Australia Cricket Mount Rushmore

Did I miss out on the all-time edition? Would kinda better suit the concept of honouring longstanding legacies. Bradman, Benaud, Trumper... could be a bloodbath for that Roosevelt spot. But ok, just this recent decade. I'll play along, sorta.

It's pretty easy for me. 1 vote each to Clarke, Lyon, Johnson, Smith and Warner. 2 votes to Perry, no truer way to encapsulate the game's most significant strides forward over the past ten years, but perhaps the exercise demands her exclusion via technicality a la Mr. Paine (Thomas, not Tim)--if so, shift Clarke up to 2 votes, and give Cummins 1 even though his best is still be ahead of him. Apologies to Watto.
 
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Did I miss out on the all-time edition? Would kinda better suit the concept of honouring longstanding legacies. Bradman, Benaud, Trumper... could be a bloodbath for that Roosevelt spot. But ok, just this recent decade. I'll play along, sorta.

It's pretty easy for me. 1 vote each to Clarke, Lyon, Johnson, Smith and Warner. 2 votes to Perry, no truer way to encapsulate the game's most significant strides forward over the past ten years, but perhaps the exercise demands her exclusion via technicality a la Mr. Paine (Thomas, not Tim)--if so, shift Clarke up to 2 votes, and give Cummins 1 even though his best is still be ahead of him. Apologies to Watto.
Reckon Border would slot into the Roosevelt spot. Similar personality to Roosevelt too.
 
Reckon Border would slot into the Roosevelt spot. Similar personality to Roosevelt too.
Worthy no doubt, tough to leave out a (or the) fast bowler though.
 

DaRick

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I feel that a true cricketing Mount Rushmore would commemorate each facet of cricket, each equally important - batting, bowling, wicketkeeping and captaincy. I'll try and match personalities as best as I can.

For Washington, I'd say Don Bradman. Both are the oldest of their group, both had relatively reserved personalities, and both are known for their revolutionary nature. Washington founded the United States, whereas you could argue that Bradman founded modern batsmanship.

For Jefferson, I'd say Adam Gilchrist. Both would be the most idealistic within their respective groups. Jefferson helped set the stage for the modern US (drafting Declaration of Independence), Gilchrist helped set the stage for modern wicketkeeping, particularly in Tests. Prior to his debut, a wicketkeeper's role was to keep well while eking out a few runs down the order. Gilchrist changed all that, to the point where the likes of Tim Paine look like a quaint throwback despite being a solid performer in his own right.

For Teddy Roosevelt, I'd say Shane Warne. While Roosevelt was certainly gruffer than Warne, both would be considered the 'men of action' within their respective groups - IOW, men who would rather act than talk. Warne is both one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Century and #1 in my Top 50 cricketers since WSC. He singlehandedly transformed leg-spin from an oddity into a seriously fashionable weapon.

For Abe Lincoln, I'd say Richie Benaud. Both would be the most analytical and logical within their respective groups, and both command universal respect among their respective constituents. Lincoln transformed the US by ending slavery and the Confederacy; Benaud transformed captaincy - he introduced team talks, he sent the opposition into bat, he declared early. Basically the OG of captaincy.
 

Derby103

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Four boring old white men? Haven't you people learned anything? How about Meg Lanning, Tayla Harris, Eddie Gilbert, and Tayla Harris a second time.
 
Four boring old white men? Haven't you people learned anything? How about Meg Lanning, Tayla Harris, Eddie Gilbert, and Tayla Harris a second time.
Sounds like you're mad about something, but you don't know what.
 

The Passenger

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Too tough to limit to four IMO, but can go get it down to five legends of Australian cricket.

Victor Trumper (1899 - 1912)
Don Bradman (1928 - 1948)
Keith Miller (1946 - 1956)
Dennis Lillee (1971 - 1983)
Shane Warne (1992 - 2007)

With Steve Smith (2010 - ???) obviously set to take his spot amongst this group upon his retirement.

Covers almost all bases in terms of playing roles (no keeper) and spans almost the entirety of Australian test history - roughly 62 out of 90 playing years covered from Trumper to Warne with the only overlap being a couple of years of Miller and Bradman. These were the five biggest names of their respective eras and all have numbers which put them comfortably alongside or in front of anyone who has plied their respective trades.

I would certainly consider long and hard about adding Adam Gilchrist to that list. It does mess with the one person per prolonged (20-25 years) era, but at the same time it gives him his credit as clearly being our best ever keeper-batsmen and also reflects on the period of the late 90's to mid 2000's being the most dominant period of our test history. Fittingly the other period of overlap includes the 1948 invincibles - our best ever touring team.

Allan Border is probably unlucky but maybe that sums up how poorly we were from the mid 80's till the rise of Warne. Also Greg Chappell, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting could all lay just as much claim to an additional spot as Border could so when your talking about this level I don't think any would get a spot (as much as we all love AB and he more or less pulled Australian cricket out of the doldrums).

The Pre-WWI slot is always tough given there is virtually no vision to go from. Fortunately cricket is a numbers game as so we do have that to go from. Trumper's 39 average doesn't look much on paper, but taking into account the lower scoring of pre-WWI it is probably equivalent to about 49 today. It was amongst the best of his time, albeit not a standout in the way the likes of Bradman, Miller, Lillee and Warne are. But then on performances alone all pre-WWI candidates are pretty inseparable - Trumper, Armstrong, Hill, Noble, Spofforth, Trumble or Turner. Reading contemporaneous reports from Wisden and other publications the general consensus is that Trumper was Australia's best player of the era and if you polled supporters in 2020 going into a game if they could name a pre-WWI test cricketer for Australia, I'm pretty confident Trumper would be the most common answer (behind the obvious runaway leader "No").
 
Good at the game does not equal good for the game. If it did, I'll still take somebody who can play a hook shot over somebody who can't, regardless of stats.

But let's not forget the presidents depicted at Mt Rushmore were chosen for what they did to grow their country. That simple guideline demands Richie gets a spot in the Australian cricket equivalent (and arguably everybody since him is just standing on the shoulders of giants). Which is why, in what is now the de facto OP, I didn't even have Sir Steven as a top 4 candidate of the last decade.
 

Walt Kowalski

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Four boring old white men? Haven't you people learned anything? How about Meg Lanning, Tayla Harris, Eddie Gilbert, and Tayla Harris a second time.
how surprising given we live in what has for the majority of its history been a predominantly anglo-saxon country and are discussing a game that for the majority of its history has been played by men

it'd probably surprise you to know that an indian cricket mount rushmore would have brown men on it and that a west indian cricket mount rushmore would have slightly darker brown men on it
 
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