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Overrated/Underrated

Slifer

Slifer

International Captain
Underated IMHO doesnt get as much recognition as other great bowlers (including his own team mates) but has one of the best post ww2 records with 259 wickets @ 20.97 and a SR a touch above 50. Added to this was one of the most devastating toe-crushing yorkers in the game.

Wally Hammond
 
F

Francis

State Vice-Captain
Underrated.

Made a truck-load of runs against Australia when Australia had a better bowling attack than England. England never lost a test when he made a century and took England 2-0 up in a heartbreaker of a series that they lost 3-2. I don't think people understand how well he kept games competitive between the two countires when Australia had the greatest player of all time. Ian Chappell said it best that it's one thing to make runs and another to make runs when your down and demoralised. Seriously, how do you keep a game competitive when one of the players averages a century every time out? Have Wally Hammond on your team. Also names like O'Rielly, Grimmett (???), Lindwall and Miller rate among the ten best Australian bowlers ever.

Sir Richard Hadlee
 
JBH001

JBH001

International Regular
A fair point about Hammond.
Though I dont believe he faced Lindwall and/or Miller as by the time of the 1948 series he had retired. However he did successfully face Grimmett and O' Reilly many times.
(He was in serious decline after WW2 anyways and a shadow of his former self)

As to Hadlee - underrated by some.
A true champion of a bowler and a hard worker at his batting, and a decent fielder. One of the best bowlers ever.

Len Hutton (already done I see).

In that case...Jim Laker.
 
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oz_fan

oz_fan

International Regular
Underrated as a bowler but is still remembered for his amazing record (19/90).

Brett Lee
 
F

Francis

State Vice-Captain
This board rates Allan Donald better than most circles I've discussed in and I still think he's underrated. People in South Africa are the only ones who probably rate him correctly. Someone I consider the complete bowler. He had accuracy, intimidating pace, a full knowledge of both seam and swing, and more importantly, the ability to execute seam and swing.

The best bowler in the world in 1998 and something people don't about him is that he dismissed a higher percentage of top order batsmen than any other bowler in cricket history (McGrath is second). You could maybe argue he wasn't a great bowler to the tail, but I'm not one of those people.

Probably the most underrated great bowler out there.


Chris Cairnes
 
F

Francis

State Vice-Captain
Underrated.

Seriously without David Boon or Allan Border Australia would've been more than aweful in the 80s. Carried the load for a while. There was a period where Allan Border wasn't making centuries and David Boon was their best batsman. He's one of Australia's 25 greatest cricketers and that's a great complement when you look at their amazing heirachy - the best in cricket.

We're used to seeing Australian cricketers with averages in the 50s... but David Boon is one of Australia's ten best batsmen I feel. I'll just check on that... Bradman, Chappell, Waugh, Border, Ponting, Harvey, Hayden (yep!), Gilchrist and after that there's a bunch of batsmen who're up there like Morris, Taylor etc. But I think Boon is as good as any of them.

Shane Bond
 
oz_fan

oz_fan

International Regular
Underrated
Without all his injuries could have been the best bowler in the world for the past 3 - 4 years.

Shaun Pollock
 
adharcric

adharcric

International Coach
Shane Bond: perhaps underrated earlier, but knowledgable cricket fans give him too much credit based solely on talent (I myself rate him very highly); you don't deserve that much credit as a cricketer if you can't stay fit for an extended span, although one may argue that's not his fault

Shaun Pollock: underrated, hasn't been as dominating as Donald or as brilliant as the similar-pace McGrath, but he's been quite good for a long time; falling away these days but remains a solid ODI bowler

Ashwell Prince
 
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Matt79

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
Probably underrated these days because of the WSC stink in which he left the mainstream game and because of his relentless flogging of bodgy memorabilia on Channel 9. He was a great allrounder - even rolling his arm over with some off-spin when the conditions suited.

Simon Katich
 
oz_fan

oz_fan

International Regular
Underrated - I don't agree with him as an opener for Australia in ODI's but his record so far speaks for itself.

Kumar Sangakarra
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
oz_fan said:
Kumar Sangakarra
Click to expand...
Rated about right as a batter, possibly a shade overvalued as a keeper. He's becoming very solid, but some people on here have compared him favourably to Gilly as a keeper which is way, way off IMHO.

Graeme Smith
 
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