Shane Warne's Top 50 Cricketers

[Gilly Fan]

These is being published by the Times in England. 2 Victorians who never played test cricket come in at the end of the 50, including the great keeper Darren Berry!

Part 1: Players 50-41:

Part 2: Players 40 to 31 here:

Part 3: Players 30-21:

Part 4: Players 20-11:

Part 5: Players 10-1:

Complete List

50 Jamie Siddons
49 Darren Berry
48 Brian McMillan
47 Chris Cairns
46 Dilip Vengsarkar
45 Waqar Younis
44 Alec Stewart
43 Michael Atherton
42 Ravi Shastri
41 Justin Langer
40 Kapil Dev
39 Stuart MacGill
38 Sanath Jayasuriya
37 Stephen Harmison
36 Andy Flower
35 Michael Vaughan
34 Bruce Reid
33 Allan Donald
32 Robin Smith
31 Tim May
30 Kevin Pietersen
29 Shoaib Akhtar / Craig McDermott
28 Saeed Anwar / Mohammad Yousuf
27 Jacques Kallis / Shaun Pollock
26 Steve Waugh
25 Darren Lehmann
24 Brett Lee
23 Stephen Fleming
22 Martin Crowe
21 David Boon
20 Adam Gilchrist
19 Aravinda De Silva
18 Merv Hughes
17 Matthew Hayden
16 Andrew Flintoff
15 Graham Gooch
14 Rahul Dravid
13 Anil Kumble
12 Mark Waugh
11 Courtney Walsh
10 Ian Healy
9 Mark Taylor
8 Ricky Ponting
7 Muttiah Muralitharan
6 Wasim Akram
5 Glenn McGrath
4 Allan Border
3 Curtly Ambrose
2 Brian Lara
1 Sachin Tendulkar

 

[Hooper]

Lol, Thanks

 

[Gilly Fan]

Hey, I'm just abiding by the rules.

 

[nightprowler10]

Wonder where he ranks Murali. I'd say his ranking of Waqar Younis is solely based on what Shane's seen as he was a much better bowler than Reid.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I think its all what Warnes seen because then he's allowed to be completely biased towards his mates

 

[Hooper]

Yeah, he will be biased obviously. It would be impossible to do so, unless you are an alien and plonked on earth to choose the team.

 

[PhilD123]

Yeah I saw the link to this on Cricinfo. Kinda suprised that Waqar Younis was not higher than 45. I was suprised he didn't put Langer higher, being his mate. It's a good idea and article so far though.

 

[RoboRocks]

Tim May above Stuart Macgill?
Seems pretty strange to me.

 

[kookaburra69]

Might be a bit angery at MacGill after Stuart took his place in the Test team for a while

 

[angryangy]

A large element of weight has been given to character and "the little things". Having a great skill doesn't necessarily override your terribleness as a sportsman. He is taking many things into account.

He says so himself, he felt it was Wasim Akram who worked batsmen over more than Waqar Younis, which isn't that hard to understand; Waqar was a bit of a brute, while Wasim's skills were more tactical. When you compare the two on more than just bowling averages, you see one is miles more brilliant. Still, in credit, he is one of Warne's top 50 players, which is hardly a slap in the face.

Also looking at May and Reid from any player's perspective, these are cricketers who have given much to the game. May was obviously a vital influence at the beginning of Warne's Test career. Beyond playing, May was a key representative for the players' association and from that you can tell he was a team player through and through.

Reid was an obscured star, but his skill was undoubtable. Injuries to his wafer thin build eclipsed the difficulty he created for batsmen, but in retiring he has trained bowlers around the world with his astute bowling sense.

Perhaps what is needed for something like this is a preface, an understanding of what criteria he is operating with. Lists are obviously things that take more time and effort to write than to read, so it's a shame the explanations aren't very long.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Part 3 up in first post.

Lehmann rated better than Tugga? Now that's a surprise. Because Tugga was a match saver instead of a match winner. I find that kind of weird.

 

[manee]

I find it interesting how low Yousuf is, Warne clearly sees his transformation after his conversion as good form and nothing more, we will see as I see he is a changed and better batsman

 

[Hooper]

Yeah, some of these selections are a bit dubious. I think that he just whipped this list up for a newspaper without to much thought and consideration.

 

[Vcassano]

I think he may be right about Steve Waugh's batting - he was not a spectacular player like Ponting, Tendulkar, Lara are, those who could change a game by themselves. However his batting combined with his excellent captaincy must make him higher than 26? Unless Warne isn't considering that.

 

[aditya123]

I think he may be right about Steve Waugh's batting - he was not a spectacular player like Ponting, Tendulkar, Lara are, those who could change a game by themselves. However his batting combined with his excellent captaincy must make him higher than 26? Unless Warne isn't considering that.

Tendulkar seems to be batting a bit like Tugga these days.
Still has the strokes but plays very gritty knocks these days.