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CW ODI Voting is there bias?

Line and Length

Line and Length

International Coach
Looking at both our ODI battting and bowler polls, it is interesting to see the distribution of players voted "in" and the countries they represent. Not surprisingly, Australia's record in finals sees a certain domination in these polls. Of the 81 players voted in during these polls, 20 are Australian.
A breakdown of representation is as follows:
Australia 20
Pakistan 12
India 10
West Indies 10
South Africa 9
Sri Lanka 8
New Zealand 7
England 4
Other 1

As an Australian, these numbers sit fairly comfortably with me but, as an ex Pom, I see the numbers from England alarmingly low - especially when you consider none of these 4 made a Top 20 position, and only 1 made a Top 30 position.
I know England's ODI record isn't the greatest, particularly in their latest outing. but, over the decades of ODIs, are their best players that poor in comparison with other nations?
Without throwing in any race connotations, is there a bias in our voting?
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
There is likely an element of bias but I don't think this is an example of it.

England genuinely lacked a lot of ODI superstars until about the last decade or so and played far less ODIs than other major nations from the 90s to the end of the 00s (only 1 game more than Zimbabwe in that period)
 
shortpitched713

shortpitched713

International Captain
The best comparison is that simply judging from the fixture list, England simply doesn't care about ODIs as much as India. Not even close.

You add to that England had something of a cricket talent dark age from the 90s to early 2000s, and it's no surprise that you'd get such a low number.

Since getting out of that rut, England has had as much great talent on both sides of the ball as anyone barring Australia I'd say, BUT out of those great players the proficiency skews heavily towards Test matches. Given the fixture balance between Test/ODI in comparison to other teams, this once again isn't surprising. (Not that there's anything wrong with playing a lot of Tests, the opposite extreme which is leading to the death of the format is worse, i.e. India barely wanting to play any Tests not against Australia/England, and the trickle down effect that has).

Tl;dr: In recent years, talent wise, England isn't that low. Australia clearly is at the top, followed by SA/India. England comes right next, probably tied/slightly ahead of NZ, but the Test side developed much more superstars than ODI, imo.

West Indies have a lot of picks as part of their legacy, but current talent production is sad. Lesser extent, but similar trajectories for Pakistan and Sri Lanka, hate to say.
 
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capt_Luffy

capt_Luffy

International Coach
England just doesn't have any top tier ODI greats compared to other countries. Their 2 best players, imo the only ATG ones, are an All-rounder and a wicketkeeper. So had you ran those polls they would had better spot. Can't think of any major English omits truthfully. Probably Swann/Gough could had made the bowler's list or Bairstow/Morgan/Lamb/Pietersen the batsmen (personally will vouch for Bairstow); but none has a particularly gripping case/was a big omission. Instead it could be argued Willis was lucky to make the cut.
 
Molehill

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
Seems a bit odd when England have appeared in 4 World Cup Finals, only Australia have been in more.

That team late 80's early 90's must've been doing something right to appear in consecutive finals.
 
honestbharani

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Well, we all have our biases obviously. And honestly, almost every Player Comparison thread I have voted on I have simply voted for whom I felt like voting for at that moment than give any major thought.

But in general with a lot of the discussions and debates on CW with respect to comparisons, I try my best to put aside whom I like more and to vote or rate the player who had had the better career first. Of course, how I view a career and its success may well differ from others. My rating of Anderson and Ashwin as ATGs is proof of that.
 
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