ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
No. That would be Gordon Greenidge
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Glenn Turner - How highly do you rate him?
- Thread starter Johan
- Start date
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
What? He was much better than an Elgar. The 70s was a great era for openers - Gavaskar, B Richards, Greenidge, Boycott, Barlow, Amiss, and Turner. He was a player of that standard.
Zinzan
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Extremely good batsman, and an absolute giant at FC level.
Had it not been for run-ins with NZ cricket admin, I suspect he would have finished with 70-80 tests, with around 15 100s and a similar average as he finished up with around the mid 40s mark.
Unlike some others above, I really enjoyed his commentary & found him insightful even though many viewed him as boring and monotone. Kind of NZ's 'Ian Chappell' in the com-box.
The other interesting thing about Turner is early in his career while he had a top defensive game, he struggled to hit the ball off the square yet later revolutionised himself as a dashing ODI batsman, well ahead of his time, who was famous for chipping the ball between the in-field and out-field for twos, along with clearing the ropes when he had to.
Had it not been for run-ins with NZ cricket admin, I suspect he would have finished with 70-80 tests, with around 15 100s and a similar average as he finished up with around the mid 40s mark.
Unlike some others above, I really enjoyed his commentary & found him insightful even though many viewed him as boring and monotone. Kind of NZ's 'Ian Chappell' in the com-box.
The other interesting thing about Turner is early in his career while he had a top defensive game, he struggled to hit the ball off the square yet later revolutionised himself as a dashing ODI batsman, well ahead of his time, who was famous for chipping the ball between the in-field and out-field for twos, along with clearing the ropes when he had to.
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
Actually Greenidge seems to like got much better in 80s. So Turner might be the best ODI opener of 70s indeed.
BazBall21
International Captain
Crowe is no1. Highest Turner can go is 2nd imo
Xuhaib
International Coach
Yes checked his stats Andy Robert's is also a sure fire starter but I will still keep Garner averages 20 in 20 games with a world cup final fifer. We can keep out a Spinner as there not one worth taking. This is the bowling attack.
Lillie
Roberts
Garner
Mike Hendricks
Richards and Clive doing the 5th bowling job also Greg Chappell if he gets in above Ian.
Amiss
Majid
Viv
Zaheer
G. Chappel
Clive L
Derek Murray
Lillie
Roberts
Garner
Hendriks
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
What about an ODI team for the 80s?
Greenidge
Haynes
D Jones
Viv
Miandad
Kapil
Imran
Dujon (wk)
Hadlee
Qadir
Garner
Quality
Greenidge
Haynes
D Jones
Viv
Miandad
Kapil
Imran
Dujon (wk)
Hadlee
Qadir
Garner
Quality
Bahnz
Hall of Fame Member
More because he got paid at all, NZ cricket was strictly amateur when he started out (and would remain semi-professional arguably up until the 2002 player strike).
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
I'll play devil's advocate then; it's a quiet morning. My first experience of Turner was the 1973 tour of England. He famously hit 1000 runs before the end of May in the tour matches, so I figured he was the man to fear in the test series. Not so. His failures in his first four innings weren't redeemed by a final innings of 80 when the series was all but decided anyway. Looking at his major innings elsewhere, he does appear to have benefited from being in the right place to score heavily against relatively weak attacks. Those twin 200's against WI in 1972 being the standout cases, when their attack was led by a pretty old Sobers, a pretty moderate Van Burn Holder and a bunch of guys that nobody has heard of. This was before the days of Boyce and Julien, never mind Roberts Holding and co. Credit Turner for filling his boots on those pitches against that level of attack, but lets have a bit of perspective. Then there are his twin 100s in NZ's first ever test win against Australia in 1974. Psychologically massive, I'm sure. but Lillee was out injured and Thomson hadn't emerged yet. Fast forward 12 months and England's shell-shocked team achieved an innings win against an Australian attack shorn of L&T. Even Denness made a huge hundred in that match, which tells you something.
Obviously he was very good, but surely Crowe and Williamson made their names against better attacks that the ones where Turner was able to cash in. Probably Taylor too, and there may well be others.
Obviously he was very good, but surely Crowe and Williamson made their names against better attacks that the ones where Turner was able to cash in. Probably Taylor too, and there may well be others.
Last edited:
Immenso
International Vice-Captain
I don't think that bolded part (Crowe and Williamson) is in doubt at all, in NZ circles. But plenty have Taylor and Turner bracketed, including me.
So, that was actually a quite interesting breakdown
Lillee's ODI figures in the 70s weren't actually very good; his strike-rate was, but his economy rate was poor - among the 40 or so players with 10+ wickets, he's only above Cairns, Thomson and some batters who bowled a bit (G Chappell, Richards and Amarnath). Willis, Sarfraz, Croft or Chris Old all had much better averages and economy rates (Sarfraz and Croft also had better strike rates).
He actually got much better in the 80s (and I mean immediately: he took 0-47 in the 1979 Boxing Day match, then 4-12 and 3-17 in his two games in January 1980).
Also surprisingly, Zaheer's average/scoring-rate in the 70s weren't amazing - Ian Chappell and Gower both had roughly the same scoring rate and higher averages, especially Chappell. As with Lillee, his figures are much better in the 80s.
Murray's a fair choice as keeper, but Ken Wadsworth deserves a mention as the only keeper to score an ODI hundred in the decade (104 off 98 balls against Australia).
Also FWIW don't overlook Majid as an extra bowling option - in the matches when he bowled, his average figures were roughly 7-x-18-1. (Viv's were 6-x-28-1).
