The Greats

[Hit4Six]

Warne: Yes
Murali: Yes
Tendulkar: Yes
Lara: Yes
Ponting: No
McGrath: Yes
Gilchrist: Yes

Ajit Agarkar: He's up there with Bradman

 

[open365]

Ponting-no
Lara-yes
Sachin-yes
Warne-yes
Murali-no

i'd like to nominate Brian Lara's 400* and KP's 90 odd at Bristol.

 

[The Baconator]

Couple of things which were bound to be said sooner or later, Sobers' six sixes and Warne's ball to Gatting.

Ponting: No
Lara: Yes
Tendulkar: Yes
Murali: Yes
Warne: Yes

 

[BoyBrumby]

Jacques Kallis.

Now he's an interesting one. If one compares his current stats (7420 runs @ 57.08 & 184 wickets @ 31.64) to Sir Garfield's (8032 runs @ 57.78 & 235 wickets @ 34.04) I'd say the comparison certainly doesn't embarrass Kallis.

However, there does seem to be something about him that non-Saffie cricket fans (myself included, to declare my bias) just can't warm to. He comes across as a very selfish player, often seemingly to the detriment of his team. His bowling has tailed off (unless he's playing the Zimbas, then the ball has to prised out of his hand! ) but I think as of this current moment he's the number one batter in the world.

I'll second his nomination for greatness, if only for the sake of argument.

 

[thierry henry]

Ponting- YES (why not?)

Kallis- YES, without a doubt imo

 

[thierry henry]

Nomination: Ganguly, purely as an ODI batsman

 

[Slifer]

I'll put in a vote for Kallis as well.

 

[nick-o]

Voting may occur in a specific period. Today 5 players are being put up for voting for greatness (I wont put more than 5 in a day to avoid confusion).

Nominating, seconding and thirding players can continue at all times.

Players on whom voting hereby commences for greatness for the next 24 hours:

Ponting
Lara
Tendulkar
Murali
Warne

Ponting --- no
Lara --- yes
Tendulkar --- no
Murali --- no
Warne --- yes

 

[nehrafan]

I second Imran Khan!

Thirded by me!

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Great is an over used term. Very commonly used while in reality it should be used as preciously as possible.

Hi,

I'm a keen reader of the forum; looking for some clarification on this subject.

By "great" do you mean, "Ponting is a great batsman" or "Ponting is one of the greats of the game"? I assume people will vote on the latter, but is the former really an overuse of the world "great"?

Surely we can use "great" in a comparative sense -- Ponting is a better batsman than most; therefore labeling him as "great" expresses that higher degree of quality, but not the highest degree possible. It doesn't imply that Ponting is great in a superlative sense.

It would seem to me that in cricket there are varying degrees of greatness. I don't mean to be contrary, but ever since the Aravinda De Silva argument, I've been a little miffed. I've always thought that De Silva was a great batsman in both forms of the games. He doesn't compare to Bradman or Sobers, but there's no need to designate him as "very good" -- that's putting too strong a connotation on the term "great", which doesn't indicate absolute greatness, but is used as an adjective to describe ability, quality, or eminence considerably above average.

 

[Slats4ever]

sounds complicated ohtani... TBH i only think that there are about 10 players in the history of the game who should be caled great. The word great loses it's meaning if you start going for too many more.

Bradman, WG Grace, Victory trumper, Vivian Richards, Garfield Sobers, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Richard Hadlee and Wasim Akram

 

[Pratters]

Hi,

I'm a keen reader of the forum; looking for some clarification on this subject.

By "great" do you mean, "Ponting is a great batsman" or "Ponting is one of the greats of the game"? I assume people will vote on the latter, but is the former really an overuse of the world "great"?

Who you would consider one of the greats in the history of the game. But specific performances can come in also like Laxman's inning has been nominated.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Okay, I have a few nominations:

Graeme Smith's consecutive double centuries at Edgebaston and Lords in 2003.

Glenn McGrath's opening spell in the First Ashes Test at Lords in 2005.

Michael Bevan's boundary off the last ball to win the a the match against the West Indies at the SCG in 1996.

Afridi's 100 from 37 balls in Nairobi in 1996

Come on people, what's not great about these?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

sounds complicated ohtani... TBH i only think that there are about 10 players in the history of the game who should be caled great. The word great loses it's meaning if you start going for too many more.

Bradman, WG Grace, Victory trumper, Vivian Richards, Garfield Sobers, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Richard Hadlee and Wasim Akram

Glenn McGrath? Malcolm Marshall? Walter Hammond?

I think that's a very narrow definition.

 

[Slow Love™]

Waugh's consecutive knocks of 63* on a greentop and 200 on a flat wicket to lead Australia to victory against the Windies in 1995

*thirded*

Too hard to think up all the great players/performances I can think of, but I'll nominate (I haven't seen it mentioned yet) Jim Laker's 19 wickets vs Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. I don't think you need to have seen that to appreciate what an amazing achievement it was.

Anyhow, for the votes:

Ponting: No (surprising in a way to see how many people agree on this)
Lara: Yes
Tendulkar: Yes
Murali: Yes
Warne: Yes

 

[Pratters]

Ashes	3
Laxman 281	3
Imran Khan	3
McGrath	3
Gilchrist	3
S Waugh	3
Richards	3
Hobbs	2
Marshall	3
Lillee	2
Akram	2
Hadlee	2
Kallis	3
Grace	2
Headley	2
Barnes	
Gavaskar	
Lara 153	3
McGrath 61*	2
Flintoff's over to remove Langer and Ponting	
Holding to Boycott	
Smith's double centuries	2
McGraths opening spell A 2005	
Bevan boundary off last ball	
Afridi 100	
Waugh's 63* and 200 to win vs Windies 1995	2
McGrath 2/5 Lords	
Ambrose 1/7 Perth	
Warne 23/7 Brisbane	
M.Waugh's century vs RSA 1997	
Australia's come backs in 3  consecutive world cups	
Warne's spell in 99 world cup semi	2
World Cup 1999 semi RSA vs AUS	
World Cup 1999 final AUS vs PAK	
Ajit Agarkar	
Lara's 400*	
Pieterson's 90 at Bristol	
Sobers' six sixes in an over	
Warne's ball to Gatting	
Ganguly 	
Laker's 19

The voting on the current 5 players goes on for a bit more than two more hours. The above are some of the other nominations till now. Those with two have been seconded while those with 3 have been thirded and will be posted for voting after the current voting.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I'll second Laker's 19-fer, and Warne's ball to Gatting.

 

[roseboy64]

Voting may occur in a specific period. Today 5 players are being put up for voting for greatness (I wont put more than 5 in a day to avoid confusion).

Nominating, seconding and thirding players can continue at all times.

Players on whom voting hereby commences for greatness for the next 24 hours:

Ponting
Lara
Tendulkar
Murali
Warne

Ponting:No
Lara:Yes
Tendulkar: Yes
Murali:Yes
Warne:Yes

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Also, since he somehow hasn't got it so far, I'll third Lillee.

 

[roseboy64]

I'm nominating the 1960/61 West Tour of Australia. If it's already nominated I'm seconding it. That series is on par with the 2005 Ashes as far as effect on cricket in general.