Who is the best England captain since 1930?

[Nowhowsthat]

Who has been the best England captain since 1930?

With England now the number 1 test team in the world in the official rankings (well, once the rankings are revised post Oval test), a lot of the credit has to go to Andrew Strauss. Some are now hailing him as one of England's best captains ever. So now would be a good time to assess where he stands in comparison to previous England captains. So, who do you think has been the best England captain since 1930?

 

[BlazeDragon]

Andrew Flintoff.

 

[L Trumper]

DRJ .. He deserves knighthood

 

[fredfertang]

Jardine by a country mile, Illingworth a way behind him and the rest jostling for the minor places

 

[salman85]

Hussain.

I'm probably a bit biased here because i was a huge fan of him back in the day,but the job he did at laying the foundations of the side that would go on to become the world's best team a decade later,after going through of it's weakest periods a decade earlier,is nothing short of brilliant.

 

[grecian]

Hussain.

I'm probably a bit biased here because i was a huge fan of him back in the day,but the job he did at laying the foundations of the side that would go on to become the world's best team a decade later,after going through of it's weakest periods a decade earlier,is nothing short of brilliant.

We were still weak under him though, he improved us, but at times we were still pish.

Great commentator though.

 

[JBMAC]

Jardine was authotarian but achieved but Peter May was a thinking cricketers Captain hence he gets my vote

 

[smash84]

From what little knowledge I have of English cricket I think it would be difficult to look past Douglas Jardine. As JBMAC says he was authoritarian (so was my favorite cricketer of all time) but his leadership was outstanding despite it.

 

[archie mac]

I thought MB would win this easy tbh

I don't think Jardine would even be considered the best captain of Surrey let alone England

And why is this not a public poll??????????

 

[Isura]

I thought MB would win this easy tbh

I don't think Jardine would even be considered the best captain of Surrey let alone England

And why is this not a public poll??????????

This. Jardine way over-rated here. Brearley gun captain.

 

[fredfertang]

It's Brearley who is overrated. He wasn't good enough as a batsman and as a captain he ducked the WIndies and led us to an ignominious spanking by the Oz in 79/80

 

[BoyBrumby]

I voted for Lord Jardine of Mumbai, just to clear any doubt.

An authoritarian, yes, but never a martinet. By most accounts he'd never ask anything of his men he wasn't prepared to do himself &, whilst history hasn't been kind to leg theory as a legitimate tactic, DRJ was convinced it could be combated with sufficient gumption as McCabe proved in 32/33 and he himself showed against a Windies including Martindale & Constantine attack employing it. A hard man, but a fair one (IMHO, obvz).

Also (obviously) an innovative captain. He devised a tactic that successfully answered the Bradman question, as knotty a problem as ever facing a cricket skipper, and one who understood the psychology of the sport every bit as much as Brearley; evidenced by him setting the leg theory field immediately after Oldfield had been sconed and his determination that a lame Larwood see out his over to show England's champion wasn't broken.

 

[smash84]

I voted for Lord Jardine of Mumbai, just to clear any doubt.

An authoritarian, yes, but never a martinet. By most accounts he'd never ask anything of his men he wasn't prepared to do himself &, whilst history hasn't been kind to leg theory as a legitimate tactic, DRJ was convinced it could be combated with sufficient gumption as McCabe proved in 32/33 and he himself showed against a Windies including Martindale & Constantine attack employing it. A hard man, but a fair one (IMHO, obvz).

Also (obviously) an innovative captain. He devised a tactic that successfully answered the Bradman question, as knotty a problem as ever facing a cricket skipper, and one who understood the psychology of the sport every bit as much as Brearley; evidenced by him setting the leg theory field immediately after Oldfield had been sconed and his determination that a lame Larwood see out his over to show England's champion wasn't broken.

This

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

I voted for Lord Jardine of Mumbai, just to clear any doubt.

An authoritarian, yes, but never a martinet. By most accounts he'd never ask anything of his men he wasn't prepared to do himself &, whilst history hasn't been kind to leg theory as a legitimate tactic, DRJ was convinced it could be combated with sufficient gumption as McCabe proved in 32/33 and he himself showed against a Windies including Martindale & Constantine attack employing it. A hard man, but a fair one (IMHO, obvz).

