DON'T MENTION THE WAUGH

Well, not in the Top 10 of Herr Shane Warne's Top 50, anyway.

50 - 41
50. Jamie Siddons
49. Darren Berry
48. Brian McMillan
47. Chris Cairns
46. Dilip Vengsarkar
45. Waqar Younis
44. Alec Stewart
43. Mike Atherton
42. Ravi Shastri
41. Justin Langer

40 - 31
40. Kapil Dev
39. Stuart MacGill
38. Sanath Jayasuriya
37. Steve Harmison
36. Andy Flower
35. Michael Vaughan
34. Bruce Reid
33. Allan Donald
32. Robin Smith
31. Tim May

30 - 21
30. Kevin Pietersen
29. Shoaib Akhtar
28. Saeed Anwar
27. Jacques Kallis
26. Steve Waugh
25. Darren Lehmann
24. Brett Lee
23. Stephen Fleming
22. Martin Crowe
21. David Boon

20 - 11
20. Adam Gilchrist
19. Aravinda de Silva
18. Merv Hughes
17. Matthew Hayden
16. Andrew Flintoff
15. Graham Gooch
14. Rahul Dravid
13. Anil Kumble
12. Mark Waugh
11. Courtney Walsh

10 - 1
10. Ian Healy
9. Mark Taylor
8. Ricky Ponting
7. Muttiah Muralitharan
6. Wasim Akram
5. Glenn McGrath
4. Allan Border
3. Curtly Ambrose
2. Brian Lara
1. Sachin Tendulkar

Tim Lane is right about Shane Warne and Steve Waugh.

Warne skews Waugh rating

It will state clearly that Warne regarded a contemporary Australian great as being flawed. Alas, such skewed comparisons between Waugh and players of clearly inferior records expose the man making them as being less than completely objective.

Objectionable, more like. And by THE Waugh you know which Waugh. There would barely be a cricket fan in this wide brown land who rates The Other Waugh and his stylish 40s above Steve Waugh and his repeated heroics, despite what they might think of Tugger's reputed selfishness. Like Tim says, Warne's been hanging around with Ian Chappell too long.

Still, while Warne is a bit of a fat head, he revealed a previously hidden diplomatic touch in explaining Murali's selection at No.7:

No matter what anybody thinks about his action, he is wonderful to bat against for the experience of facing a ball that turns so much. He has helped to turn Sri Lanka into a formidable side at home. It is also worth remembering the work he did in the aftermath of the tsunami when he gave so much hope to people in despair. And we all love that smile.

A slick side-step followed by shmaltz; a career in politics awaits.

In batting order, my Top 11:

11. Curtley Ambrose
10. Dennis Lillee
9. Malcolm Marshall
8. Shane Warne
7. Richard Hadlee
6. Adam Gilchrist
5. Brian Lara
4. Viv Richards
3. Ricky Ponting
2. Sachin Tendulkar
1. Allan Border

With apologies to Greg Chappell, Steve Waugh, Martin Crowe and [grits teeth] Ian Botham. The side might be one batsman short, but no one is going to score any runs against that attack.

Comments

[Tony T.]

And keep those cheesey cracks about Parma Waugh to yourself.

[Em]

ice man's missing from both elevens!
saying that It's "his" favorites so he is allowed to be a bit personal.

[Tony T.]

At the risk of appearing even more ignorant than usual: who's Ice Man?

[Tony T.]

Em, do you mean Steve Waugh? He's out of my XI because my XI goes back to the late 70s. If I'd kept to the same time frame as Warnie, Steve Waugh would have been in my side.

[SaggyGreen]

Alec Stewart? Alec Fucking Stewart? No Inzamam, Laxman, Sangakkara, Chanderpaul - but Alec Stewart. I'm off to neck a Bex and have a quiet lie down.

[Tony T.]

Killer fact! During the nineties Alec Stewart scored the most Test runs of any country.

[Tony T.]

While we're dropping players; Grievous Bodily Harmless can piss off, too.

[SaggyGreen]

Is that to say that Ol' Alec contributed a greater percentage of his team's runs than any other player? errr...I'm confused. The Bex didn't work.

[via collins]

Where's Citizen Kane?

Oh, sorry, wrong thread.

When's The Times running Warnie's "50 Films You Have to See Before You Die"?

[Tony T.]

I dunno what it is with The Times and The Lists, but in fairness to them, this is someone else's list and a note worthy one at that.

Still... List. O. Mania.

[Russ]

To be fair to Warne, his list is obviously based around players who played well against Australia, and more particularly himself, which does give him the latitude to preference players with inferior records over S.Waugh and to ignore superstars like Inzaman.

His back-handed criticism of Waugh's captaincy ("Mark Taylor handed him a wonderful team") has some merit in my view, but he is way off base calling him a "match-saver". S.Waugh was at his best running up big "match-winning" first innings totals. His match saving record is practically non-existent. Seriously... two to three games at best, and nothing remotely on a par with M.Waugh's pair of series saving/winning fourth innings knocks against South Africa.

And hey, there is an alternative universe where Steve Waugh gets dropped after the West Indies tour of 92-93, remembered as a talented but limited test player (49 tests @ 35.76, 4 100s, 13 50s); and where Lehmann takes his place on the '93 Ashes tour, using it to go on to be one of Australia's greatest batsmen and most astute captains.

[nick]

Adelaide won back to back flags in 97/98 - we're in the Alternate Universe!

