606v2 Cricket Hall of Fame Home Page and Inductees (Graphics Included)

Les Ames was without a doubt one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen the game has so far produced; and yet, at the time he was playing, it used to be said there were better wicketkeepers than Ames, and that he was in the England team because of his batting. When fully fit, he was England's first-choice wicketkeeper from 1931 to 1939, when he virtually gave up the job. For Kent, he was an integral part of their Championship side from 1927 to the first match of 1951, when a sharp recurrence of back trouble, which had dogged him for so long, brought his career to an end while he was actually at the crease. By this time he had amassed 37,248 runs, average 43.51, made 102 hundreds, including nine double-hundreds, and passed 1,000 runs in a season seventeen times, going on to 3,000 once and 2,000 on five occasions. He had had a direct interest in 1,121 dismissals, of which more than 1,000 were effected when he was keeping wicket. His total of 418 stumpings is easily a record. (Biography adapted from Wisden Almanack, published on ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 2434 runs @ 40.52 / Wicket-keeping: 74 catches and 23 stumpings

A dream cricketer. At his best Wasim Akram plays like most of us would wish to. He has complete mastery over swing and seam, and sometimes moves the ball both ways in one delivery. All this comes at high speed from a quick, ball-concealing action, and is backed up by the threat of a dangerous bouncer or deceptive slower delivery. Akram is rated by many as the best left-arm fast bowler of all time. He hit like a kicking horse, but batsmanship was one skill in which Akram underachieved, despite a monumental 257 against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996-97. He was the natural successor to Imran Khan as Pakistan's leader and captain, but the match-fixing controversies of the 1990s harmed him, blunting his edge and dimming his lustre. Batting: 2,898 runs @ 22.64 / Bowling: 414 wickets @ 23.62

Fee fi fo fum. A giant of the game in every sense, Curtly Ambrose was the most lethal pace bowler of his generation. Like his predecessor Andy Roberts, Ambrose didn't say much, refusing countless interview requests with the motto "Curtly talk to no man". Yet his silence seemed only to magnify his achievements - and his menace. Among Ambrose's 405 Test wickets at 20.99, two spells stand out: the 6 for 24 that hustled England out for 46 in Trinidad in 1993-94, and his series-clinching burst of 7 for 1 against Australia at the WACA the previous season. When his extreme pace deserted him, he fell back on subtle seam movement and an immaculately grooved action. Bowling: 405 wickets @ 20.99

Few men who have concentrated the interests of a lifetime on cricket have commanded as wide and thorough a knowledge of the game as John Arlott. When he was doing commentary, or composing a portrait of a Tate or a Trueman, or writing a match report for the Guardian, he was at or near the centre of affairs. But he was equally an expert on interests connected with the game: its vast literature, extensive history and collection of artifacts were all within his purview. To fuel his activities he had great energy, the ability to work at speed, and the charm to elicit information from whatever source he was investigating. Add in the fact that he was a poet of some stature and that he enjoyed the laughter and company of friends, whom he loved to entertain in the most civilised way, and you have a man of deep humanity. (Biography from Wisden Almanack, published on ESPNCricinfo)

Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 – 26 December 1967) was an English professional cricketer who is generally regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the sport's history. He was right-handed and bowled at a pace that varied from medium to fast-medium with the ability to make the ball both swing and break from off or leg. In Test cricket, Barnes played for England on 27 occasions from 1901 to 1914, taking 189 wickets at an average of 16.43 runs each. He is ranked first in the ICC Best-Ever Test Championship Rating for bowlers. In 1911–12, Barnes enabled England to win The Ashes when he took 34 wickets in the series against Australia. In 1913–14, playing his final Test series, he took a world record 49 wickets against South Africa. In 1963, Barnes was named by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in its hundredth edition as one of its "Six Giants of the Wisden Century". Bowling: 189 wickets @ 16.43

Kenneth Frank Barrington (24 November 1930 – 14 March 1981) played for the English cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, well known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog determination and awesome concentration". His batting improved with the quality of the opposition; he averaged 39.87 in the County Championship, 45.63 in first-class cricket, 58.67 in Test cricket and 63.96 against Australia. Barrington's Test average of 58.67 is the highest of any post-war England batsman and the seventh highest of all batsmen who have made 1,000 Test runs. His 256 in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford in 1964 is the highest post-war century for England against Australia, he twice made centuries in four successive Tests and was the first England batsmen to make hundreds on all six traditional Test grounds; Old Trafford, Edgbaston, Headingley, Lords, Trent Bridge and the Oval. His Test career ended when he had a heart attack in Australia in 1968, even though he had several potentially fruitful years ahead of him. From 1975 to 1981 he was an England selector and a regular tour manager, but died from a second heart attack on 14 March 1981 during the Third Test at Bridgetown, Barbados, where he had made his maiden Test century 21 years before. Batting: 6,806 runs @ 58.67 / Bowling: 29 wickets @ 44.82

