Richie Benaud's Fantasy XI... Middle Order - Part 2

[@ambalavanant]

Legends everywhere. Bradman, Walter Hammond, Jack Hobbs, Gavaskar, Graeme Pollock, VIv Richards, Sachin. Wow I like this analysis by the one and only RIchie Benaud

[@graemealexander8804]

You forgot Greg Chappell. He was a master batsman, with an average near on 54. He played against the mighty West Indies, arguably the greatest Test side ever, every 2nd summer, otherwise his average would've been even higher. Chappell actually scored more runs in his era than any other batsman including Viv, Gavaskar etc.

[@kunalsingh3121]

@@graemealexander8804 Viv ??? He debuted in midd of the decade compared to Greg...he only played West Indies in their pomp in 2 series and avg less than 30....Largely to that horrible series in 1981/82..

[@paulej2871]

PERFECT choice of openers from those 6 Hobbs must have been a freak....He scored 100 of his 1st class centuries....AFTER he turned 40 years old!!!...Stunning footwork!!

[@meomeo6822]

Tells you how different the game was back then! I am saying so without taking anything away from Hobbs, for it wasn't his fault that the game was slower.

[@marknorris1381]

Barry Richards.

[@sagarjain2521]

Richie Was Great Cricket Teacher U Can Learn a Lot from him A Great Observer of the Game

[@OrbvsTomarvm]

i learned everything listening to him and boycott.

[@tryarunm]

Am immensely surprised the name Herbert Sutcliffe was not on this list and didn't even receive a mention. He was Hobbs' illustrious partner who was more effective on sticky dogs than the Master himself. He and Hobbs made the most successful opening partnership in Test history, so I would always pick them together, regardless of the comparable greatness of Gavaskar, Hayden... Of course, Richie is entitled to pick his own but surprised that Sutcliffe wasn't on that list.

[@tryarunm]

I agree with you completely, Sir. And I appreciate you for recognising that Sutcliffe was the better. I don't know why history has not recognised his supremacy in opening batsmen, maybe Hobbs was more approachable for his simplicity. Sutcliffe was handsome, a spiffy dresser, and sophisticated. Maybe people in those days thought he was reaching above his class.

[@BinaryRex18]

Hobbs is considered greater than sutcliffe mainly because hobbs was able to sustain his excellence over such a lengthy period of time, and against all kinds of bowlers in all conditions.

[@zodiacbluesbaby]

Richie Benaud RIP

[@lordsalisbury1]

2004, it was during the West Indies tour of England that summer (as Richie says, they're in England at the time, and if you look at the wall in the background, there are the England and West Indies badges).

[@wespaul9345]

None of us. None. Have a right to criticise the great man. I love his recognition of Worrell as a people manager. Read On Reflection. His esteem for Worrell goes way back. His writing on his great mate Davidson is also something to admire. Yet he played no favourites. And Davidson is serious company here.

[@diprabanerjee2537]

Benaud didn't have the chance to see Virat Kohli and Steve Smith batting. I am sure he would have been very very much impressed.

[@Billie0708]

• My Analysis to Measure the Greatness of a Best Batsman and Best Bowlers of All Eras !! The 25 Short List of Best Batsman and Best Bowlers and then ranked them with using different Top Parameters. • 25 Batsman Short-List: ( Bradman , Hobbs , Tendulkar , Richards , Sobers , Headley , Lara , Hammond , Pollock , Grace , Hutton , Barry , G.Chappell , Gavaskar , Trumper , Ranjitsinhji , Barrington , Ponting , S.Smith , Border , Shrewsbury , Fry , Kanhai , De Villiers , Hill ) • 25 Bowlers Short-List: ( Barnes , Warne , Lillee , Marshall , Akram , Muralitharan , Trueman , O'Reilly , Lohmann , McGrath , Lindwall , Hadlee , Gupte , Spofforth , Ambrose , Steyn , Imran , Davidson , Trumble , Richardson , Grimmett , Qadir , Holding , Larwood , Turner ) • Top 5 Parameters: IN ORDER 1 Strong Record: Against the Top Players of their Era (H2H) and against the Top Teams of their Era (Top 3 Best Teams of their Time) 2 X-Factor: As a Match Winning and Dominating Abilities in a Crisis or Pressure Situations. 3 Statistics: Great Overall Statistical Achievements in All Around the World Conditions. 4 Complete: Completness of a Particular Player in his Specific Field. 5 Beauty: Aesthetically Pleasing Abilities. #Batsman Strong Record|X-Factor|Stats|Complete|Beauty 1 Border Bradman Tendulkar Tendulkar Trumpr 2 Gavaskar Lara Hobbs Kanhai Lara 3 Chappell Richards Bradman ABD Barry 4 Lara ABD Gavaskar Barry Kanhai 5 Tendulkar Sobers Smith Chappell Ranji 6 Richards Smith Barrington Sobers ABD 7 Hobbs Barry Hammond Hobbs Chappell 8 Bradman Hobbs Sobers Ranji Tendulkar 9 Hutton Chappell Lara Hutton Pollock 10 Barrington Ponting Border Bradman Headly - After Merging above all Parameters, Here's are Overall 10 Best Batsman. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: 1 Don Bradman 2 Brian Lara 3 Greg Chappell 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Jack Hobbs 7 Sunil Gavaskar 8 Garry Sobers 9 Allan Border 10 AB De Villiers #Bowler Strong Record|X-Factor|Stats|Complete|Beauty McGrath Ambrose Murali Barnes Holding Marshall Akram Hadlee Lillee Warne Lillee Warne Warne Akram Lillee Imran Lillee Marshall Marshall Akram Ambrose Barnes Barnes Warne Lindwall Warne McGrath McGrath Lindwall Trueman Hadlee Marshall Ambrose Trueman Barnes Barnes Spofforth Steyn O'Reilly Imran Murali Murali Lillee McGrath O'Reilly Akram Larwood Imran Gupte Qadir - After Merging above all Parameters, Here's are Overall 10 Best Bowlers. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: 1 Shane Warne 2 Dennis Lillee 3 Malcolm Marshall 4 Sydney Barnes 5 Glenn McGrath 6 Curtly Ambrose 7 Wasim Akram 8 Muttiah Muralitharan 9 Imran Khan 10 Richard Hadlee -> The Greatest #ATXI Consisting Above 10 Best Batsman and Bowlers After Considering above Parameters !! 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Sunil Gavaskar 3 Don Bradman (C.) 4 Brian Lara 5 Greg Chappell 6 Garfield Sobers 7 Adam Gilchrist (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Malcolm Marshall 10 Dennis Lillee 11 Sydney Barnes P.S - Adam Gilchrist Cracked more Top Parameters than Alan Knott or any other Wicket Keepers/Batsman, and that's why I have picked Gilchrist in above Team. And you can also pick Imran khan instead of Garry Sobers but Garry Sobers makes above side more Balanced and that's why I picked him.

[@legbreakgoogly]

Good work lordsalisbury1... Nicely observed and deduced.

[@EdForceOne-p1z]

If Richie says these names are in alphabetical order, then why is George Headley introduced before Walter Hammond? Top class middle-order though, despite admittedly a bit of sentiment affecting some of these selections.

[@chrisvoiceactingvoiceover1431]

Arvindh Mani You miss the point: it’s not the greatest ever; it’s the side he wishes to represent him.

[@rarecricketgold761]

Rechie Benaud The Greatest Intellectual Mind Ever in Cricket. My All time Greatest Tesr Cricket XI: 1-Don Bradman (Captain) 2- Sunil gavaskar 3- Greg Chappell 4- Sachin Tendulkar 5- Vivian Richards 6- Garry Sobers 7- Adam Gilchrist (WK) 8- Imran Khan (VC) 9- Shanew Warne 10-Malcolm Marshall 11-Glenn McGrath Ricky Ponting (12th Man)

[@Billie0708]

The Textbook Classical Test XI of All Time with Deservingly + Suitable Criteria and also making Realistic and Balanced Side with taking all the Possible Factors and Parameters into Account along with Context , Toughness of a Particular Era and Overall Statistical Achievements as well as Beauty , Strong Record , X-Factor and Completness of a Players. 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Len Hutton 3 Don Bradman (C.) 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Garfield Sobers 7 Alan Knott (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Wasim Akram 10 Malcolm Marshall 11 Dennis Lillee 12th: Imran Khan. Substitutes: ( WG Grace , Brian Lara , Adam Gilchrist , Muttiah Muralitharan , Sydney Barnes ) Manager :- Sir Frank Worrell .

[@Billie0708]

The Most Deserving Candidates to be in All Time Greatest World XI Team whom has On Record Great Overall Statistics Record + Genius Talent + Consistency and Longetivity !! 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Len Hutton 3 Don Bradman (C.) 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Garfield Sobers 7 Alan Knott (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Wasim Akram 10 Malcolm Marshall 11 Sydney Barnes 12th: Colin Bland.

[@Billie0708]

Cricket Historians and Experts Gideon Haigh , David Frith and Arunabha Sengupta's Combined Likely All Time Test XI Ever. 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Len Hutton 3 Donald Bradman (C.) 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Garfield Sobers 7 Alan Knott (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Malcolm Marshall 10 Dennis Lillee 11 Sydney Barnes - It's interesting to see how CLR James ( Probably the Greatest Cricket Historian Ever ) Test XI would look like.

[@chriswatson7965]

Bradman, Richards, Headley, Lara, Hammond, Tendulkar, Chappell, Pollock, Worrell

[@Billie0708]

The Greatest XI of All Time 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Len Hutton 3 Don Bradman (C.) 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Garry Sobers 7 Alan Knott (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Wasim Akram 10 Malcolm Marshall 11 Dennis Lillee 12th: Imran Khan. Substitutes: ( Barry Richards , Brian Lara , Adam Gilchrist , Muttiah Muralitharan , Sydney Barnes ) Coach: Bob Simpson. Manager: Sir Frank Worrell. GGBOC :- ICC . Above Team is Probably the Closest to Perfect and Most Credible All Time World Test XI List in Cricket History which is Co-incidentally the Mixer of WISDEN and ESPN Cricinfo All Time XI Lists. It's a Full 16 Man Squad and I have Deservingly put Two Proper Openers Hobbs and Hutton as they have a Great Records everywhere and seemingly Great Chemistry and Connection within them as they played mostly after post WW1 Era from 1920 onwards with much better Competitiveness and in a Developing Test Cricket era compared to 19th Century Cricket. And I have Top 6 Strong Batting Line up with Diversity so I went with a Specialist Wicket Keeper Alan Knott ahead of Wicket Keeper Batsman Adam Gilchrist who unfortunately Missed out due to I have a Strong top 6 Batting order as well as Strong tail enders too like Warne , Akram and Marshall who all can Bat also. So I went with a Specialist Wicket Keeper with a descent batting record, so I went with Alan Knott who was also a Man of Crisis Batsman. And But Gilchrist definitely has make into Second Test XI or Alternate XI of above All Time XI List. Then I have a 1 Great All Rounder Sir Garfield Sobers who is the Great Left Handed Batsman and can bowl three different variations of Bowling and 1 Great Spinner Shane Warne who would have a Great Right hand - Left Hand and Leg Spin / Off Spin Combinations with Gary Sobers. And at Last I have deservingly Put 3 Genuine and Complete Fast Bowlers Akram , Marshall and Lillee as 3 Pace Bowlers with Great Statistic Records among them and along with Warne and Sobers they brings Versatility and Varieties as well and also All of them played in The Most Golden , Toughest and Competitive Era of Test Cricket From 1960 to 2010 Era. And Imran Khan as the 12th Man and W.G Grace as Honourable Mentions as Grace was a Father Figure Cultural Icon of Cricket and Sir Frank Worrell is The Best Manager the Game has ever seen who can Guide your Team and Bring out the best from above players. P.S - Steven Smith , Virat Kohli and Pat Cummins are Active Players. So I will Judge them after they will retire, so we can get the clear picture of their Overall career. And Frank Chester , Dickie Bird and Simon Taufel are Umpires of above team as well as Richie Benaud , Harsha Bhogle and John Arlott are into the Commentary Box along with Historian CLR James , David Frith and Arunabha Sengupta who Judge and Write about all of these Cricketers.

