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    Jack Hobbs vs Sachin Tendulkar

    It has been mentioned here before, but the team was published after Bradman's death by a third party. Bradman had always been careful to avoid comparing players across eras. When he did say something, it was normally worth listening to as he tended to think long and hard before offering...
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    Holding vs Gibbs

    In terms of total overs bowled in a series, Sobers was never the fifth bowler from the time he adopted his quicker style in Australia in 1960-61. From that point he played in 14 series. In 12 he bowled the second most overs for his team, in one the third most and, late on in 1973, the fourth...
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    Holding vs Gibbs

    One useful purpose they serve is to show that there is less consensus around rating players than we might think. In times gone by there were fewer cricket writers/commentators and they tended to talk to each other and agree on most things. Now opinion is more splintered across generations and...
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    Holding vs Gibbs

    He wanted the best keeper - Hendriks - who wasn't really a number seven bat, and also favoured Worrell as captain. Another judge did the same, with Roberts, Marshall, Sobers and Gibbs as the main bowlers. It was actually a formula that worked well for West Indies in real time in England in...
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    Joe Root V Allan Border

    There were some poor pitches in England in 1981. Border's average was double that of any of his teammates, apart from Dirk Wellham who only appeared in one match after the series had been decided.
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    Holding vs Gibbs

    In 2010 Cricinfo's ten West Indian judges picked their team. Gibbs received nine votes, more than any of the quicks. The selector who didn't pick him was Garth Wattley of the Trinidad Express who went with a four-man attack of Roberts, Marshall, Ambrose and Sobers, with back-up from Worrell...
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    Wally Hammond vs Len Hutton

    Sutcliffe said Bradman was best on a good wicket but not as complete a batsman as Hobbs or Hammond. Overall he placed Hammond first. Hammond's Gloucestershire teammate Tom Goddard might not have been wholly impartial. He said Hammond was superior to Bradman or anybody else, and also that, once...
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    Viv Richards vs Sunil Gavaskar

    Yes. Imran said that of all the cricketers he had played with or against "Richards stands head and shoulders above everyone else." Several of those who thought Richards was the best batsman of their experience also considered Gavaskar the best opener.
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    Wally Hammond vs Len Hutton

    This one has shifted over time. Wisden - not long after Hammond's death in 1965: "The judgment of cricket history is that the greatest batsmen the game has known are - in order of appearance, only - WG Grace, Jack Hobbs, Walter Hammond and Don Bradman. Others may come close indeed to those four...
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    Herbert Sutcliffe vs Jack Hobbs

    There are two reasons for this. Everybody who watched and played cricket after WW1 agreed that standards had fallen significantly compared with pre-war days, especially standards of English bowling. This wasn't surprising since there had been no top-level cricket for the best part of five years...
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    Jack Hobbs vs Sachin Tendulkar

    Sobers on Gavaskar: In later years, I saw Sunil Gavaskar come to the West Indies in 1971 and do very well, but you wouldn't call him a great in those days because you did have flash-in-the-pan cricketers. However he went on to become a great player in the true sense of greatness. From what I...
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    Viv Richards vs Sunil Gavaskar

    The following have been named by fellow players (and an umpire) as the best batsman they have seen. Since 1945 only. Additional names/nominators welcome. Viv Richards: Botham, Robin Smith, Thorpe, Willis, Merv Hughes, Dujon, Hunte, Marshall, Richie Richardson, Roberts, Shastri, Vengsarkar...
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    Herbert Sutcliffe vs Jack Hobbs

    It was in a report of the first Test at Sydney (December 1924) where Wisden reported that Hobbs had scored his seventh Test hundred and beaten MacLaren's record. He got another one at Melbourne and a further one at Adelaide which Wisden described as his ninth. As you say, the two centuries...
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    Jack Hobbs vs Sachin Tendulkar

    That was one theory at the time. Sobers valued spinners who were difficult to pick, like Gupte and Qadir. Gupte suffered from dropped catches and would have taken all ten in an innings had Lance Gibbs not been missed behind the wicket. Sobers also seems to like Indian cricketers.
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    Jack Hobbs vs Sachin Tendulkar

    Sobers wrote a long Foreword for Richard Sydenham's book of all-time teams in 2010. His opinions included the following. Gavaskar was the best Indian batsman, ahead of Tendulkar. Gupte was the greatest leg-spinner ever, well ahead of Warne who didn't have a proper googly, resorted to bowling...
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    Jack Hobbs vs Sachin Tendulkar

    From Simon Wilde's book Letting RIP: "Both Greg Chappell and Hick had a history of trouble against pace. For a long time Chappell's problem lay dormant... By the second season of Packer he was shell-shocked and racked by self-doubt. The incessant bouncers and the balls coming into his ribs...
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    Jack Hobbs vs Sachin Tendulkar

    Good point. India was a happy hunting ground for visiting fast bowlers for a long time. The following all took 30 or more wickets in India at an average of 25 or less during the 20th century: Davidson, Hall, McKenzie, Hadlee, Willis, John Lever, Botham, Roberts, Marshall, Holding, Walsh. Five of...
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    Andy Roberts vs Courtney Walsh

    During the latter half of the 1970s Roberts was vying with Lillee for title of best fast bowler. Both had guile to go with their pace and aggression. More so than Thomson or Holding who were faster on their day. Gavaskar rated them equal first, partly for their ability to produce unplayable...
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    The ATG Teams General arguing/discussing thread

    He appeared in 7 teams, McGrath in 8. Laker actually received 12 votes so makes the 2nd XI instead of Gibbs. Murali was picked by Colin Croft, Ntini, Ranatunga, Saqlain Mushtaq, Trescothick, Wasim Akram and Zaheer Abbas.
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    The ATG Teams General arguing/discussing thread

    In 2010 freelance journalist Richard Sydenham assembled 100 all-time World XIs chosen by 100 cricketers from all over the world past and present. He asked selectors who were still alive to exclude players from the 19th century. Some insisted on only picking players they had seen. The book was...

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