5 greatest cricketers of the 20th century

Rating: 3.00/10
Written by: MaxD
Sport: cricket
Genre: history

The panel

In April 2000 a panel of hundred cricket experts was formed from former players and journalists from nine international Test playing nations. The number of these experts was proportional to the quantity of Test cricket played by the nation during the 20th century. Thus there were 28 voters from England and 1 voter from Zimbabwe. The group was chosen in such a way that each decade of the 20th century was covered. This panel was asked to select the 5 greatest cricketers of the 20th century. Five may appear as an insufficient and unreasonable number. However Wisden, a yearly cricket chronicle that dates back to 1864 has been naming “Five Cricketers of the Year” for more than a century. Hence the number five was chosen.

Obvious selections – Don Bradman and Gary Sobers

After the 500 votes were cast by the panel of 100 it was observed that they had voted for 49 players. Out of these two cricketers were far ahead of the rest as they were the obvious selections. The maximum votes were given to Donald Bradman as he was voted for by all the participants. Bradman the Australian cricketer was active in cricket from 1928 to 1948. He was hailed by Wisden as “the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games”.

Donald Bradman

He was selected as the 1st Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. He is still the holder of several important records in Test cricket, like highest career batting average (minimum 20 innings), highest series batting average (5 Test Series), highest ratio of centuries per innings played etc. The second obvious selection was Gary Sobers. This all rounder from the West Indies received 90 votes. In his career, he scored 8032 runs in Test cricket which was a record when it was made. His average in Test cricket is 57.78 and he has also taken 235 wickets at a bowling average of 34.03.

Jack Hobbs

Other three

There was a wide gap in the number of votes given to Bradman and Sobers and the remaining three selections. Also these three were separated from those below them by a wide margin of votes. The third cricketer was Jack Hobbs of England. This batsman who played from 1907 to 1930 received 30 votes. He was selected as the 3rd Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. In first class cricket, he has scored more runs and centuries than any other player. The fourth cricketer was Vivian Richards of West Indies. This batsman who played from 1973 to 1991 received 27 votes. He was also selected as the 5th Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. He is considered as the most devastating batsman to have ever played cricket. The fifth cricketer was Shane Warne of Australia. This leg spinner played from 1991 to 2007 was given 25 votes. He was selected as the 4th Wisden cricketer of the 20th century. He has an account of more than 1000 international wickets if the Tests and One-day wickets were added and has also piled up more than 3000 Test runs.

Vivian Richards

Vivian Richards vs Imran Khan

After the five players were chosen it was felt that no Asian was present amongst them. The highest placed Asian was Imran Khan of Pakistan who played from 1971 to 1991. This pace bowler was arguably the greatest of the times of extraordinary all-rounders. It is recognized that his captaincy enhanced the performance of an under-achieving team to a World Cup winning one. Imran received 13 votes and was ranked the 10th greatest cricketer. However if Imran was to be selected then Richards would have to be omitted. Richards has been acknowledged as the most electrifying cricketer of the last quarter of the century. He was a symbol of the swagger and brilliance of the exemplary West Indies team of the 1980s. It was generally regarded that bowlers who could bowl at more than 90 miles per hour were frightening. However the crease presence of Richards was such that the English writer John Arlott blamed him for “intimidatory batting”.

Shane Warne

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Comments on this article

Anjali Nambissan, Mar 11,2009 at 11:36

Apparently, Sachin Tendulkar does not figure anywhere in the list. I would personally say that pound for pound, Sachin is better than the Don himself. Think about it. In the time of the Don, there was no reverse swing, no bouncers (except for one series where he averaged in the 50s, which is not great), no fielders throwing themselves about, smaller boundaries, etc. etc. etc. Also, he was part of one of the stronger teams, so most of his opponents were lesser, other than probably England who were equals.
He played lesser cricket so his fitness was poorer as an athlete... with all these points how can he be better than Sachin who has to face all this and then... Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar on the crease, bouncers, reverse swing plus sledging. Bradman never faced any of this. He didn't even face bowling on his LEGS cause it was considered "Unsporting"... and Jack Hobbs in that list??? thats a laugh...

ganesh.v pbt (visitor), Mar 19,2009 at 05:05

i feel any of these or not equal to sachin tendulkar,because they didnt played modern day cricket,so its not easy to score under pressure,but sachin has scored25000+runs,im soo.....sad that i cont find sachins name in the list

indian viewer (visitor), Mar 29,2009 at 23:18

all the above list is a bull shit.without sachin the list is a bogus one ,who are the above panel selecors who have made the list.the funny thing is that the player who once said that he had dreams of sachin hitting him sixes -warne.

Vinod (visitor), Apr 4,2009 at 11:36

This is not a question that Sachin is the greatest than Bradman or not but it is a question that what Sachin is the greatest cricketers? We have to remember that Sachin has made his first one day century in his 79th one day match when most of the fast bowlers of 90s were old and were going to be retired. He has made his first century in West Indies when the pace battery was out from there. His performance was always under doubt against Walsh, Ambrose, Alan Donald, Macgrath, Akram, Pollac etc. of his age, whose line and length was correct and genuine. He has not played much against Lily, Thompson, Imran, Hadley, Marshall, Roberts, Gorner, Bob Bilis. He has played well against Shoeb Akhtar and Brate Lee but we should not forget that these two fast bowlers used to bowl only fast bowls and never used to maintain their line and length and they are not so furious as Marshall, Gorner, Imran, Akram, Hadley etc. Sachin has made most of runs against medium pacers or spinner. He has made less runs in under pressure and has proved it only 2-3 times in his long-long career. I am in hurry but I feel that this is sufficient to tell the greatness of Great Sachin who believed to be next of God in India.