A pillar of English cricket in the immediate post-war era, and a key player in Surrey's revival and subsequent domination in the 1950s, Alec Bedser was born within minutes of his identical twin, Eric (himself a more than capable allrounder). A powerfully-built, naggingly accurate, medium-fast bowler, with a classical action off a short run, Bedser's stock ball was the inswinger, his most dangerous the legcutter which fizzed off the pitch like a fast legbreak. He began his Test career at the age of 28 with 11 wickets in each of his first two Tests, against India, and until 1954 he largely carried England's attack almost single handed. After his retirement in 1960 (he bowed out with 5 for 25 against Glamorgan at his beloved Oval), he continued his association with cricket, serving as an England selector for a record 23 years, and was chairman between 1969 and 1981 as well as managing England on two overseas tours. He was knighted in 1996 and made president of Surrey in 1997. Bowling: 236 wickets @ 24.89

Few cricketers have matured so gradually yet ripened so fruitfully as Richie Benaud. With little to show for his first six years in Test cricket, he blossomed as a fully fledged allrounder in South Africa in 1957-58, then flowered as a charismatic captain at home against England in 1958-59. He repossessed the Ashes, which his teams then successfully defended twice. As a legspinner, he was full of baits and traps, and he batted and fielded with verve. Yet it was his presence, as much as anything, which summoned the best from players: cool but communicative, he impressed as one to whom no event was unexpected, no contingency unplanned for. A guru to Ian Chappell and Shane Warne among others, he is perhaps the most influential cricketer and cricket personality since the Second World War. Batting: 2,201 runs @ 24.45 / Bowling: 248 wickets @ 27.03

Allan Border parlayed three shots and a fanatical zeal about not giving away his wicket into the most durable career that cricket in his time had known. At his retirement he had featured in more Tests, more consecutive Tests, more Tests as captain and more catches than any other player - and a batting average of 50 as well. His underused left-arm spin once brought him 11 for 96 against West Indies, and he was also an artful one-day player with a deadly arm from short midwicket. Not a natural leader, nor a man of frills, he came reluctantly to the captaincy in a dark age for Australia after Kim Hughes' tearful resignation at Brisbane in 1984-85, but eventually applied himself to the task as proudly as to his batting. From the World Cup win in 1987 and regaining the Ashes two years later, Australia crusaded under Border until in 1993 they came within one ball of conquering the world by beating West Indies. After he retired from Test cricket he was named 12th man in Australia's Team of the Century, coached Australia A, and became a selector in 1998. His importance to the game is recognised annually when the Australian Player of the Year receives the Allan Border Medal. Batting: 11,174 runs @ 50.56 / Bowling: 39 wickets @ 39.10

Sir Donald Bradman of Australia was, beyond any argument, the greatest batsman who ever lived and the greatest cricketer of the 20th century. Only WG Grace, in the formative years of the game, even remotely matched his status as a player. His contribution transcended sport; his exploits changed Australia's relationship to what used to be called the "mother country". Throughout the 1930s and 40s Bradman was the world's master cricketer, so far ahead of everyone else that comparisons became pointless. In 1930, he scored 974 runs in the series, 309 of them in one amazing day at Headingley, and in seven Test series against England he remained a figure of utter dominance; Australia lost the Ashes only once, in 1932-33, when England were so spooked by Bradman that they devised a system of bowling, Bodyline, that history has damned as brutal and unfair, simply to thwart him. He still averaged 56 in the series. In all, he went to the crease 80 times in Tests, and scored 29 centuries. He needed just four in his last Test innings, at The Oval in 1948, to ensure an average of 100 ­- but was out second ball for 0, a rare moment of human failing that only added to his everlasting appeal. Though his batting was not classically beautiful, it was always awesome. Batting: 6,996 runs @ 99.94

Dominant and domineering, Ian Botham was not merely the top English cricketer of the 1980s but the leading sports personality. Within a year of being elevated from Somerset to his England debut in 1977, he was undisputed as the country's leading allrounder; within three years he was captain; within four, he had resigned (a minute before being sacked), his form shot to pieces. Then began the most famous few weeks in English cricket history when Botham (under Mike Brearley's captaincy) led England to an astonishing Ashes victory with three performances - two with bat, one with ball - of mystical brilliance. Every one led to victory and among them they caused a boom in support for English cricket that reverberated through the decade. Though he remained an international cricketer until 1992, the great days became fewer. As his weight increased, his outswing became less effective. He could still hit a cricket ball with enormous power, but never once did he pass the ultimate exam of his era: scoring a Test century against the West Indians. Still, he could be mystical. Banned by insistent newspaper demand in 1986 for taking cannabis, he was recalled at The Oval against New Zealand, and with his second and 12th balls took the two wickets he needed to equal and pass Dennis Lillee's then-world record of 355 Test wickets. "Who writes your scripts?" asked Graham Gooch. Batting: 5,200 runs @ 33.54 / Bowling: 383 wickets @ 28.40

Upright and unbending, with a touch of the tin soldier about his bearing, Greg Chappell was the outstanding Australian batsman of his generation. Though he had an appetite for big scores, it was his calm brow and courtly manner that bowlers found just as disheartening. He made a century in his first and final Tests, and 22 more in between - although perhaps the outstanding batting of his career left no trace on the record-books, his 621 runs at 69 in five unauthorised World Series Cricket "SuperTests" in the Caribbean in 1979, off a West Indian attack of unprecedented hostility. Less empathic as a captain than his elder brother Ian, he nonetheless won 21 of his 48 Tests and lost only 13. He lost the Ashes in 1977, but reclaimed them in 1982-83. His feat of scoring centuries in each innings of his captaincy debut is unequalled. (Biography from Gideon Haigh, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 7110 runs @ 53.86

