Wisden's Cricketers of the Century

[Revelation]

What about William Ponsford? Only man (except Lara) to have two FC 400s.

 

[Swervy]

and I never expected when I started this thread to be this popular!

yeah its gone Superfly TNT in here ...best thread for ages

 

[aussie_beater]

McDermott was a very good pace bowler(but not great),never saw McKenzie,Vaas on his day is more dangerous than Dev mostly was,I think Srinath was a better bowler than Dev,and I think caddick was as well to be perfectly honest

Yeah, right !!

I have seen all of those bowlers except McKenzie and I don't think any of those measure up to Kapil. Look at the consistency of Kapil and look at Srinath's for example...Srinath was a "on his day..." type of bowler and quite ordinary at other times.Same goes for Caddick. McDermott developed into a decent bowler towards the end of his career but initially he could be thrashed by even someone like Raman Lamba(if you know what I mean....I have seen pretty much all his career and except towards the end, he was pretty ordinary. Also he was aided by having a chance to bowl at bouncy pitches most of the time. Have you seen Kapil early in his career where he could was devastating...just one example, check out some footage from the 1981 Melbourne test between Indian and Australia or the India-WI test at Kanpur in 1983... I could give you so many more examples, but I guess if you haven't seen much of him, its a moot point.

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

What about William Ponsford? Only man (except Lara) to have two FC 400s.

But he didn't succeed quite as well internationally

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

yeah its gone Superfly TNT in here ...best thread for ages

Thanks

 

[Swervy]

Yeah, right !!

I have seen all of those bowlers except McKenzie and I don't think any of those measure up to Kapil. Look at the consistency of Kapil and look at Srinath's for example...Srinath was a "on his day..." type of bowler and quite ordinary at other times.Same goes for Caddick. McDermott developed into a decent bowler towards the end of his career but initially he could be thrashed by even someone like Raman Lamba(if you know what I mean....I have seen pretty much all his career and except towards the end, he was pretty ordinary. Also he was aided by having a chance to bowl at bouncy pitches most of the time. Have you seen Kapil early in his career where he could was devastating...just one example, check out some footage from the 1981 Melbourne test between Indian and Australia or the India-WI test at Kanpur in 1983... I could give you so many more examples, but I guess if you haven't seen much of him, its a moot point.

yeah I watched the 1981 game on TV.....we can all have good days

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

Don't forget though that McDermott's career was injury plagued

 

[Swervy]

Yeah, right !!

Have you seen Kapil early in his career where he could was devastating...just one example, check out some footage from the 1981 Melbourne test between Indian and Australia or the India-WI test at Kanpur in 1983... I could give you so many more examples, but I guess if you haven't seen much of him, its a moot point.

yeah and so do you remember how the MCG pitch used to play in the early 80's...an absolute shocker

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

Some interesting stats...

Muralitharan: 521 in 89 @ 5.85 per match
Walsh: 519 in 132 @ 3.93
Warne: 517 in 110 @ 4.70
Kapil Dev: 434 in 131 @ 3.31
Hadlee: 431 in 86 @ 5.01
McGrath: 430 in 95 @ 4.53
Wasim: 414 in 104 @ 3.98
Ambrose: 405 in 98 @ 4.13
Kumble: 397 in 84 @ 4.72
Botham: 383 in 102 @ 3.75
Marshall: 376 in 81 @ 4.64
Waqar: 373 in 87 @ 4.26
Imran: 362 in 88 @ 4.11
Lillee: 355 in 70 @ 5.07
Pollock: 339 in 83 @ 4.08
Donald: 330 in 72 @ 4.58
Willis: 325 in 90 @ 3.61
Gibbs: 309 in 79 @ 3.91
Trueman: 307 in 67 @ 4.58

The fact that Kapil's - and Willis' - is so low says a little, I think.

Though you also have to look at not only the number of wickets per game, but how many overs each of them bowled.

 

[Swervy]

Though you also have to look at not only the number of wickets per game, but how many overs each of them bowled.

erm..i wouldnt if you want to go much further with this Dev discussion...his strike rate looks very very avearge when compared to all the great fast bowlers who have taken more than 300 test wickets

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

check out some footage from the 1981 Melbourne test between Indian and Australia

Kapil indeed won them the game for them with 5/28 (16.4) in Australia's second innings.

 

[Sehwag309]

I have not seen a single Match of Viv Richards

Is there any similarity between him and Sehwags hitting. I know he is pretty new but he too doesn't care about pitch, bowler, just hits

 

[aussie_beater]

yeah and so do you remember how the MCG pitch used to play in the early 80's...an absolute shocker

Then how come Lilee and Pascoe and others could not destroy the Indian batting on that same pitch and win the match......and I am using that MCG test as just one random example...

 

[a massive zebra]

What about William Ponsford? Only man (except Lara) to have two FC 400s.

Its Bill Ponsford. He was, with the exception of the 1934 ashes series, like an upgraded Graeme Hick. In first-class cricket he was second to one (Bradman), but struggled at the top level if you take that series away. Managed partnerships of 388 and 451 with Bradman in successive matches, which is a truely immense achievement, but before that series he only averaged 40.86.

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

erm..i wouldnt if you want to go much further with this Dev discussion...

Yeah you're right about that one

 

[Swervy]

I have not seen a single Match of Viv Richards

Is there any similarity between him and Sehwags hitting. I know he is pretty new but he too doesn't care about pitch, bowler, just hits

Sehwag I feel looks like he is trying to knock the leather of the ball...Richards seemed to carress the ball to where ever he chose to hit it...carress gives the wrong impression, because he actually used to murder the ball, but it always looked controlled..and with his drives, the ball would go all the way along the ground, to the boundary in a flash,and quite often it would look like he had just flicked his wrist.Scary to watch sometimes

 

[Ford_GTHO351]

Bill Ponsford's Test Batting Record
29 Matches, 2122 runs@ 48.22

Bill Ponsford's FC Batting Record
162 Matches, 13819 runs@ 65.18

If I was picking my five cricketers of the century, I would of picked someone who firstly succeeded internationally & his FC record is much better than his Test record.

Take someone like Hobbs, not only did he have a great record at FC level, but Hobbs also had a great record in Tests.

 

[Anil]

McDermott was a very good pace bowler(but not great),never saw McKenzie,Vaas on his day is more dangerous than Dev mostly was,I think Srinath was a better bowler than Dev,and I think caddick was as well to be perfectly honest

are you serious? srinath, caddick, vaas better than kapil? exactly how do you prove that? you have probably never watched kapil at anything approaching his peak, that's why this comment....

 

[Revelation]

His career wasn't bad at all you know.

TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 29 48 4 2122 266 48.22 7 6 21 0

FIRST-CLASS
(career: 1920/21 - 1933/34)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 162 235 23 13819 437 65.18 47 43 71 0

 

[chicane]

I have not seen a single Match of Viv Richards

Is there any similarity between him and Sehwags hitting. I know he is pretty new but he too doesn't care about pitch, bowler, just hits

In an article on cricinfo about Sehwag -

"Even strolling about the crease between deliveries, he appears to be thinking not about the bowler changing his line of attack, or of this fielder going here and that one there, but rather of palm trees and golden beaches."

He's just something else. Mad and funny.