Cricket -- Hall Of Fame

[Anil]

He probably needed to score around another 10 more runs per innings to be included.

Fair dinkum, if I could include some recently retired players, Ranatunga wouldn't make it in my Hall of Fame if I had 155 choices..

but he had the all-important better strike rate, don't you get it?

 

[susudear]

Better SR

but he had the all-important better strike rate, don't you get it?

At what? Gobbling Mars bars?

 

[NUFAN]

but he had the all-important better strike rate, don't you get it?

No I don't get your theory at all.

Are you referring to his ODI srike rate, it wasn't even exceptional and I'm fairly sure that the main reason why people got inducted was because of their Test performances, not ODI.

 

[biased indian]

No I don't get your theory at all.

Are you referring to his ODI srike rate, it wasn't even exceptional and I'm fairly sure that the main reason why people got inducted was because of their Test performances, not ODI.

why not if only in ODI but significant contribution..i would have him ...one day they will include bevan ..may be not any time too soon but it would have to be based on his ODI performence

Tennis does not include people based on their singles performance..they do enter doubles players also which is a level down simillar to test and ODI

 

[pasag]

No Vic, no credibility.

 

[Ikki]

if players like Gavasker and boycotte can make it then i dont see any reason why ranatunga didn't make it.. or can't make it

LOL, is this a serious statement? Arjuna shouldn't be there because he was average at best.

 

[G.I.Joe]

LOL, is this a serious statement? Arjuna shouldn't be there because he was average at best.

Don't you get it? The evil BCCI kept him out. What a travesty

 

[superkingdave]

Anyone who can take a 5fer against the French at the age of 49 needs to be in there, but i can't see Ken Higgs name anywhere....list invalid.

Seriously though am i right in thinking this list has been around since 2003 and they just decided to change the name now?

It's also my understanding that the guys who are on the list already get to (or are at least involved in) decide which new players get admitted to their club. Could make for some interesting selections imo with players from the 60's-80's becoming over representated

 

[haroon510]

i just don't get it why Ranatunga is so underrated here...

most people are forgeting that Ranatunga and De silva were the one who carried Sri Lanka through out late 80s and until mid 90s and they made them world champion.. it was mostly their conterbutions that made Sri Lanka the world cup winner... yet none of them are in that list..

look i have said it before and i don't wana start this again..any average player who spend 10 hours out in the middle and face 400 balls can make as many hundreds and score as much as Boycotte and Gavasker did.. but the difference would be how much runs can they make in that period of time and while facing the same amount of deliveries...both gavasker and boycotte would spend that much time and face that many delieveries to make 50s or even 100 which is a prove of their definsive style... apprently both gavasker and boycotte never played aggrassive cricket..it isn't hard to see why Sir Viv Richards is considered most players favorite cricketer.. and most people would prefer watching Sir Richards rather than both Gavasker and boycotte..

 

[zaremba]

i just don't get it why Ranatunga is so underrated here...

most people are forgeting that Ranatunga and De silva were the one who carried Sri Lanka through out late 80s and until mid 90s and they made them world champion.. it was mostly their conterbutions that made Sri Lanka the world cup winner... yet none of them are in that list..

look i have said it before and i don't wana start this again..any average player who spend 10 hours out in the middle and face 400 balls can make as many hundreds and score as much as Boycotte and Gavasker did.. but the difference would be how much runs can they make in that period of time and while facing the same amount of deliveries...both gavasker and boycotte would spend that much time and face that many delieveries to make 50s or even 100 which is a prove of their definsive style... apprently both gavasker and boycotte never played aggrassive cricket..it isn't hard to see why Sir Viv Richards is considered most players favorite cricketer.. and most people would prefer watching Sir Richards rather than both Gavasker and boycotte..

Sri Lanka won a one-day cup competition in 1996 but I don't think this makes Ranatunga a great player, or even a particularly good one. He averaged in the mid-30s in both Tests and ODIs, and scored 8 hundreds in 364 international matches. Overall that record is too mediocre to warrant selection for a Hall of Fame.

To argue, on the basis of strike rates, that Ranatunga was somehow superior to (or even comparable with) Boycott or Gavaskar is genuinely laughable.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Oh, and I wouldn't have Ian Botham in there either.

 

[bagapath]

i just don't get it why Ranatunga is so underrated here...

mate, i am sure ranatunga is rated the same anywhere outside his house. i cant imagine three serious cricket fans sitting together and agreeing on ranatunga as an all time great. dont tell me there is something wrong with this forum in not seeing his genius the rest of the world is celebrating.

i dont fully agree with this selection to be honest, but leaving arjuna is definitely not a concern for me. ranatunga's contribution to sri lankan cricket is very valuable because of the world cup win. but one tournament win, however big it might be, doesnt make the captain an all time legend. remember, mark taylor was a superior captain in tests and was way way better than arjuna as a batsman and even he has not made it to this selection.

kapil, imran, border and clive lloyd are in not only because they are world cup winning captains. look at their overall records and their key performances in so many memorable instances all around the world; you'll see why ranatunga doesnt belong there.

for what it is worth here is my opinion on sri lankan cricketers.

greatest ever: mutthiah muralitharan
best ever batsman: aravinda de silva
most exciting to watch: sanath jayasuriya
most stylish: roy dias, mahela jayawardane
most intelligent cricketer: kumara sangakkara
one player i wish i had seen: mahadevan sathasivam

murali is certainly an all-time legend and will be inducted into the hall of fame. the next best SL cricketers are aravinda and sanath and they dont deserve to be in the hall of fame.

also, there is no way ranatunga's name can be mentioned in the same breath as gavaskar's and boycott's. two bonafide batting legends with 8000 + runs and more than 20 centuries with 45+ batting averages, match winning knocks in oversees tests, runs against the best bowlers in the world.... ranatunga cant hold a candle to them

 

[bagapath]

Oh, and I wouldn't have Ian Botham or Kapil Dev in there either.

of all the great players who have played this game, ian botham is the only one to have scored in excess of 10 centuries (14) and taken more than 10 fivefers (27) in test cricket. how can you ignore such all round skills? the closest to him is kapil with 8 centuries and 23 fivefers. they were match winners and entertainers of the highest quality. a hall of fame without them, botham in particular, would not have any credibility.

 

[susudear]

Sathasivam

one player i wish i had seen: mahadevan sathasivam

Isn't he the one who played against Don Bradman when he toured Ceylon in 1948?

Aye: He is.

Captained All-Ceylon in that match vs Aussies, and Aussies declared for 184/8! Bradman scored only 20 (apparently his only match in the subcontinent I guess)

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1940S/1947-48/AUS_IN_CEYLON/AUS_CEYLON_27MAR1948.html

Wikipedia lists two glorious tributes from two Windies legends :

Garry Sobers called "the greatest batsman ever on earth," and Frank Worrell called him "the best batsman he had ever seen".

Also some shady stuff about his personal life as well.

Edit again : Bradman played another match against Ceylon in 1930. This time he was hit wicket for a golden duck. Seems Bradman had Ponting fever, when it came to playing in the subcontinent.

 

[fredfertang]

Judging by some of the views expressed on these forums there is a revisionist school of thought about ITB which judges him on his post 86/87 career and not the brilliance of what he achieved in his pomp

 

[GIMH]

It's more looking at overall stats, I think

 

[bagapath]

Isn't he the one who played against Don Bradman when he toured Ceylon in 1948?

Aye: He is.

Captained All-Ceylon in that match vs Aussies, and Aussies declared for 184/8! Bradman scored only 20 (apparently his only match in the subcontinent I guess)

http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1940S/1947-48/AUS_IN_CEYLON/AUS_CEYLON_27MAR1948.html

Wikipedia lists two glorious tributes from two Windies legends :

Garry Sobers called "the greatest batsman ever on earth," and Frank Worrell called him "the best batsman he had ever seen".

Also some shady stuff about his personal life as well.

he was accused of murdering his wife and put behind bars for three months but was absolved of the crime once they found the real murderer. still he decided to leave sri lanka since he found that his social standing had come down with his incarceration, and went on to captain malaysia/ singapore where he spent the rest of his life. vivid descriptions of his batting style found in old articles and one anecdotal evidence from an old timer in chennai who had seen him live, have made me really curious

 

[Jamee999]

I'd have [just from that list]:

Border
O'Reilly
Bedi
Statham
Lloyd
Walcott
Compton
Lillee
Bradman
Weekes
Worrell
Trueman
Sobers
Boycott
Headley
Greenidge
Gooch
Chappell
Botham
Chappell
Imran
Hobbs
Miandad
Laker
Dev
Miller
Hutton
Marshall
Holding
Harvey
May
Lindwall
Hadlee
Benaud
Gavaskar
Barnes
Viv Richards
Hammond
Grace
Rhodes

 

[susudear]

Good article

he was accused of murdering his wife and put behind bars for three months but absolved of the crime once they found the real murderer. still he decided to leave sri lanka since he found that his social standing had come down with his incarceration, and went on to captain malaysia/ singapore where he spent the rest of his life. vivid descriptions of his batting style found in old articles and one anecdotal evidence from an old timer in chennai who had seen him live, have made me really curious

Found this article on him, extolling an innings of his at Chepauk, Madras.

A SriLankan master

An unsung legend indeed!

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Using the players listed and my rough criteria I have

Any particular reason you didn't pick Border? Not that I'm a particular fan of his who now wants to burn down your house or anything, just curious. I'd consider him to have a similar sort of claim to someone like Gooch, maybe even a little stronger.