International Player with the worst 'Spirit of Cricket'??

[Paoli]

There are quite a few players who go out there playing to win with no other goal in mind.

Who's the biggest INTERNATIONAL one of the bunch?

[greg]

I'd say Hayden.Biggest sledger of the lot.

[Paoli]

Shane Watson for mine. In his only test against Pakistan, his bowling was below par, and he probably beat the beat a total of two times in that game. On both those occasions, and on a few 'swing and a miss' occasions, he felt inclined to give the batsman an absolute earful, complete with your buffet of offensive language et al.

I think he should just learn that the great bowlers like McGrath don't give an earful after they beat the bat...Because they do it alot!

[greg]

Fair enough that Paoli.I don't rate Watson.He reminds me of Mark Ealham,jack of all trades but master of none.

[Seamer]

Ganguly. Absolutely detest the man. He is not so interested at winning so much as making sure NO-ONE wins. Kills games by slow over rates and other delaying tactics and is the worst captain in world cricket. Imagine having a team like that to captain and not being ranked in the top two.

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Paoli69

...I think he should just learn that the great bowlers like McGrath don't give an earful after they beat the bat...Because they do it alot!

McGrath wouldn't have a voice left if he sledged when he beat the bat.

I wasn't too impressed with Tino Best when England went to the Carribean in 2004. When he bowled at Vaughan, Vaughan might leave a wide one and then Best would run right into his face and give him an unneccesary earful.

It's not really an against the spirit thing, but I don't like the way Jacques Kallis plays for his batting average and he can never be bothered to break his back and bowl for his country. I remember the third test v England last year when South Africa were comfortable in their game position, at the end of day three, but still needed to press home an advantage. Kallis was batting with Dippenaar and with half an hour to go they both slowed right down, messing about when they were 450+ ahead and needing to drive home their advantage Admittedly Dippenaar was fighting for his place in the side, but Kallis was playing for his average. Both were well set when it came to the last two overs and I remember off the last ball of the penultimate over I think Kallis hit a shot to a fielder on the boundary and refused the run so that Dippenaar would face the last over. First ball of the next over, Dippenaar made Kallis run a single.

For such a talented all-round cricketer, Kallis thinks for himself too much in my opinion, which obviously isn't against the spirit of the game but is against the spirit of "team-work". I can think of many less talented cricketers in the world who would put their wicket on the line for the good of their team, and bowl as many overs as their captain asks. I'm not sure Kallis falls into that bracket.

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Seamer

Ganguly. Absolutely detest the man. He is not so interested at winning so much as making sure NO-ONE wins. Kills games by slow over rates and other delaying tactics and is the worst captain in world cricket. Imagine having a team like that to captain and not being ranked in the top two.

Good call! I don't really like Ganguly either. Not a brilliant captain, nor the sort of guy we want at the top of the world game.

[Lemming]

I can't see a reason for having Harmison in the poll except for him chucking the ball back at a few Australians in this recent test. I think he plays his cricket hard but does it with a smile on his face, he enjoys bowling and also enjoys having a bit of a smack with the bat. I've not seen him sledge too much, just let's the ball do the talking. Are there any other incidents where he has misplaced the spirit required by the game?

[greg]

If you put Harmison down as a bad sport then Flintoff needs to be there for telling Tino Best to "watch the windows Tino" before getting out next ball trying to smash the ball out of the ground.

[Seamer]

Agree on Harmison. Nice guy really (unless he bowls a bouncer at your head at 90mph!) Saw an interview with him recently and he stated that he did'nt like hitting players and i believe him. Honest face maybe.