Top ten greatest bowlers and batsmen of all time

[bagapath]

this thread is a blast from the past for sure. didnt even remember i had steve waugh in my top 10 batters of all time. bad!!

welcome avidude. hope you dont embarass me by digging my past mistakes.

 

[Trumpers_Ghost]

You'd think a first post would be from the front page, the previous post on this thread was 3 years ago (how far back what that be, 6th page?)

But since its here now, I might have a go (and comparing players across eras is so tough, something I'm usually against and before I start I know I'll have a bias against players I've seen)

Batsman

Bradman
Viv
Lara
Sobers
Sachin
Ponting
Headley
Hanif
Hutton
Walcott

Bowlers

Marshall
Warne
Akram
Hadlee
Ambrose
Lillee
McGrath
Garner
Murali
Trueman

on a roll, so why stop....

Allrounders

Sobers
Imran
Miller
Botham
Kapil Dev
Kallis
Pollock
Syd Gregory
Hadlee
*Mitch*

Wicket-Keepers (allround contribution)

Gilchrist
Healy
Knott
Walcott
Dujon
Murray
Moin
Dhoni
Boucher
Marsh

Outfielders

Harper
Viv
Ponting
Symonds
Jonty
AB De Villiers
Brand
Lloyd
Clarke
Collingwood


Beer Swillers

Doug Walters
David Boon
Rod Marsh
....(yeah this is getting stupid)

 

[SJS]

Off the cuff

Batsmen

• Grace
• Trumper
• Ranji
• Hobbs
• Bradman
• Hammond
• Sobers
• Richards
• Lara
• Tendulkar

Bowlers

• Spofforth
• Barnes
• Larwood
• Grimmett
• O'Rielly
• Lindwall
• Roberts
• Lillee
• Marshall
• Murali

 

[Zinzan]

Bowlers

• Spofforth
• Barnes
• Larwood
• Grimmett
• O'Rielly
• Lindwall
• Roberts
• Lillee
• Marshall
• Murali

Lol, SJS, how things change, from memory you had Hadlee around 4 or 5 just a few years back

 

[Days of Grace]

I'll give you a special preview of my upcoming final versions of my top 100 test batsmen and bowlers lists by releasing the top 10s now

Test Batsmen:

1 DG Bradman 1410
2 BC Lara 913
3 GS Sobers 911
4 JB Hobbs 901
5 SR Tendulkar 893
6 SM Gavaskar 879
7 GA Headley 874
8 L Hutton 871
9 RT Ponting 867
10 WR Hammond 861

Test Bowlers:

1 M Muralitharan 1103
2 SF Barnes 1084
3 Sir RJ Hadlee 1051
4 MD Marshall 985
5 CEL Ambrose 946
6 GD McGrath 931
7 Imran Khan 903
8 WJ O'Reilly 900
9 SK Warne 890
10 CV Grimmett 880

 

[The Sean]

Batsman

Bradman
Viv
Lara
Sobers
Sachin
Ponting
Headley
Hanif
Hutton
Walcott

Given your name and love for the man, I'm surprised you don't have Vic on that list - particularly at the expense of Hanif (great player though he was).

Allrounders

Sobers
Imran
Miller
Botham
Kapil Dev
Kallis
Pollock
Syd Gregory
Hadlee
*Mitch*

Jack's probably a better bet there.

Outfielders

Harper

Always glad to see there are those of us who still remember just how scintillating that man was in the field.

Beer Swillers

Doug Walters
David Boon
Rod Marsh
....(yeah this is getting stupid)

Rodney would be mortified...

 

[Trumpers_Ghost]

Yaeh Jack Gregory I meant. Too many damn Greogories.

As for trumper, well its hard to compare players of diff eras and I think Trumper is probably just too far back to make a realistic comparison (can I make him an honory member).
Walcott I added at 10 cause I really couldn't think of anyone else at the time, however since then Iv'e thought that probably Hammond should be there. Also I deliberately didn't consider Pollock (and B.Richards for that matter) as unfortunetly they didn't get to prove themselves at test level over enough games (to satisfy me that is, but I fully understand those who would consider them).

