Your Top 5's of this decade (2000's)

[aussie_ben91]

Opening Batsman
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Graeme Smith
3. Justin Langer
4. Virender Sehwag
5. Marcus Trescothick

Middle-Order Batsman
1. Ricky Ponting
2. Jacques Kallis
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Brian Lara
5. Sachin Tendulkar

Allrounders
1. Jacques Kallis
2. Shaun Pollock
3. Andrew Flintoff
4. Jacob Oram
5. Daniel Vettori

Wicketkeeper-Batsman
1. Andy Flower
2. Kumar Sangakkara
3. Adam Gilchrist
4. Alec Stewart
5. Mark Boucher

Pace Bowlers
1. Glenn McGrath
2. Shaun Pollock
3. Shane Bond
4. Dale Steyn
5. Shoaib Akhtar

Spin Bowlers
1. Shane Warne
2. Muttiah Muralitharan
3. Anil Kumble
4. Harbhajan Singh
5. Daniel Vettori

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I'm only doing batsmen because all the other little area's are too picky, there hasn't been 5 great openers this decade and langer certainly isn't one of them, neither is there 5 spin bowlers worth mentioning. I love vettori as a guy, but come on, has panesar just missed out?

Batsmen.
1. Ponting
2. Kallis
3. Mohammed yousuf (good call that, forgetting him)
4. Hayden
5. Tendulkar

Jayawardene would have been next, not dravid.

Bowlers
1. Murali

daylight

2. Mcgrath
3. Warne
4. pollock
5. Akhtar

 

[rockyrakster]

This is my rating

Opening Batsman
1. Graeme Smith:Tests,SachinTendulkar:One-Days
2. Mathew Hayden:Tests,Adam Ghilchrist:One-Days
3. Virender Sehwag:Tests,Sanath Jayasuriya:One-Days
4. Andrew Strauss:Tests,Chris Gayle:One-Days
5. Marcus Trescothick:Tests,Virender Sehwag:One-Days

Middle-Order Batsman
1. Sachin Tendulkar:Tests,Mahendra Singh Dhoni:One-days
2. Rahul Dravid:Tests,Shivnaraine Chanderpaul:One-Days
3. Ricky Ponting:Tests and One-days
4. Brian Lara:Tests,Yuvraj Singh:One-Days
5. VVS Laxman:Tests,Damien Martyn:One-Days

Allrounders
1. Jacques Kallis:Tests,Albie Morkel:One-Days
2. Shaun Pollock:Tests and One-Days
3. Andrew Flintoff:Tests and One Days
4. Daniel Vettori:Test and One-Days
5. Farveez Mahroof:Tests and One-Days

Wicketkeeper-Batsman[Tests and One-Days]
1. Adam Ghilchrist
2. Kumar Sangakkara
3. M.S.Dhoni
4. Brendon Mccullum
5. Mark Boucher

Pace Bowlers
1. Dale Steyn:Tests,Glenn McGrath:One-Days
2. Shaun Pollock:Tests and One-Days
3. Jason Gillespe:Tests,Shane Bond:One-Days
4. Zaheer Khan:Tests and One-Days
5. Ishant Sharma:Tests,Nathan Bracken&Brett Lee:One-days

Spin Bowlers[Tests and One-Days]
1. Shane Warne
2. Muttiah Muralitharan
3. Anil Kumble
4. Harbhajan Singh
5. Daniel Vettori

Captains
1.Graeme Smith
2.M.S.Dhoni
3.Ricky Ponting
4.Stephen Fleming
5.Sourav Ganguly

 

[SaiSrini]

Opening Batsman:
1. Virender Sehwag
2. Chris Gayle
3. Andrew Strauss
4. Graeme Smith
5. Marcus Trescothick

Middle Order
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Rahul Dravid
3. VVS Laxman
4. Ricky Ponting
5. Kevin Pietersen

All Rounders
1. Jacques Kallis
2. Andrew Flintoff
3. Jacob Oram
4. Daniel Vettori
5. Shaun Pollock

Wicketkeepers
1. Adam Gilchrist
2. MS Dhoni
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Brendon McCullum
5. Mark Boucher

Spinners
1. Shane Warne
2. Muralitharan
3. Harbhajan Singh
4. Anil Kumble
5. Daniel Vettori

Pace bowlers
1. Glenn McGrath
2. Shane Bond
3. Zaheer Khan
4. Dale Steyn
5. Ishant Sharma

