Top 100 in ODI history - 2: Tendulkar, 1: Richards

[sifter132]

Nasty virus knocked my computer out of action last night I think it was because I was writing about Shoaib Akhtar - man what a magnet for trouble

#94 - Shakib Al Hasan

Role: Genuine all-rounder. LH Bat, mostly at #5, and bowls left arm orthodox.

Debut: vs Zimbabwe, Harare, 2006.
Matches: 126
Runs: 3635
Avg: 35.63
S/R: 78.07
Wickets: 160
Avg: 28.85
Econ: 4.29

Legacy: Bangladesh's only world class player thus far. He currently is the leading run scorer in Bangladesh ODI history and 2nd highest wicket taker (behind Abdur Razzak). Has played around 40% of his ODIs against Zimbabwe or other associates, so it's difficult to crown him as world class based on his raw stats alone.

Is a fine stroke player, and his low armed spinners work particularly well in Bangladesh/Asian conditions. Would love to see him move up to #4 regularly so he can play freely BEFORE Bangladesh really get in trouble. Must be incredibly annoying to be coming in at 3/50 (or less) most of the time.

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 108 (120) & 1/34 (9) vs Pakistan, Multan, 2008. Bangladesh were 4/16, 7/84 and 8/109 but Shakib was the constant, helping Bangladesh to 210. Pakistan made the runs easily, but Shakib was still Man of the Match.
2) 58 (51) & 4/41 (8) vs New Zealand, Mirpur, 2010. Batted briskly in the middle overs to help Bangladesh to 228 then picked up both openers, then Elliott and N.McCullum to keep NZ 10 runs short.
3) 106 (113) & 3/54 (10) vs New Zealand, Mirpur, 2010. The Kiwis were getting sick of Shakib, as only a few days later he performed brilliantly again. No other Bangladeshi made it past 37 and when defending, Shakib took the most wickets. NZ were again short - by 9 runs this time as Bangladesh won their first 'proper' ODI series one of the big 8 teams.

Highlights:

#93 - Shoaib Akhtar

Role: RH very fast new ball bowler. Tail end RH batsmen, most innings at #11.

Debut: vs Zimbabwe, Harare, 1998.
Matches: 163
Wkts: 247
Avg: 24.97
Econ: 4.76

Legacy: Based on talent, should be higher than #93. Akhtar could be unplayable on his day with his extreme pace and ability to swing the new and old ball. He has a pretty impressive list of brilliant spells over his career too. However, when it wasn't his day he was wayward, giving the batsmen easy runs - the risk of a really fast bowler. But apart from onfield issues, it was off the field where he struck even more trouble. Whether it was drug use, injuries, general lack of fitness, falling out with teammates and/or coaches, or even sexually transmitted diseases (), all these things weighed down Akhtar's career. Great fun to watch though

Cracked the 100mph mark at the 2003 World Cup bowling at Nick Knight - fasted ball ever recorded at 161.3kph (100.2mph).

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 6/16 (9) vs New Zealand, Karachi, 2002. Pakistan made 275, so not a bowlers deck by any means, but Shoaib just destroyed the Kiwis. 4 of the 6 were bowled, taking NZ from 3/72 to all out 122 in a brilliant 9 over spell.
2) 5/25 (8) vs Australia, Brisbane, 2002. The reigning World Cup champs couldn't resist Shoaib. He took Ponting, Martyn, Lehmann, Bevan and finally Gillespie as Pakistan won by 91. Robelinda uploaded his whole spell onto his channel - see below
3) 5/54 (8.4) vs England, Lahore, 2005. A bit expensive early, but regained the Shoaib spark of old to initiate a massive England collapse, 8/130 at one stage before Plunkett and Solanki got them to 230 (Pakistan chasing it down with 6 overs and 7 wickets left).

Highlights:

 

[Gaurav_7]

These both could be better ranked than they are. But, will wait to see who others are ahead before making a final comment.

 

[Fenil]

I'd had them at slightly better rank. Would have had NZ's Chris Harris on 95.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Great posts mate I disagree with User and Fenil - both seem to be in the right place. Akhtar could be a little higher, but he was too hot and cold.

Loved watching that spell against the Aussies as well You can see the the terror on a young Watson as he faces his first ball, and the smug on Shoaib's as misses just cm away from off-stump. Hah, and Ian Chappell's attempt at being neutral - "Just got some hopeful news here, looks like Shoaib's got a niggle on his shoulder. And seems to be having a problem with his back as well"

 

[sami ullah khan]

Akhtar deserves to be higher on the list. He was one of the most feared bowlers of last decade. He was a match winner on his day and was not nearly as inconsistent as people suggest.

 

[sifter132]

Thanks for the comments guys . I think my bias comes in a little bit in these ranks: current players won't be as high as they could be eg. Shakib. I also like more consistent players, so that hasn't helped guys like Shoaib, Cairns, Razzaq who all have probably top 50 talent, and many match winning performances, but too often didn't play at their best. I guess saying they weren't consistent is harsh, just less consistent I guess is fairer Anyway, balancing them out with the 'duller', more consistent players like Hogg, Larsen and Fairbrother is a bit of a nightmare Those guys only won a handful of Man of the Match awards their whole career, but in a way they are exactly the guys who should be recognised. Teams need consistent players, sprinkled with those match winners.

