann, 27 Knott, 28 Steve Waugh, 29 Spofforth, 30 Gooch, 31 Evans. 32 Trumper, 33 Procter, 34 Clive Lloyd, 35 Ambrose, 36 Graeme Pollock, 37 Greg Chappell, 38 Hadlee, 39 Worrell, 40 Marsh

41 Lindwall, 42 Trueman, 43 Laker, 44 Gower, 45 Boycott, 46 Fry, 47 Statham, 48 Bobby Simpson, 49 Larwood, 50 Jardine, 51 Aravinda de Silva, 52 Border, 53 Ian Chappell, 54 Bert Sutcliffe, 55 Jack Russell, 56 Jonty Rhodes, 57 Lawry, 58 Walcott, 59 Weekes, 60 Lance Gibbs

61 MacLaren, 62 Underwood, 63 Grimmett, 64 Constantine, 65 Wasim Bari, 66 Willis, 67 Keith Miller, 68 Bedser, 69 Dexter, 70 Cowdrey, 71 Harvey, 72 Thomson, 73 Waqar, 74 Donald, 75 Marshall, 76 Wes Hall, 77 John Reid, 78 Peter May, 79 Greenidge, 80 Geoff Howarth

81 Randall, 82 Kanhai, 83 Javed Miandad, 84 Snow, 85 Ponsford, 86 Ranjitsinhji, 87 Greig, 88 Chandrasekhar, 89 Merv Hughes, 90 Illingworth, 91 Barrington, 92 Tate, 93 Bedi, 94 Martin Crowe, 95 Hanif, 96 Ramadhin, 97 Close, 98 Brearley, 99 Gatting, 100 Kallicharran
Lol Hadlee at 38!
 

Qlder

International Debutant
These comparison votes continue to be ridiculous and nothing like the reality when they played.

Let's dismiss Botham's obvious match winning batting skill with 14 centuries, here are the fastest ever pacers to 200 wkts

1. Lillee - 38 Tests
2. Waqar - 38 Tests
3. Steyn - 39 Tests
4. Botham - 41 Tests
5. Marshall - 42 Tests
6. Donald - 42 Tests

It's like everyone on CW has just ignored his early career and thinks he can't bat at #6 and he bowled pies lol
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
These comparison votes continue to be ridiculous and nothing like the reality when they played.

Let's dismiss Botham's obvious match winning batting skill with 14 centuries, here are the fastest ever pacers to 200 wkts

1. Lillee - 38 Tests
2. Waqar - 38 Tests
3. Steyn - 39 Tests
4. Botham - 41 Tests
5. Marshall - 42 Tests
6. Donald - 42 Tests

It's like everyone on CW has just ignored his early career and thinks he can't bat at #6 and he bowled pies lol
We have a bias towards higher levels of specialist skill.
 

Qlder

International Debutant
His first career half was insane. But he really was bad as his career progressed. And then flopped against WI.
Yes Botham was insane, then they made him captain to face 10 tests in a row to arguably the greatest team ever. WI were famous for targeting the captain, Kim Hughes another example of a record destroyed by the idiots who thought 10 tests in a row against West Indies was a good idea
 

ashley bach

Cricketer Of The Year
These comparison votes continue to be ridiculous and nothing like the reality when they played.

Let's dismiss Botham's obvious match winning batting skill with 14 centuries, here are the fastest ever pacers to 200 wkts

1. Lillee - 38 Tests
2. Waqar - 38 Tests
3. Steyn - 39 Tests
4. Botham - 41 Tests
5. Marshall - 42 Tests
6. Donald - 42 Tests

It's like everyone on CW has just ignored his early career and thinks he can't bat at #6 and he bowled pies lol
It's more like everyone on CW just tend to think one player is clearly better than the other tbf
 

DrWolverine

U19 Vice-Captain
Most 5fers for cricketers with 10+ centuries

1. Botham 27
2. Sobers 6
3. Kallis 5

Most centuries for cricketers with 10+ 5fers

1. Botham 14
2. Kapil 8
3. Imran & Vettori 6

Botham was a match winner with both the bat and ball
 

kyear2

International Coach
Marshall at 75. It's like they forgot he existed and then decided to shoehorn him in.

