I have to admit, I'd not considered Tony Greig at all. To me he has always been the laughably excitable C9, and then Channel 4, commentator who cracked me up with his "Fantastic shot!" statement when it was quite clear the ball was heading straight into the fielder's hands.
However, of all of our twenty allrounders, he is the last who should be written off. No only does he hold an excellent Test record (averaging 40 with the bat, 32 with ball in 58 matches) but he was a superb captain and leader for England. Yes, he did make some silly statements but anyone who signals a boundary when batting against Dennis Lillee has clearly got something about them.
He was batsmen, bowler (seam and spin), captain and now a commentator. Oh, and he was also a key player in what is often referred to as the most defining event in the development of the modern game. He's pretty much done it all, hasn't he? Just like any great allrounder.
Comments
I am really surprised to see tony greg and ravi shastri on that list. This may perhaps rise from the fact I never watched them live in action. One player who some how seems to have missed out is Chris cairns. Also shane Warne's all round abilities have been given a raw deal. Not many batsmen score three thousand runs.His feats in the 2005 Ashes will be Hard to match. He almost won it single handedly for the aussies.
Posted by: Rohit at January 12, 2007 6:16 PM
tony greig got "lost in the shuffle"so to speak:done in by a combination of WSC and his successor ian botham.greigy was a truly great all rounder,who's worth at test level has been neglected.his formidable will to win and fighting spirit ensures his superiority over several more naturally talented players like chris cairns(all the attributes but lacking heart).any england fan from the '70s will remember how good greig was(sobers calls him the best all rounder in the world in that 72-77 period).good enough for me.
Posted by: spence at January 12, 2007 11:09 PM
As someone who has been following Indian cricket closely for the last 30 years, I do not find Rohit's comments on Shastri very surprising.Indian cricket has always been fascinated by the guys who have an aura-either built by the players themselves with their performances or flamboyance or one created by the indian media.I grew up with that team of Gavaskar,Vishy and the 4 spinners.Yes,there were many players before Shastri and many after him who had far more natural talent.But it was his sheer determination and his bloodymindedness which allowed him to perform far above his abilities-and that makes him very special for many Indians like me who are fed up of some hugely talented prima donnas who have forgot to perform as they have started to believe the media hype that they are legends even before playing 10 tests!!
Posted by: Alex at January 13, 2007 8:04 PM
Ditto...there are likely to be a few players who would say Ravi Shastri is not even amongst the top two Indian alrounders, leave alone the world's best.
Posted by: Jim at January 14, 2007 1:43 PM
wasim akram was a great bowler but as a batsman he did not do as he could do or he spouse to do. I do not consider as a great alrounder but best bowler in his time or may be all still.
Posted by: mna at January 14, 2007 10:29 PM
What about fielding? For me the greatest of allrounders can turn the game will a piece of
brilliance in all three disciplines of the game.
Botham, Sobers, Kallis and Miller were truly the
most complete cricketers of the modern era.
Imran Khan excelled with the bat and ball but
his fielding doesn't stand up favourably......
what about match winning performances, who has
taken most 5 fors and hit most hundreds?
Posted by: Owen at January 17, 2007 2:48 AM
If you add the number of 5 fors to the number
of test centuries scored, the greatest number of
match winning/saving performances produced in Test matches is the 41 of Ian Botham. He also uniquely holds the triple of 300+wkts, 5,000+runs and 100+ catches!
Posted by: Owen at January 17, 2007 3:01 AM
Tony Greig was playing for England when I first became aware of cricket at the age of 8 or 9: he seemed to be just about the only England player who could compete with any team in the world with both bat and ball. I quickly became a fan of his. I'm not sure he's the best, but he's certainly well up there, comparable with Botham and Flintoff in a much less glamorous time. Best wishes!
Posted by: Martin Walker at January 17, 2007 10:07 AM
I wasn't born when Tony Greig played the game, but have seen footage of his slip-catching from a video that my father owned. He was good. I'd do anything to see that century versus Lillee and Thommo, though.
Though I haven't enough of his playing days, I would have to say that in the 1990s, he epitomised the impact that a young Sachin Tendulkar had on spectators and TV audiences. For instance, the exhaltation when Tendulkar hit sixes off Michael Kasprowicz and Tom Moody during a century versus the Aussies in Sharjah in 1998 to take India into the finals.
Thank you for your presence, Mr. Greig
Posted by: Kunal at January 17, 2007 10:11 AM
The moment you asked the question, "who is the Greatest Allrounder", only one cricketer came to my mind and he was Sir Garfield Sobers. Undoubtedly, any one who has seen him playing (I had the good fortune)will agree that he was head and shoulders above all the other cricketers you have listed. Just look at his phenomenon record in batting, bowling and fielding, above all he was a gentleman. I know he didn't have the charisma like Tony Greig, but what Sobers had was his charm and coolness. I know some people say that perhaps in his generation he was the greatest All Rounder, but a great player is always Great in any generation like Bradman was with his bat.
Posted by: Tapan Dasgupta at January 17, 2007 2:07 PM
So many greats! Although my vote goes to Gary Sobers (a great with bat and with varied talents with the ball), one man who many overlook is Mike Proctor. In my formative years of watching Sunday League and Cup cricket on TV, he was the one bowler I saw as almost unplayable. His wild whirlwing arm action followed by the supersonic inswinging yorker or wicked away seam was a great loss to test cricket. I reckon he could outdo Botham in the batting department too. If South Africa had been alloweed to play test cricket in the 70s & early 80s with Mike Proctor in the team, then Australian & the West Indies would have had significantly more competition.