As for Rodney, he probably should be above boony on the list (finished a close second to Walters, then broke Walters record next time up) But boony will forever be the record holder.

 

[Trumpers_Ghost]

Always glad to see there are those of us who still remember just how scintillating that man was in the field.

As a ten year old in 85 I though thats how they all did it. Absolutely sensational. Everything he did in the field was phenom. Reckon he probably even looked brilliant passing the ball back to the bowler. A real pity that the rest of his game was rubbish, cause that meant he wasn't always in the team. He showed though how a fielding-allrounder can be a match winner and was something of a personal inspiration.

Roger Harper god of fieldsmen

 

[Migara]

Bowlers

Barnes
Marshall
Mcgrath
Hadlee
Warne
Ambrose
Wasim
Garner
Lillee

Murali is better than half of the names there.

 

[Migara]

Wicket-Keepers (allround contribution)

Gilchrist
Healy
Knott
Walcott
Dujon
Murray
Moin
Dhoni
Boucher
Marsh

Ouch! I fail to see Andy Flower and Sangakkara

 

[Matt79]

Yep, its not redundant for me to do mine either

Batsman:
1. Bradman
2. Hobbs
3. Hammond
4. G.Pollock
5. B.Richards
6. G. Headley
7. V.Richards
8. Tendaulkar
9. Lara
10. Sobers

Bowlers:
1. Warne
2. Lillee
3. Marshall
4. Ambrose
5. Murali
6. Barnes
7. O'Reilly
8. Trueman
9. Lindwall
10. McGrath

with apologies to Wasim and Waqar.

Hmmm, would tinker with these a bit. Certainly would drop Pollock and Barry Richards down a bit now as I think they just didn't get enough of a chance to play at the top level - having them so high is really rating them on potential. Would have Sobers higher on that list, and probably sneak Greg Chappell and Len Hutton in.

Would now have Marshall higher than Lillee. Within the top three on the bowling list, it's all pretty much of a muchness. Would lose one of Lindwall or Trueman in favour of Hadlee or one of the big three Pakistanis.

Batsmen:
1. Bradman
2. Hobbs
3. Hammond
4. Sobers
5. Viv Richards
6. Headley
7. Tendulkar
8. G. Chappell
9. Hutton
10. Lara

Bowlers:
1. Marshall
2. Warne
3. Lillee
4. Ambrose
5. Murali
6. Barnes
7. O'Reilly
8. Hadlee
9. McGrath
10. Trueman/Lindwall/Wasim/Waqar/Imran

 

[silentstriker]

1. Bradman
2. Hobbs
3. Sobers
4. Tendulkar
5. Chappell
6. Lara
7. Richards
8. Gavaskar
9. Hammond
10. Hutton

1. McGrath
2. Marshall
3. Barnes
4. Ambrose
5. Trueman
6. Imran
7. Lillee
8. Hadlee
9. Donald
10. Wasim

 

[Slifer]

My top ten changes every few weeks ne way here goes:

Batsmen

Bradman
Hobbs
Chappell
Richards
Sobers
Tendulkar
Gavaskar
Lara
Hammond
Ponting

Bowlers

Marshall/Mcgrath
Hadlee
Imran
Ambrose
Lillee
Trueman
Donald
Wasim
Holding

The only thing one needs spinners for is probably overates. Great fast bowlers tend to have better averages, SR and econs. than great spinners. Note i said tend to as there are exceptions to the rule.

 

[SJS]

Lol, SJS, how things change, from memory you had Hadlee around 4 or 5 just a few years back

I saw that but if you read thast one, you will find that I excluded (intentionally) all West Indian fast bowlers. In fact I made a separate list of West Indian bowlers since there were so many of them

Here it is

Off the top of my head and not necessarily in an order.

