Most disliked cricketer of all time

[Goughy]

It may be wrong to speak ill of the dead,

He is not dead people. He works on a farm in Mpumalanga. Or so my Afrikaner friends tell me.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

He is not dead people. He works on a farm in Mpumalanga. Or so my Afrikaner friends tell me.

That's correct, he runs a nice little book on the Black Leopard racing.

 

[aussie]

Ricky Ponting?, what did he ever do?. Arjuna Ranatunga should be on this list though..

 

[luckyeddie]

Well, of course not - you're English, aren't you?
English cricket fans don't like South African cricketers - basic fact of life.

That's a ridiculous thing for you to say - I could phrase it an awful lot stronger.

It was watching the South African tourists of 1965 that put me on the road to developing a love affair with this beautiful game - and I was heartbroken when they were barred from international cricket. Heartbroken - yet I joined the 'Stop the Seventy Tour' protests (I only marched and signed petitions, but even in such a small way I was immensely proud to stand behind such people as Peter Hain) because I knew that it was right.

No-one was more pleased than I when the hated apartheid system was dismantled and the South Africans returned to the international fold - the only regret was that the likes of my hero Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, Eddie Barlow and a few others were deprived of their deserved place amongst the game's immortals.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

That's a ridiculous thing for you to say - I could phrase it an awful lot stronger.

It was watching the South African tourists of 1965 that put me on the road to developing a love affair with this beautiful game - and I was heartbroken when they were barred from international cricket. Heartbroken - yet I joined the 'Stop the Seventy Tour' protests (I only marched and signed petitions, but even in such a small way I was immensely proud to stand behind such people as Peter Hain) because I knew that it was right.

No-one was more pleased than I when the hated apartheid system was dismantled and the South Africans returned to the international fold - the only regret was that the likes of my hero Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, Eddie Barlow and a few others were deprived of their deserved place amongst the game's immortals.

Good show.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Ricky Ponting?, what did he ever do?. Arjuna Ranatunga should be on this list though..

Annoy the hell out of a lot of people because he never stops whinging.

 

[Goughy]

I certainly do not hold any really strong feelings against any cricketer. However, the one I probably disliked the most was Aaqib Javed.
Still sad that career ended being associated with disgraced players though

 

[superkingdave]

Ian Chappell or even Chapple- so disliked he gets 2 entries. I bet his brother is jealous

 

[Richard]

I can stand most South Africans perfectly well, but Smith opens his trap too much for my liking, and his arrogance annoys the **** out of me to say the least.

You're inexperienced in the ways.
About the only two modern-day South Africans not widely disliked in England are generally Gary Kirsten and honourary-Brummie Allan Donald.

 

[Richard]

I do. Smith, Dippenaar, Rudolph and Nel are among my favourite cricketers. (Nel only because of the hilarity of his on pitch "mad dog", as my mum puts it, aggression. The other three because I genuinely like them)

Well, Rudolph and Dippenaar are pretty quiet. The quiet ones are easier to not dislike than the loud ones. Any Englishman who likes Smith (me, for instance) is pretty perverse. Nel equally, for the same reasons. And I like him because, purely and simply, he's a very, very good bowler. And I like Smith because he's a very, very good batsmen.
I don't either like or dislike them as people - because I don't know them. I'm hoping against hope that I don't find-out Graeme is a homophobic, because then I'll simply have to dislike him.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

You're inexperienced in the ways.
About the only two South Africans not widely disliked in England are generally Gary Kirsten and honourary-Brummie Allan Donald.

Everybody I know that follows cricket loves Jonty Rhodes.

 

[Richard]

Jonty is another favourite.

I assure you, most Englishmen who played against Jonty despised him - and his continued friendship with Cronje post-fall only made him even more disliked.

 

[Tom Halsey]

You're inexperienced in the ways.
About the only two South Africans not widely disliked in England are generally Gary Kirsten and honourary-Brummie Allan Donald.

I'd say that the only South African widely disliked in England is Graeme Smith, and maybe Andre Nel, most are impartial to the rest.

 

[Richard]

Im an SA fan and I don't like Smith..

Although I agree with you, generally people not assosciated with SA cricket generally dislike our supposedly boring playing style.. After all, Klusener, Symmo, Jonty, AAD were all naff.. With the exception of Indians, they seem to quite like SA for some reason

They'd've liked anyone playing against the side that had the nerve to drop Sourav...
It's more than just the playing-style thing - it's attitude. Read Atherton's book... or listen to David Lewis.
I'm not saying it's just Englishmen who don't like Smith, nor that all South Africans ignore him, but he's clearly extremely popular in the SAfrican dressing-room.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Ian Chappell or even Chapple- so disliked he gets 2 entries. I bet his brother is jealous

 

[Pedro Delgado]

I assure you, most Englishmen who played against Jonty despised him - and his continued friendship with Cronje post-fall only made him even more disliked.

I'll take your word for that. The attitude he showed in interview after their defeat here, particularly as some of the most appalling umpiring ever witnessed contributed to the result, endeared him to many.

 

[Richard]

I'd say that the only South African widely disliked in England is Graeme Smith, and maybe Andre Nel, most are impartial to the rest.

Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock are patronised to the rafters. How have you missed that?
I can assure you that Gibbs, Liebenberg, Cullinan, Cronje, Rhodes, Boucher, Klusener, Hayward, Nel, Elworthy, Symcox... and plenty besides... are all pretty well disliked.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Everybody I know that follows cricket loves Jonty Rhodes.

Speak as you find, but I've always found him a tad sanctimonious for my taste.

 

[sirjeremy11]

Arjuna Ranatunga should be on this list though.

Oh god yes. I would vote for Arjuna. What a shtstirrer! Plus he got Martin Crowe out for 299. He so deserved to be the first NZer past 300. That would be the main reason.

Also, I loved when he asked for a runner and Healy said "You can't get a runner for being a fat ****".

 

[Richard]

I'll take your word for that. The attitude he showed in interview after their defeat here, particularly as some of the most appalling umpiring ever witnessed contributed to the result, endeared him to many.

I wasn't a massive interview-watcher then, but there were plenty of terrible decisions in those last 2 Tests.