Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Looking at the scorecard, seems like Sean Williams was left to his own devices in the Zim attack

top 5 performances by an England player in the last 50 years


1. Stokes (Headingley 2019)
2. Stokes (WC final 2019)
3. Flintoff (Edgbaston 2005)
4. Botham (Headingley 1981)
5. Broad (Trent Bridge 2015)

apparently 1004 fans voted

blimey.... as many as that?

If India fans were asked to vote on something similar 1004 people would have voted in the first 5 minutes..... maybe even the first 5 seconds

I expect people chose from a list which is why it is so predictable.

Not sure I'd have Botham for the best performance in that single Test. I wouldn't have Stokes in the WC, but the others are fair enough.

Stokes also came in at 7 for his double hundred at Cape Town in 2016

he also edged out Honest Joe as the England player for the Headingley Hedonists or whatever they are going to be called in the 99

Durhamfootman wrote:top 5 performances by an England player in the last 50 years


1. Stokes (Headingley 2019)
2. Stokes (WC final 2019)
3. Flintoff (Edgbaston 2005)
4. Botham (Headingley 1981)
5. Broad (Trent Bridge 2015)

apparently 1004 fans voted

blimey.... as many as that?

If India fans were asked to vote on something similar 1004 people would have voted in the first 5 minutes..... maybe even the first 5 seconds

No mention of Sir Alastair Cook against India or Michael Atherton in Jo'burg.

Mine is Gooch against the WI at Headingley. In fact I'd be surprised if I'd not done my own list of these at some point. Willis at Headingley, Thorpe in Colombo, KP at the Oval and Flintoff at Edgbaston can be my others.

Bit surprised Malcolm v SA at the Oval isn't included.

there is a top 50, so all of the above may be included. Broad has 3 entries in the top 50

I think my list would be very different, simply because of which series I would have considered to be standout achievements for their time.

As an example, Id rate Graham Thorpe's 32 not out at the SCC on a pitch where 16 wickets fell in 50 overs at the end, and where they were batting in a minefield, against the best spinner of all time at the other end and a series in Asia on the line, multiples more impressive than watching Ben Stokes cremate South Africa's attack around on the tamest featherbed you'd ever see, where the first innings was still being batted on Day 5 in a test with no bad weather and a result impossible in those conditions. Thats before we mention his 113* not out in the first innings that was one of the very few batting masterclasses you'd ever see of an Englishman playing spin in Asia.

Other than that, Cook's effort in Australia in 2010 standout, mostly in the drawn test at the Gabba. While no result came, there was a familiarity of England turning up at the Gabbatoir and being 250 runs down after the first innings, but nothing familiar about the fightback that came after. Cook laid down the marker, and Australia never really recovered from it.

KP in Mumbai on that horrid turner was epic. For pure entertainment value and creativity his efforts in SL in 2012 and in 2006 in England are noticeable also. I still remember Michael Holding's rather bemused "well, well" as he unleashed the reverse sweep on Murali.

Colly had a few epic counter attacks. Prior's effort in NZ on the rearguard saved a series there. Any of Vaughan's masterclasses in Australia in 2002 are worthy of mention. Tresco at Multan in 2005 in a losing effort, but also at Wanderers in 2005 in a winning one (Strauss by memory came up with a few brilliant innings in tough conditions too). Hussain in Durban in 1999. Thrope in Christchurch in 2002 (sadly overlooked after Astle went ballistic in the 4th innings).

Atherton's epic knock in Karachi, facing 3 decent test spinners on a dustbowl with England having conceded far too many runs in the 1st effort, setting up victory in Pakistan in 2001 is for me better than his 185*

In ODI knocks, id have Ali Brown's 50 in the Texaco trophy in 1997 up there, because a 30 ball knock like that at the time was almost unheard of.

9. James Anderson: 2-54 & 3-45 v India, The Oval 2018

Did you have to prove you were a moron to vote?

bizzarely, the poll was conducted by the PCA, and even they only have a list of the top 10.

perhaps they chose the 50 and people voted?

sussexpob wrote:

9. James Anderson: 2-54 & 3-45 v India, The Oval 2018

Did you have to prove you were a moron to vote?

seemingly that was the match where he overtook Glenda's wickets tally and became the top wicket taking seamer of all time

but yeah... an odd one

as was Cookies entry at 6... where it appears he got in the top 10 for doing well in his last match

I suppose the low number of voters led to some odd choices.

The greatness of the actual innings/spell doesn't have to be paramount. There are moments when the play steps out of the esoteric and becomes bigger than its surroundings and becomes known to a wider public. Like KP at the Oval or Flintoff at Edgbaston. And probably Stokes' two knocks this year- though I'm not sure that happened so much as the game is no longer as accessible. So my list is a mixture of the masterclass and the event.

Over a month until England start the Test series in NZ. Who says they play too much...

This is interesting

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id ... ssion=true