Captains
1. MS Dhoni
2. Mahela Jayawardena
3. Graeme Smith
4. SC Ganguly
5. Ricky Ponting

 

[King Pietersen]

Opening Batsman
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Graeme Smith
3. Virender Sehwag
4. Justin Langer
5. Andrew Strauss

Middle-Order Batsman
1. Ricky Ponting
2. Jacques Kallis
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Mohammed Yousuf

Allrounders
1. Jacques Kallis
2. Andrew Flintoff
3. Shaun Pollock
4. Daniel Vettori
5. Chaminda Vaas

Wicketkeeper-Batsman
1. Adam Gilchrist
2. Kumar Sangakkara
3. Alec Stewart
4. Mark Boucher
5. MS Dhoni

Pace Bowlers
1. Glenn McGrath
2. Dale Steyn
3. Shane Bond
4. Shaun Pollock
5. Shoaib Akhtar

Spin Bowlers
1. Shane Warne
2. Muttiah Muralitharan
3. Anil Kumble
4. Harbhajan Singh
5. Daniel Vettori

 

[King Cricket]

Ben picks Veeru! This will make a pretty good headline in tomorrow's papers.

Anyway, I will just pick batters and bowlers and allrounders

Batsman:

1. Sachin
2. Ponting
3. Brian Charles Lara
4. Hayden
5. Kevin Peter Pietersen or KAAPEE

Bowlers
1. Warne
2. Murali
3. McGrath
4. Kumble
5. Steyn

All-rounders

1. Shaun Pollock
2. Freddie Flintoff
3. Jacob Oram
4. Jack Kalllis
5. Dwayne Bravo

 

[ali_ed2001]

I cant believe people are picking Maharoof, Vaas and Oram over Abdul Razzaq who has been a way better all rounder than all 3 of those players.

 

[robin2855]

Good Thread

Opening Batsman
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Graeme Smith
3. Justin Langer
4. Virender Sehwag
5. Marcus Trescothick

Middle-Order Batsman
1. Ricky Ponting
2. Jacques Kallis
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Brian Lara
5. Sachin Tendulkar

Allrounders
1. Jacques Kallis
2. Shaun Pollock
3. Andrew Flintoff
4. Jacob Oram
5. Daniel Vettori

Wicketkeeper-Batsman
1. Andy Flower
2. Kumar Sangakkara
3. Adam Gilchrist
4. Alec Stewart
5. Mark Boucher

Pace Bowlers
1. Glenn McGrath
2. Shaun Pollock
3. Shane Bond
4. Dale Steyn
5. Shoaib Akhtar

Spin Bowlers
1. Shane Warne
2. Muttiah Muralitharan
3. Anil Kumble
4. Harbhajan Singh
5. Daniel Vettori

Good thread.

Assuming that you have considered one day and test combined for team composition I agree with your choices 100% with All Rounders, Pace and Spin bowling, Middle Order Batsmen.(not the order of sequence though – LOL!).

My sequence in terms of quality of performance for Middle order:

Middle-Order Batsman
1 Sachin Tendulkar
2 Brian Lara
3 Ricky Ponting
4 Rahul Dravid
5 Jacques Kallis

Sachin and Lara are a cut above the rest and it is only fair to put them in proper sequence.

I am sorry a qualified candidate Laxman misses out.

I do differ with you marginally in the other categories as mentioned below:

My choice :

Opening Batsman
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Sanath Jayasurya
2. Graeme Smith
3. Justin Langer
4. Virender Sehwag
5. Marcus Trescothick

I am glad that you brought in Justin Langer. He was a solid opener with boundless energy and tons of concentration.

One can’t ignore Jayasurya. What a player! Can murder any bowler in all batting conditions with his cavalier style and win a game single handedly

Wicketkeeper-Batsman
1. Adam Gilchrist
2. Kumar Sangakkara
3. Ms Dhoni
4. Andy Flower
5 Alec Stewart

Cheers!

 

[King Cricket]

I cant believe people are picking Maharoof, Vaas and Oram over Abdul Razzaq who has been a way better all rounder than all 3 of those players.

I will agree Razzaq is a better allrounder if compared to Vass or Maharoof but regarding Oram I'm not so sure.

 

[TruSachFan]

Regarding Sanga, he doesn't keep in test matches does he? So should he be included in the wicketkeeper batsman category?

 

[King Pietersen]

Chaminda Vaas is immensely under-rated. Since 2000 he averages 27 with the bat with a hundred, and 29 with the ball in Test cricket. He's a very handy all-round cricketer, certainly better all-round than Razzaq.

