5 cricketers of the century and a bit?

[Fusion]

Bradman
Imran
Sobers
Richards
Marshall

 

[dhillon28]

Imran Khan
Sachin Tendulkar
Gary Sobers
Muralitharan
Malcolm Marshall

 

[smash84]

Hmm.. I was watching some highlights of the semi and the final (it's all they show nowadays on Star Sports here ) and I thought Imran and Miandad were slooow, and a bit lucky to get bailed out by Inzy, Akram and Moin Khan in the slog overs. I guess it was one of those things that was just meant to be, a glorious ending to a glorious career.

I think Blaze makes a correct statement (copied below) regarding the 1992 WC final. Pak were in dire straits when Imran and Javed came in to bat. Stability was needed not an Umar Akmalesque or Afridish innings lasting 20 balls at max.

Not sure about that, vcs. I reckon Pakistan would have been shot out for a low score, if Javed and Imran had tried to bat like Afridi. That the likes of Wasim Akram and Moin Khan could bat with gay abandon towards the end was solely down to the platform set by Imran and Javed.

 

[mrcheek]

YES. We are talking the best players of all time here. There are not 20 names safely ahead of Imran in fast bowling. Can you please name the fast bowlers safely ahead of Imran as a fast bowler???? And on what basis you call them safely ahead????

He just didn't lead Pakistan to the world cup win (which is arguably the finest world cup campaign of all time given that Pakistan were down and out of the cup). He beat England in England, India in India, and almost beat the WI in WI. Never lost a series as captain to arguably the finest cricket team in the history of the game. Mentored the 2Ws, taught them reverse swing. Made a winning team out of a disparate bunch and led his side for 10 years averaging around 19 with the ball and 52 with the bat.

How does he not have a shot at the top 5 cricketers of all time?

To be fair to Blaze he said arguably the best fast bowler because there is no one definitive answer to that question.

Once again my question to you is please name the 20 fast bowlers safely ahead of him in terms of being better fast bowlers and your criteria to rate them?



Go ahead. Your rants are generally good

20 guys ahead of Imran as a bowler , off the top of my head:
Hadlee, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Croft, Roberts, Wasim, Waqar, Lillee, Thomson, Miller, Alderman, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Trueman, Botham, Larwood,

 

[Teja.]

20 guys ahead of Imran as a bowler , off the top of my head:
Hadlee, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Croft, Roberts, Wasim, Waqar, Lillee, Thomson, Miller, Alderman, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Trueman, Botham, Larwood,

I'm sorry, Are you seriously suggesting that Jeff Thomson(Who was glorious for his 2-3 year peak no doubt) was a better pacer than Imran Khan? Seriously?

 

[smash84]

20 guys ahead of Imran as a bowler , off the top of my head:
Hadlee, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Croft, Roberts, Wasim, Waqar, Lillee, Thomson, Miller, Alderman, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Trueman, Botham, Larwood,

Are you only counting names of the bowlers or are you basing your arguments on something???? You might as well list down another hundred bowlers if you are just counting names.

And according to your statement these bowlers are "safely ahead" of Imran?

And what do you base your analysis on?

 

[smash84]

I'm sorry, Are you seriously suggesting that Jeff Thomson(Who was glorious for his 2-3 year peak no doubt) was a better pacer than Imran Khan? Seriously?

And Terry Alderman too in that list. Very interesting list indeed.

 

[Fusion]

20 guys ahead of Imran as a bowler , off the top of my head:
Hadlee, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Croft, Roberts, Wasim, Waqar, Lillee, Thomson, Miller, Alderman, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Trueman, Botham, Larwood,

Wow. We're all entitled to our opinions I guess.

 

[hang on]

while i may not have imran in the top 5 fast bowlers of all time, let alone have him as the best ever, to aver that botham, croft, alderman, thomson among others were better than imran is verging on pure hyperbole.

even roberts, holding, larwood, and pollock would be stretching it.

 

[Shri]

And he forgot lohman and barnes to top it off.

