Who was your first cricketing icon?

[masterblaster]

btw Fusion you are a lucky guy that you are old enough to remember the 80's Pakistani team probably the best Pak side in history

Even the Pakistan team of the 90's had so much flair and they were all so good to watch. Inzamam, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saeed Anwar. They were truly a fantastic group of cricketers. I remember the time when we Indian fans used to dream about having fast bowlers like the Pakistan team had.

 

[Xuhaib]

Even the Pakistan team of the 90's had so much flair and they were all so good to watch. Inzamam, Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saeed Anwar. They were truly a fantastic group of cricketers. I remember the time when we Indian fans used to dream about having fast bowlers like the Pakistan team had.

Yup in terms of talent 90' Pak > 80's Pak but the 90's side greatly underachieved and were not the strongest mentally often giving away advantage at crucial moments, just goes to show how much of an impact Imran had on Pakistan cricket.

 

[four_or_six]

That's an easy one to answer for me - Michael Atherton. Was quite obsessed for a few years.

 

[Fusion]

btw Fusion you are a lucky guy that you are old enough to remember the 80's Pakistani team probably the best Pak side in history

Old enough to idolize a cricketer sure, but not quite old to truly appreciate the game or the team. For point of reference, I was twelve years old when the ‘80s ended. So the incredibly talented and equally underachieving ‘90s team was truly my first substantial exposure to cricket.

 

[Uppercut]

My first icon based on seeing them play however, was Lance Klusener. The 1999 World Cup is the first proper cricket I can remember watching (though I've got memories of watching Dominic Cork's hat-trick vs the West Indies c. 1995), and it just seemed that everytime I saw Klusener stride to the crease, he would just effortlessly smash the bowling all over the park, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do. When you combine that with the fact that not only could he bowl fast, he took wickets for South Africa as well, it's easy to see why at the time I thought he was easily the best cricketer around.

Haha, I remember thinking Brett Lee's batting was worthy of awe when i first saw him. Steve Waugh or whoever would scratch around for hours while i'd be thinking "why doesn't he just hit it? what a boring man." Then Lee came out and hit it hard and far and i was impressed. Ended up getting caught on the boundary for 18 or something but i didn't care. He batted exactly like i did when i played in the park. I loved that.

My first cricketing icon was Shane Warne. He still is probably my favourite player of all time, for the expressions he put on the faces of the batsmen he dismissed.

 

[viktor]

till 90's it was Gavaskar

then it was tendulkar and is the same up to know and don't think any one will take his place now

Same for me..
Ofcourse Agarkar probably tops both of them, quite easily, in fact..

 

[Pothas]

Being from Hampshire it would probably have to be Robin Smith, although my other favourite player was Mark Ramprakash something that introduced me to what has become a string of sporting disapointments. This was before Dimi came along to become my favourite player of all time.

However foriegn players have always caught my imagination more for some reason. For obvious reasons I loved Sachin and Lara when I was young (have seem them both live twice and they failed both times) but not sure they beat Curtley Ambrose and Shane Warne.

 

[Langeveldt]

Allan Donald inspired me to play cricket and Graeme Smith is doing his best to inspire me to take it up again

 

[ozone]

Atherton, although an honourable mention to Darren Gough who is still my all-time favourite bowler to watch.

 

[Mahindinho]

Strangely, I didn't really get into cricket until I was doing my A-levels. Lots of revision time spent at home, and cricket gave me something to do instead! I decided to be a glory hunter and jump on the Warwickshire bandwagon -- I liked Dermot Reeve's style, and Lara was hitting it everywhere.

I went to university...and started reading the newspaper every day, and followed the exploits of The Mighty Bears. That was in '95. I suppose my first cricketing "idol" was probably Roger Twose. You don't read that often!

Going back a bit, growing up in the '80s, I vaguely remember liking David Gower's style. Botham was too brash for my taste, and Gatting too fat

Then there was this chap called Aravinda that my dad went on about. The '96 SL WC victory sealed it. Aravinda became my next idol. Twose had just become a New Zealander, anyway

 

[Langeveldt]

I went to university...and started reading the newspaper every day, and followed the exploits of The Mighty Bears. That was in '95. I suppose my first cricketing "idol" was probably Roger Twose. You don't read that often!

In that case, my claim to fame is going to the same school as him..

 

[Evermind]

I forget:

Lance Klusner and Shane Bond. Watching Klusner at the crease and Bond in the run-up were the most exciting things in the cricketing world. You never knew what was gonna happen.

Among the superfast trio of Akhtar, Lee and Bond, I always found Bond to be the most exciting. With Klusner, you knew that even if he was bowled a yorker, he could somehow get it to the boundary. The game was never over with these two guys in their teams!

 

[Pothas]

Remember seeing Akhtar at Bristol in the 1999 world cup and he was increadibly fast, seemed about twice as quick as everyone else. Don't remember much else about his performance but think he got a couple of wickets. Outisde that day ive never really been a huge fan but it was amazing to watch.

 

[fredfertang]

Remember seeing Akhtar at Bristol in the 1999 world cup and he was increadibly fast, seemed about twice as quick as everyone else. Don't remember much else about his performance but think he got a couple of wickets. Outisde that day ive never really been a huge fan but it was amazing to watch.

.....agree completely - I remember that day - thought I had seen something really special - to say his later career has been a disappointment is a huge understatement

As to my first cricketing icons they were Clive Lloyd and, some way in front of him, Farokh Engineer - Engineer was, in truth, usually a disappontment but he had true style and panache .

 

[krkode]

Really got into cricket around the 1997 Sharjah series. When Tendulkar hit those 2 centuries against Australia in the qualifying match and in the final. So Tendulkar was basically my first cricketing icon, still is.

Since then, however, I've also come to really enjoy watching the cricket of Jayasuriya, Akram and McGrath.

 

[Pothas]

.....agree completely - I remember that day - thought I had seen something really special - to say his later career has been a disappointment is a huge understatement

Just checked that game out on cricinfo http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/match/65197.html

Was 11 when I went to see that match and despite all the great bowlers on show that day I can only really remember Shoaib's pace and my dissapointment when Lara was out right after hitting two fours.

 

[fredfertang]

Bloody hell that Pakistan side looks good on paper - collective underachievers

 

[Pothas]

Well got to the final that year didn't they, shame it was such a poor one.

 

[Slifer]

My first cricketing icon was Brian Lara, my favorite cricketer of all time.

 

[andruid]

Joseph Angara for mine, especially because of his opening spell in this game,which basically marked when I started actively following Kenya's cricket team.