Cricketweb's twenty greatest ODI players of all time

[Red]

Noting the conversation happening currently around the 5 greatest ODI players of all time, celebrating the World Cup that is happening at the same time, we should have a thread for the greatest 20 ODI cricketers. It's an interesting conversation imo, because there's a lot to consider. Raw stats don't tell a true story, as we have seen scoring rates rapidly increase in last last couple of decades. So, as a collective, will we acknowledge the early legends, or will we ignore them, or on the contrary, will we get sentimental and remember our childhood heroes? Hopefully there will be some good discussion as well.

How the voting will work

Nominate your top twenty cricketers

Your #1 player will receive 7 votes
Your #2 player will receive 6 votes
Your #3 player will receive 7 votes
Your #4 player will receive 4 votes
Your #5 player will receive 3 votes
Your #6 to #10 players will each receive 2 votes
Your #11 to # 20 players will each receive 1 vote

 

[viriya]

The problem with this is people overrate pure batsmen and bowlers over all-rounders. Better to have separate batting and bowling lists imo.

For example, Glenn McGrath will be rated higher than Shaun Pollock as an ODI cricketer in most lists most likely, but Pollock was definitely the better ODI cricketer.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Noting the conversation happening currently around the 5 greatest ODI players of all time, celebrating the World Cup that is happening at the same time, we should have a thread for the greatest 20 ODI cricketers. It's an interesting conversation imo, because there's a lot to consider. Raw stats don't tell a true story, as we have seen scoring rates rapidly increase in last last couple of decades. So, as a collective, will we acknowledge the early legends, or will we ignore them, or on the contrary, will we get sentimental and remember our childhood heroes? Hopefully there will be some good discussion as well.

How the voting will work

Nominate your top twenty cricketers

Your #1 player will receive 7 votes
Your #2 player will receive 6 votes
Your #3 player will receive 7 votes
Your #4 player will receive 4 votes
Your #5 player will receive 3 votes
Your #6 to #10 players will each receive 2 votes
Your #11 to # 20 players will each receive 1 vote

Imo a scoring system where there's a bit of a gap between 1, 2 and 3 is the best method. Like 12 for 1st, 9 for 2nd and 7 for 3rd or something similar. Makes having players at the very top of your list important without skewing the results.

 

[smash84]

Imo a scoring system where there's a bit of a gap between 1, 2 and 3 is the best method. Like 12 for 1st, 9 for 2nd and 7 for 3rd or something similar. Makes having players at the very top of your list important without skewing the results.

But that probably ends up showing a much larger gap between players than there actually is ala espncricinfo ODI greats exercise

 

[Red]

Imo a scoring system where there's a bit of a gap between 1, 2 and 3 is the best method. Like 12 for 1st, 9 for 2nd and 7 for 3rd or something similar. Makes having players at the very top of your list important without skewing the results.

I see your point but I'm not sure there are any significant outliers in ODI cricket that warrant a point gap that is drastic. As in, Viv is the greatest in my opinion, but he isn't massively greater than Sachin or quite a few others. But I'm open to be corrected on this.

 

[Red]

The problem with this is people overrate pure batsmen and bowlers over all-rounders. Better to have separate batting and bowling lists imo.

For example, Glenn McGrath will be rated higher than Shaun Pollock as an ODI cricketer in most lists most likely, but Pollock was definitely the better ODI cricketer.

Once again, I see this point and get it, but I think that on cricketweb people know enough to not make this mistake. In the ATG thread, we consistently see people including Pollock, Kapil and Klusener in their ATG teams.

 

[Red]

Anyway, voting will be in the thread and will be transparent. I'll let it run a few weeks before it closes and we tally the results. People can change their 20s as we go if they wish to,

 

[Dan]

1. SR Tendulkar
2. IVA Richards
3. MG Bevan
4. MS Dhoni
5. Wasim Akram

6. GD McGrath
7. AB de Villiers
8. AC Gilchrist
9. J Garner
10. M Muralitharan

11. RT Ponting
12. Zaheer Abbas
13. HM Amla
14. L Klusener
15. SM Pollock
16. Virat Kohli
17. DL Vettori
18. SE Bond
19. Saqlain Mushtaq
20. MA Starc

Honourable mentions:
B Lee, A Flintoff, D Jones, Kapil Dev, S Jayasuriya, Javed Miandad, I Harvey, C Harris, R Binny.


