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The top ten cricketers of the decade revealed | Cricket South Africa's decision to zero in on Graeme Smith as captain in March, 2003, when he had just turned
22, has proved to be the most inspired choice ever made. At that time, the selection looked an odd fit. Smith was unworldly, but grew up quickly. According to the
Courier Mail, Smith developed so quickly that he was asked to lead a World XI
in a Test against Australia just two years after being made South African captain.
At the age of 12 he had put a note on the family fridge predicting he would one
day captain South Africa. Smith deserves to be remembered as the player of the
decade, not so much for his excellent batting but for having the poise to grow
from a boy to a man under the unique pressures of leading the Rainbow Nation.
No Australian could ever hope to fully understand the complexities of captaining
a South African cricket side that has featured crushing pressures of racial quotas.
Smith somehow piloted his way through it to lead his side to wins against Australia
in Australia, England in England and Pakistan in Pakistan. There were moments
of humiliation along the way for Smith with Stephen Fleming taunting him and playing
him off a break on one New Zealand tour. England captain Michael Vaughan called
him "the witless" Smith, Kevin Pietersen branded him a Muppet and another time
after he sledged Shane Warne in Australia the move horribly rebounded on him and
his side. But he never lost faith in himself or his team and has managed to average
about 50 while at one stage taking them to the top of the world rankings. Matthew
Hayden, who roared to prominence with 86 Tests in a row, is another obvious
inclusion
in the decade's top 10. His hot streak of 16 centuries from 31 games was one of
the outstanding highlights of a decade in which he scored more centuries than
any other player bar Ricky Ponting and hit more sixes than all but Adam Gilchrist.
He brought a new style of power hitting to the top of the order, which rocked
rival attacks around the world. Ponting, with 9364 runs at 58, was the most prolific
batsman of the decade. He averages just less than 1000 runs a year - extraordinary
progress. He lost the Ashes twice as captain so cannot be rated top of the heap
but he will always be remembered as one of the supreme batsman of this - or any
- era. Gilchrist gets a regal rating at No.2 because he changed the game with
a strike rate of 82 runs per 100 balls, which made him the most powerful force
the game has known. Even a hurricane called Virender Sehwag averages slightly
less than Gilchrist from 100 balls while noted strike forces Kevin Pietersen and
Chris Gayle trail well behind. No longer did Test match tails start at No.7 and
when he left keepers around the world were forced to prove themselves as batsmen
because of how far he had lifted the bar. The cricket world has struggled in the
wake of Gilchrist's retirement to get the balance between batting and keeping
right. South African allrounder Jacques Kallis was the only player chosen on numbers
because his numbers simply smack you over the head. At some point cricket is going
to have to concede that statistically he loses nothing in comparison to the great
Sir Garfield Sobers even if he has a quarter of the charisma. Mike Atherton may
be right that Kallis goes with rather than changes the flow of a game but he has
been so good for so long you can only dip your lid to his achievements. To take
more than 200 wickets with his seamers on top of his 10,000-plus runs makes him
a non-negotiable entry. Muttiah Muralidaran, the little Sri Lankan who took about
50 percent more wickets than any other bowler, is another essential inclusion.
Glenn McGrath gets a gong not simply because his returns were as pristine as always
but because of the way he finished his career. For a 37-year-old fast bowler to
sign off from international cricket with a Man of the Tournament award in the
2007 World Cup proved him to be one of the most remarkable fast men to have
played
the game. Sachin Tendulkar gets there partly because he simply survived the decade
in solid shape. He may not be the batsman he was but to extend his international
career into a third decade stamps him as a freakish talent. The top 10 of the
decade are: 1. Graeme Smith Tests 78 Runs 6354 Average 49.64 100s 18 2. Adam
Gilchrist
Tests 91 Runs 5130 Average 46.63 100s 15 Dismissals 397 3. Muttiah Muralidaran
Tests 84 Wickets 565 Average 20.97 10w match 20 5w innings 49 4. Shane Warne
Tests
65 Wickets 357 Average 25.17 10w match 6 5w innings 21 5. Ricky Ponting Tests
106 Runs 9389 Average 58.68 100s 32 6. Matthew Hayden Tests 96 Runs 8364
Average
52.93 100s 29 7. Glenn McGrath Tests 66 Wickets 297 Average 20.51 10w match
2
5w innings 14 8. Jacques Kallis Tests 100 Runs 8552 Average 58.97 100s 27
Wickets
205 Average 31.79 5w innings 4 9. Andrew Flintoff Tests 74 Runs 3695 Average
32.69
100s 5 Wickets 220 Average 32.38 5w innings 3 10. Sachin Tendulkar Tests 89
Runs
7129 Average 53.2 100s 21 |
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