The history of cricket was full of highly talented cricketers, many of whom were exceptional. Find the best cricketer ever to decorate a cricket field. It does not reflect their personal greatness. It's about how great a cricketer he was. A big cricketer does not mean a person bigger than a small cricketer on the list. The reverse is also true. The list is purely about cricketing skills.
1. Gary Sobers: As many people involved in cricket matches claim, he is the best cricketer ever to play a cricket match, and his insight reveals his abilities and stats. I. The ability to record 365 runs in Test cricket, hit the ropes six times in an over, and the ability of many great batsmen in the history of the game to play above the Test average helps in class and bowling. I wondered if there was something he could not do with cricket. That is why he is the best all-round cricketer and the best cricketer.
He could only get a great place in the team by batting. He was a skilled and versatile bowler. He has a record of bowling speed and slow bowling. He repeatedly suffered from a lack of bowling and fielding. The problem with all-rounders is that they have the privilege of playing extra players within the team. See the number of cricketers who have won 300 Test matches. In the history of first-class and international cricket, there are only 3 incidents of 66 hits in an over. Throughout the history of the game, only 12 cricketers can be praised as all-rounders in classes and institutions. And Gary is considered the best of them all. You keep counting The list goes on.
2. Don Bradman: Probably as strong a candidate as Garfield Sobers, the greatest cricketer ever. Don Bradman's nearly 100 extraordinary Test averages made him a great cricketer. Given the rarity of an average of almost 100 runs, Don Bradman should be the greatest cricketer ever. The place where Gary defeated him probably played a key role in all divisions of the game.
Otherwise I do not see any gap between Gary Sobers and Don Bradman as the two greatest cricketers of all time. But again you wonder he must be exceptional to be able to average 100 runs per innings. All those great batsmen throughout the history of the game who have played considerable number of tests has not gone beyond an average of in 60s, and most of these so called greats have averaged between 50s and 60s. So to outshine the next best in your category by 40% is quite unimaginable in any sport. In that sense Don Bradman can be considered not only the greatest cricketer of all time, but also the greatest sportsman of all time. To top it off he scored those almost 100 runs per innings in those days of hostile pitches and raw equipments. Everyone knows how bats and other cricket equipments have evolved over the years. The difference between the bats of today and the bats of say about 20 years ago is quite noticeable.
What kind of bats Don Bradman must have played with. Some people say Don played on few grounds, and thus have such record. But even the worse of the pitches today among the many grounds on which cricket is played must be better than the pitches on which Don played. If that was the criteria, why none of the players of even his era could manage an average of even into 70s. All those modern greats of 90s and 00s could manage an average in 50s with all those well developed bat and other cricketing equipment on benign and batting friendly pitches. The pitches one used to see even during the 70s and 80s were much difficult to bat on compared to the pitches prepared today. If that is an indication what kind of pitches Don must have batted on. He still remains the only player to have scored a 300 runs in a single day of a test match.
3. Imran Khan: If Gary Sobers could do everything in the game of cricket then Imran could do even more as a captain. Imran Khan could have earned a place in any leading side just as a bowler, and is one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. In addition he was as good as any good International batsman. He was a good fielder as well. He could win matches with his bowling, contribute significantly as a batsman, and could make significant contribution as the leader of the pack. He is considered the best among the greatest all rounders of his time who themselves are among some of the greatest cricketers of all time. There have not been too many bowlers who were better than him, and among the bowlers who might have been slightly better than him, not many are known for their batting capabilities.
Wasim Akram was better bowler than Imran, but Imran was more dependable batsman than Akram, and may be Richard Hadlee was a better bowler than Imran, but Imran surely excelled him as a batsman, and excelled everyone in that all rounders category as a captain. Many people will disagree with me on putting Imran Khan ahead of Vivian Richards. My logic is if Gary Sobers could be greater than Don Bradman, logic says Imran Khan has to be greater than Vivian Richards as a cricketer. But it is so difficult to accurately measure the talent of the players and their value to the team. It is like you can put Don Bradman ahead of Gary Sobers without much fuss. You can as well put Vivian Richards ahead of Imran Khan in the list. But because of Imran Khan's immense contribution in every department of the game, I opted for Imran Khan at #3 in the list of greatest cricketers of all time.
4. Vivian Richards: Most destructive batsman of all time, and in a time when attacking style of batting was not common. In the modern times, we had the pleasure of watching the likes of Gilchrist, Sehwag, Jaysurya, and occasionally Shahid Afridi destroying the bowling attacks, but none of them are known to be as intimidating as Vivian Richards. To have the fastest test hundred of all time with an average of more than 50, and in one dayers, an average of 47 runs at a strike rate of more than 90 speaks volume about the caliber of the man. None of the above mentioned destructive batsmen have an average of more than 40 compared to 47 by Vivian Richards. In fact many other great batsmen have less average than Viv's 47 and far lower strike rate compared to Viv's strike rate of 90.
