Cricketers over the Decades

[oblongballs]

There is always lots of talk, as it is the case in any sport, of who was the best ever. In cricket, with its 3 distinct roles and changes to conditions, equipment and rules throughout the years, it is even more difficult to answer.

So, I wanted to have a discussion on who the best cricketers and combined elevens have been throughout the decades. Personally I think it is best to go from 1950 on wards. I think it is important to look at those players who played a bulk of their cricket in a particular decade, rather than a great name who may have played 10 tests or so. So I have picked some quite strict criteria.

For the decades 50, 60 and 70, any player available for your pick must have played a minimum of 30 tests.

From the 1980s on wards, a minimum of 30 tests and 60 ODIs. You can pick them across formats or for each format separately, however you wish. This is all in the hopes of defining he best cricketers across the various eras, play styles, conditions and rule changes, beyond simply the hypothetical "who was best".

My list -

The 1950s
Best Batsman: Len Hutton Eng
Best Bowler: Fred Trueman Eng
Wicket Keeper: Godfrey Evans Eng

The 1960s
Best Batsman:Garfield Sobers WI
Best Bowler: Wes Hall WI
Wicket Keeper: JIm Parks Eng

The 1970s
Best Batsman: Viv Richards WI
Best Bowler: Dennis Lillee Aus
Wicket Keeper: Rod Marsh Aus

From now on, I will be picking the best with ODIs in mind, so evenly matched test players will be decided on who was better in ODIs, thus providing someone who was more well rounded and suited to different styles, i.e. a more complete player.

The 1980s
Best Batsman: Viv Richards WI (Miandad and Border were in with a shout too)
Best Bowler: Malcolm Marshall WI
Wicket Keeper: Jeff Dujon WI

The 1990s
Best Batsman: Sachin Tendullkar Ind
Best Bowler: Wasim Akram Pak
Wicket Keeper: Ian Healy Aus

The 00s
Best Batsman: Ricky Ponting Aus
Best Bowler: Muttiah Muralitharan SL
Wicket Keeper: Adam Gilchrist Aus

Edit: As I said, I would also be making combines XIs for each decade and I am starting with my favourite, the 1980s -

1. G. Greenidge
2. D. Haynes
3. Z. Abbas
4. IVA Richards
5. J. Miandad
6. A. Border
7. J. Dujon wk
8. I. Khan c
9. I. Botham
10. R. Hadlee
11. M. Marshall

 

[Adders]

Personally I think it is best to go from 1950 on wards.

Why?

 

[oblongballs]

Why?

Just on the fact that there is more known about those players and far more video available.

If someone would like to go farther back in time, that is fine too.

 

[Adders]

Sorry, It just seems like an arbitrary date that just happens to exclude the best cricketer ever. You want a discussion on "who the best cricketers and combined elevens have been throughout the decades"..........that can't be done without including the 30's and 40's IMO

 

[S.Kennedy]

The 1900s
Best Batsman: Clem Hill (just beats Trumper)
Best Bowler: Hugh Trumble
Wicket Keeper: Lilley

The 1910s
Best Batsman: Hobbs
Best Bowler: Sydney Barnes
Wicket Keeper: Strudwick

The 1920s
Best Batsman: Hobbs (just beats Sutcliffe but you could go either way and Hammond is even in with a shout)
Best Bowler: Tate
Wicket Keeper: Oldfield

The 1930s
Best Batsman: Bradman
Best Bowler: Grimmett (just beats Verity but you could go either way)
Wicket Keeper: Ames or Oldfied?

The 1940s
Best Batsman: Bradman
Best Bowler: Lindwall
Wicket Keeper: Godfrey Evans

 

[Fuller Pilch]

There is always lots of talk, as it is the case in any sport, of who was the best ever. In cricket, with its 3 distinct roles and changes to conditions, equipment and rules throughout the years, it is even more difficult to answer.

So, I wanted to have a discussion on who the best cricketers and combined elevens have been throughout the decades. Personally I think it is best to go from 1950 on wards. I think it is important to look at those players who played a bulk of their cricket in a particular decade, rather than a great name who may have played 10 tests or so. So I have picked some quite strict criteria.

For the decades 50, 60 and 70, any player available for your pick must have played a minimum of 30 tests.

From the 1980s on wards, a minimum of 30 tests and 60 ODIs. You can pick them across formats or for each format separately, however you wish. This is all in the hopes of defining he best cricketers across the various eras, play styles, conditions and rule changes, beyond simply the hypothetical "who was best".