These both could be better ranked than they are. But, will wait to see who others are ahead before making a final comment.

Yep - there'll be plenty to argue about. Although you can see the top 100 in the first post, so you know already that I've got Mitchell Johnson ahead of Shoaib Akhtar somewhere Honestly, there's not much splitting these guys in the bottom half, so it's easy to pick holes in the ranks haha

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Got a couple of Aussies coming up today...there's 25 of em in the top 100 so we need to get through them

 

[RPHKR]

 

[sifter132]

^Nice pic

#92 - Allan Border

Role: Middle order LH bat, mostly at #4, before moving lower later in his career. Part time LH orthodox spinner.

Debut: vs England, Sydney, 1979.
Matches: 273
Runs: 6524
Avg: 30.62
S/R: 71.42
Wkts: 73
Avg: 28.36
Econ: 4.66

Legacy: A better player than his modest career average suggests. Border shouldered a lot of responsibility as Australia's most senior player during the 80s when Australia was rebuilding its team aka they sucked. He loved to pull and cut hard and he would really throw himself into the shot (eg. vid below). But he was a good worker of the ball too and knew how to accelerate as well - Border owned Australia's fastest ODI 100 for a while.

Added much more to the team than just his batting: Border captained Australia in 178 games, including captaining them to a surprise win in the 1987 World Cup - almost the forgotten World Cup now. AB was a great fielder too - he had great hands in the slips, and was a deadly thrower from short midwicket. His left arm spin was underused - and I guess he only has himself to blame

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 127* (140) vs West Indies, Sydney, 1985. Border came in at 2/7 in the First Final of the tri-series vs an attack of Garner, Holding and Marshall. Given the circumstances it was a fantastic innings, Clive Lloyd the opposing captain called it the best one-day innings he'd seen.
2) 90* (106) vs India, Srinigar, 1986. Chasing 223 in 47 overs, Border was the only Aussie to pass 31 as Kapil Dev, Binny and Shastri picked up regular wickets. But Border was cool, guiding Australia home with 6 balls and 3 wickets left.
3) 91* (88) vs India, Rajkot, 1986. Only a week or so later and Border was the top scorer again as Australia chased down another Indian score: 261 off 48 overs.

Highlights:

#91 - Damien Fleming

Role: RH fast-medium opening bowler, batted most often at #10.

Debut: vs South Africa, Perth, 1994.
Matches: 88
Wkts: 134
Avg: 25.38
Econ: 4.41

Legacy: Swung the ball more than the other Aussie bowlers of the day, and managed to do it at decent pace. Fleming would have played more matches bar for injury and of course the emergence of a couple of handy players in Lee and Gillespie (Kasprowicz, Dale and Reiffel lurking too). With McGrath and McDermott already around as well, it was often a tough time to get a game, and it's to Fleming's credit that he almost always made the team when he was fit.

Wasn't just a new ball bowler - Fleming was also good at the death (example is the 2nd video). He was entrusted with Bowling the last over in the 1996 World Cup semi final as Australia successfully defended with only 9 runs to play with. Also bowled that famous last over to Lance Klusener in the 1999 World Cup semi-final (and rolled the ball down to Gilchrist for the final runout). Sure he got spanked for a couple of 4s initially, but it all worked out

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 4/39 (10) vs New Zealand, Sharjah, 1994. Warne also took 4, Fleming regularly breaking partnerships to keep NZ to 207.
2) 5/36 (9) vs India, Mumbai, 1996. Got Jadeja, Kambli and Azharuddin early, before getting 2 at the end to end India's threatening chase just 16 runs short of the target (258).
3) 4/41 (8) vs New Zealand, Napier, 2000. Picked up Astle, Sinclair, Fleming and Vettori in an Aussie win.

Highlights:

 

[sifter132]

#90 - Gautam Gambhir

Role: LH batsman: opener or #3.

Debut: vs Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2003.
Matches: 134
Runs: 4819
Avg: 40.49
S/R: 86.17

Legacy: Most of us know what Gambhir's all about, but I just thought I'd highlight one particular reason that I like him. It's that he'll take what the opposition gives him, working the ball if the captains just drop the field back. A lot of batsmen these days can't resist going for the big shot, but generally Gambhir's discipline leads to some big scores.

Not to say he's boring. He's a good stroke player and quick scorer. Like most Indians, plays the spinners well and loves to go inside out over cover. First established himself as a truly classy player in the 2007/08 triangular series in Australia.

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 101 (113) vs Bangladesh, Mirpur, 2007. 43 was the next highest score in the game, only Gambhir mastered the conditions.
2) 150* (137) vs Sri Lanka, Kolkata, 2009. India were 2/23 chasing 316 when Gambhir and Kohli got together. Kohli was out with 70 to go, but Gambhir saw India home.
3) 138* (116) vs New Zealand, Jaipur, 2010. A chase of 259 was made very easy as Gambhir took NZ to all parts.

