The Top 100 Cricketers of All Time

I have been watching and listening to cricket commentaries since I was about 10 years old. About half of the test cricketers chosen in this excellent book are known to me. The rest are immortal visions.

Yet, of the 100 cricketers top test cricketers, I have only seen one live in action, Denis Compton.  On that one occasion I was lucky enough to see Dennis Compton and Bill Edrich bat for Middlesex at Lords, in their last appearance together at the crease.

I was also fortunate to meet Denis Compton when he was writing for The Sunday Express and I was an office boy in 1958 bringing him his tea.

In his conclusion Martin-Jenkins wonders if the characters of one day cricket will surpass the exploits of those who have excelled at the supreme form of cricket,  the Test Match.

Here Martin-Jenkins is correct Test matches are the supreme form. I doubt whether a win of any one day version of the game would surpass the affection that so many have for Test Matches, with their twists and turns, with results depending on the pitch, the weather and tme left to play and of course the galdiators of the game.

This book captures the great players and reminds us of their feats. Whether the players are in the right order or not matters not, this book is worth reading as it reminds us of those days and nights listening to, or watching television, when the result of a Test Match depended on one of the chosen cricketers doing something that becomes memorable.

Does this book bring back memories for you?

I don't know if all of these are in there, but I have seen Mudasser Nazar, Roger Harper, Chris Broad, Ian Botham, Courtney Walsh, Inzamam-ul-Haq and David Boon play.  I was also at Edgbaston on the first day of the match in which Brian Lara scored the record-breaking 500 not out -- although on the day I went Warwickshire were fielding and he was in the slips  for most of the day looking decidedly bored (I imagine that's how the Durham fielders felt, watching him notch up run after run)!

Does CMJ rank these players 100 to 1, with 'The Don' presumably at no. 1?  If so, it could provide hours of debate in the TMS box!

CMJ does rank thes in order from 100 down to 1. Don Bradman is a you presume at number one.. The individul descriptions of the cricketers rings true and interesting snippets are added.

Coming from Swansea, I was always told of Gary Sobers' 6 sixes that he whacked around St Helens when I was 4 and a bit (I'm sure my dad was there), and so cricket has always been a fairly influential sport for me. Unfortunately, that  particular pitch has been almost forgotten about  now. Working out the 'greatest' players is always going to be agumental, but those I have had the privilege of meeting myself have always struck me as being very well-mannered and as gentlemanly as you could want (apart from perhaps Brian Close, who gave me a bollocking for playing with the boundary rope when I was bored once :-) ). Malcolm Nash was a great bloke, and of course being the one who bowled each of the balls which Sobers knocked a long way, that's probably surprising.

Also met Majid Khan (Imran's cousin), who played for Glamorgan for a bit and lived nearby. He and his wife were absolutely lovely people, and were, in fact, the first Asian people I had ever spoken to.

We also had Don Shepherd around at the time - one of the great county players, who I think got some sort of honour from Wisden as well. But, of course, most of these won't be remembered now.

This is an idea for the old man's 85th coming up soon though! :-)