If you grew up in the late 1970s through to the early 90s, you knew only of a dominant West Indies side.
With a mix of intimidation and flair plus a big dose of charisma, a great West Indies was great for cricket. Though short in quality slow men, they didn’t need them, because they had great fast bowlers, brilliant batsmen and a superb decade of service from wicketkeeper Jeff Dujon. He stood behind the stumps for the majority of their glory years.
Sadly for West Indies cricket fans and for cricket fans in general, times have changed. They are not a force in Test cricket and haven’t been for some time – though they’ve tasted T20 success, which is now their main focus, or so it seems.
Let’s look back and consider who the all-time top five West Indies cricketers are. Criteria include statistics, ability, presence on the field, influence on matches and success they brought to their team.
5. Brian Lara
A slowish start to his Test cricket career was quickly forgotten when in his fifth test an epic 277 in Sydney announced his arrival. He broke the world record for highest individual innings twice in Test cricket and remains the only man to make 400 in a Test innings.
Lara had the ability to win tests almost by himself. He just about did so against Australia in 1999. Without his 213 in the second test and his 153* in the third Test, the home team would not have gotten close to winning those either.
Equally good against pace and spin, Lara’s 688 runs in three Tests away against Sri Lanka as part of a side that lost all three Tests in that series was a truly magnificent individual performance.
(Photo by Joe Mann/Getty Images)
4. Clive Lloyd
The old adage that Lloyd had an easy job as captain because he had to make the ‘difficult’ choice of giving the ball to Joel Garner or Malcolm Marshall or Andy Roberts or Michael Holding or Colin Croft was unfair. Gathering players from different nations and turning them into a juggernaut was a legacy Lloyd left behind. He did better than anyone before or since.
Clive Lloyd’s heavy 5-1 loss at the hands of Australia steeled him. Adamant it would never happen again, he assembled a fast-bowling battery that dominated world cricket for the next two decades. It would be hard to find anyone who had a greater influence on West Indies cricket than Lloyd.
3. Malcolm Marshall
Rated by many as the greatest fast bowler in the history of the sport, Marshall combined speed and skill to be an all-time great. Not as tall as his fellow fast bowlers, Marshall got good bounce and bowled at genuine pace, and with his accuracy he dismissed many a batsman caught at the wicket.
He got smarter as he got older, reducing his long run-up but still bowling with effectiveness. e was arguably the best of a great bunch. He remains at the top of the tree for bowlers with 200 wickets or more in terms of averages, with an impressive bowling average of 20.94 from his 81 Test matches.
2. Viv Richards
Some players draw people through the gates or make you stop what you’re doing to watch. Shane Warne with the ball, Adam Gilchrist and Virat Kohli with the bat are some. Viv is another.
Not technically correct and happy to play across the line, Richards was a combination of talent, strength and supreme confidence.
No matter what conditions were presented to him, Viv calmly swaggered to the crease in the famous West Indies cap, chewing gum, never considering taking a backwards step. Richards enjoyed great success in both formats he played in and is considered by most as a true legend of the sport.
(Photo: S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)
1. Sir Garfield Sobers
I’m going to have to admit that Garry Sobers was before my time. There is a particular piece of footage shown quite a few times now that gives a good indication of how good Sobers was. It shows only six balls, but Sir Garfield scores a total of 36 runs off them.
If you watch the footage of his fast but smooth swing, it’s not hard to work out how good he would have been to watch bat.
However, Sir Garfield wasn’t just pleasing to the eye; his average of 57.78 places him as one of Test cricket’s greatest batsmen. If you then factor in his 235 wickets with seam and spin and 109 Test catches, you are left with the most complete cricketer who has ever played the game.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Chanderpaul may have been a good player for a while but that was carrying a very average West Indies team that gave him a comparative opportunity to shine!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I think captaincy is underrated when it comes to people who know how to captain. Good captaincy is a worthwhile as criteria in this question. In footy or league captaincy is not anywhere near as important. —– Lloyd and Chappelli won games through their tactical nous. —- To be a good captain you need to know how to marshall an attack / field, take stock of the game standing between wicky and 2nd slip (and listening to those two), be a natural born leader / communicator and how to get in behind every ball when it hits the fan. —– good captains take wickets even though they haven’t bowled.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
My Aussie five would be Bradman Miller Lillee Warne Gilchrist Both O'Reilly and Grimmet comes very close but Warney just beats them. Lillee gets the nod over McGrath because of his greater charisma. McGrath was more of a 'just doing his own job' type character. Of course Trumper would always deserves consideration in any Aussie dream team with all those stories about him. McCabe is another to consider.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I’d go an alternative to those I Chappell (he averaged over 50 as captain. I believe he was the greatest capt ever….of any country). —- B Haddin (because he had fight). —- C Grimmett (the first over 200 wickets and had the best wickets per test ratio until just recently). —- J Thomson (the most frightening non-Windies bowler). —- R Ponting (his no nonsense approach to attacking batting)
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Agree Matt - not sure I would have Clive Lloyd in this list - even though he was a very well respected captain - though he did have an average of 46.7 and scored 19 hundreds. People rave about Rohan Kanhai who had an average of 47.5 with 15 hundreds from the late 1950s to mid 1970s. So it would be a toss up between those two. And Gordon Greenidge was also a magnificent opening batsman who had an average of 44.7 with 19 hundreds. And Viv Richards and Brian Lara are no brainers. Weekes and Walcott must have been amazing with averages of 58 and 57 respectively from well over 40 tests each - but I've never seen them play given their careers finished in the early 1960s. Hard to decide between Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Curtley Ambrose and Joel garner with the ball.