[Mark]

Fantastic comment about Murali!

Waugh was lucky enough to captain Australia when they had two of the best four bowlers ever in their side - my Aunt Maud could have done a pretty good job with Warnie and McGrath in the side.

Pretty much agree with your XI though Tone - though I'd have Walsh rather than Ambrose. Maybe get Both' to carry the drinks... he's supposed to be pretty good at that!

[RT]

Brett Lee at #24 is very generous at best for a fast bowler who averages over 30 and has played 60 or so tests. I hope the Tait steps up after an excellant World Cup. Alec Stewart - sadly he epitomises England at their lowest ebb. Long may be epitomise.

Dennis Lillee I'd have top 5.

[Carrot]

It might be true to say that S.Waugh inherited a great side, but let's not forget what he did with it. After drawing against the Windies and losing a rain-affected series in Sri Lanka, he then went on to win sixteen tests in a row, turned our reputation of losing dead rubbers on its head (in the early part of his captaincy, anyway) and finished with the best captaincy record of anyone, anywhere.

Tubby had Warnie and Pigeon at his disposal too - and both Waughs at the peak of their powers - and didn't win as much.

[Fredfillis]

Assume apologies also to Garner, Greenidge, Haynes, Thommo, Bacchus, Miandad, Ranatunga, Such, Wellham and the list goes on.

[Tex]

Warne is a cockspank. Good riddance

[tONY]

You rate Marshall above Andy Roberts, Tone?

I wonder how Warne could rate Berry & Siddons - I mean, he would have hardly played against them (or even with them )very much at all. What a wanker he is, and no mistake.

[Tony T.]

Absolutely with Marshall. He was devastating with swing, cut, bounce and control. A gun.

[Tony T.]

Big Curt over Big Court every time for me.

Apologies only to Joel in Fred's list.

And Suchy.

[Fredfillis]

Marshall, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Ambrose ... how the heck can you split those guys. They all kicked arses and took names.

WTF has happened to fast bowling? Look at the guys around in the 70's and 80's compared to now. What a bunch of pussies we are sticking our kids with!

[Tony T.]

Rodney Hogg on the radio: "Looks like Warnie just picked his mates. I mean, no one has ever said a nice word about Michael Bevan, so it's obvious he was never going to get in."

And half the batsmen in the world would reduce their averages by 10 percentage points were they to face the likes of the bowlers you mention.

Roberts was a little bit before my time. He was deadly at times in 1975, but as I was only a youngster, my judgment is based more on junior fanhood than adult appreciation. Does that sound pompous? Probably.

[Fredfillis]

Pompous? NO.

I was about 10 when D.K. Lillee burst into the headlines after rolling the Rest of the World XI in Perth. Players I watched as kid always seemed larger than life. I have fond memories of Paul Sheahan, Redpath, Walters, Max Walker, Froggie Thompson etc and while they don't have the stats to make anyone's greatest ever XI, you'll never take away my memories of those guys as heroes of the day.

There is nothing like being a cricket loving kid.

[Professor Rosseforp]

I thought Warne's comments about Murali were so well-written that their authorship must be called into question -- who ghosted this list?
I agree with some comments about S. Waugh ; he left a culture of taciturn bullying which still besmirches our national team (although he might be Mr Nice Guy in non-cricketing life), and was lucky to be picked after being given chance after chance which other players never got.
Good to see Magill in Warne's list at no. 39.
Warnie is too young to remember Freddie Trueman, but he would be my first pick in a world team -- sentimental choice, but also based on his brilliant bowling and fielding. His speed, accuracy, variety and match-winning ability have been overshadowed by Lillee/Thomson and the West Indians, but he was as good as them, no doubt.

[tONY]

On reflection, I'm probably in Fred's "cricket loving kid" category when it comes to Roberts - he even scared me watching him on TV.

I remember seeing Joel Garner at the WACA, bouncing Bruce Laird in a tour game against WA. Ball still seemed to be going up when it went over a full-stretch Jeff Dujon. Stumpy didn't even move. And he was slow compared to the rest. There's never been a bowling attack like that one, and probably never will be.

But you can't talk about getting chance after chance without Boofhead coming to mind - how many times did he stride to the crease in dire situations, and promptly stride back to the pavillion? He sits with Gary Cosier and Fat Cat Ritchie in my book.

[Tony T.]

Crash's article in The Courier isn't bad.

Some of my earliest memories of Test cricket are from 70/71: Stacky making 200 at the Gabba, Walters bowling Luckhurst in Melbourne and Lawry carrying his bat in Sydney.

[Professor Rosseforp]

Tony, at the risk of being branded ignorant, which Boofhead are you referring to in the Aussie cricket team?
I re-checked Warne's list and noted that Tim May was on it, which is not surprising: having Tim May bowling at one end increased Warne's potential bag of wickets, since May was never going to take any.
I regard him as a latter-day right-arm Ray Bright, but with a greater tendency to roll his ankle when disembarking tour planes, or when stepping on cricket balls in the nets.

[Tony T.]

Actually, thanks for asking that, Prof, and getting me off the being-branded-ignorant hook. I was wondering who tONY's Boofhead was, too.

[tONY]

The capitalisation indicates my choice - while there were (and are) many boofheads, there has only ever been one Boofhead. #25

[Tony T.]

That's where I thought you were coming from, but I've never though of Boof as a great letter-downerer.

And anyway, at least he came with expectations. Neither Fat Cat nor Cosier were good enough to let us down.