Belinda Clark was a giant of the Australian game both on and off the field, where she combined the roles of player and captain with that of chief executive of Women's Cricket Australia. She has led by example, averaging over 45 in both Tests and one-day internationals. In 1997 she captained Australian to their fourth World Cup, but despite cracking 91 in the 2001 final, Australia lost to New Zealand by four runs. Clark's revenge came in 2005 when she led Australia to another title in South Africa, where her side did not lose a game. She holds the women's record one-day score of 229, made against Denmark at Mumbai in 1997. At Test level Clark was, if anything, even more prolific, and her best score of 136 was made against England at Worcester in 1998. She holds Australia's record for Test and ODI runs and also for ODI appearances. (Biography from ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 919 runs @ 45.95

Denis Compton, who died on April 23, 1997, aged 78, was not just a great cricketer but a character who transcended the game and became what would now be called a national icon. In the years after the war, when the British were still finding the joys of victory elusive, the exuberance of Compton's batting and personality became a symbol of national renewal. Almost single-handed (though his pal Bill Edrich helped), he ensured that cricket returned to its pre-war place in the nation's affections. Only Ian Botham has ever come remotely close to matching this achievement. By the late 1930's he was a leading England batsman and remained at the top of his profession for some twenty years. His dashing approach to batting and the sheer enjoyment he exuded endeared him to a generation of cricket lovers. As an all-rounder Compton was a right-hand bat and a slow left-arm Chinaman bowler. He scored his first Test century aged just 19 in 1938 against Don Bradman's touring Australians. Later in the same series he scored a match-saving 76 not out at Lord's; this innings was scored on a rain-affected pitch and greatly impressed Don Bradman. As with many other sportsmen of his generation he lost some of his best years to the Second World War, during which he served in the army in India. In all first-class cricket he scored 123 centuries. Batting: 5,807 runs @ 50.06 / Bowling: 25 wickets @ 56.40

Like his close friend and comrade Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson suddenly translated potential into performance when Australia toured South Africa in 1957-58. A left-arm paceman with a model approach and an economical action - summed up in the title of his autobiography Fifteen Paces - he took 72 wickets and scored four centuries on the trip. For the next five years, he would be the most menacing new-ball bowler of his day, not to mention a dangerous striker in the lower-middle order, and a versatile fielder at home in all positions. A martyr to injuries real and imagined, some of his best performances were reserved for moments when he seemed down and out: he took a broken finger into the 1960 Tied Test, and a bad back into the Ridge Test at Lord's the following year, yet made telling contributions to both. Batting: 1,328 runs @ 24.59 / Bowling: 186 wickets @ 20.53

Kapil Dev was the greatest pace bowler India has produced, and their greatest fast-bowling allrounder. If he had played at any other time - not when Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee were contemporaries - he would surely have been recognised as the best allrounder in the world. In any case he did enough to be voted India's Cricketer of the Century during 2002, ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. His greatest feats were to lead India almost jauntily, and by his all-round example, to the 1983 World Cup, and to take the world-record aggregate of Test wickets from Hadlee. It was the stamina of the marathon runner that took him finally to 431 wickets and only a yard beyond. He might not have been quite the bowling equal of Imran, Hadlee or Botham at his best, and his strike rate was less than four wickets per Test, but he was still outstanding in his accuracy and ability to swing the ball, usually away from right-handers. And he could hit a ball even more brilliantly than he bowled it, with uncomplicated flair. Wisden named him their Indian Cricketer of the Century. Batting: 5,248 runs @ 31.05 / Bowling: 434 wickets @ 29.64

One of broadcaster-writer John Arlott's most worthy deeds was saving Basil D'Oliveira from half-life as a Cape Colored in South Africa by persuading Middleton, the Central Lancashire League club, to take him on as their professional in 1960. This led to Worcestershire (in 1964) and England (in 1966) acquiring a readymade allrounder of formidable physical and mental strength, which was never better illustrated than when England were in trouble. Arlott's initiative was the making of D'Oliveira, and a source of joy to all who loathed apartheid. When you watched "Dolly" flaying the opposition's bowlers with meaty back-foot clumps, or frustrating their batsmen with outward-drifting medium-pace of cloying accuracy (his economy rate in Tests was 1.95 runs per over) there was one sharp regret ... if only he'd been spotted at 19 rather than 29. Then D'Oliveira would have put the runs and wickets in the book that would have shown future generations what he unmistakably was - one of cricket's greats. (Biography from John Thicknesse, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 2484 runs @ 40.06 / Bowling: 47 wickets @ 39.55