Matt H
Roar Guru
None of your suggestions would look out of place DP.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
Whenever i think of WI cricket five things come into my mind first: Sir Frank Worrell and the great WI team he led. Lord Beginner's 'cricket, lovely cricket', CLR James' 'Beyond the Boundary' The voice of Tony Cozier And finally, Micheal Holding running up to the wicket.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
World 11??? Pretty darn good team that. I'd have Barry Richards in lieu of Hobbs, but that's just me. Your next 6 couldn't be faulted but you'd have to find for Muralitharan and Lillee. As 12 man fields I throw up Rhodes or Harper.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
If we talk about the influence on WI cricket, then it is very difficult to ignore Sir Frank Worrell.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Bradman Gillchrist Lillee Warne G Chappell. That’s tough leaving out Border, McGrath, O’Rielly, Ponting, Miller and plenty of others.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
Nice article. Enjoyed reading that. i grew up in the early 80's as WI were destroying everyone facing them. Although i have seen very little of Sir Gary, I can't argue about his place at the top. I think he is the greatest all rounder the game has ever seen.
Simoc
Guest
Sobers was rare in that he seemed to be equally good at medium pace swing and seam and bowling spin. But mostly a great bat, as fluent and natural as anyone ever with classy shots in the classic sense. While Australians might love Ambrose WI had several guys before (Holding, Roberts ) of his class. Certainly Lloyd rated Marshall and Roberts as the best of his time.
Seymorebutts
Roar Rookie
Coupe of wicket keepers, Derek Murray or Jeff Dujon were as good as any gloveman you were likely to ever see.... Dujon was also a superb batsman, he could have played as a specialist No 6 if he wanted too.
Seymorebutts
Roar Rookie
Impossible really to boil it down to only five. Greenidge and Haynes, the two best opening batsmen in the world cant make the list... Who to choose over Ambrose and Walsh...Holding and Garner, Collin Croft, Andy Roberts and a few others .. ? Plethora of batsmen.. Viv Richards was unbelievable..no one ever hit a ball harder than Clive Lloyd.... my father says Sobers was better than all of them,,, where to squeeze in Brian Lara? I recall Larry Gomes just plundering the Australian attack one year...wearing a white hat instead of a helmet yet he probably wouldn't make the ''best of all time '' West Indian lineup. Makes for an interesting discussion. Imagine if you had to pick the 5 best Australian players of all time...don't think you could do it.
Seymorebutts
Roar Rookie
He dispensed with the all rounder and specialist spinner.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
There are moments in sport ----- Federer's backhand ----- Graf's forehand ----- Gower's cover drive ----- B Robran's overhead mark ------ They defy time and space.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Here's my best 11 1. Headley 2. Greenidge 3. Richards 4. Lara 5. Kanhai 6. Sobers 7. Dujon 8. Marshall 9. Roberts. 10. Holding 11. Ambrose
Nuwan Ranasinghe
Roar Pro
Well I didn't say to remove Viv, my suggestion was to swap Clive Lloyd with Shiv instead.
Spanner
Roar Rookie
Beautifully phrased Rowdy - a perfect assessment - "whispering death" indeed !
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Interesting point. I will have a look at the Windies 1st class records. My suspicion is that he would've been successful there too. If I was to go down the tortuos path of picking a World XI he'd be 4th or 5th pick. Gilly, Warne and Sobers pick themselves mainly because picking a team where you only need one of those types (wicky, spinner, all-rounder) is an easy get. ---- Rarely has swagger and ability combined in such a confluent way.