[@saurabh7813]

Such a shame that Richie picked his team before Sachin & Dravid were having the records that they have now. RIP Richie, such a legend!!

[@212mochaman]

He still selected sachin in his side though

[@briansukhu4392]

He included Tendulkar in his eleven

[@kumarayush9950]

Richie always regarded Sachin as the best modern day batsman .. and Bradman as the best retro era batsman

[@Billie0708]

The Greatest ODI XI of All Time 1 Sachin Tendulkar 2 Adam Gilchrist (W.) 3 Ricky Ponting (C.) 4 Virat Kohli 5 Viv Richards 6 AB De Villiers 7 Kapil Dev 8 Wasim Akram 9 Muttiah Muralitharan 10 Joel Garner 11 Glenn McGrath 12th: Jacques Kallis. Substitutes: ( Brian Lara , Micheal Bevan , Lance Klusener , Shane Warne , Allan Donald ) Coach :- Gary Kirsten .

[@Billie0708]

The Undisputed World Best Test XI of All Time 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Len Hutton 3 Don Bradman (C.) 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Garry Sobers 7 Alan Knott (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Malcolm Marshall 10 Dennis Lillee 11 Sydney Barnes 12th: Imran Khan. Substitutes: ( W.G Grace , Brian Lara , Adam Gilchrist , Muttiah Muralitharan , Wasim Akram ) Manager :- Sir Frank Worrell.

[@frogtastic1000]

great upload thanks

[@TheIkaraCult]

The thing to remember about this is that Richie actually watched the vast majority of them in person

[@anirbanbhattacharya7214]

The place of viv richards is final, contest between Sachin and lara, as left-hander lara is 2nd option, Greg Chappel may at 3rd choice in middle order, here some comments miandad, miandad not comes even of 100 batsmen.

[@briansukhu4392]

Barry Richards??

[@marknorris1381]

If it's any consolation many other experts have Barry opening their greatest teams. And Bradman himself had Barry opening in his dream team. No better recommendation than from the great man.

[@shayj2550]

Would have opened with Tendulkar and Gavaskar.....

[@abhaysaigaonkar514]

What about sobers..?

[@Billie0708]

The Greatest Test and ODI XI Ever along with Best Ever World Cup XI as well as World Series Cricket XI !! Best Ever Test XI Best Ever ODI XI 1 Jack Hobbs 1 Sachin Tendulkar 2 Len Hutton 2 Adam Gilchrist 3 Don Bradman 3 Viv Richards 4 Sachin Tendulkar 4 Virat Kohli 5 Viv Richards 5 AB De Villiers 6 Garfield Sobers 6 Michael Bevan 7 Alan Knott 7 Kapil Dev 8 Shane Warne 8 Shane Warne 9 Wasim Akram 9 Wasim Akram 10 Malcolm Marshall 10 Joel Garner 11 Sydney Barnes 11 Glenn McGrath Best Ever World Cup XI Best Ever WSC XI 1 Sachin Tendulkar 1 Barry Richards 2 Rohit Sharma 2 Gordon Greenidge 3 Ricky Ponting 3 Ian Chappell 4 Viv Richards 4 Greg Chappell 5 AB De Villiers 5 Viv Richards 6 Lance Klusener 6 Mike Procter 7 Imran Khan 7 Rod Marsh 8 Wasim Akram 8 Ray Bright 9 Shane Warne 9 Andy Roberts 10 Muttiah Muralitharan 10 Dennis Lillee 11 Glenn McGrath 11 Michael Holding

[@legbreakgoogly]

2004... see lordsalisbury1' comments

[@shayj2550]

Gary Sobers left out??? 😳

[@sunilmehta166]

What about Barry Richards, Geoff Boycott, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan

[@212mochaman]

You're joking right? Richards was an opener boycott had the worst strike rate in history, miandad was overrated and khan is an all rounder

[@farazzubair4935]

@@212mochaman How come Miandad was overrated. He and Sutcliffe are the only players in history whose average never dipped below 50 and that is a good 189 innings mate!

