Shane Warne's top 50 cricketers

[silentstriker]

Am finding this much more interesting than a cliched effort.

Maybe so, but its a bit random to put Tim May ahead of Donald. What is more interesting to me is his thoughts on the players, rather than where he places them. IMO that's much more fascinating.

 

[silentstriker]

Considering his 16-17 year career, he has had a huge insight into Aussie and non Aussie players and IMO that's very awesome to read about. Regarding Donald, whether he had heart or not is irrelevant (I think he obviously did), but the aussie dressing room believed he may not have had the heart, and they probably were much more confident against him due to that reason. I think his descriptions of the players can sometimes reveal the mood and the psyche of the Aussie players, and that's great to read about. Obviously, being as successful as they've been for as long as they've been, they have to be decent at reading the opposition.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Considering his 16-17 year career, he has had a huge insight into Aussie and non Aussie players and IMO that's very awesome to read about. Regarding Donald, whether he had heart or not is irrelevant (I think he obviously did), but the aussie dressing room believed he may not have had the heart, and they probably were much more confident against him due to that reason. I think his descriptions of the players can sometimes reveal the mood and the psyche of the Aussie players, and that's great to read about. Obviously, being as successful as they've been for as long as they've been, they have to be decent at reading the opposition.

Exactly.

And with regards to the ratings, you're always going to rate people who you see first hand very very often ahead of those who you play against every now and again. That's why I think it's a very honest appraisal of Warne. He knows what certain players have achieved against what odds behind the scenes, or with only limited talent. He knows that, for example, Tim May isn't a better cricketer than Kapil Dev. But he only played against Kapil once in the twilight of his career, and Warne had a great partnership of May and feels that he's underappreciated. Everyone knows how good Kapil was.

 

[Aritro]

31
Tim May (Australia)
Test matches 24
Wickets 75 at 34.74

I always thought he was a fantastic guy to have bowling with me in tandem at the other end. For an off spinner, he had the perfect, traditional, legitimate side-on action and his role in the 1993 Ashes win has been badly overlooked. He was one of our key players and gave me a lot of help in my first series against England.

Bit pointed, that.

 

[Richard]

Considering his 16-17 year career, he has had a huge insight into Aussie and non Aussie players and IMO that's very awesome to read about. Regarding Donald, whether he had heart or not is irrelevant (I think he obviously did), but the aussie dressing room believed he may not have had the heart, and they probably were much more confident against him due to that reason. I think his descriptions of the players can sometimes reveal the mood and the psyche of the Aussie players, and that's great to read about. Obviously, being as successful as they've been for as long as they've been, they have to be decent at reading the opposition.

Or, possibly, at misreading to their own advantage.

Underestimating someone can often be a disadvantage, but it can also be an advantage if you yourself are rather good.

 

[Richard]

LOL fair go to Haury. He performed pretty well on debut - yes Im aware Michael Clarke got 5-9 that day.

He didn't, though. 5-113 might be a good set of figures if it was 5 top-order batsmen, but it wasn't - he just grabbed 3 tailenders in the first-innings (where Clarke didn't bowl), on a wicket that was spinning like a top. Dismissing 2 top-order batsmen - and conceding almost 4-an-over - in the match is a shockingly poor performance on such a spin-friendly pitch.

And given what Hauritz has done in domestic-First-Class-cricket, it's hardly surprising he was so awful either.

This guy below is probably as good as him really.

 

[vic_orthdox]

It was often interesting watching Donald vs Australia. If he got a few early wickets, he was often a real handful throughout. But it seemed as though if you weathered the early storm, Australia tended to make pretty big totals.

 

[Richard]

Isn't that often true of pretty much every seamer ever to play the game, though? The new-ball is usually the most threatening period, and you expect a bowler to bowl his best when freshest.

If you get through an initial burst you always have a good chance of making hay except on a really seam-friendly pitch. On the other hand, if the bowler takes early wickets the rest of his team have the chance to put the squeeze on, then the openers can perhaps come back and clean-up the lower-order and tail.

 

[NUFAN]

Bowlers who took Warneys wicket the most.

http://stats.cricinfo.com/guru?sdb=...edhigh=;csearch=;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype

Interested if Vettori and even quite possibly Bishop makes the cut

 

[silentstriker]

This might be completely OT, but from what I've read, the Aussie dressing room is unusually macho in the sense that you cannot show any weakness whatsoever.

For example, Michael Slater said in an interview that once playing in domestic cricket, his friend and Test teammate Warne stood in the slips and said 'tick-tock-tick-tock' repeatedly over 5-10 overs (implying of course that Slater was just a time bomb waiting to go off). They are pretty ruthless when it comes to things like that, and fair play to that. They've proven it works. By the same token, if they see someone in the opposition displaying any weakness, they'll jump on it immediately (like Donald).

 

[funnygirl]

I agreed ,his comments are laughable .And that Steve ''overrated '' Harmisson'' better bowler than great Waqar younis

 

[Richard]

I seriously, seriously hope Warne is not suggesting that, really.

 

[funnygirl]

I won't give a crap abt his opinions .Shane Warne one of the greatest bolwers of all time ,but a poorest person of opinions

 

[Ikki]

TBH, 2 lines of reasoning hardly defend his judgements adequately. Still, Warne has a genius cricketing brain and he, when given a chance to, explains his reasonings very clearly.

 

[funnygirl]

I respect his ''cricketing brain''.But these reasonings are foolish ones .Based on his ''favouritsm'' not with the true cricketing sense.

 

[Richard]

Or, perhaps, it's one of these sadly-all-too-familiar cases of the wording which makes for the best sensationalist headlines inaccurately reflecting what the writer is actually doing.

"Shane Warne's 50 greatest cricketers" is likely to sell far more papers (and get far more hits) than "Shane Warne's 50 cricketers who he played with and against who he liked and respected most, with most preference given to those who helped his team achieve and those who blocked their path most effectively". Hence, that's what whoever's idea it was (unlikely to be Warne's) has picked.

 

[Dissector]

Well some of the comments are interesting but the Tim May entry is so dumb that it undermines the article's credibility completely. I understand that Warne is trying to be original and giving a greater weight to cricketers he has played with. I would have been OK if he had put May in the upper 40's along with the first-class cricketers. Putting him at 31 is just daft.

 

[Chubby Rain]

I'd also be interested to see where he places Harbhajan.

My guess is his next 10 will feature Thorpe and possibly Gillespie too.

 

[Dissector]

Oh, I forgot to add:

"Perhaps the best German cricketer of all time, and my pick for the greatest cricketer I've seen play. Top bloke too, loved his spirits and the ladies, and thoroughly bamboozled the second best player of his time (refer Darryl Cullinan), which speaks volumes of his ability with the ball. Some say the secret to his success was his strict diet of baked beans and Sauerkraut, but it was more probably the thick and luxurious Samson-like crop of hair."

 

[silentstriker]

"Perhaps the best German cricketer of all time, and my pick for the greatest cricketer I've seen play. Top bloke too, loved his spirits and the ladies, and thoroughly bamboozled the second best player of his time (refer Darryl Cullinan), which speaks volumes of his ability with the ball. Some say the secret to his success was his strict diet of baked beans and Sauerkraut, but it was more probably the thick and luxurious Samson-like crop of hair."

Yup, that's a classic all right.