Highlights:

#89 - Courtney Walsh

Role: RH Fast medium opening bowler, bowled as 1st or 2nd change earlier in his career as the junior fast bowler. #11 RH batsman.

Debut: vs Sri Lanka, Hobart, 1985.
Matches: 205
Wkts: 227
Avg: 30.47
Econ: 3.83

Legacy: Walsh will be the 6th West Indies paceman in this top 100. Known in Test cricket as one of the best users of the old ball (before reverse swing became truly popular), Walsh was able to use similar principles to keep scoring down in ODIs: his extra bounce and great line and length, and could bowl a great yorker. I mentioned in the Gavin Larsen profile that Larsen had the 3rd lowest RPO in the 90s, Walsh was 4th lowest.

Walsh was Mr Durable for the West Indies. He was the one who bowled into the wind, while his faster colleagues came down wind. He was the one who played match after match despite a shoulder so bad he couldn't throw from the outfield (he used to bowl the ball back to the keeper). No wonder he was well liked by his teammates and one of the most popular fellas in cricket.

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 5/1 (4.3) vs Sri Lanka, Sharjah, 1986. One of the most eye catching set of bowling figures ever! Walsh took the last 5 wickets, 4 of them bowled.
2) 4/25 (10) vs India, Sharjah, 1989. Srikkanth, Sidhu, Kapil Dev and Prabhakar were Walsh's wickets in an easy WI win.
3) 4/16 (9) vs Pakistan, Cape Town, 1993. This was the game where Pakistan got bowled out for 43, Walsh the leading wicket taker. He took Saeed Anwar, Saleem Malik, Asif Mujtaba and Wasim Akram.

Highlights:

 

[Fenil]

Damien Fleming and Walsh were my favorite. They were fantastic bowlers both of them. I used to call Courtney Walsh as Kwality Walls (an ice-cream) back then.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Aha, would have really loved Gambhir to be much higher but, that might just be because I rate him very high.

 

[sifter132]

Yeah I will admit to struggling to rate the current players, so I'm tending to be conservative and putting them lower, so particularly anyone who has got hot in only the last 3-5 years won't be as high as they could be/should be eg. Kohli, Watson, De Villiers. Although, I guess if more people put them in their top 50 that will soon move them up

Anyway one of the things with Gambhir that kept him lowish on my list is that he's only played 30-odd ODIs outside Asia Fairly stunning stat in these days of cricket saturation. He's done pretty well in those games eg. the 07/08 series in Australia I mentioned, but I don't like assuming he's the complete cricketer without seeing more of him. Good player though, like him a lot

 

[sifter132]

#88 - Mitchell Johnson

Role: LH fast bowler, usually first change. Useful LH hitter at #8.

Debut: vs New Zealand, Christchurch, 2005.
Matches: 107
Runs: 708
Avg: 17.70
S/R: 96.85
Wkts: 168
Avg: 25.22
Econ: 4.85

Legacy: Johnson has been described as 'left arm random' for his penchant for throwing in plenty of wides and randomly producing unplayable balls, but he also throws in plenty of wickets with his 140+ kph left arm slingers. Despite his reputation, in actul fact Johnson has been quite a consistent middle overs wicket taker for Australia. To illustrate, Johnson has a strike rate of 31.1, equal to Malinga and a bit better than renowned striker bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, Donald, Steyn and Umar Gul. Johnson has performed well against all oppositions too: his bowling average is under 30 for everyone except West Indies (and Canada in 1 match).

Provides some useful extras too: strong arm and athletic in the field and capable of hitting some quick runs. Without those extras, he'd probably be back in the mid 90s on this list.

Three of the best (matches in chronological order):
1) 4/11 (4) vs India, Kuala Lumpur, 2006. Rain had adjusted India's target down to 170 off 29 overs, but they were in frightful trouble at 5/35 when rain finally stopped play: Johnson ripping out Dravid, Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj in the first 8 overs.
2) 5/26 (10) vs India, Vadodara, 2007. Opening the bowling this time with Lee, Indians couldn't stop nicking Johnson - 4 of his 5 were caught behind (Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan and Kartik), with Uthappa LBW to complete the 5fer. India out for 148 and an easy win for Australia.
3) 6/31 (10) vs Sri Lanka, Pallekele, 2011. Johnson was the 6th bowler turned to (bloody Dave Hussey...) and what do you know? Sri Lanka go from 2/74 when Johnson arrived at the crease to 9/191 at the end of his 10. Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Randiv and Ajantha Mendis were his wickets.

Highlights:

 

[cricket_icon]

The list has some major problems. Akhtar below Johnson and Border?? Really? And Shakib above Razzak and Hogg?? I might not even have Shakib in my top 100.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I still think someone like jayawardena (who I admit I am totally, totally biased for as he's my favourite player) should have got in the top 100 above some of these guys. he's in the top 10 run scorers in ODI of all time and those world cup tons (in '07 semi's and '11 final) and captaining sri lanka to the final in 2007 make him a worthy inclusion.

probably should have put him in my top 50 rather than complain after the fact though

still, this is a great thread mate.