Cricketweb's twenty greatest ODI players of all time

[Hurricane]

The earlier pioneers of ODI cricket are in danger of being forgotten by the modern power players with the bat technology shorter boundaries etc etc all helping them.

I don't like Dean Jones much, but as a kid I loved Deano the ODI batsman, he was truly a few years ahead of his time in a lot of aspects of ODI batting.

Thanks for this post I think it sums it up nicely

 

[Red]

I can still remember as a kid (maybe 12 years old) at cricket training having the coaches tell a few of us off because we'd started sliding our bats into the crease and turning for the second run while not looking at the ball in the field. Which was something Deano did because he could get that second run. The blind turn!

The coaches were insistent: "you must always watch the ball all the time when you are running between wickets". We were like "but Deano doesn't!"

 

[OverratedSanity]

So Kallis is the 14th greatest ODI player in history? Never saw his greatness as an ODI player. I'm an idiot, so if someone who ranked him high in the voting can please explain it to me in simple terms why they rate him that high, I might warm to him.

Edit: Also, that gap between No.3 and 4 is huge. Far bigger than I expected.

 

[Hurricane]

@RedHill

Thanks for that memory. His running was phenomenal. Him and Greg Matthews in particular together were a sight to behold.

The only saving grace of the list is that Dean at least beat Crowe in the voting because although Martin is the better cricketer - Dean was born for ODIs and far exceeded him the 92 world cup notwithstanding.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Perhaps we need two voting threads - one for impact players, and one for players of value.

For instance Kallis has twice the points Kohli has here which doesn't say much. Kohli is clearly the more impactful player even at this stage of his career while Kallis is the more valuable one.

 

[watson]

So opinions are only valid if you agree with them?

Fair enough, for who am I to quibble with anyones individualism? There should probably be more of it - so Nathan Braken as the greatest ODI of them all then.

I will uncrumple my scribble sheet and make the necessary adjustments when I get a minute

 

[NUFAN]

I really don't understand how Mocks criteria wasn't easier?

 

[watson]

Revised

01. Viv Richards = 473
02. Sachin Tendulkar = 448
03. Wasim Akram = 402
04. Glenn McGrath = 287
05. AB De Villiers = 275
06. MS Dhoni = 263
07. Joel Garner = 261
08. Adam Gilchrist = 260
08. Muttiah Muralitharan = 260
10. Ricky Ponting = 244
11. Michael Bevan = 219
12. Sanath Jayasuriya = 189
13. Shaun Pollock = 175
14. Jacques Kallis = 135
15. Lance Klusener = 125
16. Kapil Dev = 99
17. Dean Jones = 90
18. Allan Donald = 71
19. Waqar Younis = 68
20. Virat Kohli = 65

21. Imran Khan = 57
21. Saqlain Mushtaq = 57
23. Richard Hadlee = 48
24. Brian Lara = 45
24. Kumah Sangakkara = 45
26. Michael Hussey = 42
27. Andrew Flintoff = 36
28. Hashim Amla = 33
29. Andrew Symonds = 31
30. Brett Lee = 30
31. Nathan Bracken = 29
32. Zaheer Abbas = 27
33. Martin Crowe = 26
34. Mark Waugh = 24
35. Chaminda Vaas = 22
36. Matthew Hayden = 21
37. Shaun Marsh = 19
38. Surav Ganguly = 15
39. Adam Voges = 14
39. Daniel Vettori = 14
41. Curtly Ambrose = 12
41. Ryan ten Doeschate = 12
42. Nathan Astle = 11
42. Ajantha Mendis = 11
44. Aravinda De Silva = 10
44. Chris Cairns = 10
46. Shane Bond = 9
46. Shivnarine Chanderpaul 9
48. Simon O'Donnell = 8
48. Michael Kasprowicz 8
50. Javed Miandad = 6
50. Inzamam ul-Haq = 6
50. Gary Kirsten = 6
53. Chris Harris = 5
54. Gordon Greenidge = 4
54. Lasith Malinga = 4
54. Bruce Reid = 4
54. Shane Warne = 4
54. Craig McDermott = 4
59. Yuvraj Singh = 3
59. Desmond Haynes = 3
59. Nick Knight = 3
62. Greg Chappell = 2
62. Lance Cairns = 2
64. Richard Reid = 1
64. Rohit Sharma = 1
64. Damien Martyn = 1
64. Mitchell Starc = 1
64. Brad Williams = 1

 

[viriya]

So Kallis is the 14th greatest ODI player in history? Never saw his greatness as an ODI player. I'm an idiot, so if someone who ranked him high in the voting can please explain it to me in simple terms why they rate him that high, I might warm to him.

Edit: Also, that gap between No.3 and 4 is huge. Far bigger than I expected.

I had him as #1. Depends on how you define ODI cricketer. I think he's definitely top 5 if it's batting + bowling + fielding.

 

[Nate]

Fair enough, for who am I to quibble with anyones individualism? There should probably be more of it - so Nathan Braken as the greatest ODI of them all then.

I will uncrumple my scribble sheet and make the necessary adjustments when I get a minute

You fool!

 

[smash84]

While I rate Wasim as the greatest ODI bowler but surely the difference between him and McGrath is nowhere near 115 points. A points less would be more digestible tbh

And I find it difficult to have Imran as the 21st greatest ODI cricketer of all time and Javed Miandad as joint 50th with inzy. People mixing up test careers as well it seems

 

[cnerd123]

So Kallis is the 14th greatest ODI player in history? Never saw his greatness as an ODI player. I'm an idiot, so if someone who ranked him high in the voting can please explain it to me in simple terms why they rate him that high, I might warm to him.

