CW'S 50 Best ODI Cricketers of all time (voting now open)

[weldone]

I agree that 5 quality bowlers is a must in ODIs and will always advocate playing up the bowling. My point was that players down at 9, 10 and 11 will almost never get to bat much of an innings and if they have to, then the top order has failed.

Look at Stuart Broad for England - he is a top Test #8 but often bats at #10 ODIs, and has only once I can think of played a very good ODI innings.

What makes this worse is that when the top order fails in an ODI they almost always do it taking too much time out of the game. So by the time your no.10 comes into bat it might be basically impossible for him to turn it around, in which case all the lower-order skill in the world won't help. It's not like in a Test match where the tailenders could stop, regroup and try and block out the bowler who's done the damage before pushing on.

So while I can see your point (and besides, you may feel Dev, Pollock, Hadlee and Akram are your best quicks regardless), I still feel batting at no.9 - 11 is almost irrelevant in an ODI, and the only real skill is being able to stick there for a few balls while the remaining finisher or all-rounder gets you there.

I'm just saying that maybe if the 180kph quicks of the Jupiter XI have ripped through a top order of Tendulkar, Lara, Richards et al then Akram isn't going to be able to do much to turn it round for you.

Good point, yeah I agree that beyond no. 8 batting doesn't matter much.

Still if you look at my team, I have Hadlee, Akram and Murali at 9, 10 and 11. Murali is a 'fixed deposit' in an all-time ODI XI, and Akram is almost another. When it comes to Hadlee vs Garner vs McGrath vs Ambrose, I personally don't see much to separate them on bowling alone.

And, regarding Kapil and Pollock at no. 7 and 8, I think you will agree that batting IS important at no. 7 and 8 in ODIs. Plus Pollock is an all-time great ODI bowler too. Kapil is just a shade below an all-time great ODI bowler, but no. 7 is a very important batting position. Can't see Imran being as successful no. 7 batsman in ODIs as Kapil. And can't see Klusener or Symonds being as successful 5th bowler as Kapil.

Btw, lmfao@180 kph Jupiter XI bowlers

 

[The Sean]

Sent.

 

[bagapath]

Good point, yeah I agree that beyond no. 8 batting doesn't matter much.

Still if you look at my team, I have Hadlee, Akram and Murali at 9, 10 and 11. Murali is a 'fixed deposit' in an all-time ODI XI, and Akram is almost another. When it comes to Hadlee vs Garner vs McGrath vs Ambrose, I personally don't see much to separate them on bowling alone.

And, regarding Kapil and Pollock at no. 7 and 8, I think you will agree that batting IS important at no. 7 and 8 in ODIs. Plus Pollock is an all-time great ODI bowler too. Kapil is just a shade below an all-time great ODI bowler, but no. 7 is a very important batting position. Can't see Imran being as successful no. 7 batsman in ODIs as Kapil. And can't see Klusener or Symonds being as successful 5th bowler as Kapil.

Btw, lmfao@180 kph Jupiter XI bowlers

however anybody looks at your team, a bowling attack of hadlee, akram, pollock, murali and kapil is not too far from the best combination the world can put together. i dont want to get into whether or not their batting will be put to use in a typical ODI game. but purely as a bowling unit, it has everything going for it. pace, swing, reverse swing, cut, left-right variation, spin, economy, accuracy, pace change, swinging yorkers.... this is as close to an ideal combination anyone can come up with.

 

[weldone]

however anybody looks at your team, a bowling attack of hadlee, akram, pollock, murali and kapil is not too far from the best combination the world can put together. i dont want to get into whether or not their batting will be put to use in a typical ODI game. but purely as a bowling unit, it has everything going for it. pace, swing, reverse swing, cut, left-right variation, spin, economy, accuracy, pace change, swinging yorkers.... this is as close to an ideal combination anyone can come up with.

yes...that was the idea precisely...strengthening the batting without compromising on the bowling, if possible...

 

[smash84]

Good point, yeah I agree that beyond no. 8 batting doesn't matter much.

Still if you look at my team, I have Hadlee, Akram and Murali at 9, 10 and 11. Murali is a 'fixed deposit' in an all-time ODI XI, and Akram is almost another. When it comes to Hadlee vs Garner vs McGrath vs Ambrose, I personally don't see much to separate them on bowling alone.

And, regarding Kapil and Pollock at no. 7 and 8, I think you will agree that batting IS important at no. 7 and 8 in ODIs. Plus Pollock is an all-time great ODI bowler too. Kapil is just a shade below an all-time great ODI bowler, but no. 7 is a very important batting position. Can't see Imran being as successful no. 7 batsman in ODIs as Kapil. And can't see Klusener or Symonds being as successful 5th bowler as Kapil.

Btw, lmfao@180 kph Jupiter XI bowlers

Definitely batting is important in an ODI and as much as I highly rate Imran (I think he is the greatest cricketer after the Don and Sobers in test matches and arguably the greatest ODI captain ever) I don't think his batting or bowling was ever good enough in ODIs to warrant him a selection in the all time ODI XI. Dev was a better bowler in ODIs and maybe not as solid a batsman as Imran but much better as a lower order bat. He could make quick runs when needed and was suited to batting at No 7 or No 8. Imran was not really suited to anything below number 6.

 

[MW1304]

My list has been sent. Look forward to the result of this.

 

[ankitj]

There's plenty wrong with that XI, but Dhoni over Gilchrist is the most mind boggling.

