My Current World Top 40 Batsmen and Bowlers

[SouthSwans]

Batsmen
1. Shiv Chanderpaul
2. Graeme Smith
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Ricky Ponting
5. Michael Clarke
6. Andrew Strauss
7. Kumar Sangakkara
8. Mahela Jayawardene
9. Sachin Tendulkar
10. Thilan Samaraweera
11. AB de Villers
12. Ramnaresh Sarwan
13. Younis Khan
14. Kevin Pietersen
15. Rahul Dravid
16. Mohammad Yousuf
17. Jacques Kallis
18. Simon Katich
19. Tillekeratne Dilshan
20. Chris Gayle
21. JP Duminy
22. Hashim Amla
23. Virender Sehwag
24. Ashwell Prince
25. VVS Laxman
26. Alastair Cook
27. Marcus North
28. Brendon McCullum
29. Ross Taylor
30. Misbah ul-Haq
31. Brad Haddin
32. Yuvraj Singh
33. Salman Butt
34. Shoaib Malik
35. David Hussey
36. Paul Collingwood
37. Matt Prior
38. Cameron White
39. Michael Hussey
40. Shakib al Hasan

Bowlers
1. Muttiah Muralidaran
2. Dale Steyn
3. Mitchell Johnson
4. Shane Bond
5. Ajantha Mendis
6. Makhaya Ntini
7. Chaminda Vass
8. Ishant Sharma
10. James Anderson
11. Zaheer Khan
12. Shakib al Hasan
13. Peter Siddle
14. Jerome Taylor
15. Stuart Broad
16. Brett Lee
17. Nuwan Kulasekera
18. Umar Gul
19. Thilan Thushara
20. Fidel Edwards
21. Harbhajan Singh
22. Daniel Vettori
23. Ryan Sidebottom
24. Kyle Mills
25. Graeme Swann
26. Ben Hilfenhaus
27. Morne Morkel
28. Chris Martin
29. Amit Mishra
30. Andrew Flintoff
31. Stuart Clark
32. Nathan Hauritz
33. Paul Harris
34. Lasith Malinga
35. Graham Onions
36. Jacques Kallis
37. Jacob Oram
38. Munaf Patel
39. Monty Panesar
40. Steve Magoffin

[whats_at_stake]

Are they best cricketers taking all formats into account or test cricket only? Also have you ranked them in your order?

[SouthSwans]

Yeah basically if I had to pick an XI and I had a pool of batsmen and bowlers, thats the order I would take them in if I were captaining a first class/test match at this very point in time.

[Jordan...]

Wow, you must have a lot of spare time on your hands. :p

[TorresIsGod]

AB at 17?... Should be higher

Cook ahead of North?

[SouthSwans]

Wow, you must have a lot of spare time on your hands. :p
Don't have work til Thursday :thumbsu:

[SouthSwans]

It's a big ask for AB, he's an absolute gun but take a look at the five guys above him (Younis Khan, Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Yousuf, Jacques Kallis). I dunno if I could get him any higher?

EDIT: I've done this post twice, can someone merge the threads or delete one of them?

[Bomber Bears]

To be honest i'd have Clarke ahead of ponting as a batsmen these days, altho i spose ponting comes in at 3 compared to 5. Ponting is in decline, unfortunately, when you are average 12 less than a career avaerage over 26 tests its seems slightly beyond a loss of form.

Still the prize wicket in our order but not the force he was (but thats to be expected with age and a few injury concerns ie wrist)

[Ill Chicken]

Next time you should keep it to a top 10 or 20. Seriously, no Dhoni or Prince.

[SouthSwans]

Next time you should keep it to a top 10 or 20. Seriously, no Dhoni or Prince.
Klinger > Dhoni as a batsman.

[peternorth]

are there any conditions which played a part in your rankings? for example, is the ranking based on how you feel they'd (bats) go on a spinning deck or digging in to save a test match?

[Ill Chicken]

Klinger > Dhoni as a batsman.

Dhoni is captain of India. Klinger couldn't cement a state game for Victoria.

[CrazyQ]

Prince > Klinger by streets.

AB should be top 10. He is one of the best batsman in the world.

[SouthSwans]

Prince > Klinger by streets.

AB should be top 10. He is one of the best batsman in the world.
Yeah I forgot Prince. Dhoni was deliberately forgotten. I'll put Prince in there now.

Like I said before with AB, who higher than him can you shunt down to accomodate his position in the top ten?

[CrazyQ]

AB since 2007 has averaged 58 runs and scored over 1800 runs. He played 31 tests. Clarke since 2007 has averaged 56 with over 2100 runs, he played 38 tests.

AB is the better bat.

[CrazyQ]

White has done nothing as well.

[Jordan...]

Steve Magoffin! YEWWWWWW!

[whats_at_stake]

Klinger > Dhoni as a batsman.


To suggest Klinger is better then Dhoni is ridiculous. Lets compare the two. One captains India averages 37 in Tests, 50 in ODI's and is nominated for ICC Cricketer of the year. The other has a FIRST CLASS average of 36 and plays state cricket. (stats from Cricinfo). Klinger would struggle to be better then Ramprakash from County cricket.

[SouthSwans]

AB since 2007 has averaged 58 runs and scored over 1800 runs. He played 31 tests. Clarke since 2007 has averaged 56 with over 2100 runs, he played 38 tests.

AB is the better bat.
Having a look at those stats it's a good call. I moved him up 6 spots.

[SouthSwans]

Steve Magoffin! YEWWWWWW!
Gun. Should be in the Aussie squad, decent with the bat too.

[Radical Roo]

Top 40 players in batting and bowling is a laughable. There are only like 8 countries playing tests and 2 of them should not be included in the ICC and a third country that has more youngsters joining Al Qaeda than playing cricket. So realistically only 5 countries are fully committed to cricket of all three forms and out of these 5 only 2 have a very well developed cricketing infrastructure. This is not soccer fellas, i reckon in cricket we should only have a top 10 (5 personally) for batting and bowling.

[DoubleO7]

Oh my gosh, a top 40 ranking of both batsmen and bowlers. Someone has a shit load of time on their hands. :D

From when are you basing these rankings on? The past year, two years or so on?

Some of your player rankings seem strange to me. You have some players ranked too high, and others too low.

Mohammad Yousuf seems a tad too high, considering his lengthy absence from the international scene.

Michael Clarke should be higher, well, just the one place. Both Clark and AB de Villiers have outscored (law of average) Ricky Ponting in the last couple of years.

Just my two cents...

[TorresIsGod]

I'd go 8. Sachin, 9. AB, 10. Mahela out of that top 10.

AB is definitely a top 10 in the world bat.

[Spudregus_87]

Batsmen
1. Shiv Chanderpaul
2. Graeme Smith
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Ricky Ponting
5. Michael Clarke
6. Andrew Strauss
7. Kumar Sangakkara
11. AB de Villers
13. Younis Khan
14. Kevin Pietersen

Bowlers
1. Muttiah Muralidaran
2. Dale Steyn
3. Mitchell Johnson
4. Shane Bond
5. Ajantha Mendis
10. James Anderson
22. Daniel Vettori
30. Andrew Flintoff


Agree with your top 5 batsmen selections, but Strauss above Sangakarra, AB, Younis Khan and Pieterson?? I disagree.

Again happy with your top 5 bowlers, but think you've overrated Anderson at #10, and grossly underrated Vettori at #22 Flintoff at #30!?? :eek:

Just a quick top 10 from my perspective:

Batsmen:
1. Chanderpaul
2. Graeme Smith
3. Michael Clarke
4. Kumar Sangakarra
5. Gautam Gambhir
6. AB deVilliers
7. Ricky Ponting
8. Younis Khan
9. Mahela Jayawardena
10. Andrew Strauss (Would've been Pieterson before the Ashes series)

Bowlers:
1. Dale Steyn
2. Murali
3. Shane Bond
4. Mitchell Johnson
5. Arjantha Mendis
6. Andrew Flintoff
7. Vaas
8. Ntini
9. Vettori
10. Zaheer Kahn

[Radical Roo]

Bond is do not agree should be even in the mix, if this is the test you are talking about. Likewise for ODI, Bond just hasn't played consistently (fitness) over the last 18 months. MJ in test has taken a few steps backwards after the Ashes campaign and has shown that he is still very much a work in progress. While MJ seemed to have fully developed his potential in SA, he has slipped quite a bit and is now a doubt to be the spearhead. I think Aus is much safer with Hillfenhaus as the spearhead because he is much more steady. MJ i got a feeling is more and more becoming Aus' Harmison.