@MN5 said in Cricket - best ever, trivia etc:
@Chris-B said in Cricket - best ever, trivia etc:
@MN5 I'm not convinced Kane (or even Sir Paddles) is a rung up on Marty. You're talking about guys who were among the best in their era. Perhaps all three were (the best) for a brief period - but, none were clearly so and for an extended period.
Not many are.
It would be interesting to see how they are regarded 100 years from now.
They may all be like Dempster, Cowie and Donnelly. Hardly anyone wants to consider them.
Haha, I was just wondering that very thing !
Paddles broke the record for most wickets, single handedly carried the bowling attack and was one of the big four outstanding all rounders of the era. Who is the best of that lot is up for debate, as long as it’s not Kapil ! Hadlees name pops up whenever people are discussing the best pace bowlers of all time.
Needless to say he was rated number one in both formats during his career.
KW is currently the world’s best test batsman. Again, he’s competing with three other superb international batsmen and you can argue which of them is the best til the cows come home. Best ever ODI ranking of 3rd and the two formats are way further apart than in the 80s and 90s.
Now Google tells me Crowes best ever ranking in test cricket was 4th, 2nd in ODI.
I think that proves my point.
( admittedly I’m struggling to think of three better test batsmen of his era than him……Richards, Border……Gooch, Gower or Richardson perhaps might have snuck up ? Tendulkar and Lara were too young……)
Earlier in his career, some other potential betters were Gavaskar, Miandad, Lloyd, Greenidge to name a few. In the last few years of Crowe's career, Lara and Tendulkar by the end. Around 1991-1993, Crowe was arguably close to the best in the world.