Viv Richards The Master Blaster

You're right Spiro, I realised after I had sent the email, I forgot to add, One Day side. But I thought people would figure out, if it's since 1971, Gilchrist & Tendulkar are opening, & Symonds is in the starting XI, it must be ODIs only.

This team is clearly a greatest ODI team, as the openers, who do not open in the long-vesion of cricket, indicate. The ODI format is really about putting your most punishing batsmen at the top of the order to give them as many overs as possible. Opening in the longer-version of cricket, as in the other positions, requires different skills.

By the way, noticed on the cover of cricinfo magazine, the greatest XI of alltime (since 1971). Picked the team from their faces. it reads, in probable batting order: Adam Gilchrist(k) AUS Sachin Tendulkar IND Ricky Ponting AUS Brian Lara WIN Viv Richards WIN Andrew Symonds AUS Imran Khan PAK Richard Hadlee NZL Wasim Akram PAK Shane Warne AUS Joel Garner WIN What an awesome lineup! Serious batting right down to Warne at no.10. Gold-plated top 5 bowling - Hadlee, Imran, Wasim, Garner & Warne. Symonds & Richards for backup on rare occassions they might be needed. Plenty of lefties - Gilly at the top, Lara at 4, Hadlee & Wasim at 8 & 9.

Zolton, Why not Lara indeed? But you can only pick 11 players at any one time, of course. Lara & Tendulkar are two good reasons you should wait until a player's career is over, before considering their merits for any all-time XI. For most of their overlapping careers, Tendulkar was considered better, mainly in terms of consistent output. Recently, Tendulkar has plateaued, feeling the effects of 18 continuous years of top level cricket. Just one of many conundrums - do you select a player over the quality of his whole career (eg, Tendulkar & Hobbs), or for dashes of extraordinary brilliance here & there (eg, Lara & V.Richards)? And the Pommies would demand to know why we haven't considered Dr.Grace, Hon.Jackson, Hammond, Sutcliffe, Compton, May, Dexter, Barrington, etc, etc, etc. Personally, it's dangerous selecting all-time players form all countries. Too many variables. I wouldn't dream of doing it with Rugby - just far too difficult. Then there's the problem of different countries attributing different values on players depending on how they perceive the game should be played. This kind of thing is fun, as long as we don't take it too seriously!

Guys, just a quick question: would Brian Lara not warrant consideration for the second 11 - if not the first? While Tendulkar is generally considered by the fans to be the leading batsman of our time, it's interesting to note that many of his contemporaries - fast bowlers and spinners included - actually rate Lara the better batsman of the two. Just a thought.

Spiro, This is what happens when you select "on the run", so to speak. I was suffering Bradman-structure madness. On reflection, bring Marshall into the 1st XI for O'Reilly. Of course, Sobers could also bowl left-arm off & leg spin. O'Reilly then becomes only spinner in 2nd XI, with perhaps Curtley Ambrose, Fred Trueman or Wasim Akram as another paceman. Ummed & arred between Knott & Andy Flower. Flower definitely the better batsman, but I recall Knott as a technically brilliant keeper. Although some Englishmen of the day argued only Knott's batting kept him in front of Bob Taylor. Hell Spiro, too many choices!!!

I think we should make Sheek an Australian selector. I can't fault the number 1 all-time world cricket side, although Dennis Lillee is the only really quick bowler in the team. Syd Barnes and Gary Sobers were medium pace. In the number 2 side it would be hard to go past Andy (?) Flowers the Zimbabwean keeper-batsman who I think had a better test batting record than Gilchrist. Also two off-spinners is one too many, and I'd play Clarrie Grimmett, the NZ-born legspinner who had a better strike rate than Shane Warne.

Well, this is a topic I enjoy, selecting/considering alltime selections. My biggest criticism of Viv Richards was this: his strength was also his weakness. He had an aura of enveloping arrogance, which turned some bowlers to jelly. But that same arrogance also meant he was cheaply dismissed by bowlers he would have eaten, had he just been a tad more circumspect. By comparison, Bradman rarely allowed inferior bowlers to dismiss him cheaply. Using Bradman's blueprint of - 5 batsmen, 5 bowlers, one keeper batsman; preferably two left-handers in the top 6; one bowler who was a genuine bat; & 3 pacemen & 2 spinners from the 5 bowlers - this is my all-time cricket XI. Openers: Jack Hobbs (ENG) & Barry Richards (RSA). Middlers: Don Bradman (AUS-c): George Headley (WIN) & Graeme Pollock (RSA). Batting all-rounder: Gary Sobers (WIN-vc). Keeper-batsman: Adam Gilchrist (AUS). Pacemen: Dennis Lillee (AUS) & Syd Barnes (ENG). Spinners: Shane Warne (AUS) & Bill O'Reilly (AUS). Back-up XI: Openers: Sunil Gavaskar (IND) & Len Hutton (ENG). Middlers: Viv Richards (WIN-vc), SachinTendulkar (IND) & Javed Miandad (PAK). Batting all-rounder: Imran Khan (PAK-c). Keeper-batsman: Alan Knott (ENG). Pacemen: Richard Hadlee (NZL) & Malcolm Marshall (WIN). Spinners: Hugh Tayfield (RSA) & Muttiah Muralitharan (SRL). So many candidates, so few positions available.............

How still Viv Richards was at the wicket waiting for the ball. How still he kept his head when making his strokes. The thing that stands out in this outstanding clip is how correct Richards was in his hitting. He was a mighty hitter, rather than a terrific slogger. He intimidated bowlers. His swagger between balls told the bowlers to expect more punishment. His test average is not as high as someone like Graeme Pollock but like Pollock (who was a left-handed equivalent of Richards) he could turn games in about an hour of furious, sharp-eyed hitting. Imagine a middle order with Pollock and Richards coming in after the bowlers had been softened up by Don Bradman!

well thats a tough one.. Lille, Bradman, Warne would have to be in.