An average that is 13 runs better than Gilchrist, doesn't make Dhoni even comparable because Gilchrist is an Aussie? This smugness sometimes gets to me.

 

[Himannv]

An average that is 13 runs better than Gilchrist, doesn't make Dhoni even comparable because Gilchrist is an Aussie? This smugness sometimes gets to me.

Nothing wrong with picking Dhoni over Gilchrist IMO. Having said that, Gilchrist has been rather devastating at times and will be my first choice pick of the two.

 

[NUFAN]

Thanks again for everyone sending in the lists. I haven't tallied up the last 4 or so yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing the order once I've done that.

Also just a reminder, everyone has just over 24 hours to send in a list, if you are keen.

 

[Fusion]

Out of curiosity, how many people participated?

 

[bagapath]

dude... wait till monday morning please.... most of the guys will be free to send their lists only over the weekend i assume.... (of course i sent mine long ago but i dont have the weekday/weekend division in my profession).... you dont want guys to bug you after you start posting the results to be included... give it one additional day please.... the more the merrier...

 

[Nate]

They already had last weekend. Pretty keen to see the results.

 

[morgieb]

Wonder whether there'll be a hoax ala Don Bradman #8.

Although I suppose in OD cricket the #1 cricketer isn't as clear cut as tests.

 

[ankitj]

Country wise breakup of my Top 25:

AUS	7
WI	5
IND	4
PAK	4
SA	3
NZ	1
SL	1

@Nufan - I think I sent you 26 names. Please knock off the last one.

 

[NUFAN]

Out of curiosity, how many people participated?

25 people have participated so far. Hopefully a few more do participate as I'm going to close the nominations tomorrow.

@Nufan - I think I sent you 26 names. Please knock off the last one.

No worries, done.


One last time, here is the list again..

Abbas, Zaheer
Agarkar, Ajit
Afridi, Shahid
Akhtar, Shoaib
Akram, Wasim
Al Hasan, Shakib
Ambrose, Curtly
Amla, Hashim
Anwar, Saeed
Astle, Nathan
Bevan, Michael
Bichel, Andy
Bond, Shane
Border, Allan
Bracken, Nathan
Broad, Stuart
Cairns, Chris
Cairns, Lance
Chappell, Greg
Chatfield, Ewan
Cronje, Hansie
Crowe, Martin
de Silva, Aravinda
Dev, Kapil
de Villiers, AB
Dhoni, MS
Donald, Allan
Fairbrother, Neil
Fleming, Damien
Fleming, Stephen
Flintoff, Andrew
Flower, Andy
Ganguly, Sourav
Garner, Joel
Gayle, Chris
Gibbs, Herschelle
Gilchrist, Adam
Gillespie, Jason
Gough, Darren
Greenidge, Gordon
Hadlee, Richard
Harris, Chris
Harvey, Ian
Hayden, Matthew
Haynes, Desmond
Hogg, Brad
Holding, Michael
Hussey, Michael
Inzaman-Ul, Haq
Jayasuriya, Sanath
Jones, Dean
Kallis, Jacques
Khan, Imran
Kirsten, Gary
Klusener, Lance
Knight, Nick
Kumble, Anil
Lamb, Allan
Lara, Brian
Lee, Brett
Lillee, Dennis
Lloyd, Clive
Marshall, Malcolm
Marsh, Geoff
Martyn, Damien
McCullum, Brendon
McGrath, Glenn
Miandad, Javed
Mills, Kyle
Muralitharan, Muttiah
Mushtaq, Saqlain
Nash, Dion
Ntini, Makhaya
O'Donnell, Simon
Pietersen, Kevin
Ponting, Ricky
Pollock, Shaun
Ranatunga, Arjuna
Razzaq, Abdul
Richards, Viv
Rhodes, Jonty
Sangakarra, Kumar
Sehwag, Virender
Singh, Harbhajan
Singh, Yuvraj
Sobers, Garfield
Streak, Heath
Symonds, Andrew
Tendulkar, Sachin
Tikolo, Steve
Trescothick, Marcus
Turner, Glenn
Twose, Roger
Vaas, Chaminda
Vettori, Daniel
Walsh, Courtney
Warne, Shane
Watson, Shane
Waugh, Mark
Younis, Waqar

So please email who you think are the 25 best ODI cricketers in order to cwnufan@gmail.com, voting closes on Saturday.

 

[weldone]

Country wise breakup of my Top 25:

AUS	7
WI	5
IND	4
PAK	4
SA	3
NZ	1
SL	1

The counts look fine..

Probably you could drop the 4th Indian to take the 2nd Sri Lankan. Doesn't he deserve to be in top 25 (especially when you take his bowling into account, too)?

 

[Himannv]

Finally got down to doing this. Sent a list of 25 names but I'm pretty sure there's something messed up in the ranking and I've eliminated some players whom I didn't want to.. Ah well, was tough.

 

[ankitj]

The counts look fine..

Probably you could drop the 4th Indian to take the 2nd Sri Lankan. Doesn't he deserve to be in top 25 (especially when you take his bowling into account, too)?

I know. I will find many such possible changes if I look at my list again. Beyond first 5-7, I think I put down the names as they came to my mind.

 

[NUFAN]

Voting will close in 15 hours, and I'll try and start the countdown soon after, although it depends on how the weekend folds..

 

[G.I.Joe]

Will send within the next 12 hours or so. Please wait. You know you want to, NUFAN.