Rahul Dravid was probably one of the last classical Test match batsmen. His progress into the national side may have been steady and methodical rather than meteoric, but once there, Dravid established himself at the vanguard of a new, defiant generation that were no longer easybeats away from home. Armed with an orthodox technique drilled into him by Keki Tarapore, he became the cement that held the foundations firm while the flair players expressed themselves. Yet, for a man quickly stereotyped as one-paced and one-dimensional, he too could stroke the ball around when the mood struck him. (Biography from Dileep Premachandran, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 13288 runs @ 52.31

Andy Flower was for a long time Zimbabwe's only batsman of true Test quality in all conditions. For a period of about two years from the start of 2000 he was so phenomenally consistent that he has no rival as the best player in Zimbabwe's history. He had two stints as Zimbabwe captain, leading them to their first Test victory against Pakistan in 1994-95, and then becoming the first Zimbabwean to lead a Test tour of England, in 2000. An assured player of fast bowling since his early days as an opener, Flower matured into one of the best players of spin in the world, and on the Indian tour early in 2001 he made 540 runs for twice out. Opposing bowlers targeted him accordingly and after a phenomenal Test against South Africa at Harare, when he made 142 and 199 not out, he suffered a rare slump. He announced his retirement from international cricket after a turbulent 2003 World Cup, which started with an unprecedented protest by Flower, and his equally brave team-mate Henry Olonga, about what they called the "death of democracy" in Zimbabwe. He had confronted many challenges in his career, but the manner in which took to the England coaching job showed his previous successes in a new and even more flattering light. Presented at last with a team capable of living up to his own lofty standards, he forged an unbreakable bond with his captain Andrew Strauss, and set about raising standards on all fronts. Within his first two years at the helm, Flower had won two Ashes campaigns, home and away, and delivered England their first global ICC trophy at the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in May 2010. He was at the helm in 2011, when England battered India 4-0 in a much-anticipated Test series that culminated in them moving to No. 1 in the Test rankings. Batting: 4,794 runs @ 51.54 / Dismissals: 151 catches, 9 stumpings

Batsmen would say that the overriding feeling when first confronted by the Big Bird was that he would trample on them such was the foreshortening effect of his 6ft 8 inches. Delivered from the clouds it seemed, and at a lively pace that when the mood took could be cranked up to the brisk side of rapid, the ball would rear alarmingly from barely short of a length. Allied to that was the most devastating toe crunching yorker the game had seen since that of Charlie Griffith. Of the top wicket-takers, few have a lower average than his parsimonious 20.98. If his value in Test cricket was as an integral part of the most formidable pace attacks ever - they spread the load so that he took five wickets in an innings on just seven occasions - then in one-day cricket, particularly in the overs at the end of an innings, when the unhittable yorker speared in relentlessly, he was priceless. At Lord's in 1979 he simply blew England's slim hopes away with 5 for 38, the best figures ever in a World Cup final. Bowling: 259 wickets @ 20.97

Sunil Gavaskar was one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, and certainly the most successful. His game was built around a near-perfect technique and enormous powers of concentration. It is hard to visualise a more beautiful defence: virtually unbreachable, it made his wicket among the hardest to earn. He played with equal felicity off both front and back feet, had excellent judgement of length and line, and was beautifully balanced. He had virtually every stroke in the book but traded flair for the solidity his side needed more. His record for the highest number of Test hundreds was overtaken by Sachin Tendulkar, but statistics alone don't reveal Gavaskar's true value to India. He earned respect for Indian cricket and he taught his team-mates the virtue of professionalism. The self-actualisation of Indian cricket began under him. Since retiring, Gavaskar has served as a television commentator, analyst and columnist, as well as taken on various responsibilities with the BCCI, and served as chairman of the ICC cricket committee. He stepped down - after some controversial comments - from the latter in order to continue as a media columnist and commentator. Batting: 10,122 runs @ 51.12

With his lissom figure and unusually long fingers, Lance Gibbs allied pronounced spin and bounce to a fierce accuracy, and all from an unusual chest-on action. In his later years he added the arm-ball to his repertoire, and add into the equation almost unlimited stamina and determination (he had a permanently sore and often split spinning-finger), and his feat of being only the second bowler - and first spinner - to pass 300 wickets is understandable. He ended with 309 wickets in 79 Tests - including 18 five-fors - all the while conceding his runs at a staggering 1.99 per over. Brave and indefatigable, his best spell came between 1960 and 1962. He was left out of the first two Tests in Australia, but Gibbs took three wickets in four balls at Sydney and a hat-trick in the next Test at Adelaide. The following winter he returned the remarkable figures of 53.3-37-38-8 against India in Barbados, all eight wickets coming in a 15- over spell at a cost of just six runs. (Biography from Rob Smyth, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 309 wickets @ 29.09

Going in first or seventh, wearing whites or coloureds, Adam Gilchrist was the symbolic heart of Australia's steamrolling agenda and the most exhilarating cricketer of the modern age. He was simultaneously a cheerful throwback to more innocent times, someone who walked when given not out in a World Cup semi-final, and swatted his second ball for six while sitting on a Test pair. "Just hit the ball," is how he once described his philosophy on batting. Employing a high-on-the-handle grip, he poked good balls into gaps and throttled most others, invariably with head straight, wrists soft and balance sublime. Only at the death did he jettison the textbook, whirling his bat like a hammer-thrower, caring only for the scoreboard and never his average. Still he managed to score at a tempo - 81 per 100 balls in Tests, 96 in one-dayers - that made Viv Richards and Gilbert Jessop look like stick-in-the-muds. Only in the closing stages of an untouchable career did his appetite slow - he was troubled by Andrew Flintoff's around-the-wicket angle during 2005 and found the flaw difficult to overcome - and his match-turning 144 against Bangladesh in April 2006 was his first century in 16 Tests. At home his one-day form was subdued, but the game's biggest competition - and it's most important match - brought out Gilchrist's highest standards. He stole the World Cup final from Sri Lanka with 149 off 104 balls, slamming 13 fours and eight sixes, and added to his 54 and 57 from his previous two global triumphs. In Tests, three Gilchrist innings rank among the most amazing by Australians: his death-defying unbeaten 149 against Pakistan at Hobart when all seemed lost, his savage and emotional 204 not out against South Africa at Johannesburg, and his 57-delivery Ashes century at Perth when he missed equalling Richards' world mark by a ball. In one-dayers, his 172 is the third-highest score by an Australian and his 472 dismissals might take decades to top. Batting: 5,570 runs @ 47.60 / Dismissals: 379 catches, 37 stumpings

It is more than 150 years since WG Grace was born, but there are other ways of measuring how distant he is in time. Eight decades have passed since Grace died, yet he dogs us still, demanding our attention at regular intervals. The statistics of his career are alone enough to explain why - more than 54,000 first-class runs (there are at least two different versions of the precise figure, so let's leave it at that) spread across 44 seasons, including 839 in just eight days of 1876, when he hit a couple of triple-centuries, and only one other batsman managed to top a thousand runs in the entire season; a thousand in May in 1895, when he was nearly 47; and 2800-odd wickets costing less than 18 runs apiece. I suppose we might wonder why his bowling average wasn't even more impressive, given the ropey pitches on which Dr Grace played. No modern cricketer would deign to turn out on them, which makes his batting all the more wondrous, and comparisons with Bradman or anyone since quite pointless. His tremendous gifts, especially his phenomenal batting, were largely responsible for the elevation of cricket from just another 19th-century game, which had become popular partly because it lent itself to gambling. Grace's towering presence, more than any other single factor, transformed it into the unrivalled spectator sport of summer, first of all in England, subsequently in other lands spread widely across the world. One could even suggest that a true measurement of WG's unique stature is that he is instantly identifiable, even by some who are uninterested in his vocation, by his initials alone. Batting: 1,098 runs @ 32.29 / Bowling: 9 wickets @ 26.22

Born in Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand on Christmas Day, Clarence Victor Grimmett must have been the best Christmas present Australia ever received from that country. Going to Australia in 1914, on a short working holiday which lasted for 66 years, he joined the Sydney club, which had its headquarters at Rushcutters Bay. Now, slow wrist bowlers are a threatened species. Then, Grimmett was one of many - but unmatched in skill and temperament. Bowling to a marked area in his backyard, with a fox terrier to fetch the ball (and who apparently could also count to six), he made himself as accurate as a machine, and he mastered the variations of spin bowling, never believing that he knew it all. After the standard legbreak, topspinner and googly there came the flipper - which took several years to perfect, and which, when batsmen tried to discern by the snap of his fingers, he smokescreened by snapping the fingers of his left hand as he released a legbreak. In February 1925, at 33, he won the first of his 37 Test caps. In that Sydney Test his figures were 5 for 45 and 6 for 37, his victims including Hobbs, Sandham, Woolley, Hendren, Hearne, Whysall and Kilner. Woolley, with a crowd of 40,000 looking on, was his first Test wicket, bowled by a 'wrong'un'. As it was, he averaged exactly six wickets per Test (he didn't bowl in the Melbourne Test against South Africa in February 1932), with a striking rate of a wicket every 67 balls and an average cost of a mere 2.16 runs per six-ball over. There were some great batsmen around in those days, and some heartbreaking (for bowlers) pitches. Grimmett's rewards were earned by canniness and hard work. Often enough he got Hammond and Bradman out, and never did he bowl mechanically. His 29 wickets in England in the 1930 series were a record, and it is accepted that his bowling was at least as important to Australia as was Bradman's phenomenal batting. Bowling: 216 wickets @ 24.21

Few players in the history of cricket have carried the fortunes of their team to quite the same extent as Richard Hadlee. By the time he retired from international cricket in 1990, at the age of 39 and with a knighthood newly conferred upon him for his services to the game, Hadlee had cemented his place as one of the great fast bowlers of all time, and lifted New Zealand to unprecedented feats in the Test arena. As the first player to reach 400 Test wickets, Hadlee was always assured of immortality, but in addition to his matchless skills with the ball, he was also a hard-hitting batsman of unquestioned skill, and he is acknowledged as one of the four great allrounders of the 1980s, along with Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev. It was for the Australians that he preserved his finest efforts, and his 15-wicket haul in Brisbane in 1985-86 remains one of the most talked-of moments in Trans-Tasman rivalry. He needed just 79 matches to reach 400 wickets - a phenomenal strike-rate - and he was still very much at the top of his game when, in 1990, he bowed out against England at his adopted home of Trent Bridge - his second-innings haul of 5 for 53 included a wicket with his very last delivery. Batting: 3,124 runs @ 27.16 / Bowling: 431 wickets @ 22.29

The judgment of cricket history is that the greatest batsmen the game has known are - in order of appearance, only - WG Grace, Jack Hobbs, Walter Hammond and Don Bradman. Others may come close indeed to those four but do not quite take place with them. Wally Hammond was a most exciting cricketer, perhaps the more so for the hint of an almost Olympian aloofness. He had that physical stamp; he moved easily, with an ease which yet promised that, at need, he could launch himself into a tiger leap. Even as late as 1951, when he made his last first-class appearance and after he had put on a considerable amount of weight, his movement was poised, assured, and graceful. Of the four great batsmen he was physically the finest and most powerfully equipped. He was a superb fast-medium bowler who often, as Sir Donald Bradman once remarked, "was too busy scoring runs to worry about bowling." When he was roused - as he once was by Essex bowling bouncers at the Gloucestershire batsmen - his pace could be devastating. "I never saw a man bowl faster for Gloucestershire than Wally did that day," said Tom Goddard, "and he not only battered them, he bowled them out as well." At slip he had no superior. He stood all but motionless, moved late but with uncanny speed, never needing to stretch or strain but plucking the ball from the air like an apple from a tree. Batting: 7,249 runs @ 58.45 / Bowling: 83 wickets @ 37.80

George Alphonso Headley MBE, who died in Jamaica on November 30, 1983, aged 74, was the first of the great black batsmen to emerge from the West Indies. Between the wars, when the West Indies batting was often vulnerable and impulsive, Headley's scoring feats led to his being dubbed the black Bradman. His devoted admirers responded by calling Bradman the white Headley - a pardonable exaggeration. In 22 Tests, when the innings could stand or fall on his performance, Headley scored 2190 runs, including 10 centuries - eight against England - with an average of 60.83. He was the first to score a hundred in each innings of a Test at Lord's, in 1939, and it was a measure of his ability that from 1929 to 1939 he did not have a single bad Test series. By the start of the Second World War he had totalled 9532 runs in first-class cricket with an average of 72.21. Afterwards, though not the power that he had been, he extended his aggregate to 9921 runs, with 33 centuries and an average of 69.86. Clarrie Grimmett described Headley as the strongest on-side player he had ever bowled against. Sir Leonard Hutton, who saw him at his best in 1939, declared he had never seen a batsman play the ball later. It was hard to set a field for him, such was his genius for collecting runs with his precise placement of the ball. Batting: 2,190 runs @ 60.83

Patsy Hendren was one of the most famous batsmen to play for Middlesex and England. Only one cricketer, Sir Jack Hobbs, in the whole history of the first-class game hit more centuries than Hendren's 170; only two, Hobbs and F. E. Woolley, exceeded his aggregate of runs, 57,610 at an average of 50.80 per innings. "Patsy," as, because of his Irish ancestry, he was affectionately known the world over, joined the Lord's groundstaff in 1905 and from his first appearance for Middlesex in 1909 he played regularly till 1937. Not always orthodox in style, this short, stockily-built batsman was celebrated for the power with which he invested his driving, for his cutting and for his courage in hooking fast bowlers. On pitches helpful to bowlers he used his feet with consummate skill. His ability as a deep fieldsman is illustrated to some extent by the number of catches he brought off, 725, but the number of runs he saved cannot be gauged. Of his seven centuries in Tests the highest was 205 not out against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1930, when he and L. E. G. Ames (105) shared a fourth wicket stand of 237. "Patsy's" aggregate of 1,766, average 126.14, in that tour remains a record for a season in the West Indies. (Biography adapted from Wisden Almanack, published on ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 3525 runs @ 47.63

Jack Hobbs was cricket's most prolific batsman. He finished with 61,237 first-class runs and 197 centuries*, most of them stylishly made from the top of the Surrey or England batting orders. And he might have scored many more had the Great War not intervened, or if he hadn't been inclined to get out shortly after reaching 100 to let someone else have a go. Hobbs was known as "The Master", and scored consistently throughout a long career that didn't end till he was past 50. Half his hundreds came when he was over 40, and he remains, at 46 in 1928-29, the oldest man to score a Test century. His opening partnerships with Yorkshire's Herbert Sutcliffe are part of the game's rich folklore. Hobbs was also a charming man, and the world of cricket rejoiced in 1953 when he became the first professional cricketer to be knighted. Batting: 5,410 runs @ 56.94

It began intimidatingly far away. He turned, and began the most elegant long-striding run of them all, feet kissing the turf silently, his head turning gently and ever so slightly from side to side, rhythmically, like that of a cobra hypnotising its prey. Good batsmen tended not to watch him all the way lest they became mesmerised. To the umpires he was malevolent stealth personified so they christened him Whispering Death. No-one in the game has bowled faster. His over to Geoff Boycott in the cauldron of Kensington Oval early in 1981 has gone down in history as the finest, fastest, most ferocious gambit of all time. Five years earlier, towards the end of the drought-ridden summer of 1976, The Oval had become a wasteland, parched beyond recognition, with slow flat heart-breaking pitches, and it was on this, in the final Test of the season, through the simple device of bowling ramrod-straight at high pace and to a full length, that he conjured 14 wickets for 149, the finest match figures ever by a West Indian. Bowling: 249 wickets @ 23.68

Hutton played for Yorkshire and England before and after the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. In 1938, he set a record for the highest individual innings in a Test match, scoring 364 runs against Australia, which stood for nearly 20 years. In 1952 he became the first professional cricketer of the 20th century to captain England in Tests; under his captaincy England won the Ashes the following year for the first time in 19 years. In the years immediately following the war, he was the mainstay of the England's batting. Hutton remains statistically among the best batsmen to have played Test cricket. Batting: 6,971 runs @ 56.67

Few would dispute that Imran was the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced. Suave, erudite and monstrously talented, he gave cricket in the subcontinent appeal in the 1970s and 1980s. Thousands, if not millions, who had never dreamt of bowling fast on heartless baked mud suddenly wanted to emulate Imran and his lithe bounding run, his leap and his reverse-swinging yorker. He also made himself into an allrounder worth a place for his batting alone, and captained Pakistan as well as anyone, rounding off his career with the 1992 World Cup. His averages (37 with the bat, 22 with the ball) put him at the top of the quartet of allrounders (Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev being the others) who dominated Test cricket in the 1980s. And whereas Botham declined steadily, Imran just got better and better: in his last 10 years of international cricket he played 51 Tests, averaging a sensational 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball. He gave no quarter during some memorable battles with West Indies - Pakistan drew three series with them at a time when everybody else was being bounced out of sight - and he led Pakistan to their first series victory in England in 1987, taking 10 for 77 with an imperious display in the decisive victory at Headingley. Batting: 3,807 runs @ 37.69 / Bowling: 362 wickets @ 22.81

In the ten years up to the Packer-split in 1977, Alan Knott played in 89 of England's 93 Tests - nearly 20 more than any other Englishman - and hardly missed a chance that anyone remembers. Yet to see his wicketkeeping at its most spectacular, you had to catch him standing up to Derek Underwood on a rain-affected pitch for Kent in county cricket. Most of the time, despite the obvious problems, Knott would take the ball so nimbly he might have been keeping wicket in the indoor nets. As a batsman he learned to put a high price on his wicket, and in only his fourth Test, at Georgetown in 1967-68, he made 73 not out in four hours and helped Colin Cowdrey save the series. He could attack or defend with equal skill as the position of the match demanded: with five Test hundreds to his name, he was a genuine all rounder. Batting: 4,389 runs @ 32.75 / Dismissals: 250 catches, 19 stumpings

Jim Laker will always be remembered for his bowling in the Test match at Old Trafford in 1956, when he took 19 Australian wickets for 90, 9 for 37 in the first innings and 10 for 53 in the second. No other bowler has taken more than seventeen wickets in a first-class match, let alone in a Test match. The feat is unique and, rash though it may seem to say, may well remain so. Bowling: 193 wickets @ 21.24

No-one since Bradman has built massive scores as often and as fast as Lara in his pomp. Even his stance was thrilling - the bat raised high in the air, the weight poised on a bent front knee, the eyes low and level. Then the guillotine would fall, sending the ball flashing to the boundary. In the space of two months in 1994, Lara's 375 and 501 not out broke world records for the highest Test and first-class scores, but sudden fame turned him into a confused and contradictory figure. But after Garry Sobers suggested a tweak to his flourishing backlift, Lara returned to his best in Sri Lanka in 2001-02, with 221 and 130 in one Test and 688 runs - a record 42% of West Indies' output - in the series, and reclaimed the captaincy the following year. The task proved as hard second time round, leading a side where he was far and away the best player and where discipline was a constant worry. He led them to defeat for a second time in South Africa, and then lost to England in the Caribbean, too. But then, just when all hope seemed to have deserted West Indies cricket, Lara responded to the prospect of a home series whitewash with an astonishing unbeaten 400 in the final Test against England in Antigua. In doing so, he became the first man to reclaim the world Test batting record, a feat that ensured he would stand alongside Shane Warne as the most charismatic cricketer of the modern era. Batting: 11,953 runs @ 52.88

Dennis Lillee, considered by many to have been "the complete bowler", was the heart of Australia's attack for more than a decade. Through a combination of ability, showmanship and sheer hard work he won the loyal following of the nation's crowds, who often roared his name as he ran in to bowl. And Lillee repaid their faith with interest - he was the type of character who often made breakthroughs when success seemed unlikely. Armed with a copybook action, Lillee broke Lance Gibbs' world record of 309 Test wickets and finished with 355 dismissals from just 70 matches to underline his status as one of the all-time greats. In the mid-1970s Lillee was teamed up with express paceman Jeff Thomson. They became the most feared bowling pairing of the era and inflicted greatest damage on England. Throughout his career, Lillee also had a superb partner behind the stumps in wicketkeeper Rod Marsh. The dismissal "caught Marsh, bowled Lillee" appears 95 times on Test cards, a record pairing which has yet to be seriously challenged. His best Test figures were achieved in a remarkable match against the West Indies in 1981. To the delight of the MCG crowd, Lillee sent opener Desmond Haynes and nightwatchman Colin Croft back to the pavilion late on day one, and then bowled Vivian Richards to leave the tourists stunned at 4 for 10 at stumps. Lillee ended up with 7 for 83 in the first innings and 10 wickets for the match, and Australia recorded a famous upset win. Bowling: 355 wickets @ 23.92