Team Balance.

With him you could 5 full time bowlers and batting down till 7.

With him, Pollock and Klusener, you could have 6 full time bowlers and batting down to 8.

You also could stack your side with more aggressive, quick scoring batsmen (which SA often have a lot of) while he plays the anchor at the top.

I didn't even vote for him but it's clear to see his value.

 

[harsh.ag]

Violation of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives obviously Arrow would be proud.

 

[Red]

Maybe the only legit top order bat in ODIs who was also a legit 10 over bowler.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Team Balance.

With him you could 5 full time bowlers and batting down till 7.

With him, Pollock and Klusener, you could have 6 full time bowlers and batting down to 8.

You also could stack your side with more aggressive, quick scoring batsmen (which SA often have a lot of) while he plays the anchor at the top.

I didn't even vote for him but it's clear to see his value.

Even among all rounders, I think Flintoff, Pollock, Klusener, Kapil, Jayasuriya brought far more value to a side. It must be said I generally prefer bowling all rounders to batting all rounders in ODIs tough. Kallis' value as a fifth bowler is immense in tests...but in ODIs I'd much rather pick someone like Flintoff or Pollock and get in 50 specialist overs.

Picking the best of the best in ODIs means you'd want to have dynamic batsmen all the way down to 6-7. Kallis was a good anchor but he performed a very specific role and wouldn't be able to adapt as well to different match situations as someone like Hussey for example. Imran and Kallis imo have been overrated slightly solely on the basis of what they bring on paper rather than what they actually brought on field. Having a batsman like Kallis or Imran in an AT XI hurts it more than it helps. They're excellent players, but their relative lack of adaptability means you'r sacrificing a far better batsman for the spot. Balance is all well and good,but in that search for a fifth bowler you've hurt the batting lineup, which is kinda silly and pointless.

 

[harsh.ag]

For example, Yuvraj vs Kallis in ODIs is so close as compared to the results.

 

[cnerd123]

Even among all rounders, I think Flintoff, Pollock, Klusener, Kapil, Jayasuriya brought far more value to a side. It must be said I generally prefer bowling all rounders to batting all rounders in ODIs tough. Kallis' value as a fifth bowler is immense in tests...but in ODIs I'd much rather pick someone like Flintoff or Pollock and get in 50 specialist overs.

Picking the best of the best in ODIs means you'd want to have dynamic batsmen all the way down to 6-7. Kallis was a good anchor but he performed a very specific role and wouldn't be able to adapt as well to different match situations as someone like Hussey for example. Imran and Kallis imo have been overrated slightly solely on the basis of what they bring on paper rather than what they actually brought on field. Having a batsman like Kallis or Imran in an AT XI hurts it more than it helps. They're excellent players, but their relative lack of adaptability means you'r sacrificing a far better batsman for the spot. Balance is all well and good,but in that search for a fifth bowler you've hurt the batting lineup, which is kinda silly and pointless.

Well now, I did specify South Africa for a reason. They had plenty of hard hitting batsmen, plenty of quality bowlers, what their ODI side needed was an World Class top-order anchor and a serviceable fifth/sixth bowler. Kallis was immensely valuable to their ODI side.

You could argue that a side like England's may have had no use for Kallis and Flintoff was better for them...and you could argue that Kallis wouldn't make an ODI ATG side...but that's neither here nor there.

Kallis was a vital cog of the extremely strong SA ODI side of the last couple of decades. He was great value to them. I think it's fair he is rated so high, even tho I wouldn't personally rate him that highly. Hardly a ridiculous claim.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I didn't say it's ridiculous either ***** you little ****.

 

[cnerd123]

Anyways, one of the things I love about ODI's is the planning and strategies that go into getting an ideal balance in the XI. Stuff like turning Haris Sohail into a second spinner, or forcing Jadeja to become a lower order biffer...all this happens when teams just don't have the options available to them to play the kind of XI they want to play. You see guys like Duminy and ABDV bowling crucial overs in a semi final, or someone like Behardien getting game time over David Miller, and you realise how crucial a player like Kallis is. Even if he doesn't walk into an ATG XI, utility players like Kallis, Imran, Yuvraj, Shastri, etc are worth so much for the flexibility they give their sides.

 

[BigBrother]

While I rate Wasim as the greatest ODI bowler but surely the difference between him and McGrath is nowhere near 115 points. A points less would be more digestible tbh

And I find it difficult to have Imran as the 21st greatest ODI cricketer of all time and Javed Miandad as joint 50th with inzy. People mixing up test careers as well it seems

You take ratings and opinions of people here way too seriously if you are actually counting the points and putting weight on them. Opinions here are biased and filled with favoritism just like everywhere else. It's nowhere near the level of a place like the Youtube comments section or other inane places across the internet, but it still is from everything I have seen, very much so in fact. Don't let peer pressure affect how you rate players.

I think lots of unbiased fans do rate McGrath a better specialist bowler while putting more value on Wasim as player. Pollock's case is kind of the same as Wasim, hardly a massive difference between the two (apart from Pollock having like 20x less fanboys). Plenty of people do think McGrath is superior as a bowler than Wasim but it's the tail-end slogging/sticking around that makes a Wasim or Pollock the better players. I would agree with that.

Tbh, you can kind of make the same case for his teammate Brett Lee, but it's hard to compare him with the other 3 as he was probably the greatest strike bowler while being sort of expensive at this level. A bowler like Lee is more comparable to a Waqar Younis and others that are similar.