3 Indians, 2 West Indians, 5 Australians, 3 Pakistanis, 4 South Africans, 2 New Zealanders, 1 Sri Lankan.

 

[smash84]

Bond is there but no waqar younis?

 

[OverratedSanity]

But that probably ends up showing a much larger gap between players than there actually is ala espncricinfo ODI greats exercise

But that method more accurately reflects the overall opinion on the actual position of cricketers involved. The method where #1 is only worth 1 measly point more than #2 doesn't make sense to me. Sure it could be abused like any system ever, but I've seen that most of the time, it produces results properly reflecting the participants' opinions.

 

[smash84]

just for your reference

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/cri...0-best-odi-cricketers-all-time-countdown.html

 

[OverratedSanity]

I see your point but I'm not sure there are any significant outliers in ODI cricket that warrant a point gap that is drastic. As in, Viv is the greatest in my opinion, but he isn't massively greater than Sachin or quite a few others. But I'm open to be corrected on this.

Agree but it's just my opinion that placing a guy as #1 should count for more than just 1 point more than #2.

 

[Dan]

Bond is there but no waqar younis?

I saw most of Waqar at the tail end of his career, and Bond at his peak. Personal preference resulting from that, I suppose. Not much in it -- keep in mind I haven't actually ordered the middle 5 and the final 10 because they're all worth equal points.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Anyway, I'll do my list:

1) Viv Richards
2) Sachin Tendulkar
3) Wasim Akram
4) MS Dhoni
5) Glenn McGrath
6) Joel Garner
7) Michael Bevan
8) Mutthiah Muralitharan
9) Adam Gilchrist
10) Sanath Jayasuriya
11) AB de Villiers
12) Lance Klusener
13) Saqlain Mushtaq
14) Virat Kohli
15) Ricky Ponting
16) Andrew Symonds
17) Lasith Malinga
18) Mark Waugh
19) Andrew Flintoff
20) Damien Martyn

 

[viriya]

This is my attempt to take the term "cricketer" to heart, and fielding into account as much as possible:

1. Viv Richards
2. Jacques Kallis
3. Shaun Pollock
4. Sanath Jayasuriya
5. Ricky Ponting

6. AB de Villiers
7. Wasim Akram
8. Andrew Flintoff
9. Sachin Tendulkar
10. Brett Lee

11. Chaminda Vaas
12. Muttiah Muralitharan
13. Kumar Sangakkara
14. Michael Hussey
15. Kapil Dev
16. Imran Khan
17. Lance Klusener
18. Richard Hadlee
19. Adam Gilchrist
20. Glenn McGrath

Honorable mentions: Virender Sehwag, Michael Bevan, Shane Warne, Daniel Vettori, Chris Cairns, Shakib Al Hasan, Waqar Younis, MS Dhoni

5 Australians, 4 South Africans, 4 Sri Lankans, 2 Indians, 2 Pakistanis, 1 West Indian, 1 New Zealander, 1 Englishman.

Ponting, AB and Hussey benefit significantly from taking fielding into account, while Dhoni, Afridi and Shakib suffer. Sanga and Gilly benefit from being solid keepers.

 

[Dan]

OS with a vote for Marto! Riggins likes this post.

Should start campaigns for our players of choice IMO

 

[SuperMurali]

1 King Viv Richards
2 AB de Villiers
3 Sachin Tendulkar
4 Joel Garner
5 Muttiah Muralidaran
6 Imran Khan
7Wasim Akram
8 MS Dhoni
9 Shaun Pollock
10 Ricky Ponting
11 Allan Donald
12 Michael Bevan
13 Adam Gilchrist
14 Glenn McGrath
15 Virat Kohli
16 Richard Hadlee
17 Sanath Jayasuriya
18 Brian Lara
19 Jacques Kallis
20 Chris Harris (for sentimental reasons)

 

[smash84]

am pretty sure Wasim should rank as a better ODI cricketer than Imran

 

[viriya]

am pretty sure Wasim should rank as a better ODI cricketer than Imran

What do you think of my list?

 

[smash84]

What do you think of my list?

I would definitely disagree with your list especially the order of the rankings if not the people themselves. How can you have the likes of chaminda vaas over waqar younis? And wasim so low?