He never changed his batting style irrespective of the state of the match. Without an iota of doubt there has not been a greater batsman than Vivian Richards in one day format of the game. In tests too, he averaged 50 runs scoring those runs at a blistering pace. He was also an exceptional fielder and bowled occasionally. One of the greatest fast bowler of his time Imran Khan has said that Vivian Richards is the only batsman who has frightened him. Nobody else in the history of the game could play like Vivian and hence is probably the greatest batsman of all time save Don Bradman and thus he deserved fourth place in the list of the greatest cricketers of all time.
5. Adam Gilchrist: As a batsman, Adam Gilchrist was almost a Vivian Richards. In addition he would double up as a wicketkeeper. In that sense I was tempted to put Gilchrist ahead of Vivian Richards, but Viv being such an intimidating batsman and in those times when attacking style of play was not so common, I went with Viv at #4. Nonetheless, Adam Gilchrist is one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Adam Gilchrist has one of the highest strike rates in both forms of the game and has an average to match the greats of the game. Adam Gilchrist was one of the main reasons for the domination of the Australian cricket for the last decade and half.
Adam Gilchrist was one of the three key players in the talent-laden Australian team. As a wicket-keeper batsman if someone can bat like Adam Gilchrist, he is definitely going to add substantially to the strength of the team. He played some of the breathtaking innings in his career. His blistering hundred against Sri Lanka in the 2007 World cup, which Australia eventually won, the innings he played in the semi-final of the IPL edition that his team eventually won, the innings at Mumbai in the first edition of the IPL, and his fastest test hundred off 57 balls, which is the second fastest hundred in the history of the game behind the ultimate Vivian Richard's 56 ball hundred, and many such innings make you wonder if the Gilchrist was the greatest cricketer of all time.
6. Wasim Akram: Wasim Akram is one of those dream cricketers that even the great cricketers would like to reborn as a cricketer. Wasim is considered as the most naturally talented bowler by many former greats like Allan Donald and Mohammad Azharuddin. It is said that he could bowl six different types of balls in one over. With the bat he was capable of turning the game with his explosive batting.
Those two wickets on successive deliveries in the 1992 world cup final against England at a very important stage of the game pushed England totally out of the game. What an occasion to produce probably the best two deliveries of his entire career. You can expect the greatest cricketers to rise to the occasion at the greatest stage. You see a player like Adam Gilchrist playing those extraordinary knocks on big stages like the World cup 2007 against Sri Lanka and sealing the win for his team. Wasim Akram is also the only bowler in the history of the game to have captured hat-tricks as many as four times in his International career. Wasim Akram has often won games for Pakistan singlehandedly. He formed a threatening bowling combination with Waqar Younis, and they together tormented many a batting line-ups. He was probably the greatest bowler of his time with the other one being McGrath. McGrath himself described Wasim Akram as a greater bowler than himself.
If he was as great a bowler as McGrath and if you consider what he could do with the bat, and you know the value of Wasim Akram as a cricketer. In the 1992 World cup final before turning the match with his two magic balls, he was instrumental in setting a challenging total with his timely and explosive batting when he scored 33 runs off just 19 balls coming towards the close of innings. What a grand occasion for man of Wasim's caliber to rise for his team and his country. Many people might not know Wasim also hit a timely six to win the Nehru cup for Pakistan. Many people knew about Miandad hitting a six off the last ball to win when four runs were required off the last ball of the innings. In the Nehru cup final, Pakistan required six runs to win from the last two balls, and Wasim Akram hit a six off the first of those two balls and won the cup for Pakistan.
7. Richard Hadlee: Inarguably the greatest of all New Zealand cricketers till date. One of the greats of all time who could make the grade to any great XI only for his bowling. New Zeeland had a very few match winners in their ranks when Richard Hadlee was around, and it was more often than not that Hadlee was their match winner.
Richard Hadlee brought as many laurels to New Zeeland cricket as any of the other greatest cricketers of all time have brought to their own country. One of the ten greatest bowlers of all time. Plus, he was also more than handy with the bat, and perhaps one of the better batsmen in that New Zeeland team. One of the four great all rounders of 70s and 80s. Richard Hadlee was considered by many as the best bowler among the four great all-rounders of his time. Richard Hadlee was capable of creating havoc with his bowling. He also won and saved matches for New Zeeland with his batting. Overall, a very capable match winner.
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