My list -

The 1950s
Best Batsman: Len Hutton Eng
Best Bowler: Fred Trueman Eng
Wicket Keeper: Godfrey Evans Eng

The 1960s
Best Batsman:Garfield Sobers WI
Best Bowler: Wes Hall WI
Wicket Keeper: JIm Parks Eng

The 1970s
Best Batsman: Viv Richards WI
Best Bowler: Dennis Lillee Aus
Wicket Keeper: Rod Marsh Aus

From now on, I will be picking the best with ODIs in mind, so evenly matched test players will be decided on who was better in ODIs, thus providing someone who was more well rounded and suited to different styles, i.e. a more complete player.

The 1980s
Best Batsman: Viv Richards WI (Miandad and Border were in with a shout too)
Best Bowler: Malcolm Marshall WI
Wicket Keeper: Jeff Dujon WI

The 1990s
Best Batsman: Sachin Tendullkar Ind
Best Bowler: Wasim Akram Pak
Wicket Keeper: Ian Healy Aus

The 00s
Best Batsman: Ricky Ponting Aus
Best Bowler: Muttiah Muralitharan SL
Wicket Keeper: Adam Gilchrist Aus

Edit: As I said, I would also be making combines XIs for each decade and I am starting with my favourite, the 1980s -

1. G. Greenidge
2. D. Haynes
3. Z. Abbas
4. IVA Richards
5. J. Miandad
6. A. Border
7. J. Dujon wk
8. I. Khan c
9. I. Botham
10. R. Hadlee
11. M. Marshall

Dujon should bat below Imran, Botham and (possibly) Hadlee

 

[oblongballs]

Sorry, It just seems like an arbitrary date that just happens to exclude the best cricketer ever. You want a discussion on "who the best cricketers and combined elevens have been throughout the decades"..........that can't be done without including the 30's and 40's IMO

You fail to understand the point, this isn't about who is the best ever but who wast he best according to each decade. I know most can easily pick Bradman as the best batsman of 30s, maybe even the 40s and his stats (in particular the gap between him and the next best) would back that up. But are stats enough to define the best bowler and keeper with barely any footage? Not for me.

So that is why I started ranking from 1950 on wards. As I also said, if you want, be my guest and rank as early as you like, it's not an issue but actually make the effort.

Dujon should bat below Imran, Botham and (possibly) Hadlee

I agree, I kinda hastily put that batting order together, I'm going to tweak it a bit now.

 

[oblongballs]

Can't seem to edit my first post, so a tweaked 80s line up:

1. G. Greenidge
2. D. Haynes
3. Z. Abbas
4. IVA Richards
5. J. Miandad
6. A. Border
7. I. Khan c
8. I. Botham
9. Dujon wk
10. R. Hadlee
11. M. Marshall

Bringing it into the current century, my 00s line up -

1. S. Tendulkar
2. M. Hayden
3. R. Ponting c
4. K. Pietersen
5. J. Kallis
6. M. Yousuf
7. A. Gilchrist wk
8. S. Warne
9. M. Muralitharan
10. D. Steyn
11. G. Mcgrath

With the luxury of Kallis, I can play both of the top spinners, if push comes to shove, I could include Anderson instead of Warne. Smith is a bit unlucky to miss out on the openers slot, as is Dravid to find a place in the middle order. They could be part of a squad and take their place instead of Hayden and Yousuf.

 

[oblongballs]

The 1900s
Best Batsman: Clem Hill (just beats Trumper)
Best Bowler: Hugh Trumble
Wicket Keeper: Lilley

The 1910s
Best Batsman: Hobbs
Best Bowler: Sydney Barnes
Wicket Keeper: Strudwick

The 1920s
Best Batsman: Hobbs (just beats Sutcliffe but you could go either way and Hammond is even in with a shout)
Best Bowler: Tate
Wicket Keeper: Oldfield

The 1930s
Best Batsman: Bradman
Best Bowler: Grimmett (just beats Verity but you could go either way)
Wicket Keeper: Ames or Oldfied?

The 1940s
Best Batsman: Bradman
Best Bowler: Lindwall
Wicket Keeper: Godfrey Evans

Good stuff but Bradman doesn't meet the criteria of a minimum of 30 tests in a decade BUT it is acceptable purely because of the amount of cricket lost due to WW2.

 

[AndrewB]

For the 80s team, I'd pick Garner (av 20.6) ahead of Botham (av 32.4): Dujon-Hadlee-Marshall-Garner is hardly a weak tail. (I'd also pick Gavaskar ahead of Haynes, and maybe Crowe, Lloyd or Chappell ahead of Zaheer).

I wouldn't pick Anderson for an England team of the 00s, never mind a World team! Pollock seems an obvious choice if you're picking an extra pace bowler, since it's a weak tail if you pick (say) Gillespie or Hoggard instead of Warne. (Or I guess you could pick Flintoff at 6 and have a 6-man attack).

 

[AndrewB]

Good stuff but Bradman doesn't meet the criteria of a minimum of 30 tests in a decade BUT it is acceptable purely because of the amount of cricket lost due to WW2.

You'd have to drop that criterion: nobody played 30 Tests in the 1910s or 1940s, and only a handful did in the 1900s, 1920s or 1930s.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Yes, two world wars will do that, that and the fact there were only a few test playing nations, three until 1928, three more by 1932, of whom only two used to play with any degree of regularity.

 

[Burgey]

Dujon should bat below Imran, Botham and (possibly) Hadlee

No way on this planet is Hadlee a better bat then Dujon.

 

[oblongballs]

You'd have to drop that criterion: nobody played 30 Tests in the 1910s or 1940s, and only a handful did in the 1900s, 1920s or 1930s.

Yep, it's not a criteria to be used pre 1950 as I mentioned, with regards to the wars and less cricket being played.

No way on this planet is Hadlee a better bat then Dujon.

I agree, it's why I have Dujon above Hadlee but below Khan and Botham.

 

[Flametree]

Having Dujon at 9 and Hadlee at 10 (and Marshall at 11) is ridiculous.

Drop Zaheer, move everyone up a notch, and find a spinner - not the greatest decade for them admittedly, but one of Qadir, Iqbal Qasim, Doshi or Harper were decent enough.

 

[a massive zebra]

1770s
Batsman: John Small
Bowler: Lumpy Stevens
Wicket Keeper: Tom Sueter

1780s
Batsman: William Beldham
Bowler: David Harris
Wicket Keeper: Tom Sueter

1790s
Batsman: William Beldham
Bowler: David Harris
Wicket Keeper: John Hammond

1800s
Batsman: Lord Frederick Beauclerk
Bowler: John Wells
Wicket Keeper: John Hammond

1810s
Batsman: William Lambert
Bowler: Thomas Howard
Wicket Keeper: E. H. Budd

1820s
Batsman: William Ward
Bowler: James Broadbridge
Wicket Keeper: Ned Wenman

1830s
Batsman: Fuller Pilch
Bowler: William Lillywhite
Wicket Keeper: Tom Box

1840s
Batsman: Fuller Pilch
Bowler: William Hillyer
Wicket Keeper: Tom Box

1850s
Batsman: George Parr
Bowler: John Jackson
Wicket Keeper: Tom Lockyer

1860s
Batsman: W.G. Grace
Bowler: George Freeman
Wicket Keeper: Ted Pooley

1870s
Batsman: W.G. Grace
Bowler: Fred Spofforth
Wicket Keeper: Ted Pooley

1880s
Batsman: Arthur Shrewsbury
Bowler: George Lohmann
Wicket Keeper: Jack Blackham

1890s
Batsman: K.S. Ranjitsinhji
Bowler: Tom Richardson
Wicket Keeper: Jack Blackham

1900s
Batsman: Victor Trumper
Bowler: Wilfred Rhodes
Wicket Keeper: Arthur Lilley

1910s
Batsman: Jack Hobbs
Bowler: Sydney Barnes
Wicket Keeper: Herbert Strudwick

1920s
Batsman: Jack Hobbs
Bowler: Maurice Tate
Wicket Keeper: Bert Oldfield

1930s
Batsman: Don Bradman
Bowler: Bill O'Reilly
Wicket Keeper: Bert Oldfield

1940s
Batsman: Don Bradman
Bowler: Ray Lindwall
Wicket Keeper: Don Tallon

1950s
Batsman: Len Hutton
Bowler: Jim Laker
Wicket Keeper: Godfrey Evans

1960s
Batsman: Garry Sobers
Bowler: Fred Trueman
Wicket Keeper: Wally Grout

1970s
Batsman: Viv Richards
Bowler: Dennis Lillee
Wicket Keeper: Syed Kirmani

1980s
Batsman: Javed Miandad
Bowler: Malcolm Marshall
Wicket Keeper: Bob Taylor

1990s
Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar
Bowler: Curtley Ambrose
Wicket Keeper: Rashid Latif

2000s
Batsman: Ricky Ponting
Bowler: Muttiah Muralitharan
Wicket Keeper: Mark Boucher

2010s
Batsman: Kumar Sangakkara
Bowler: Dale Steyn
Wicket Keeper: Prasanna Jayawardene

 

[S.Kennedy]

Who can ever forget Lumpy Stevens?