 

[mdoggie]

Opening batsman
1.Matthew Hayden
2.Graeme Smith
3. Justin Langer
4. Virender Sehwag
5. Andrew Strauss

Middle order
1. Ricky Ponting
2. Jacques Kallis
3. Raul Dravid
4. Mohammed Yousuf
5. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Brian Lara

I just couldn't leave Lara out of the top 5.

All rounders
1. Jacques Kallis
2. Shaun Pollock
3. Andrew Flintoff
4. Jacob Oram
5. Chaminda Vaas

Wicketkeeper/batsman

1. Andy Flower
2. Adam Gilchrist
3. Kumar Sangakara

4. Mark Boucher
5. Alec Stewart

Quickies

1. Glen Mcgrath
2. Shaun Pollock
3. Shane Bond (he would have being number 1 if not for hi, constantly getting injured)
4. Shoaib Akhtar
5. Dale Steyn

Spin Bowlers

1. Shane Warne
2. Muttiah Muralitharan
3. Anil Kumble
4. Daniel Vettori
5. Harbhajan Singh

Fielders

1. AB De Villiers
2. Ricky Ponting
3. Herschel Gibbs
4. Andrew Symonds
5. Paul Collinwood/ Michael Clarke/ ?

 

[sifter132]

Chaminda Vaas is immensely under-rated. Since 2000 he averages 27 with the bat with a hundred, and 29 with the ball in Test cricket. He's a very handy all-round cricketer, certainly better all-round than Razzaq.

If Chaminda Vaas is a better all-rounder than Razzaq, then what does that make Mitchell Johnson??? Best all-rounder of alltime???

Honestly, Vaas wasn't that great with the bat. He got quite a few not outs to boost that average. He's merely a solid #8 or #9 batsman of Shane Warne/Brett Lee/Ashley Giles type quality - they are NOT all-rounders.

I'm only doing batsmen because all the other little area's are too picky, there hasn't been 5 great openers this decade and langer certainly isn't one of them,

Sorry my friend, but Langer doesn't deserve that slight. You list Hayden as one of the top 5 batsmen, but check his record compared to Langer in the 2000s. Ain't much difference - apart from the fact that Hayden made more runs cause he played longer. Also I didn't include runs against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe which discounts Hayden's 380, but honestly it really should be discounted. He showed good stamina, but it certainly wasn't a difficult innings.

Hayden:
90 Tests,
7695 runs,
HS: 203 v India, 2001,
Average: 50.96,
Strike Rate: 59.87
100s: 27, 50s: 27 (100 every 3.33 Tests)

Langer:
60 Tests,
4993 runs,
HS: 250 v England 02/03
Average: 50.43
Strike Rate: 58.92
100s: 16, 50s: 17 (100 every 3.75 Tests)

Everyone thinks Langer's pretty average, but it's only because he averaged 40 in the 90s when he batted at #3 and because he's an 'ugly' batsman. And interestingly he's scored almost as quickly as Hayden in the 00s, another commonly held misconception of Langer - slow and stodgy.

I'm not a Langer fan really, just trying to keep everyone educated :

 

[Dare]

Opening Batsman:
Hayden
Smith
Langer
Strauss
Gayle

Middle Order Batsman:
Ponting
Lara
Yousuf
Tendulkar
Kallis

All-Rounders:
Kallis
Flintoff
Pollock
Vettori
Razzaq

WK Batsman:
Sangakkara
Flower
Gilchrist
Boucher
Dhoni

Pace Bowlers
McGrath
Pollock
Ntini (so underrated)
Vaas
Steyn

Spin Bowlers:
Muralitharan

Warne
Kumble
Vettori
MacGill

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Everyone thinks Langer's pretty average, but it's only because he averaged 40 in the 90s when he batted at #3 and because he's an 'ugly' batsman. And interestingly he's scored almost as quickly as Hayden in the 00s, another commonly held misconception of Langer - slow and stodgy.

I'm not a Langer fan really, just trying to keep everyone educated :

why can't I think someone is better batsman because they are a more technically pleasing or adventureous? I happen to think hayden was better because he took on attacks, not grinded out runs unspectacularly in an ugly way. I don't much rate Hussey either, I would pick players like snagakkara and stephen fleming above him, better to watch, more shots. I don't really care about averages.

sehwag averages more than that anyway, if we're sticking to stats, and you seem to have no issue with being rated below langer.