My Post WWII Test Top 10

[ImpatientLime]

Some great cricketers not in the list: Steyn, Miller, Trueman, Waugh, Sangakkara, Pollock(s), 3 Ws

trueman is consistently one of the most over looked blokes on this forum.

by a considerable distance the greatest quick bowler to ever come out of england.

 

[The Sean]

Which 3? I'm going to guess Viv, Tendulkar and Sobers.

I was counting Sobers as an all-rounder rather than a specialist bat, so the three I was thinking were Viv, Tendulkar and Lara. Steve Smith is a maybe.

 

[The Sean]

trueman is consistently one of the most over looked blokes on this forum.

by a considerable distance the greatest quick bowler to ever come out of england.

Is he overlooked in these parts? It feels like he is very highly rated (and rightly so). The pace bowlers ranking exercise put him as one of the top ten quicks in Test history, which seems right.

 

[jayjay]

Yeah, Trueman gets talked about a lot here so can't see him being overlooked and I certainly would not rank him higher than any of the pace bowlers already on my list.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Fred was possibly the best fast bowler ever, but statistically he played about three-quarters of his Tests in two countries and played in an era when the SC were considered minor tours and the top players didn’t go, especially if they’d been away for six months in Australia the previous winter. Then even at home he was left out by the stuffed shirts for non cricketing reasons and could have had over 400 wickets. Other bowlers with more complete records are generally rated above him, albeit only a fairly small number.

 

[trundler]

Fred was possibly the best fast bowler ever, but statistically he played about three-quarters of his Tests in two countries and played in an era when the SC were considered minor tours and the top players didn’t go, especially if they’d been away for six months in Australia the previous winter. Then even at home he was left out by the stuffed shirts for non cricketing reasons and could have had over 400 wickets. Other bowlers with more complete records are generally rated above him, albeit only a fairly small number.

Even so his record in Australia is decent but not amazing. Solitary fifer and an average of 27. He played an overwhelming majority of his matches at home which does boost his stats compared to Lindwall who played a majority away.

 

[JBMAC]

I ask the Question again Why is not Neil Harvey in this line up?

1948-1963; 79 Tests;21 hundreds,24 fifties, 137 Innings; Average: 48.42

 

[jayjay]

I ask the Question again Why is not Neil Harvey in this line up?

1948-1963; 79 Tests;21 hundreds,24 fifties, 137 Innings; Average: 48.42

This is not a lit of EVERY TOP CRICKETER EVER...it's currently a top 30. Harvey would not replace nay of the cricketers I have currently ranked. I will most likely be expanding to 40 and he could certainly be in the next crop, but then again there are still a string of great batsmen I have not included.

 

[Line and Length]

Some of your ranking is, quite frankly, rank.

 

[jayjay]

Due to popular demand, I am moving this into the top 4- cetagory...it was never planned this way but it's been fun and well received.

So here goes:

1. Garry Sobers WI
2. Viv Richards WI
3. Sachin Tendulkar IND
4. Imran Khan PAK
5. Muttiah Muralitharan SL
6. Glenn McGrath AUS
7. Wasim Akram PAK
8. Sunil Gavaskar IND
9. Shane Warne AUS
10. Brian Lara WI
11. Malcolm Marshall WI
12. Jacques Kallis SA
13. Dennis Lillee AUS
14. Richard Hadlee NZ
15. Ricky Ponting AUS
16. Ian Botham ENG
17. Adam Gilchrist AUS
18. Javed Miandad PAK
19. Michael Holding WI
20. Curtly Ambrose WI
21. Kapil Dev IND
22. Steve Smith AUS
23. Allan Donald SA
24. Rahul Dravid IND
25. Allan Border AUS
26. Younis Khan PAK
27. Gordon Greenidge WI
28. Anil Kumble IND
29. Waqar Younis PAK
30. Joel Garner WI
31. Virat Kohli IND
32. James Anderson ENG
33. Inzamam ul Haq PAK
34. Len Hutton ENG
35. Shaun Pollock SA
36. Lance Gibbs WI
37. Richie Benaud AUS
38. AB de Villiers SA
39. Ray Lindwall AUS
40. Keith Miller AUS

 

[PlayerComparisons]

32. James Anderson ENG

Why do you believe James Anderson was a better test cricketer than Dale Steyn?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Due to popular demand, I am moving this into the top 4- cetagory...it was never planned this way but it's been fun and well received.

