Player of the Decade

[mdoggie]

Another decade of cricket draws to a close and we have to ask the question who was the player that dominated this decade. As per usual, their is no player that can stake a Bradman type claim to the thrown. So who was the best player of this decade.

I will put up a poll once I have a better Idea of who people feel is the best.

I personally and probably with a little bias would go for Kallis. He averages around 58 for the decade, right up their with Ponting as the best batsman of this decade but adds an extra element of being a more than useful Pace Bowler.

 

[stefan]

I would pick Warnie. I am biased towards the legspinner. But as far as match winning performances go I still reckon he was the man.

Kallis would be very close.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I have to say murali. he averages 20.97 for the decade and has almost 200 wickets more than the next nearest bowler.

that this happened in an era where averaging 55 has become about the norm, and countless batting records have been broken is more incredible.

OK, if you think he's a chucker and all that then I can see why you wouldn't agree, but that would be the only thing that could sway it. Objectively, he's made batsmen look prats everywhere, in every format, when the rest of the time they were scoring massive hundreds and batting for ages.

 

[Dare]

^^Except for Australia

I would go with Kallis, best cricketer of this decade with ease.

 

[rocky_g]

Who else than Virender Sehwag.

 

[sifter132]

I think Kallis too, but only because of his added bowling. I personally think Ponting has been the batsman of the decade, marginally shading Kallis as Ponting seems to score more centuries and plays a bit better away from home. But then again Ponting never had to play the Aussie attack...

BTW here are the top run scorers of the decade (excluding the games against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe - sorry Jason Gillespie and Matthew Hayden ):

RT Ponting (Aus) 8939 @57.3
JH Kallis (SA) 7810 @55.78
ML Hayden (Aus) 7695 @50.96
R Dravid (India) 7320 @51.54
DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 7023 @53.61
KC Sangakkara (SL) 6137 @51.57
V Sehwag (India) 6049 @53.06
S Chanderpaul (WI) 6029 @54.31
BC Lara (WI) 5985 @53.43
VVS Laxman (India) 5970 @51.02
JL Langer (Aus) 5886 @49.88
SR Tendulkar (India) 5758 @47.19
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 5653 @54.35
GC Smith (SA) 5524 @46.81
AJ Strauss (Eng) 5290 @44.45
MP Vaughan (Eng) 5231 @41.18
ME Trescothick (Eng) 5172 @41.04
CH Gayle (WI) 5148 @39.6
RR Sarwan (WI) 5012 @39.15
Younis Khan (Pak) 5007 @51.09


And top wicket takers:
M Muralitharan (SL) 432 @23.48
SK Warne (Aus) 346 @25.1
M Ntini (SA) 339 @29.49
A Kumble (India) 320 @32.15
Harbhajan Singh (India) 292 @30.62
GD McGrath (Aus) 292 @20.46
B Lee (Aus) 289 @30.71
SM Pollock (SA) 242 @25.2
MJ Hoggard (Eng) 222 @32.07
WPUJC Vaas (SL) 214 @29.92
Danish Kaneria (Pak) 211 @36.64
A Flintoff (Eng) 211 @32.94
SJ Harmison (Eng) 198 @34.16
JN Gillespie (Aus) 185 @28.88
Z Khan (India) 183 @35.18
JH Kallis (SA) 174 @35.2
DL Vettori (NZ) 164 @39.5
CS Martin (NZ) 150 @36.33
DW Steyn (SA) 148 @25.07

McGrath, Murali and Warne are the standouts there.

 

[pcfan123]

^ you forgot Napoleon Einstein

 

[JD10]

Best player of the decade has to be Brian Charles Lara.

 

[Dare]

RT Ponting (Aus) 8939 @57.3
JH Kallis (SA) 7810 @55.78
ML Hayden (Aus) 7695 @50.96
R Dravid (India) 7320 @51.54
DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 7023 @53.61
KC Sangakkara (SL) 6137 @51.57
V Sehwag (India) 6049 @53.06
S Chanderpaul (WI) 6029 @54.31
BC Lara (WI) 5985 @53.43
VVS Laxman (India) 5970 @51.02
JL Langer (Aus) 5886 @49.88
SR Tendulkar (India) 5758 @47.19
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 5653 @54.35
GC Smith (SA) 5524 @46.81
AJ Strauss (Eng) 5290 @44.45
MP Vaughan (Eng) 5231 @41.18
ME Trescothick (Eng) 5172 @41.04
CH Gayle (WI) 5148 @39.6
RR Sarwan (WI) 5012 @39.15
Younis Khan (Pak) 5007 @51.09

Wow look at Shiv, 4th highest average this decade. I would also like to see how many matches it took each player to get these runs. Interesting to see Tendulkar averaging under 50 this decade.

And top wicket takers:
M Muralitharan (SL) 432 @23.48
SK Warne (Aus) 346 @25.1
M Ntini (SA) 339 @29.49
A Kumble (India) 320 @32.15
Harbhajan Singh (India) 292 @30.62
GD McGrath (Aus) 292 @20.46
B Lee (Aus) 289 @30.71
SM Pollock (SA) 242 @25.2
MJ Hoggard (Eng) 222 @32.07
WPUJC Vaas (SL) 214 @29.92
Danish Kaneria (Pak) 211 @36.64
A Flintoff (Eng) 211 @32.94
SJ Harmison (Eng) 198 @34.16
JN Gillespie (Aus) 185 @28.88
Z Khan (India) 183 @35.18
JH Kallis (SA) 174 @35.2
DL Vettori (NZ) 164 @39.5
CS Martin (NZ) 150 @36.33
DW Steyn (SA) 148 @25.07

Sad to see that no WI bowler could take 150+ wickets to get on the list. Good example of the teams struggles.

 

[drainpipe32]

Kallis and Murali both owned against minnows.

I'm going to say Ponting, for performing even with the burden of captaincy, plus his two World Cups, Chamions Trophies and incredible records.

 

[Covvy]

Warne, McGrath, Tendulkar, Lara. Four of the best.

 

[Cricketdude]

I hope this doesn't turn into another Warne vs Murali debate. I reckon Warne is the player of the decade since he had to bowl for a decade on the pitches of Australia. Which are not spinner friendly. Murali played more on the spinner friendly wickets.

 

[aussie1st]

Hard to go pass Kallis whose in both list. Ponting average would have come down over the past year as well, so he could have been above 60 if he managed to keep his form.

 

[Dare]

Kallis and Murali both owned against minnows

In case you forgot to read Sifters post the records he posted don't include Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
Kallis is 2nd in runs and average this decade, both to Ponting but then you add 174 wickets in there and his sure hands at slip and you have a overall better cricketer.

And even if you take away Muralis wickets against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe he is still far ahead of anyone else.

 

[drainpipe32]

^I did read that, and his wickets defo put him up there. Only my bias voting for Ponting