Also (obviously) an innovative captain. He devised a tactic that successfully answered the Bradman question, as knotty a problem as ever facing a cricket skipper, and one who understood the psychology of the sport every bit as much as Brearley; evidenced by him setting the leg theory field immediately after Oldfield had been sconed and his determination that a lame Larwood see out his over to show England's champion wasn't broken.

Killer post! Not enough Lord Jardine love here or on YouTube.

I voted for Lord Jardine as well. A bit surprised to see the Yorkshireman Brian Close not listed as one of the options. A fine leader of men (if a bit headstrong), an individual you'd take to war with you and a very astute reader of the game.

Let's not forget that two of his prodigies went on to set the world on fire - IVA and Both. The man must have had tremendous mentoring skills.

 

[Nowhowsthat]

A bit surprised to see the Yorkshireman Brian Close not listed as one of the options. A fine leader of men (if a bit headstrong), an individual you'd take to war with you and a very astute reader of the game.

The problem with Brian Close is that he only captained England for 7 matches. The first was against the West Indies in which the West Indies had already won the series and had one eye on the plane home. Then he captained England for one summer against India and Pakistan who both had pretty weak teams at that point. For me, Close was not around long enough to merit a place in the poll. Had he been around longer to captain England against Australia, South Africa, and in a full series against the West Indies, and done well, then it would be a different matter.

Close lost the England captaincy in somewhat bizarre circumstances:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Close#England_captaincy

I don't think Close would have lost the captaincy in such circumstances in this day and age. Very unfortunate - as I agree, he would probably have gone down as one of the best captains had he kept the captaincy. In his short tenure, moreover, England were unbeaten - 6 wins and 1 draw

You can see Brian's comments on England's ascendancy to the number 1 test side in the world at the following link:-

BBC Sport - Close to greatness, but not the greatest - Brian Close

 

[Jacknife]

Brian Close, shock horror, thinks the side he Captained was the best England side ever.
He makes some good points but he firmly comes from the 'thing's were better in my day' club.

 

[wpdavid]

At a guess, Hutton. If not, I'll add my vote to Jardine.

I've always felt that Illingworth and Brearley's claims were similar insofar as they won lots of series against weak opponents but were found wanting when other sides eventually got their acts together. And neither had to play the world's best, albeit for different reasons. May's statistics are impressive, but he inherited a seriously good hand in terms of talent available, but came horribly unstuck when the going got tough in Australia.

 

[archie mac]

At a guess, Hutton. If not, I'll add my vote to Jardine.

I've always felt that Illingworth and Brearley's claims were similar insofar as they won lots of series against weak opponents but were found wanting when other sides eventually got their acts together. And neither had to play the world's best, albeit for different reasons. May's statistics are impressive, but he inherited a seriously good hand in terms of talent available, but came horribly unstuck when the going got tough in Australia.

Hutton was the first deliberate time waster. Jardine won one series against a half decent team. Brearley won against Aust against all the odds in 1981

 

[wpdavid]

Hutton was the first deliberate time waster. Jardine won one series against a half decent team. Brearley won against Aust against all the odds in 1981

tbh my vote for Hutton is because I am aware of his results but not familiar enough to be able to weigh up his tenure in any great detail. Was the time-wasting in 1953 when Aus were trying to chase down a smallish total? I know he was also guilty of kicking the ball over the boundary to keep a non-batsman on strike at the Oval in 1938. Bloody professionals, eh? I still reckon his achievement in taking the side to victory in 1953 and especially in 1954/55 after 20 years of Aus rule was pretty special, even if he was a hard-nosed bugger. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the side in 1954/55 was pretty young, even if it was full of famous names.

Brearley in 1981 is a tricky one to evaluate, as we all know it owed more than a smidge to Botham's borderline supernatural heroics. Playing devil's advocate, how on earth did Aus score over 400 on that Leeds wicket when Brearley had Willis, Botham, Old and Dilley at his disposal? And we all know that the 1981 Aus side wasn't special: not in the batting side of things, anyway.

 

[Quaggas]

Missed KP. Obvz choice, since he has three lions tattooed on his ****