So here goes:

1. Garry Sobers WI
2. Viv Richards WI
3. Sachin Tendulkar IND
4. Imran Khan PAK
5. Muttiah Muralitharan SL
6. Glenn McGrath AUS
7. Wasim Akram PAK
8. Sunil Gavaskar IND
9. Shane Warne AUS
10. Brian Lara WI
11. Malcolm Marshall WI
12. Jacques Kallis SA
13. Dennis Lillee AUS
14. Richard Hadlee NZ
15. Ricky Ponting AUS
16. Ian Botham ENG
17. Adam Gilchrist AUS
18. Javed Miandad PAK
19. Michael Holding WI
20. Curtly Ambrose WI
21. Kapil Dev IND
22. Steve Smith AUS
23. Allan Donald SA
24. Rahul Dravid IND
25. Allan Border AUS
26. Younis Khan PAK
27. Gordon Greenidge WI
28. Anil Kumble IND
29. Waqar Younis PAK
30. Joel Garner WI
31. Virat Kohli IND
32. James Anderson ENG
33. Inzamam ul Haq PAK
34. Len Hutton ENG
35. Shaun Pollock SA
36. Lance Gibbs WI
37. Richie Benaud AUS
38. AB de Villiers SA
39. Ray Lindwall AUS
40. Keith Miller AUS

Virat Kohli and James Anderson ahead of Len Hutton and Keith Miller! How????

 

[Line and Length]

The ranking of Hutton, arguably the best Post War opener, is questionable as is the assessment of Miller.

 

[jayjay]

Why do you believe James Anderson was a better test cricketer than Dale Steyn?

Great question and it was a tough one.

For this exercise, I have put together lists of batsmen, bowlers, keepers and all rounders. I then rank them across their play areas and then across one another.

Those rankings are based on skill set, importance to the team, performances vs contemporaries, longevity and so on.

Originally, I ranked Steyn higher in my list of fast bowlers but the more I delved deeper, the greater Anderson's body of work. He has more wickets in many weaker sides whereas Steyn played in the greatest ever saffer teams of the 00s and early 2010s.

Having said that, considering I myself once rated Steyn higher, it goes to show a certain element of subjectivity and lists can change over time. But I'm comfortable as is now, but there really isn't much in it. Each of the 10 sections is a give and take between the best players. Remember these are all great players, so it's about deciding who is THAT much better.

 

[trundler]

M8 Steyn took a whole wicket more per game at an average that's over 3.5 points lower. Was also famously not pointless away from home.

 

[jayjay]

M8 Steyn took a whole wicket more per game at an average that's over 3.5 points lower. Was also famously not pointless away from home.

Stats aren't everything though but I'm not going to deny, there's a great case for Steyn. But Jimmy is severely underrated and if you were to dive into his matches, performances, the poor quality of england attacks he had to drag along at times, you'd see he has a great case also.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Stats aren't everything though but I'm not going to deny, there's a great case for Steyn. But Jimmy is severely underrated and if you were to dive into his matches, performances, the poor quality of england attacks he had to drag along at times, you'd see he has a great case also.

Steyn is one of the top 5-8 fast bowlers of all time. Anderson is in the top 50.

 

[trundler]

Stats aren't everything though but I'm not going to deny, there's a great case for Steyn. But Jimmy is severely underrated and if you were to dive into his matches, performances, the poor quality of england attacks he had to drag along at times, you'd see he has a great case also.

Dale Steyn is literally the last player in history to fault for not having magical match winning performances what even bruh

 

[ataraxia]

Steyn is one of the top 5-8 fast bowlers of all time. Anderson is in the top 50.

In a related note, they're both in my top 500 test cricketers

 

[_00_deathscar]

Great question and it was a tough one.

For this exercise, I have put together lists of batsmen, bowlers, keepers and all rounders. I then rank them across their play areas and then across one another.

Those rankings are based on skill set, importance to the team, performances vs contemporaries, longevity and so on.

Originally, I ranked Steyn higher in my list of fast bowlers but the more I delved deeper, the greater Anderson's body of work. He has more wickets in many weaker sides whereas Steyn played in the greatest ever saffer teams of the 00s and early 2010s.

Having said that, considering I myself once rated Steyn higher, it goes to show a certain element of subjectivity and lists can change over time. But I'm comfortable as is now, but there really isn't much in it. Each of the 10 sections is a give and take between the best players. Remember these are all great players, so it's about deciding who is THAT much better.

How do you spew so much **** all the time?