wayne (visitor), Apr 10,2009 at 15:07

when u level the playing field in all levels of cricket i would bet u could find a good 15 to 20 players who are much better than tendulkar. tendulkar achievements comes with accumilated things, most runs, most centuries MOST MATCHES. of all the cricket sachin has played he should have the most double centuries as well as most triple centuries

Anjali Nambissan, Apr 22,2009 at 14:25

At the Doubters: Anybody who says that Sachin is not good enough should merely look at the fact that for over 20 years, he has won innumerable matches for his team. As a sole matchwinner, there is no one who is as good as him. His record in the highest "Man of the Matches" and "Man of the Series" tally should speak for that.

As for facing Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and the likes, neither Viv Richards or Gary Sobers ever faced them. If you want to compare Bob Willis to Glenn McGrath and the way Sachin has played him, then sorry, I think you watch some other sport, not cricket. Also, not to mention that Sachin faced the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Glenn McGrath, Alan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Malcolm Marshall, Darren Gough, Fannie DeVilliers, Shane Warne, and the like who are, by no means, poor or average bowlers. Also, he played against fielders like Jonty Rhodes, Herschel Gibbs, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, and the list goes on... All at THEIR prime.
So if you tell me that he has scored runs against the minnows only, then I suggest you pick up a book of stats and start reading.

Vijay Krish (visitor), May 22,2009 at 05:31

I feel sachin should be a part of this list.. He is the greatest batsmen of all times.. In india we rate him more than the great Don Bradmen..

Dinesh (visitor), May 22,2009 at 05:35

I'm surprised SACHIN's name id not there in this list.. It might be a biased selection.. When shane warne the leading wicket taker there why not sachin.. He is the best.. Even brain lara is far better than some of the players mentioned above..

da grt (visitor), Aug 18,2009 at 20:20

Sachin is da best period!

razmataz (visitor), Aug 19,2009 at 02:55

Has someone got the statistics of sachin vs Mcgrath or Wasim or shoab in test matches. U have the answer. He didnt do well. This voting is by cricket pundits themselves and see sachin only got 6 votes out of 10 votes by indians in the panel themselves. If most runs and wickets were criteria, what about muralitharan. he is nowhere in the list. Just accept the fact that sachin is not among the best 5. He is just a good cricketer

ishan (visitor), Sep 18,2009 at 16:04

cmon guyz..any person who cn carry d xpectatns af a billion people for more dan 20yrs hs to b beter dan gud..he hs to b d greatest n he is d greatest..shane warne who is in d list himself has ranked sachin as d greatest batsman of all tyms...if u dont beliv me dan beliv him atleast..sachin is d best..

Shutup YOU GUNDU DOGS (visitor), Oct 29,2009 at 09:12

Why do you just Sachin in the ass you black indian dogs? Seriously did you guys blow yet? Better things in life then to argue about some black indian maggot who knows how to bat.

Ron (visitor), Nov 10,2009 at 15:19

There are plenty of paks here. You black arab wannabes. You black arabs might as well kiss the feet of your saudi masters.

Arshad (visitor), Dec 19,2009 at 01:57

I think it is unfair to judge shane warne's ball on which he dismissed Mike Getting as the ball of the century. What about those two balls on which Akram dismissed Broad and lewis in the Final of World Cup. What about Akram dismissing Sachin on a slower ball.

Pissed off Raj (visitor), Jan 7,2010 at 11:10

We can't have a decent conversation about cricket without the indian cricket fans bitching about Sachin. Yes he is a great batsman with awesome form and technique, but he got most of his runs against sub par asian teams. You couldn't rely on him during a big chase like you could with Lara. You guys are so bias and sometimes ignorant. Every board on the net is the same thing. In 50 years, i guartantee some indian town will make Sachin a god and start worshipping him.

Sachin is GOD (visitor), Feb 15,2010 at 06:50

Well, guys out there, SACHIN TENDULKAR has always been at the receiving end of people who can't digest his courage and achievements. He is respected by people around the world even the AUSSIES who are the the most competitive when it comes to cricket; FANS come to see Sachin. Almost every other cricketer has mentioned that Sachin is the closest figure one can get to a perfect batsman. Sachin has been sent to this world to glorify cricket and he has done that quite brilliantly and with great humility too. It is unfortunate that he is not on the above list which does feature the greatest cricketers but by no means is Sachin any less than them.

die hard fan of sachin (visitor), yesterday at 03:05

1)lets think who is the cricketer most applauded in the whole world -- sachin
2)who has carried expectations of over a billion people for last 20 years so--sachin
3)who has the clean image and u cannot even point any controversy on him--sachin
u see der shane warne has indulged in many controversies :S
4)name of the person when comes to bat
the number tv viewers exceerds the population of europe at peak times--its sachin
5)even the don has acknowledged that he plays similar shots as myself
6)Sachin is like a bridge between the modern day of indian cricket and past.
7)After his adventure indian cricket has dramatically changed
So is that statistics enough or let me say have u ever noticed a website being crashed because of one person(cricinfo.com) and on a single day that particular persons profile got viewed 15.4 million times.
crcinfo.com websites servers crashed on the day when sachin hit a double century do u belive that:?: