best west indian player ever

[brian_lara]

i am going to say the best west indian player ever would be viv richards for his batting or sir garfield sobers

[Tendlya]

Brian Lara..though he ended up on the losing side on so manier occasions. He should have had all of the records under his belt and should have had the next best average aftre bradman. reason why i have been syaing should have ...is ..coz...its not something that he had been out of form.Its all in there in him....hes ooody. lara himself agred during presenation of caet international cricketer award that he was taught about how to be successful and not how to handle succes

[Ninjaman]

Best West Indian cricket player ever (and I do stress PLAYER) is Sir Garfield Sobers.

Lara and Richards could not bowl as good as him.

He could bowl spin, medium pace or fast medium.

A brilliant fielder in a variety of positions and, if needed, could more than competently keep.

Richards and Lara come into serious consideration when you consider who is the best batsman from the WI ever.

Then, they along with Headley make the shortlist.

[Lemming]

The best cricketer ever (not just West Indian) is Garfield Sobers.

As Ninjaman quite correctly pointed out, Sobers could bowl both finger and over the wrist spin as well as some pretty useful left-arm swing. Not a top class bowler but a useful fourth/fifth bowler in all conditions.

I've seen excellent footage of his close-in fielding to off-spinner Lance Gibbs I think (I think they played together) and Sobers's reaction catching was amazing - from the top drawer.

I don't even need to mention his batting.

A great player and the greatest all-round cricketer the world has ever seen.

As for West Indian batsmen; Lara, Headley and Richards spring to mind. There are a handful of top class bowlers too.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Lemming

There are a handful of top class bowlers too.

Seperating the bowlers strikes me as tough: it's clear enough that Marshall's ability on unhelpful wickets was second to none... but if you judge seam bowlers for what they do when presented with a chance to dominate (rather than when stuck with conditions better suited to conventional leg or finger spinners or to speciaists in Underwood-style, medium pace cutters.... the field seems to me to close up considerably.

Holding and Ambrose have perhaps ended their careers with the highest profile and greatest fame.... but was the rather less talked-about Roberts (for example) any less impressive? I ask as I simply don't know... but I'm sure I've heard former players single out Roberts as deserving all the acclaim the bigger names always got.... and I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 others deserved to be bracketed in pretty much the same league.

[Lemming]

Yes, you have encountered the same problem as I did Rachael.

I would single out Malcolm Marshall as possibly the greatest fast bowler ever. After Marshall there is indeed Ambrose and Michael Holding and possbily Andy Roberts thrown into the mix - all players you would want on your team. Also, from the sixties, Wes Hall was a devastating bowler but one who probably belongs in a lower echelon. Was Wes Hall the first really great West Indian fast bowler? (Ninjaman will know more than me.)

[Colourful Chaddi]

Good thread brain_lara !!

I am going to agree with Nijaman with this, Garry Sobers is definitely the best PLAYER West Indies have produced, he is arguably the greatest cricketer after Donald Bradman. His batting would get him into anybody’s all-time world XI side and his bowling was very good also, he was able to bowl both finger/wrist spin and swing bowling as good as anybody in his team.

Viv Richards is the best BATSMAN West Indies have produced there is no doubt about that, he is for sure the best batsman of the post-war era. He had a brilliant eye and he was the most attacking batsman of his time, a time when bowling attacks included the likes of Marshall, Holding, Garner, Lilliee, Thompson, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Hadlee, and many more that bowled on more bowler-friendly wickets than today. One can only imagine how he would bat in this era of flat pitches and weaker bowling attacks.

As for West Indies best bowler of all time is much harder task when you have to pick one player out greats such as Wes Hall, Roberts, Croft, Lance Gibbs, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh and Ian Bishop. But I am going to pick Curtley Ambrose simiply because he was one of my favourite bowlers and that he was a very tall fast bowler. I am sure most batsmen will struggles to play deliverys which are bowled by an 6ft 8" man.

[Colourful Chaddi]

Originally Posted by Lemming

Wes Hall was a devastating bowler but one who probably belongs in a lower echelon. Was Wes Hall the first really great West Indian fast bowler? (Ninjaman will know more than me.)

Wes Hall was one the best bowlers of his time, and many would agree that he was the most fearsome. Dennis Lillee who is one the greatest Australain fast bowler once said that when he was younger he used to imagine himself bowling like Wes Hall, so he must have been a good bowler.

What is interesing about Wes Hall is that he began his cricketing career as a wicket-keeping batsman and then transformed himself as a fast bowler. Here are his bowling figures:

                     Mat  Balls     R   W   BBI    BBM     Ave  Econ    SR  5 10
overall               48  10421  5066 192  7/69  11/126  26.38  2.91  54.2  9  1

His final bowling average of 26 doesn't look quite great for a fast bowler, but earlier in his career his bowling average was a lot less, around 22. Click here for his cumulative career bowling averages.

[Ninjaman]

Originally Posted by Lemming

Yes, you have encountered the same problem as I did Rachael.

I would single out Malcolm Marshall as possibly the greatest fast bowler ever. After Marshall there is indeed Ambrose and Michael Holding and possbily Andy Roberts thrown into the mix - all players you would want on your team. Also, from the sixties, Wes Hall was a devastating bowler but one who probably belongs in a lower echelon. Was Wes Hall the first really great West Indian fast bowler? (Ninjaman will know more than me.)

Yes, Hall was the first of the great WI quicks.

The greatest pace bowler ever IMO is Malcolm Marshall. I have stated this before.

Just behind Marshall is Ambrose. Following them is Holding, Garner and Roberts. The likes of Hall and Walsh bring up the rear.

But once again. There is no definitive correct answer.

[butchering lee]

Originally Posted by Colourful Chaddi

the most attacking batsman of his time, a time when bowling attacks included the likes of Marshall, Holding, Garner, Lilliee, Thompson, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Hadlee, and many more that bowled on more bowler-friendly wickets than today. One can only imagine how he would bat in this era of flat pitches and weaker bowling attacks.

for a long time i thought this too - but if you're non-oz (eg Lara). you've had to deal with the Murali, Warne, macgrath, pollock, gillespie (he was very good at his best), donald, akram, waqar, akthar... some very fine bowlers indeed!!