 

[mrcheek]

I'm sorry, Are you seriously suggesting that Jeff Thomson(Who was glorious for his 2-3 year peak no doubt) was a better pacer than Imran Khan? Seriously?

20 names off the top of my head. And I stick by every single one of them. Im not going to justify each one individually, or we will be here for a very long time. But in my opinion, they were all better bowlers than Imran, great though he was.

thinking about it, I would add Spofforth, Barnes, Jon Snow, Keith Boyce.

Just shows how many great quicks there have been in history!

 

[Ikki]

Bradman
Warne
Imran
Richards
Gilchrist/Lillee

 

[hang on]

Keith Boyce | West Indies Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

at the risk of being offensive, i do think that someone is taking the proverbial.

 

[abmk]

while i may not have imran in the top 5 fast bowlers of all time, let alone have him as the best ever, to aver that botham, croft, alderman, thomson among others were better than imran is verging on pure hyperbole.

even roberts, holding, larwood, and pollock would be stretching it.

I agree, that is a bit of a joke, especially alderman, who couldn't do sh*t when the conditions did not favour swing bowling

 

[Blaze 18]

20 guys ahead of Imran as a bowler , off the top of my head:
Hadlee, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Croft, Roberts, Wasim, Waqar, Lillee, Thomson, Miller, Alderman, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Trueman, Botham, Larwood,

Each of these twenty is "safely ahead" of Imran Khan ?

I guess it comes down to personal opinion - as it always does. I would have Imran Khan near the top of that list, if not at the top.

 

[sachin200]

20 guys ahead of Imran as a bowler , off the top of my head:
Hadlee, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Croft, Roberts, Wasim, Waqar, Lillee, Thomson, Miller, Alderman, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Trueman, Botham, Larwood,

Imran not only best pakistani fast bowler ever he is also comfortably better than walsh, garner, thompson, miller, alderman, pollock, botham, larwood

 

[G.I.Joe]

Bradman
Sobers
Imran
Gilchrist
Sehwag

 

[BoyBrumby]

Imran not only best pakistani fast bowler ever he is also comfortably better than walsh, garner, thompson, miller, alderman, pollock, botham, larwood

Nooo. Waqar at his peak was a better bowler than Imran (pretty much everyone else too) and Wasim was no worse than him either.

& you can make cases that Imran is better than all those named (although with Garner at least it's not a very strong one), but "comfortably" better? Sorry, not for my quid.

 

[smash84]

Nooo. Waqar at his peak was a better bowler than Imran (pretty much everyone else too) and Wasim was no worse than him either.

& you can make cases that Imran is better than all those named (although with Garner at least it's not a very strong one), but "comfortably" better? Sorry, not for my quid.

I don't think that it is too difficult to say that Imran is comfortably better than Terry Alderman. There was nothing special about the guy except 2 Ashes series quite a few years apart where he did really well. Other than that what was special about him? Imran comfortably better than him. Not "comfortably" better all of them though.

But it is equally ridiculous if not more to suggest that those 20 names mentioned are "safely" ahead of Imran as fast bowlers.

 

[smash84]

Nooo. Waqar at his peak was a better bowler than Imran (pretty much everyone else too) and Wasim was no worse than him either.

.

Here is Waqar's peak as a bowler

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...5;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling

If you take Imran's peak before his stress fracture in 1983 then Imran's peak is absolutely phenomenal. Arguably better than Waqar's 4 year peak.

All-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...0;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling

In 24 matches he averages almost 41 with the bat and takes 134 wickets at an average of 16.35. That is an exceptional peak.

20 names off the top of my head. And I stick by every single one of them. Im not going to justify each one individually, or we will be here for a very long time. But in my opinion, they were all better bowlers than Imran, great though he was.

thinking about it, I would add Spofforth, Barnes, Jon Snow, Keith Boyce.

Just shows how many great quicks there have been in history!

How do you think you can justify Terry Alderman as a better bowler???? I would like some reasons on that. It would make for interesting food for thought