Great Cricket Strategists/ Tacticians X1

[maniac]

Not a X1 in the true cricket sense because not exactly a balanced batting-bowling X1 but 11 players/captains  who are known for cricketing acumen and tactics.

 

Rohit Sharma

MS Dhoni

Mike Brearly

Clive Lloyd

Stephen Fleming 

Hansie Cronje

Bob Woolmer

Javed Miandad (used to do the field settings and other on field decision making for Imran Khan)

Richie Benaud

Allan Border

Martin Crowe

 

12th man: Bob Simpson

 

Hon’ble mentions: Dave Whatmore ,Mark Taylor 

Edited December 3, 2020 by maniac

[maniac]

Imran Khan,Steve Waugh don’t make my list because they are more inspirational “lead from front” type captains with great man management skills. 
 

Ranatunga too was more of a man manager, respected elder  type  than a tactician. It was Whatmore who did the back end stuff I beleive 

 

Jayawardena, Keppler Wessels are other strong names who can make the list.

[maniac]

Also add the English think tank Morgan, Andy Flower etc but that’s more of a team thing than an individual contribution 

[Gollum]

Admit it, you created this thread just to remind us that Rohit Sharma exists!!!!

[Serpico]

You forgot Greg Chappell

[maniac]

1 minute ago, Gollum said:

Admit it, you created this thread just to remind us that Rohit Sharma exists!!!!

Not really, young generation knows about Rohit and his Chanakya neeti, thread is to educate them about Benauds,Brearly and Woolmers of the world.

 

Always happens, want to do Something good and educational and people suspect ulterior motives

[Jimmy Cliff]

Jardine?

[maniac]

Personally though the most exciting captain among them is Cronje followed by Crowe and Fleming.

 

Rohit and Brearly are more of readers of situation, decipher all the possible scenarios and come up with something to stun opposition. I am assuming this about Brearly though. I don’t even know how he looks  of the top of my head, leave alone watching him play.  
 

All the other names in this post I have seen and can vouch for my statement.

[maniac]

1 minute ago, Jimmy Cliff said:

Jardine?

Good one

[Jimmy Cliff]

Warne was a pretty enterprising captain in a handful of ODIs he led Australia in. Won the IPL as well of course.

[Gollum]

For tests I assume?

 

G Smith (did well in all conditions without a half-decent spinner)

Strauss (driving force behind England's rise to #1)

Dravid (underrated, architect of overseas wins in 2006-07)...tough to leave out Ian Chappell

Crowe

Lloyd

BMac(wk)

Tony Greig (underrated, led Eng to convincing series win in India when hosts were far better on paper)

Pollock

Benaud

Vettori

Akram

 

 

Missing out: Taylor, Clarke, Pataudi, Dada, Miandad, Cronje, Mahela, Gilly (non-regular, captained wonderfully in 2004 Ind), Fleming, KW, Streak, Willis (dunno, was praised a lot for his shrewd captaincy post demise), Ian Chappell, Simpson, Holder.

 

As great as they were/are I don't think Kapil, Imran, Sanga, Shakib etc. can be categorized as brains behind their teams. Led by example sure...

Edited December 3, 2020 by Gollum

[maniac]

Also Darren Sammy is underrated. Can’t call him Inspirational as he himself was a  mediocre cricketer and neither saw great strategies either, there must be some secret to his success.

[Gollum]

Hoping that Holder replaces Tony Greig in my XI in a few years time. 

[maniac]

1 minute ago, BlueBlood said:

What a joke this thread is leaving out the cunning Ricky Ponting.

 

 

Ponting might have been smart when it comes

to his own game but he never was a great tactician. In fact he wasn’t even the best captain in his side. Gilchrist and Warne were and what strategy does Mcgrath need? He used to do his own field placements.

[maniac]

3 minutes ago, BlueBlood said:

What a joke this thread is leaving out the cunning Ricky Ponting.

 

Goes to show you have never watched cricket or studied tacticians.

 

This is the guy who used every strategy such as creating shadows on the pitch with silly point positioning in tests to give Warne an upper hand and other such antics.

 

The results he got speak for themselves.

 

Just because Rohit Sharma won meaningless IPL with the best team assembled by the richest man in India, doesn't mean he's a good tactician. He had simply the best players.

 

Pathetic research on your part goes to show why cricket history is so biased.

Also as I said I haven’t watched Brearly or Benaud play but I can definitely form my opinion on Ponting because I have watched his entire career from start to finish.

[nevada]

12 minutes ago, BlueBlood said:

What a joke this thread is leaving out the cunning Ricky Ponting.

 

Goes to show you have never watched cricket or studied tacticians.

 

This is the guy who used every strategy such as creating shadows on the pitch with silly point positioning in tests to give Warne an upper hand and other such antics.

 

The results he got speak for themselves.

 

Just because Rohit Sharma won meaningless IPL with the best team assembled by the richest man in India, doesn't mean he's a good tactician. He had simply the best players.

 

Pathetic research on your part goes to show why cricket history is so biased.

Ponting is considered more of a lead by example type rather than a tactician. Possible reasons are his exemplary record as a batsman, inheritance of a great team from Steve Waugh, and his struggles after the retirement of greats such as Warne, McGrath, Gilly and Hayden. There was quite a chorus of "Bring back Warnie" because of Ponting"s struggles as captain in the post greats' retirement era. That being said, he did have some interesting tactics as you mentioned and deserves a mention. No need to be so upset about his omission. This is not an official Wisden list or anything, just a fun discussion on a forum. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by nevada

[maniac]

45(73) in 96, team ends up with a sub par score, 24(27) in 1999 when his team had no pressure, 2003  , 37(42) in 2007, 2011 obviously did well in QF but obviously runs in semis and quarters don’t matter for our fans especially if we lose it, so hope the same applies here.

 

Samuels played 2 of the greatest finals knocks  ever for what it’s worth. Don’t hear anyone calling him a genius or tactician

 

 

[Jimmy Cliff]

Remember Ponting bowling part timers vs India to improve the over-rate when the series was on the line at Nagpur in 2008. Good times.

[SK_IH]

Can't field an XI but Jayawardene & Sangakkara for me. These two guys literally carried Lankan cricket for almost two decades & kept them highly efficient at the world stage. Two of the finest strategists & tacticians of our times. Lankan cricket completely collapsed once they departed.

[Lone Wolf]

Jayawardene has to be there.  He has a great cricketing brain..  Which is rare trait in Sub continental players