Batsmen

1. Bradman
2. Trumper
3. Hobbs
4. Hammond
5. Headley
6. Viv Richards
7. Sobers
8. Lara
9. Tendulkar​

Not too sure of a tenth who might be a cert. Will come back later

Bowlers (without the West Indians)

1. Barnes
2. Orielly
3. Grimmett
4. Lillee
5. Hadlee
6. Warne
7. Murali
8. Imran
9. Lindwall
10. Larwood​

West Indian Bowlers

1. Marshall
2. Roberts
3. Holding
4. Walsh
5. Garner
6. Ambrose
7. Hall
8. Bishop
9. Constantine
10 Martindale​

Had to have a separate list for the West Indian fast bowlers....there are simply too many of them to fit into a list of just ten from all over the world over over time and including all types of bowling !!

 

[The Masterplan]

Michael Holding.

 

[Maximus0723]

Mcgrath =/=Marshall or > then Hadlee/Lillee/Ambrose.

This is moot to someone who is obviously biased.

 

[oitoitoi]

I always think of Sobers onwards as the modern era, don't know why, just always have. Not too keen on cross era comparisons.

In no particular order

Top 10 Batsmen

Tendulkar
Lara
Sobers
Viv Richards
Graeme Pollock
Barry Richards

I think those 6 really are a cut above the rest, the other 4.

Gavaskar
Sangakkarra (hell it may be premature but I think he's super awesome!)
Dravid
Greg Chappell (why does he never get more recognition?)

As you might gather from my list I'm a big believer in technique. I also like lefties! Ponting didn't quite make it because I've always felt that many of the genuine quicks of the 80's and 90's would have been all over him, his mate Mcgrath would have too. Other Honourable mentions include S Waugh, Miandad, Hayden, Sehwag, Jayawardene, and Smith. They've all been left out due to either technical flaws or a lacking in all round performance. I think batting has significantly improved over the last 20 years, yeah sure the bats are a million times better and the pitches are more docile but I think that video technology has had a huge impact on ironing out players' techniques.

Top 10 quicks

1. Marshall, IMO the perfect quick, did it everywhere against everyone, adapted perfectly, had all the tricks. Shaun Pollock says that he learnt everything he knows about bowling from Marshall in just a 6 week (If memory serves) period.

The rest are in no particular order.

Ambrose (>Mcgrath IMO)
Akram
Younis (Probably my favourite ever bowler)
Holding
Donald
Mcgrath
Imran Khan
Hadlee
Steyn (Really! He's already done it nearly everywhere and against the very best)

Honourable Mentions: Lillee, I know most people will be scandalised by his exclusion but the fact that he played almost all his tests in Australia and England is something I hold against him a bit. I always think that performing as a quick in India is the hardest feat in test match cricket, so few have done it and many greats have failed.
Shane Bond, who knows what could have and probably would have been?
Shaun Pollock, didn't quite have the same pace as the rest but his record is still outstanding pretty much everywhere.

Probably missed loads of players but there you are.

 

[nightprowler10]

I'll give this thread a miss for the same reason I did last time, I couldn't post the same list twice.

 

[Trumpers_Ghost]

Ouch! I fail to see Andy Flower and Sangakkara

Sangakara I actually forgot (didn't put a lot of thought into the whole thing) and I would have him probably 4-6 or something. Think he's excellent batsman (maybe best in world at present) good keeper who has definitely improved, and a really nice bloke.

Flower I didn't forget, just think that he rates outside top 10.

 

[SJS]

Lol, SJS, how things change, from memory you had Hadlee around 4 or 5 just a few years back

I saw that but if you read thast one, you will find that I excluded (intentionally) all West Indian fast bowlers. In fact I made a separate list of West Indian bowlers since there were so many of them

Oh and one more thing. At that time I decided not to include cricketers who played most of their international cricket in the 19th century which accounts for the exclusion of Grace, Ranji and Spofforth.