Greatest cricketers since 1980

[TumTum]

NOt really.. I think he is WAY too defensive

Stopped reading just there. What utter BS. He has declared at 450 how many times in the last year?

 

[Streetwise]

or sometimes, you have to judge captains on captaincy skills than just win percentage.. coz, you know, captaincy is not the main reason cricket matches are won..

Ponting at worst is a very good captain IMO.

I'm interested in your opinion of Ponting at best.

 

[honestbharani]

And Steve Waugh has a similar captaincy record, does that mean the players he had at this disposal were not as strong as Pontings?

Read my reply to Got_Spin.. I have had the good fortune of watching almost all of Australia's matches (Indian time zones and student life worked out great to watch matches in Australia) and this is what I felt.. Steve Waugh was a LOT more ready to attack as a captain and with a side as good as theirs that is the best way I felt to go about stuff. And I have seen Steve Waugh lead Australia in ODIs in the late 90s when they were NOT the best team in the world and he MADE them the best in the world.. By backing certain players, certain tactics.. It is obvious he CREATED for the most part, the Aussie dominant side of ODIs.. Tests, yeah, not so much..

 

[honestbharani]

Stopped reading just there. What utter BS. He has declared at 450 how many times in the last year?

yeah, declaring at 450 is the only way to be an attacking captain.. Want to check what is BS, read your post again..

 

[honestbharani]

Ponting at worst is a very good captain IMO.

I'm interested in your opinion of Ponting at best.

read my posts.

 

[TumTum]

yeah, declaring at 450 is the only way to be an attacking captain.. Want to check what is BS, read your post again..

Oh gawd please explain how is my post BS? Please sir explain what I have said wrong?

Ponting is by FAAAAAAAAAAR the most attacking captain in the world ATM. And he doesn't even have the best team.

If you actually think he is "WAY" too defensive, you should have a chat with Graeme Smith.

 

[Streetwise]

Want interviews of players telling how good a captain Sachin/Lara was? Of course, your team mate will say you are great captain unless you are captaining a revolting side like the Windies and Pakistan of recent times..

I'm sure you could find teammates to talk up whoever you want but the distinct difference here is Ponting has got the results on the board and the others dont, sort of convincing on its own.

Langer was working with CA as a batting coach at the time and explained the importance pf Ponting to the Australian set up, I dont think that Langer would have lied about all this just to boost Pontings ego.

 

[Streetwise]

read my posts.

I would rather you answer the question so context is not missed.

 

[TumTum]

Read my reply to Got_Spin.. I have had the good fortune of watching almost all of Australia's matches (Indian time zones and student life worked out great to watch matches in Australia) and this is what I felt.. Steve Waugh was a LOT more ready to attack as a captain and with a side as good as theirs that is the best way I felt to go about stuff. And I have seen Steve Waugh lead Australia in ODIs in the late 90s when they were NOT the best team in the world and he MADE them the best in the world.. By backing certain players, certain tactics.. It is obvious he CREATED for the most part, the Aussie dominant side of ODIs.. Tests, yeah, not so much..

Err again NO. Steve Waugh barely won the WC. It is Ponting that made the ODI side so strong.

 

[four_or_six]

I think you can't just dismiss Ponting's captaincy skills because he had a great team. He did and excellent job of combining a number of great players into a great team - it's not always the case that that happens. I think he must have had very good man management skills imo.

 

[Streetwise]

Read my reply to Got_Spin.. I have had the good fortune of watching almost all of Australia's matches (Indian time zones and student life worked out great to watch matches in Australia) and this is what I felt.. Steve Waugh was a LOT more ready to attack as a captain and with a side as good as theirs that is the best way I felt to go about stuff. And I have seen Steve Waugh lead Australia in ODIs in the late 90s when they were NOT the best team in the world and he MADE them the best in the world.. By backing certain players, certain tactics.. It is obvious he CREATED for the most part, the Aussie dominant side of ODIs.. Tests, yeah, not so much..

So Ponting is now captain of the top ODI team in the world and how many of his players played under Waugh.

