• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

TMS Top 100 Greatest Cricketers

sayon basak

International Debutant
Full List:-
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

Credit:- @peterhrt

Thoughts?
 

Kenneth Viljoen

International Regular
Full List:-
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

Credit:- @peterhrt

Thoughts?
I don't believe it's a true list.Firstly some players listed have their first and last name , while other cricketers listed just have their last name which leaves a reader who is new to the game with some guesswork.

Secondly, even if it was made in 1999 its so plain wrong that you wonder why it was even made at all.

How can Malcolm Marshall (If No.75 is indeed Malcolm Marshall) not make the top 70 ?
I mean according to whoever made this list, Jonty Rhodes is a better cricketer than Malcolm Marshall , Allan Donald, Waqar Younis you having a ****ing laugh mate 😂. That's one of many blunders on this list which is comical.
 

sayon basak

International Debutant
I don't believe it's a true list.Firstly some players listed have their first and last name , while other cricketers listed just have their last name which leaves a reader who is new to the game with some guesswork.

Secondly, even if it was made in 1999 its so plain wrong that you wonder why it was even made at all.

How can Malcolm Marshall (If No.75 is indeed Malcolm Marshall) not make the top 70 ?
I mean according to whoever made this list, Jonty Rhodes is a better cricketer than Malcolm Marshall , Allan Donald, Waqar Younis you having a ****ing laugh mate 😂. That's one of many blunders on this list which is comical.
I was about to take a piss about Hadlee being at 38 and Botham at 6. Marshall at 75 is much worse ig.
 

Kenneth Viljoen

International Regular
I was about to take a piss about Hadlee being at 38 and Botham at 6. Marshall at 75 is much worse ig.
Yeah man it's not a true reflection of the sport, like I cannot see any reasoning at all in this list. Joel Garner is not in the top 100 but Learie Constantine is from the West Indies POV, Geoff Howarth averaged something like 32 in 47 tests for NZ in Test cricket yet on this list he's 10 places higher than Ken Barrington based on what exactly? 😅
 
Last edited:

peterhrt

U19 Captain
Appeared in book form published by Generation Publications. Official author Nick Brownlee (Fleet Street journalist and crime fiction writer) with input from TMS team. Part of a series including 100 Greatest Footballers and Boxers.

TMS contributors: Jonathan Agnew, Peter Baxter (wrote Introduction), Henry Blofeld, Bill Frindall, Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
 
Last edited:

Silver Silva

International Regular
Full List:-
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

Credit:- @peterhrt

Thoughts?
I think it was made by someone who loves specialist keepers and hates Geoffrey Boycott.
 

sayon basak

International Debutant
I don't think even @GIMH can justify Rhodes, Gooch and Shrewsbury being that high
I rate Rhodes at 30/35, Gooch and Shrewsbury would make my top 100 if I pushed hard enough.

Compton at 19 is a notable ranking too, but guess he was rated even higher in some other lists (top 10 in John Woodcock's list iirc).
 

peterhrt

U19 Captain
Those old enough will recall a lot of Greatest ***** of the Century/All Time coming out in the late 1990s: pop songs, films, books, wines, sportsmen, etc.

The lists often reflected what/whom available writers wanted to write about. The TMS guys might be more likely to volunteer to pen a piece on characters like Derek Randall and Jack Russell, who they knew. Folk still bought books and magazines back then, which needed to appeal to their readers to be sold. The pen portraits, photos (it was a glossy publication) and TMS brand would have sold this book, not the order the players were listed in.
 
Last edited:

Top