20: Shane Warne
Let’s face it. Shane Warne would have made this list just for That Ball to Mike Gatting in 1993. Add in his almost single-handed revival of the leg-spinner’s art, his memorable battle with Muralitharan to set new Test wicket records, his astute captaincy for Hampshire and astonishing bowling for Australia in the 2005 Ashes series, and he was a top 10 shoo-in. However his mid-career boorishness and his shiny-toothed, poker-playing late-career IPL persona let home down a tad but I still wouldn’t argue with any claim that SK Warne is one of the greatest bowlers ever.
19: James Taylor
This corker of a batsman drew my attention in the late Noughties when his teenage batting accomplishments for Leicestershire leapt out of the scorecards and Fantasy Cricket webpages. Cricinfo told me he was only 5 feet 4 (although he has apparently grown two inches since then!) which served to – er – heighten his appeal. Switching to Notts got him noticed by England and he was already an ODI regular when in April 2016 he was diagnosed with an incurable heart condition, prompting immediate retirement at just 26. A huge loss as a player but he’s now a respected selector.
18: Chaminda Vaas
Sri Lanka’s golden era in the late 1990s and Noughties is often characterised by the feats of Murali, Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara but for me, the left-arm pace bowler Chaminda Vaas was just as important. As well as claiming 355 Test victims, he remains one of the most successful ODI wicket-takers in history, and nobody else has ever taken eight in a single innings. A true class act. I also love the fact that his initials (WPUJC) are longer than his family name!
17: Keith Boyce
Perhaps his greatest moment came for the West Indies with the ball in the 1973 Oval Test when his lovely languid action and deceptive pace captured 11 England wickets. However, my primary personal memory of KD Boyce hails from his long spell with Essex. It wasn’t so much his bowling or his explosive late-order hitting but his extraordinarily fast and athletic throwing from the boundary. In the first match I ever attended I tried to capture him in action but it was all a blur. Sadly a chronic knee injury forced an early retirement and he succumbed to alcoholism aged just 53.
16: Kumar Sangakkara
Many top cricketers see their form tail off towards the end of their careers but Kumar Sangakkara seemed to improve with age. Even more elegant than his long-time colleague in the Sri Lanka engine room, Mahela Jayawardene, he not only spent many hours at the crease but huge chunks behind the stumps as ‘keeper but his most successful year in Tests came in 2014 aged 37 and he retired with an extraordinary batting average of 57. A tidy scorer in ODIs and a fine IPL captain, I also recall Sanga’s glorious run of centuries for Surrey in his final seasons. Whether in World Cup Finals or a dull day in Derby, he was always a credit to the game.
15: David Gower
If
Sangakkara epitomises the classical left-hander of the twenty-first century,
then his 1980s equivalent would have to be David Gower. His air of effortless
superiority as a commentator was matched by his batting for Leicestershire and
England. His cover drive was a thing of extraordinary beauty but opposition
slips would usually lick their lips in anticipation of an edge! He may have
seemed over-nonchalant but that was his style. As captain he won the 1985 Ashes
but was unfortunate to lead poor sides to 5-0 defeats against the Windies. He
also played on his aristocratic air with laid-back humour on the comedy quiz They Think It’s All Over.
14: Asif Iqbal
As a boy I loved watching Asif Iqbal play, but with hindsight he’s not an obvious choice. He wasn’t the most exciting member of Pakistan’s excellent side of the Seventies but he always seemed such a slim, trim, tidy batsman with a dashing blade and an effective medium-pace bowling action. When he wasn’t on the TV captaining his country in World Cups, Asif was a crucial all-round cog of Kent’s successful machine, winning plenty of trophies in the early part of that decade. A player I aspired to imitate – an ambition doomed to fail miserably…..
13: Michael Holding
What boy wouldn’t want to copy Michael Holding’s bowling action? But it’s one thing to run rhythmically with both hands sitting easy at the waist, and another to deliver explosive 90mph bouncers or yorkers. He really was poetry in motion, although that probably wasn’t the phrase used by his victims. ‘Whispering Death’, indeed. His 14-149 for the West Indies at The Oval in ’76 set the standard for a career punctuated by injuries and he remained a highly effective paceman well in to the Eighties.
12: Kane Williamson
A 20 year-old Williamson first drew my attention on BBC West’s regional news programme. He spoke intelligently about developing local talent in Bristol and I have subsequently followed his rapid rise from Gloucestershire novice to New Zealand skipper with great interest. He’s one of the favoured few contemporary cricketers who make batting look so easy, and it doesn’t matter whether he’s striking a red or white ball. His Test average tops 50 but it’s Kane the citizen I also admire.
11: James Hildreth
Somerset
have developed a load of brilliant batsmen over the decades, from Botham to
Banton but surely none have been better, without gaining full international
honours, than James Hildreth. He’s been mediocre so far this summer but for
ages he’s been one of the county’s most consistent and prolific batsmen. I
can’t believe it’s eleven years since his eye-opening triple century and
fifteen since he scored the winning runs (off Jimmy Anderson!) to win the
Twenty20 Cup. However, it was only last May when I witnessed Hildy steering
Somerset to 50-over glory with 69 not out.
