5 cricketers of the century and a bit?

[hang on]

Who would/should they be? When such an exercise was first conducted by Wisden in '96, the 5 were:

Bradman
Sobers
Hobbs
Richards
Warne

I believe - though I am not totally sure about it - that when the exercise was reprised in '00, the same 5 were again selected.

Now the field would be a more competitive one with the addition of a few more names - Tendulkar, Gichrist, Kallis, Lara, Murali.

Note: I will freely confess that I felt that the methodology (simplistically construed) adopted by Wisden was rather strange; in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, it was actually somewhat biased in favour of the countries with the longest cricketing histories. Essentially, the number of voters (cricketing and cricket related worthies from around the globe) were in proportion to the length of time that their countries had been playing tests, a rather strange way of conducting such an exercise, and one that would go a long way towards explaining how Warne (in '96) was chosen as one of the cricketers of the century ahead of more deserving candidates.

Please feel free to choose your 5, preferably in descending order of importance, using any combination of cricketing prowess and influence on the game. Interesting digressions are also appreciated, though preferably not those related to voting and public choice theories!

 

[Spikey]

Bradman
Sobers
Hobbs
Richards
Warne

 

[cnerd123]

Bradman
Warne
Murali
Sobers
Tendulkar (Just barely)

 

[smash84]

I did feel that Warne in 96 didn't deserve that crown. But now having followed all his career I think he should be there

Bradman
Imran Khan
Gary Sobers
Richards/Tendulkar
Warne/Murali

I am undecided between the 4 and 5 positions.

 

[hang on]

I feel that Gilchrist deserves to be there.

And - completely out on a limb here - if a few, admittedly big, boxes are ticked in the next couple of years, Sehwag could well make it in future installments of this endeavour. He has completely redefined opening in tests, and the effects of this are still to be realised and appreciated fully.

 

[Zinzan]

Kallis & Imran bump Richards & Warne for mine (assuming of course Wisden mean exclusively "Test players" here).

In no particular order;

Bradman
Sobers
Hobbs
Imran
Kallis

 

[Shri]

Top 5 from 2000-present:

Tendulkar
Kallis
Muralitharan
Gilchrist
McGrath

Qualification criteria set by me is that a player should have played cricket for at least 7 years in this decade.

 

[Teja.]

Bradman
Imran
Sobers
Hadlee
Miller

 

[hang on]

zinzan,

not sure that it was only test cricket that was covered. not that it really matters. the true greats were pretty good in all forms of the game.

 

[Howe_zat]

Imran
Hadlee
Marshall
Miller
Larwood

 

[vcs]

Bradman
Sobers
Imran
Marshall
Murali

 

[mrcheek]

I see no need to change the original 5. Gilchrist and Tendulkar are all time greats, but hey dont quite touch the original 5.

 

[smash84]

I see no need to change the original 5. Gilchrist and Tendulkar are all time greats, but hey dont quite touch the original 5.

I think that Imran definitely has a strong case to touch and overtake at least 3 of the original 5. Also Tendulkar has one of the most complete records of all test batsmen in the history of the game so he does definitely touch the original 5.

 

[mrcheek]

I think that Imran definitely has a strong case to touch and overtake at least 3 of the original 5. Also Tendulkar has one of the most complete records of all test batsmen in the history of the game so he does definitely touch the original 5.

Tendulkar is VERY close. Maybe if he guides India to World Cup victory, it will push him into the 5 at the expense of Sobers.
Imran I just cant see. Great player (and leader) though he was, he is nowhere near the top 5 of the century.

 

[Shri]

Why keep looking at the last century? Been ten years since it has passed us by. Its time for other guys to be in focus now for all time contention. It felt good to know stuff about pre war and post war cricketers when I started reading about them at first but they are just words to me now as good as they may be. Time to move on imo.

 

[mrcheek]

Why keep looking at the last century? Been ten years since it has passed us by. Its time for other guys to be in focus now for all time contention. It felt good to know stuff about pre war and post war cricketers when I started reading about them at first but they are just words to me now as good as they may be. Time to move on imo.

I think its because if you only count this century, or only count last century, Tendulkar and Gilchrist wouldnt be in contention. By counting both centuries, we can consider their overall record properly! Still dont think theyve quite done enough, although Tendulkar has established himself as India's best ever, and Gilchrist is the best keeper ever.

 

[Somerset]

Pretty happy with the original five and personally can't see any reason now to make changes to that list. I would, however, advocate that Grace, Imran and Hadlee are all worthy of a spot in the top five but removing any of the other five, for me anyway, is a hopeless task!

 

[smash84]

Tendulkar is VERY close. Maybe if he guides India to World Cup victory, it will push him into the 5 at the expense of Sobers.
Imran I just cant see. Great player (and leader) though he was, he is nowhere near the top 5 of the century.

Imran probably has a greater shot at it than Tendulkar because Imran was an all time great bowler and a very handy batsman. His leadership was just phenomenal and left a lasting imprint on Pakistan cricket. One of the pioneers of reverse swing and the first one to bring in neutral umpires. One of the greatest all rounders of all time. Add to that his glamor off the cricket field (which is not relevant) and you have one of the most complete personalities the game has ever seen (except that he was a poor fielder).

 

[hang on]

i would suggest that tendulkar, in terms of test and odi performances, coupled with his influence on the big monetization/corporatisation of indian (and hence international cricket), has to be a shoo in for one of the top 5.

he ticks the boxes of a superlative record (in both forms of the game) and a truly far reaching effect (unparalleled, I would say) on the game - the ushering in of the real era of the big moolah cricketing megafauna. i would even hazard that the ipl (no disrespect to the actual originators of the game, be they kiwi or english) would not be bestriding the cricketing stage like a colossus if it handn't been for tendulkar.

 

[vcs]

Bradman
Sobers
Imran
Marshall
Murali

Actually, I will change this to

Bradman
Sobers
Imran
McGrath
Murali

With all forms of the game taken into account (for players who had the opportunities obviously).