The Best Captain?

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Khaled Mahmud didn't deserve to be in the side and the current captain isn't bad, for the Bangla side.

Neither did Mike Brearley and some (including myself) consider him the greatest captain of all-time. It's not as though Bangladesh have any tear away bowlers, batsmen or allrounders, any of whom can demand to replace the best captaincy option in the side. IMO Mahmud was a far better captain than Bashar.

 

[masterblaster]

I always thought Sri Lanka achieved more success with Jayasuriya recently more than they achieved with Hashan Tillekeratne or Marvan Atapattu.

Atapattu is uninspired and rather quiet, not a great leader of men. Jayasuriya led Sri Lanka to a 9 test undefeated streak if I remember properly.

And the ODI record of Sri Lanka was great with Jayasuriya at the helm, ever since Atapattu has taken over, this Sri Lankan side looks quite pathetic.

 

[Jnr.]

Jayasuriya is definitely a better captain than Tillekeratne or Atapattu. I feel the best SL captain has been Arjuna, though.

 

[shankar]

so what?did the aussies blame the turning wickets for their 2-1 loss in india on their last tour?
india apparently has the best batting lineup, yet when they come up in unfavourable batting conditions they seem to crumble.....the point of being the best batting side in the world is to do well on all surfaces

The issue is not that those pitches helped the seamers but the extent to which they did. It's ridiculous to compare the pitches of the Aus-Ind tour to the NZ ones because they assisted spin.

 

[Arjun]

Neither did Mike Brearley and some (including myself) consider him the greatest captain of all-time. It's not as though Bangladesh have any tear away bowlers, batsmen or allrounders, any of whom can demand to replace the best captaincy option in the side. IMO Mahmud was a far better captain than Bashar

A captain should lead by example. Mahmud never did. If your captain can't bowl, bat or field, and is the captain of a team that loses almost every match they play, it is an issue. Mike Brearley would win Man of the Match awards for captaincy.

 

[Langeveldt]

Ganguly beats Smith in terms of raw aggression and passion.

Call it Indian bias if you like, but Smith comes across really intelligent and shrewd rather than 'passionate' or 'aggressive'.

Not sure about Smith's intelligence as of yet.. Its clearly good but time will tell if he develops into a tactician like Hansie was..

Raw agression and Passion? I don't think there is a louder cricketer around if that is how those two are measured...

 

[Tim]

What cricket have you been watching Deja Moo?

NZ were on top on Day 4 in every test of the series but England were able to fight their way back & win the most important day of them all: Day 5.

 

[marc71178]

Apart from the Test that ended on Day 4

Also, I wouldn't have said NZ were necessarily on top, but neither were England for that matter - it was 3 close games.

 

[delkap]

IMO,

Fleming - best captain atm, for what he his able to do on field.

Ganguly - second best atm. He may not be the best tactician, but he commands complete respect and made a team of brilliant players into a brilliant team. As for the tactics, he has Dravid and Sachin to help him. Many a times you would see senior Indian players discussing strategy, which is what Ganguly has done.. unified the team.

Ponting - smart and ruthless captain. May turn out to be better, but he has only just started captaining in tests, and we need to wait and see how he goes in that before rating him higher. In ODI's he has done a lot though.. so no.3

Oh yeah as for the best captain I hv seen in my life (last 15 years) - Steve Waugh - transformed a very good team to an invincible one (apart from when playing in India )

 

[Nate]

yea for me steve is up there with the best ever.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Ponting hasn't done enough to be thought of as a great captain yet IMO.

Fleming disappointed me in the recent series against England to be honest - although he's been good in the NatWest Series.

Smith struck me as a good captain - and passionate.

Vaughan is not great, but is very underrated too IMO - he's done very little wrong.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Smith is very raw but has very good potential to be a very good captain, especially because he has some very good players under him.

Ponting's true test as a captain will be when the likes of Hayden, McGrath etc. (the current guard) retire.

 

[Protea]

Ponting for me is probably one of the best. He's a good captain, leads Australia to plenty of victories and warrants his place in the side. If Fleming weren't such a good captain he would have been dropped a long time ago, although he does make runs when they're needed.
Smith has plenty of promise as both a captain and player. The selectors took a big gamble picking him to lead the side and so far it's paid off.
Ganguly is also a good captain (and player).
Vaughan is a decent leader but he should start scoring some runs - in both forms of the game - so people don't start questioning his ability as a player. As they say, form is temporary but class is permanent.
Inzamam must lose some weight, IMO

 

[Tom Halsey]

Ponting has a ready made side for him, though.

I'd rate Vaughan just as high as Ponting ATM, as a captain alone.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

If Fleming weren't such a good captain he would have been dropped a long time ago, although he does make runs when they're needed.

Why? It's not as though the other New Zealand batsmen are outscoring him at every venture. Among New Zealand batsmen, Fleming is one of the best and would be in the side captaincy or not.

 

[Protea]

I'd rate Vaughan just as high as Ponting ATM, as a captain alone.

Vaughan may be a good captain but sometimes he fails to inspire with his own performances. That's the only reason why he falls behind Ponting and co. in captaincy stakes.

 

[Protea]

Why? It's not as though the other New Zealand batsmen are outscoring him at every venture. Among New Zealand batsmen, Fleming is one of the best and would be in the side captaincy or not.

I never thought of it that way.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Vaughan may be a good captain but sometimes he fails to inspire with his own performances. That's the only reason why he falls behind Ponting and co. in captaincy stakes.

Agreed - but I think he's in for another run spurt soon - he looks in good nick.

 

[Protea]

Hope so. Give Lara a run for his money (in batting, I mean)

 

[Langeveldt]

Agreed - but I think he's in for another run spurt soon - he looks in good nick.

Once he gets that "coloured clothing" off and replaces it with "whites" he should as usual, undergo a complete transformation and look like a class act again...