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Loading ...Batsman SEHWAG
bowler MURALI
captain SMITH
umpire TAUFEL
team AUSTRALIA
Cricket in the 2000s
By Will last year, at the end of December Add your comment below
I’ll pen more on this when the turkey has begun to settle in my stomach, but it’s always an enjoyable thing to look back at the last ten years when 09 becomes 10.
An underdog and outsider with a social conscience and magic at his fingertips: no sportsman has ever brought me greater joy. Let’s leave it in posterity’s capable hands.
That’s Rob Steen talking about Muttiah Muralitharan – his cricketer of the decade (indeed, for him, all time). The joy giver. Not something I necessarily agree with: but that’s the beauty of these rhetorical reminiscences, that they’re so subjective. It also makes debate annoyingly pointless, but I see no reason why we should be no different.
So. Who are your batsman, bowler and the cricketer (or figure) who has had the biggest impact on the 2000s?
My batsman is Ricky Ponting and as much as it pains me, Kallis might have to be the allrounder. The bowler? I’m not sure. Probably because I know in my heart it’s Murali, but something’s nagging at me to say it can’t be.
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8 Responses to “Cricket in the 2000s”
December 24th, 2009 at 4.28 am
December 24th, 2009 at 5.42 pm
Will, you’ve probably picked the right cricketers, all exceptional talents. But for a night on the tiles I’m hoping you would pick a more flamboyant trio, like Flintoff, Symonds and Jesse Ryder.
December 24th, 2009 at 7.34 pm
At least you’re guaranteed a decent night out on the pi$$ with that line up, Ashes Ernie.
December 24th, 2009 at 7.35 pm
And there’s always Herschelle Gibbs to make up the foursome.
December 25th, 2009 at 7.21 am
Best batsman of 2000s: Kallis (just ahead of Ponting)
Best All-rounder of the 2000s: Kallis (just ahed of Pollock and al-Hasan… if only he’d been around a little longer!)
Best bowler of the 2000s: Murali (just ahead of Ntini)
Merry Xmas!
December 25th, 2009 at 9.49 am
I’m thinking Glenn McGrath might be the bowler – lower average than Murali (or Shane Warne, who was at least the most interesting cricketer of the decade).
Ponting’s a good choice for the batsman. Brian Lara probably also deserves a mention, since the West Indies probably needed him more than any other team needed one batsman.
Hard to argue with Kallis for allrounder, based on his impressive batting stats.
December 31st, 2009 at 8.17 am
Sehwag hands down for the batsman. Not on weight of runs, India play too few tests, but the sheer audacity of his play and those huge scores. The one you’d pay to watch over and above the rest.
On the basis that Murali doesn’t qualify for this, being a freak of nature, I’d be tempted to pick Warne for the bowler, even if he did retire before the decade was out. He carried the Australian attack in a losing cause in 2005, and snuffed out the England fightback at Adelaide in 2006. In 2002 he was the difference between Australia and South Africa.
If not Warne, then maybe 19i, for being the hardest-working fast bowler of the decade with 97 tests and 387 wickets.
Kallis is the all-rounder by a mile, he’d get the batting gong for scoring over 8500 runs at nearly 60, a better average than any of his peers – if it weren’t for the fact that he’s such a dull player to watch. But add his 200 wickets and he’s the man.
December 31st, 2009 at 11.33 am
Sehwag hands down, I second Weston.
Stats 4 the decade do not give the complete picture. Everyone in the stats r players who started way back in the early to mid 90’s & have far more experience than Sehwag, who is the only one to start in the later parts of the present decade.
I have compared both Sachin’s & Sehwag’s record in both Tests & ODI’s.
In ODI’s Sachin’s stats r inflated by runs against minnows, if u check the stats ag stronger teams, Sehwag’s stats stand out both in the tests as well as ODI’s, whereas he has played far less of both than any of the contenders. In ODI’s after removing the stats for the minnows, Sehwag’s Avg (at 31.42) is only 4.3 runs less than Sachin’s (35.72) whereas the Strike Rate is more by almost 17 %. This is the comparison after both had played 214 matches.
Sehwag has redefined batting at the top of the order, his impact per game (SR X Avg) is higher than any other contemporary batsman
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