90: Norbert Phillip
Although he rarely broke into the fast bowling ranks for the West Indies, ‘Nobby’ enjoyed great success and fan popularity with Essex for several years. I saw him play in a number of one-day and tourist matches at Chelmsford; always quick without the explosive pace of a Roberts or Holding. His three wickets helped Essex win the 1979 B&H Cup Final and four years later he famously took 6-4 when the county skittled Surrey for just 14. Bearing in mind my longstanding antipathy towards his opponents, for that alone he deserves a knighthood!
89: Peter Siddle
Peter Siddle is a bit of an enigma. Is he a strike bowler or stock bowler? Is he meant to get wickets or contain batsmen? I guess he is a bit of both, migrating from the former to latter, especially give the preponderance of very quick Aussies in the past ten years. Also he has suffered stress fractures of the back, which usually result in forsaking pace for control. It is his nagging consistency and enduring success which have endeared him to me, not only for Australia but also for Essex in the last couple of County Championships, albeit to the detriment of runners-up Somerset.
88: Muttiah Muralitharan
What else can be written about Murali? In terms of Test wickets, he’s the greatest of all time, having outlasted Shane Warne in that intriguing battle of the Noughties. I never had the privilege of watching him live but for nearly twenty years he bamboozled batsmen and viewers alike. Even when his action was slowed down by camera technology I still couldn’t fathom how his elbow and wrist could contort so effectively. Opponents called him a chucker but science proved he wasn’t. I couldn’t really warm to him as a personality but his achievements will never be surpassed.
87: Shakib al-Hasan
I can’t help admiring Shakib, arguably the most genuine all-rounder in world cricket for the past decade. I also love the fact that he comes from lowly Bangladesh rather than, say, India or Australia. Many will point to Ben Stokes as the number one but Shakib’s spin bowling is far more effective than the England man in limited-overs cricket. I was at Cardiff in 2017 to applaud his marvellously measured century and partnership with Mahmudullah to defeat New Zealand, and I hope he learns from his ban for not reporting dodgy approaches which has nudged him down my order.
86: Shikhar Dhawan
I knew very little about the man from Delhi when I turned up to the 2013 Champions Trophy opener in Cardiff. He was 27 and only recently a Test batsman but by that June afternoon I was a fan. He struck a superb 114, his maiden ODI century, to set up victory over South Africa. There have been 16 subsequent hundreds, and his 50-over record is outstanding. His more recent performances in Wales haven’t been quite as fluent but he did produce some nifty moves in celebrating a boundary catch.
85: Neil Lenham
The former county cricket stalwart is Sussex through and through. Born in Worthing and now chief executive of a long-standing company in Hove making handcrafted bats, he seems an unlikely member of my top 100. However, in the mid-‘90s, his name entered my vocabulary because of his cheap Telegraph Fantasy Cricket valuation. Batting at six with an occasional sideline in medium-pace bowling, he rarely set the scorecard alight but, before retiring at the early age of 31, he never let me, or Sussex down.
84: Ken McEwan
In my early days of attending games at my local ground in Chelmsford, Essex were perhaps best known in the national media for English stars such as Gooch, Fletcher and Lever. However, their most prolific batsman in the Seventies and Eighties was surely Ken McEwan. Never showy, he was nonetheless very stylish to watch. I don’t recall seeing him make a century but, as a South African during the apartheid era, only one man has ever notched more first-class centuries than his 74 without playing a Test. He also won an impressive eight trophies for Essex in seven seasons.
83: Alfonso Thomas
The ‘Fons’ achieved cult status at Taunton during his eight-year stint for Somerset. I harboured mixed feelings over our reliance on Kolpak signings but Thomas always seemed to give his all, be it in a four-day Championship fixture or Twenty20 Finals Day. Although not lightning quick he often opened the bowling for us and could biff it about a bit at seven or eight. In his prime he was recognised around the world as one of the most effective ‘death’ bowlers in the business.
82: Ryan Sidebottom
With the notable exception of Ben Stokes I often gravitate towards fellow gingers, and Ryan Sidebottom was one of the best in the last twenty years. The left-armer took over a thousand wickets in all cricket over two decades, combining pace, guile, swing and an admirable economy rate, and his first-class career average was a mere 23.80. He won an almost unprecedented five County Championships for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and deserved more than his 22 Tests for England. Most of all, I loved his unmistakeable mop of straggly curly hair and overall attitude.
81: Bishan Bedi
One of India’s four frontline spinners in the early Seventies, Bedi stood out with his colourful patka headgear, although I only watched his prime years in black and white! As a teenager I found him fascinating to watch. As a mesmerising orthodox slow left-armer, he was the antithesis of the aggressive pacemen stealing the headlines in that decade, but no Indian has taken more than his 1,560 wickets in first-class cricket. I’m sure I witnessed him on TV turn out for Northants in a few Sunday League fixtures but in another era he would have been amazing in Twenty20.