[@legbreakgoogly]

2003 or 2004

[@jamieks3542]

Anybody knows who is the bowler at 6:00 action looks a bit like Dale Steyn

[@manojsridharan42]

He's John Snow who played between 1965-1976.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

Magic!

[@tacochicken411]

tanks

[@tacochicken411]

what year did Richie make this team

[@mauricewillims1656]

tacochicken411 I saw him in the 50s. At Sabina Park

[@212mochaman]

Just after warne got wicket 5 or 600

[@SohamBhattacharya3105]

A time when you could say the phrase "Goerge Headley - the BLACK Bradman" on national television. Sounds so weird now.

[@chrisvoiceactingvoiceover1431]

Soham Bhattacharya Why?

[@phoarey]

Check out the Fawlty Towers episode where the major is speaking about a test match at the Oval.

[@vijayvishwakarma1744]

Where is w g grace

[@infidelhindu]

If he had Bradman, Richards and Tendulkar, I'd have them in the following batting order, instead of the one usually chosen: 3. Sir Viv Richards 4. Sachin Tendulkar 5. Sir Don Bradman Most lists I've seen have Bradman, Tendulkar and Richards in that order

[@banditonehundred]

Bradman basically played against one team, England. West Indies and the sub continent barely played. Dont consider him to be the greatest batsman for that reason

[@Singh-gb2vr]

Yes for me he is not the greatest only play against one side

[@zodiac6968]

@@Singh-gb2vr Incorrect.

[@atifkhan7423]

Javed Miandad should have been there

[@LoveisPain0202]

What happen to RICKY PONTING? PONTING IS PERHAPS MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN LARA!!!

[@abhishekphand4789]

LoveisPain0202 lol lara is way better

[@tejassawant293]

Goodness me, no disrespect to Ponting, but Lara was in a class of his own that no one could match. The flamboyant backlift, brilliant footwork and that Westindian flare was just too good.

[@phoarey]

Ricky really soiled his average playing for 2 or 3 years too long. He was also a number 3 as was Bradman.

[@nishant62834]

Surprisingly no javed miandad

[@aanishbhardwaj3636]

Javed does not have any class.

[@farazzubair4935]

@@aanishbhardwaj3636 A sour aindiam it sounds. 189 innings without his average ever dropping below 50 is an achievement in itself. For all due, he also did not pick Barrington, Walcott, Weekes, Border, Waugh, Ponting. He had to stick with 9 and he picked them and with Don basically in there were 8 of them contesting #4

[@firstal3799]

Greatest 11 Sunil Gavaskar Gordon Greenidge Viv Richards Sachin Tendulkar Brian Lara Jaque Kallis Adam Gilchrist Wasim Akram Shane Warne/Glen McGrath( depending if it's spinning or fast track) Michael Holding Curtly Ambrose

[@paulm2467]

No place for Bradman, the greatest of all, (and I'm English).

[@firstal3799]

It is extremely difficult to judge cricket pre 70's as such little and poor quality footage exists. Then cricket has changed so much since Bradmans time it could be a different sport. All this makes any comparison between Bradman in context of modern cricket impossible.

[@paulm2467]

@@firstal3799 that's why we have statistics and the statistics don't lie.

[@graemealexander8804]

Wow, unbalanced side. You haven't seen many of the greatest fast bowlers in history, you left out the greatest of them all in Dennis Lillee...

[@graemealexander8804]

@@firstal3799 Utter nonsense dude. Plenty of footage & statistics don't lie often. Bradman's 117 1st Class Hundreds not enough?