Who made this new team the top team in the world.

 

[Ikki]

lol, Ikki.. I wont disagree with this coz it is YOUR list and your opinion but there is no way in hell Ponting deserves to be that high for his captaincy alone. It is obvious that he is a mediocre captain at best and it has been shown up time and again...... He is really just the same as Sachin or Lara as captains, IMO, and he just has great results because he had such an outstanding team to lead... And he still lost an Ashes with the best Aussie team since the invincibles..

Who said it was for his captaincy alone? I am judging him as a cricketer. The only thing he isn't one of the best there has ever been in, in cricket, is bowling. He is record breaking batsman, fielder and captain.

He's just as good as Lara and Sachin as a batsman, but is definitely better as a captain. Even saying they're equal on that count, his fielding is easily better than them - even regarding Sachin's bowling. It's really a straightforward decision IMO.

He lost the Ashes, so what? Who did well in that series? What's the point of having an all-time great side if they absolutely suck for a series? How was he going to turn that around as a captain? His Old Trafford innings showed what kind of character he has as a leader and the Ashes back down under showed what a vengeful player he can be...we slaughtered England and won 5-0...something even the Invincibles didn't do - gotta go back to 1920 to see it again.

 

[bagapath]

fully agree with all of the above. but where he loses out to lara and sachin as an all-time great is in his batsmanship alone. fans and critics and cricketers all over the world rank him below lara and sachin - even shane warne did that - because though ricky is a cracking batsman, he still doesnt possess the timeless beauty of sachin's batting or lara's magic. it was a tough call for me but ultimately that is what made me put him in level 2.

 

[Spark]

Not timeless, yes, but I think that Ponting's peak was higher than Lara's or Sachin's. Lasted a decent amount of time too.

And Ponting? Defensive? Not in the last year. Not since Cardiff.

 

[Ikki]

I get your point, but I wouldn't take Warne's rankings as gospel. TBF, I really don't care about aesthetics and I think Ponting's ability as a whole cricketer makes that kind of meaningless. If they were absolutely equal in everything, then I guess I would pick the one that looked better.

As an aside, I find flair much more memorable than text-book beauty.

 

[Spark]

As an aside, I find flair much more memorable than text-book beauty.

I think "flair" has to be defined but yeah I'd agree.

 

[bagapath]

Greatest Test Captains of the Last 30 years

Level 1

Allan Border
Imran Khan
Clive Lloyd
Mark Taylor
Steve Waugh

Level 2

Ricky Ponting
Viv Richards
Sourav Ganguly
Stephen Fleming
Arjuna Ranatunga
Rahul Dravid
Hansie Cronje (when he didnt take leather jacket from bookies)

Level 3

Graeme Smith
Dhoni (can go up top level 2 after one more season)
Shaun Pollock
Sanath Jayasuriya
Azharuddin (when he didnt take money from bookies)
Michael Vaughan
Nasser Hussein

 

[honestbharani]

Oh gawd please explain how is my post BS? Please sir explain what I have said wrong?

Ponting is by FAAAAAAAAAAR the most attacking captain in the world ATM. And he doesn't even have the best team.

If you actually think he is "WAY" too defensive, you should have a chat with Graeme Smith.

did u miss "seems to be the current trend" or you just so blinded because I happened to say and perceive something negative about Ponting?

 

[honestbharani]

I'm sure you could find teammates to talk up whoever you want but the distinct difference here is Ponting has got the results on the board and the others dont, sort of convincing on its own.

Langer was working with CA as a batting coach at the time and explained the importance pf Ponting to the Australian set up, I dont think that Langer would have lied about all this just to boost Pontings ego.

yeah.. and while explaining the importance, you expected some kind of a critique of his captaincy?????

 

[honestbharani]

Err again NO. Steve Waugh barely won the WC. It is Ponting that made the ODI side so strong.

Wasn't the Aussie ODI side dominant till 2002 or something.. that one series was the only time they looked bad and Waugh was dropped after that..