The Best Team Man

[robelinda]

Yeah but they play for the team not for their own average like Kallis does.

Plus Gilly batted higher when needed, he got 144 at number 3 in SL, batted 5 and got an unbeaten ton in the WI, Steve Waugh often batted him higher and not just for quick runs. Plus he captained the winning side in India 2004, what an all rounder, plus kept full time, opened in ODI's.....cant do much more.

 

[Spark]

Gilly's work in leading us to that series win is far too easily forgotten. It should be treated as a standout on an already amazing resume.

 

[subshakerz]

Brett Lee is the definition of an honest trier for his team. Also admire Kumble, gave his all for the team, recall him playing with a bandaged jaw...

 

[subshakerz]

Imran Khan and Viv Richards were two cricketers you can say had big egos but still played completely for their teams. Imran would pick and drop cricketers as captain based purely on how much effort they gave to the team regardless of whether he personally liked them or not, hated chasing records (declared when Miandad was on 280* and he himself was on 93*), and kept pushing his team to bigger challenges.

Richards had a great deal of personal pride of playing for WI and was very protective of WI's status as the world number one. He was very involved on the field and took the wicket keeping gloves when asked even when he was the best batsman in the world.

Both cricketers, you feel, viewed their personal reputations as intertwined with the team's fortunes, and therefore had a greater stake in seeing their teams succeed. I didn't get that feeling forsome other greats like Lara and Tendulkar, not that they were selfish or anything.

 

[Howe_zat]

Lee is a good shout. With batting as much as bowling. From KC:

We can’t imagine how much it must have hurt. Not just when he was bowling, but when he was 32 and trying to come back and bowl as quickly as he ever did. Fast bowlers are cussed bastards.

That cussedness showed in his batting as well. It’s easy to overlook, but he played as big a part as anyone in the creation of the greatest passage of cricket that we can remember – the climax to the 2005 Edgbaston Ashes Test. In getting tenderised like cheap meat by Andrew Flintoff, he showed that he could get as good as he gave, but nothing would sway him from his impossible task. It was as impressive an innings as we’ve ever seen; the mental fortitude better highlighted by his limitations as a batsman.

Just about anybody who bowls over after over of body-breaking 90+ stuff is putting in a ridiculous amount of effort for the team. And should probably get this ahead of any batsman, because relatively speaking, batsmen are immensely soft.

They wear body armour, they have nightwatchmen - bowlers, of course - because they are afraid of the dark, they have runners to do half their job for them when they get a bit of cramp. Or when they have to bat with a mildly twisted ankle we all wince at the horror of jogging a single.

Of course there are exceptions, such as Dravid, but they just stand out compared to the rest. This makes them look exceptional just for doing their job, and people end up missing the significance of a Flintoff or Tait permanently turning their own knees into cheese spread for the sake of their side, and doing it day in, day out for years.

 

[sumantra]

Lee is a good shout. With batting as much as bowling. From KC:



Just about anybody who bowls over after over of body-breaking 90+ stuff is putting in a ridiculous amount of effort for the team. And should probably get this ahead of any batsman, because relatively speaking, batsmen are immensely soft.

They wear body armour, they have nightwatchmen - bowlers, of course - because they are afraid of the dark, they have runners to do half their job for them when they get a bit of cramp. Or when they have to bat with a mildly twisted ankle we all wince at the horror of jogging a single.

Of course there are exceptions, such as Dravid, but they just stand out compared to the rest. This makes them look exceptional just for doing their job, and people end up missing the significance of a Flintoff or Tait permanently turning their own knees into cheese spread for the sake of their side, and doing it day in, day out for years.

ok, so according to u the best team man can only be a bowler, and not a batsman...that makes the competion a bit smaller among other things...but who among these bowlers is the best team man for u, and who among the batsman? (since they don't stand a chance when it comes to competing with the bowlers)...

 

[Howe_zat]

Dunno, really. Just felt like complaining a bit.

 

[Jarquis]

 

[sumantra]

Of course there are exceptions, such as Dravid, but they just stand out compared to the rest. This makes them look exceptional just for doing their job

what is dravid's job? giving the team stability by batting at 3? are u sure opening the batting when one opener is injured is not his job? r u sure keeping wickets when the team requires some more balance to the side is not his job? r u sure going up and down the order even after 15 years for the interest of the team is not his job? r u sure keeping wickets all of a sudden when the keeper feels like rolling his arm over is not his job? r u sure agreeing to play a T20 just because of the fact that there is no one to stand with a piece of willow in the middle, is not his job? r u sure accepting the deal of playing ODI's when mentally he left it completely and was used and thrown away last time around by the same bunch of selectors (and probably knowing deep down that now they are picking me for their own interest and probably would be thrown away again when the game comes to the sub continent) is not his job?

 

[Howe_zat]

what is dravid's job? giving the team stability by batting at 3? are u sure opening the batting when one opener is injured is not his job?

Yes. It is. The fact that Dravid agreed to move up a position is commendable, but was rather exaggerated by the fact that Tendulkar rather selfishly didn't.

r u sure keeping wickets when the team requires some more balance to the side is not his job?

That's above and beyond the call of duty, sure. One of the reasons Dravid's clearly been putting the effort in.

r u sure going up and down the order even after 15 years for the interest of the team is not his job? r u sure keeping wickets all of a sudden when the keeper feels like rolling his arm over is not his job?

This is repetition.

r u sure agreeing to play a T20 just because of the fact that there is no one to stand with a piece of willow in the middle, is not his job? r u sure accepting the deal of playing ODI's when mentally he left it completely and was used and thrown away last time around by the same bunch of selectors (and probably knowing deep down that now they are picking me for their own interest and probably would be thrown away again when the game comes to the sub continent) is not his job?

Yes. That is his job. It's also described as "batting". Being away from the limited overs side for some time doesn't make it a herculean task to play one series, regardless of whether or not it was on his ideal to-do list.

 

[fredfertang]

The last team I played for regularly had one everpresent member who actually succeeded in being a worse cricketer than me, which is quite an achievement really but somewhere, because it's that sort of club, someone will still have the stats to prove it. Anyway the point is he was dead keen and even though he had not the slightest chance of ever having to buy a jug by the accepted criteria (scoring 50, taking 5 wickets or holding three catches in the field) he always found some reason after every game to buy a jug, which is why he got a game every week, and was universally accepted as our team man par excellence

 

[sumantra]

Yes. It is. The fact that Dravid agreed to move up a position is commendable, but was rather exaggerated by the fact that Tendulkar rather selfishly didn't.

i really don't know why should i be bringing tendulkar in this!!! who else did that?


That's above and beyond the call of duty, sure. One of the reasons Dravid's clearly been putting the effort in.



This is repetition.

no, this is not, cos going up and down doesn't mean opening only...remember, after that australia series, he was told to come at 6, and laxman came at 3, but then after 2-3 series when laxman failed to make any significant impact, dravid was again asked to bat at 3

anyway, the thing is, i have a small little problem with the way u said in your earlier post that dravid did his job...i just wanted to say that dravid never had one job, it was many, and thus he deserves at least a plural "jobs" ...of course u can rate someone else as the best team man...but then, u r only complaining

 

[marc71178]

Yes. It is. The fact that Dravid agreed to move up a position is commendable, but was rather exaggerated by the fact that Tendulkar rather selfishly didn't.

Also slightly over the top in all the praise considering he was to all intents and purposes opening anyway even when 2 others went in first.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Gul is a good team man. Runs in day in day out without controversy, unlike the rest of the team. Also Younis is a very good team mate to have.

 

[JBMAC]

The last team I played for regularly had one everpresent member who actually succeeded in being a worse cricketer than me, which is quite an achievement really but somewhere, because it's that sort of club, someone will still have the stats to prove it. Anyway the point is he was dead keen and even though he had not the slightest chance of ever having to buy a jug by the accepted criteria (scoring 50, taking 5 wickets or holding three catches in the field) he always found some reason after every game to buy a jug, which is why he got a game every week, and was universally accepted as our team man par excellence

Best post of the thread

 

[akilana]

AB De Villiers

 

[bagapath]

malcolm marshall - bled for his windies team day in and day out. bowled at no.4 and 3 when some giants took the new ball. worked hard for five years and then finally got the new ball. ruled the world for 7 years and then found a suitable successor in ambrose, groomed him and slipped back to first change. never ever complained. played fair and hard. bowled fast. bowled slow. swinger. cutters. bouncers. but never without a smile. ran hard at the boundary to save runs. took good catches of others' bowling. batted with a broken hand to let gomes complete a hundred. came back and took a seven fer after that in acute pain to complete the blackwash.

also, adam gilchrist, anil kumble, rahul dravid, clive lloyd, michael holding - all put the team above self throughout their illustrious careers.

get these guys to play for my life please

simpson
gooch
dravid
lloyd (c)
miandad
gilchrist (wk)
rhodes
marshall
kumble
holding
walsh

 

[weldone]

Richard Hadlee

 

[bagapath]

Richard Hadlee

for many years, he was not in talking terms with jeremey coney, his skipper. they would walk past each other without a word after coney pouched another blinder in the slips off hadlee's bowling. paddles was a self centered cricketer. that served new zealand very well. but i wont call him a "team man".

 

[weldone]

for many years, he was not in talking terms with jeremey coney, his skipper. they would walk past each other without a word after coney pouched another blinder in the slips off hadlee's bowling. paddles was a self centered cricketer. that served new zealand very well. but i wont call him a "team man".

That doesn't matter as long as he did his best for the team.

...did the bulk of bowling without ANY support from the other end, even when playing on the flattest of tracks, bowled a zillion overs taking a million wickets, carried his team on his shoulders, whatever little NZ won in those years was due to this single man, did whatever he could with the bat as well...

That's the definition of a 'team man' to me. Venkatapathy Raju was very close to his captain. But I'll call Hadlee a better team man than Raju, sorry.