Great Cricketers - Proposals

Initially, I will probably try to choose one representative in each of the disciplines per country, unless a particular country provides two candidates I really can't ignore [in other words, this rule is made to be broken]. It is quite possible that some countries will not have candidates in some disciplines. I am assuming that Zimbabwe has not yet produced a truly great player - but feel free to disagree!

These players need to be something special. They may well be record holders, but don't slavishly choose the top run-scorer or wicket-taker for a given country. They may be the player who helped a country make the breakthrough to true competitive status. They may be a player who, in their time, dominated the world game. They may be a player who perfectly represents the image of his country. Ideally, there should be something more to say about them than bare statistics - entertaining anecdotes will help a player's case. I'm somewhat biased against current players, but they will not be excluded. My decision is final, but only once we get to the point where it's been made. I'll listen to counter-arguments with what I hope will be an open mind.

If you are proposing a player, please try to give a brief potted biography of him which covers the reasons why you're nominating him. As an example, see my piece on Sidney Barnes below. Aim for around 100-120 words, but that can be stretched so long as there's plenty to say.

I'd also appreciate biogs for the players already on this list from anyone who knows the player's career better than I do (not hard!)

My suggestions, which are by no means set in stone, would be:

Batsmen

• Australia - Sir Donald Bradman (of course). Greg Chappell? Allan Border?
• England - Sir Jack Hobbs. Hutton? Compton? Boycott?
• India - Sunil Gavaskar. Sachin Tendulkar
• New Zealand - Bert Sutcliffe? Martin Crowe
• Pakistan - Zaheer Abbas
• South Africa - Barry Richards
• Sri Lanka - TBD
• West Indies - Sir Vivian Richards. Brain Lara? Worrall, Weekes or Walcott?

Bowlers

• Australia - Ray Lindwall? Dennis Lillee? Shane Warne?
• England - Sydney Barnes. Fred Truman? Jim Laker?
• India - TBD
• New Zealand - TBD
• Pakistan - Abdul Qadir?
• South Africa - Allan Donald?
• Sri Lanka - Muttiah Muralitharan?
• West Indies - Lance Gibbs? Michael Holding? Malcolm Marshall?

All-Rounders

• Australia - Keith Miller? Richie Benaud?
• England - WG Grace. Ian Botham
• India - Kapil Dev
• New Zealand - Sir Richard Hadlee
• Pakistan - Imran Khan
• South Africa - Mike Proctor?
• Sri Lanka - TBD
• West Indies - Sir Garfield Sobers

Wicketkeepers

• Australia - Rodney Marsh
• England - Godfrey Evans? Alan Knott?
• India - TBD
• New Zealand - TBD
• Pakistan - TBD
• South Africa - TBD
• Sri Lanka - TBD
• West Indies - TBD

PS - there may also be a section for "interesting" cricketers, who are not quite great but deserve a mention - one-series wonders like Frank Tyson; one-match wonders like Bob Massey; even one-eyed wonders (Colin Milburn). This will be a much more inclusive category, which can grow over time into a gallery of all that's great about the game.

Example - Sydney Barnes, England

Sydney, better known as SF Barnes, was quite simply the best bowler, statistically speaking, the world has ever seen. In a test match career of 27 games between 1901 and 1914, he took 189 wickets for under sixteen and a half runs apiece. On the 1913-14 tour to South Africa, he took 49 wickets in just four tests at an average of less than 11. Yet despite this, his first-class career was sporadic - fewer than 100 matches, split between Warwickshire and Lancashire. For much of the time he was England's best bowler, his domestic cricket was being played for Staffordshire in the Minor Counties' championship, and in the Lancashire Leagues; in which competitions he totalled over 5,000 wickets at an astounding average of less than 8 runs each.