Best Australian player of the last two decades

[The Outsider]

In order (a tough choice given so many great cricketers) : 1. McGrath 2. Gilchrist 3. Waugh 4. Warne 5. Border 6. Taylor 7. Ponting 8. Hayden

[BeautifulGame]

There is a reason why Lillee was rated in the Cricinfo World XI(and several all time XIs) and Mcgrath wasn't even in the second XI.

Are u referring to the same criconfo XI which put Kevin Peterson in England all time XI?

Anyways back to the discussion I will put forward 2 points, 1. I can name around 10 fast bowlers close to the level or even better than Mcgrath- Wasim Akram, Waqar, Marshall, Lillee, Holding, Garner, Ambrose, Donald, Pollock, Steyn, but one can name only one who is anywhere close to Warne- Muralitharan

None of the bowlers probably apart from Marshal dominated batsmen in every condition like Macgrath did.And that includes Warne and Murali too.

2. Aussies wont miss Mcgrath a lot, there will always be a Lee, Gillespie, Harris( all though never near Mcgath's class, at their peak they are quite good). Pattinson, Cummins all have the potential to be a Mcgrath. But another Warne- not in the next few decades:hatsoff:

Well none of Lee Gillespe or Harris are any where in terms of quality to Macgrath.So not sure what ur point is.

[BeautifulGame]

Lille never played in India' date=' and played just 1 series in pakistan, talk abt using stats.[/quote'] Fact is Lille averaged above 100 in the one series he played in Pakistan.And its not like he was injured for other sub continental tours.He mostly opted out of them to keep him fresh and frankly in other terms chickened out of playing in tough bowling conditions. All his career performances were in bowler friendly wickets in England New zea land and Australia.Also he has never played in west indies the best team of their generation at their home i.e . west indies in west Indies. How can anyone say Lille is better than Macgrath based on his performances in bowler friendly conditions alone.Its like Shewag is better than Sachin and Lara just by picking his record in sub continental alone. Simple question to u? Would u have considered Sehwag as the greatest batsmen of modern Era if he had never played in England new zea land and SA considering his staggering record in Sub continent?

[daryl1985]

I don't understand the argument that Warne is one of few spinners to have an excellent average while there are many pacers that have a similar average to McGrath. The points that make Mcgrath Australia's best player are: Australia were almost unbeatable when he played. No batsman ever dominated him. His record is solid against every single team. He was superb in the 2003 and 2007 World Cup's (Warne did not play in them). I feel McGrath suffers from the fact that many people see his bowling style as boring whereas Warne is seen as very charismatic and is undisputedly the greatest leg spinner ever.

[Tarun45]

I would go with warne

[Raghav_12]

He was superb in the 2003 and 2011 World Cup's (Warne did not play in them).

Somehow I didn't notice him there..:winky:

[daryl1985]

Somehow I didn't notice him there..:winky:

Sorry i meant 2007. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Chalks]

Toughest - Steve Waugh Most Entertaining - Gilchrist/Warne Best - McGrath

[Stan AF]

Nicely put.

Toughest - Steve Waugh Most Entertaining - Gilchrist/Warne Best - McGrath