Battle Of The Fieldsmen

[FaaipDeOiad]

Younis is a pretty good slipper, but he can't match up to many other great slippers throughout history. I always thought slip fielders were overrated anyway. Sure they play an important role, needing to hold on to more catches than in other positions, but most of the time the catches are pretty straightforward.

Slip catching is quite important I think, but it's certainly not the only place you can be a good fielder. They are in the play a lot, and their mistakes are very noticable, so they get plenty of recongition, both good and bad. A lot of the time, if you take a good slip fielder out of the cordon and put him somewhere else he'll be just as effective. Mark Waugh is a good example of this, who was electric at midwicket and a few other positions as well as being one of the best slippers of all time. There are of course exceptions to this rule, like Shane Warne.

One area which is somewhat ignored in these sort of fielding debates is outfielding, but largely the players who are specialist outfielders aren't all that great in any other position, and if you put someone like Andrew Symonds in the outfield (as Australia do in the late overs of ODIs), they are always better than a good outfielder like Brett Lee.

 

[shortpitched713]

I suggest starting the list fresh and then getting people nominating who they think should be one it. The player in question must receive 3 nominations before going on.

Would take way too much time to get started though, tbh.

 

[adharcric]

Afridi's a pretty good fielder actually. Probably the most athletic fielder out of the current Pakistani lot, although thats not really saying much.
Imran isn't good enough to be in, so I'd keep Afridi in just to have some Pakistani representation.

If you want one for the sake of representation, go for Ijaz Ahmed.

 

[shortpitched713]

A lot of the time, if you take a good slip fielder out of the cordon and put him somewhere else he'll be just as effective. Mark Waugh is a good example of this, who was electric at midwicket and a few other positions as well as being one of the best slippers of all time. There are of course exceptions to this rule, like Shane Warne.

Yeah that is true, and I'd suspect that there are quite a few slippers in international cricket right now that could do well in other positions. I guess I don't view slip fielders that highly though, because at the level I play most slip fielders are of the Shane Warne variety, too slow, too fat, or too old to play anywhere else.

 

[shortpitched713]

If you want one for the sake of representation, go for Ijaz Ahmed.

Not too bothered in any case, he'll probably go out in the first round anyway.

 

[nightprowler10]

If you want one for the sake of representation, go for Ijaz Ahmed.

Hello! Younis Khan. Even Shoaib Malik is better than Afridi.

 

[chaminda_00]

Take out the likes of Murali, Imran and Afridi, there's no way they are even close to deserving. Kapil and Lara probably shouldn't be there either, and wasn't Ian Chappell a better fielder than his brother Greg?

I don't think he was better, but he should we in this battle, one of the best slip fieldsmen Australia has produced.

I would also have Andrew Flintoff, gun slip fielder and very good in the outfield as well. Also Brain McMillian should be in this, another quality slipper, South Africa slip catches went down considerbly when he retired. Also Bland from South Africa was meant to be a gun cover fieldsmen.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I don't think he was better, but he should we in this battle, one of the best slip fieldsmen Australia has produced.

I would also have Andrew Flintoff, gun slip fielder and very good in the outfield as well. Also Brain McMillian should be in this, another quality slipper, South Africa slip catches went down considerbly when he retired. Also Bland from South Africa was meant to be a gun cover fieldsmen.

Excellent call with Bland, forgot about him. Flintoff should be there yeah, I considered nominating him but went with Trescothick instead.

 

[haroon510]

i wonder why shoaib malik is not in there for pakistan. he is one of the best fielders in pakistani team right now.
if u r considering fielders then u should consider thier positions of fielding also. some people named slip fielders it is important position but even cricketers like inzi and others are good slip fielders. at least they catch the ball. the best fielders are i think the one who fields in point position. they not only catch the ball but save runs also.
Jonty Rhodes and Ricky Ponting are the best fielders that i have seen playing.

 

[Turbinator]

Okay after taking everyone's comments in consideration, I have came up with this list...

I am thinking of keeping 40 players, so now if you would like someone to replace someone from this list, please state the name of the player and the name of player who you want to replace along with a valid reason.

1) Ricky Ponting
2) Mark Waugh
3) Mark Taylor
4) Roger Harper
5) Viv Richards
6) Clive Lloyd
7) Derek Randall
8) Jonty Rhodes
9) Herschelle Gibbs
10) Bob Simpson
11) Garry Sobers
12) Gus Logie
13) Sachin Tendulkar
14) Mohammad Kaif
15) Yuvraj Singh
16) Paul Collingwood
17) Mohammad Azharuddin
18) Trescothick
19) Suresh Raina
20) Brian Lara
21) Andrew Flintoff
22) Ian Chappell
23) Mike Hussey
24) Shaun Pollock
25) Greg Chappell
26) Mahela Jayawardene
27) Tillakaratne Dilshan
28) Shoaib Malik
29) Dwayne Bravo
30) Andrew Symonds
31) Michael Clarke
32) Wally Hammond
33) Dwayne Smith
34) Ian Botham
35) Steve Waugh
36) Colin Bland
37) Lou Vincent
38) David Boon
39) Stephen Fleming
40) Younis Khan

 

[adharcric]

Eknath Solkar for Brian Lara
Michael Bevan for Younis/Tendulkar/someone else

 

[chaminda_00]

Getting better, but Brain McMillian are ten times better slip fieldsmen then Mahela Jayawardene.

Shoaib Malik, Lara, Khan, Dilshan, Pollock are all nothing special either.

It wouldn't be too hard to find some better fieldsmen...Chris Harris, Monty Noble, Jack Hobbs etc

 

[chaminda_00]

Eknath Solkar for Brian Lara
Michael Bevan for Younis/Tendulkar/someone else

Beven is nothing special..

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Why 40 players? Wouldn't 32, 48 or 64 make more sense?

I think Matthew Hayden should be there, but there's nobody who should necessarily be taken out. I think Hayden is definiately a better fielder than Younis Khan or Sachin Tendulkar, though.

Chopra should be there too. He's an excellent short leg fieldsman, and it's basically the only thing he was decent at in test cricket, so it warrants some recognition. I'd add Rahul Dravid and Shane Warne too.

You may as well go up to 48, have three each in the first battle and then two each for the final 16.

edit: Just noticed that Shaun Pollock is still in there. He should definitely go for Hayden or one of the others listed above.

 

[adharcric]

That's Solkar, McMillan, Hayden, Chopra, Dravid, Warne. 32 is the best option IMO.

 

[chaminda_00]

What about Ian Bell as a short leg specialist?

 

[Turbinator]

Well Sachin stays in, my personal favourite... however this is getting hard to please everyone...

 

[Turbinator]

That's Solkar, McMillan, Hayden, Chopra, Dravid, Warne. 32 is the best option IMO.

Okay fine 32 it is... keep suggesting... I'll come up with a list of 32 soon.

EDIT: Wait no this is too hard to narrow down... I'll stick with Faaip's idea of 48

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

May as well just add 8 to the last list of 40 and go with that. The likes of Lara and Pollock will get voted out in the first round anyway.

 

[Turbinator]

May as well just add 8 to the last list of 40 and go with that. The likes of Lara and Pollock will get voted out in the first round anyway.

Sounds good but I want to just give everyone, especially those who are sleeping, a chance to have a say in this.