I am sure @kyear2 will tell us 'Well y'know they aren't underrating him, they must have had their reasons...'

You're missing the primary point.

Most of these lists are ****, ranking players from different disciplines is a bad idea, and literally after the consensus first couple of names, it's a way too subjective and a crap shoot.

And one can look at a list and tell if it makes sense of not.

Again, tour issue is that your guy has to be top 4 or it's a great injustice.

But Gower's, Crowe's, CMJ, those guys were in the middle of it, yet know their stuff from the earlier eras. One might not agree with every pick, but it makes sense.

I'm just glad when Barry's on the list, 😂
 

sayon basak

International Debutant
Link to Radio Times list below.

TMS Top 100 (1999): 1 Bradman, 2 Grace, 3 Hobbs, 4 Sobers, 5 Lara, 6 Botham, 7 Viv Richards, 8 Hutton, 9 Warne, 10 Wilfred Rhodes, 11 Hammond, 12 Gavaskar, 13 Tendulkar, 14 Lillee, 15 Barry Richards, 16 Barnes, 17 Holding, 18 Imran, 19 Compton, 20 O'Reilly

21 Herbert Sutcliffe, 22 Shrewsbury, 23 Headley, 24 Benaud, 25 Kapil Dev, 26 Lohmann, 27 Knott, 28 Steve Waugh, 29 Spofforth, 30 Gooch, 31 Evans. 32 Trumper, 33 Procter, 34 Clive Lloyd, 35 Ambrose, 36 Graeme Pollock, 37 Greg Chappell, 38 Hadlee, 39 Worrell, 40 Marsh

41 Lindwall, 42 Trueman, 43 Laker, 44 Gower, 45 Boycott, 46 Fry, 47 Statham, 48 Bobby Simpson, 49 Larwood, 50 Jardine, 51 Aravinda de Silva, 52 Border, 53 Ian Chappell, 54 Bert Sutcliffe, 55 Jack Russell, 56 Jonty Rhodes, 57 Lawry, 58 Walcott, 59 Weekes, 60 Lance Gibbs

61 MacLaren, 62 Underwood, 63 Grimmett, 64 Constantine, 65 Wasim Bari, 66 Willis, 67 Keith Miller, 68 Bedser, 69 Dexter, 70 Cowdrey, 71 Harvey, 72 Thomson, 73 Waqar, 74 Donald, 75 Marshall, 76 Wes Hall, 77 John Reid, 78 Peter May, 79 Greenidge, 80 Geoff Howarth

81 Randall, 82 Kanhai, 83 Javed Miandad, 84 Snow, 85 Ponsford, 86 Ranjitsinhji, 87 Greig, 88 Chandrasekhar, 89 Merv Hughes, 90 Illingworth, 91 Barrington, 92 Tate, 93 Bedi, 94 Martin Crowe, 95 Hanif, 96 Ramadhin, 97 Close, 98 Brearley, 99 Gatting, 100 Kallicharran
Pretty interesting list, with some eye catching inclutions. I'm gonna post this in a new thread ig.
 

kyear2

International Coach
Most 5fers for cricketers with 10+ centuries

1. Botham 27
2. Sobers 6
3. Kallis 5

Most centuries for cricketers with 10+ 5fers

1. Botham 14
2. Kapil 8
3. Imran & Vettori 6

Botham was a match winner with both the bat and ball
Yes he was, and in the strictest definition of the term, possibly still the best all rounder of the era.

But his fall off wasn't like Viv's and Punter's where they still kept ATG numbers, he just starting digging.

I think one can acknowledge his impact in the era, but still say he wasn't a better cricketer overall than Hadlee.

But yeah, Beefy was probably the ultimate match winner for a while there, and that counts for a lot.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
You're missing the primary point.

Most of these lists are ****, ranking players from different disciplines is a bad idea, and literally after the consensus first couple of names, it's a way too subjective and a crap shoot.

And one can look at a list and tell if it makes sense of not.

Again, tour issue is that your guy has to be top 4 or it's a great injustice.

But Gower's, Crowe's, CMJ, those guys were in the middle of it, yet know their stuff from the earlier eras. One might not agree with every pick, but it makes sense.

I'm just glad when Barry's on the list, 😂
I am talking about all lists as Hadlee is not rated highly in all of them.
 

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