A right-arm fast bowler of express pace, Lindwall was widely regarded as the greatest pace bowler of his era and one of the finest of all time. Together with Keith Miller, Lindwall formed a new-ball pairing regarded as one of the greatest to have played cricket. Lindwall was known for his classical style, with a smooth and rhythmic run-up and textbook side-on bowling action, from which he generated his trademark outswinger which moved away late at high pace. Lindwall mixed his outswinger with a searing yorker, subtle changes of pace and an intimidating bouncer that skidded at the heads of opposing batsmen. Later in his career, Lindwall developed an inswinger, which together with his variety, pace and control made him the most feared paceman of his time. Lindwall was a fine all round cricketer; he was a hard-hitting batsman who scored two centuries at Test level and often improved Australia's position with his lower order batting. Lindwall's best known performance was his role in leading the Australian bowling during the 1948 tour of England under Don Bradman; the 1948 Australian team went through the tour undefeated and gained the sobriquet The Invincibles which saw it regarded as one of the finest teams in cricketing history. Bowling: 228 wickets @ 21.15

6'5" with stooped shoulders, a large moustache and thick glasses (his eyes were damaged when he was 12 as he attempted to break up a fight at school), Clive Lloyd was the crucial ingredient in the rise of West Indian cricket. A cousin of Lance Gibbs, he was a hard-hitting batsmen and one of the most successful captains in history. An almost ponderous, lazy gait belied the speed and power at his command and the astute tactical brain that led the West Indies to the top of world cricket for two decades. At his best Lloyd was a flamboyant destroyer of bowling. His heavy bat, powerful shoulders and full swing of the arms could turn the course of any game, once scoring 201* in just 120 minutes against Glamorgan - equalling the record for the fastest ever first-class double hundred (1976). Some may say his job as captain was fairly straightforward: with a battery of fast bowlers including Roberts, Marshall, Garner, Holding and Croft at his command, and batsmen of the calibre of Greenidge, Haynes and Richards, he certainly had some handy players to call upon. But he instilled his talented side with the professionalism and determination to win consistently and when the conditions suited the opposition. He united the disparate threads of the separate nations that make up the West Indies, and was the force that gelled them as a team rather than a bunch of talented individuals. His side changed the way Test cricket was played too, as other nations copied the formula of fast bowling and intimidation he had come to admire in Australia.In 2008 Lloyd was appointed the chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee. Batting: 7,515 runs @ 46.67

On pure statistics, George Lohmann has a right to up there with the greatest Test bowlers of all time. Rated by contemporaries as the most difficult opponent, he bowled at little more than medium pace but was able to make the ball seam both ways, and his constant experimentation led to variations in angle, flight and pace. Add into the equation his metronomic accuracy, and he was often unplayable. He was no mean batsman either, fleet of foot and with a good eye, and a brilliant slip fielder. A fair, blue-eyed, handsome man, he was 21 when he first played for England in 1886 and had already made his mark with Surrey. He took one wicket in his first two Tests in 1886, but at The Oval he took 7 for 36 and 5 for 68 as England won by an innings. Thereafter he was a fixture in the side. He took his 50th Test wicket in only his 10th Test, and his hundred in his 16th. On the matting wickets of South Africa he was devastating - in 1895-96 he took 35 wickets in three Tests at 5.80. (Biography from Martin Williamson, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 112 wickets @ 10.75

Malcolm Marshall slithered to the crease on the angle, pitter-pat feet twinkling as if in dancing shoes. It was reminiscent of a sidewinder on the attack. Purists occasionally criticised his action as too open, but it had method: he maintained mastery of orthodox outswing and inswing from a neutral position without telegraphing his intent. He was lithe, with a wickedly fast arm that elevated him to express status. Only in inches was he lacking - but he even turned that to his advantage with a bouncer as malicious as they come, skidding on to the batsman. Later in his career, he developed a devastating legcutter which he used on dusty pitches. Allied to a massive cricket intelligence, stamina and courage, Marshall had all the toys and he knew how and when to play with them. His strike rate of 46.22 was phenomenal, his average of 20.95 equally so. He may well have been the finest fast bowler of them all. He reserved his best figures for England. In 1984, he broke his left thumb while fielding early in the match, but first of all batted one-handed, hitting a boundary and allowing Larry Gomes to complete a century, and then, with his left hand encased in plaster, he shrugged off the pain to take 7 for 53. Four years later, on an Old Trafford wicket prepared specifically for spinners, he adjusted his sights, pitched the ball up, and swung and cut it to such devastating effect that he took 7 for 22. Let that be a lesson, he seemed to be saying, and indeed it was. The whole cricket world mourned his tragically early death, from cancer, at 41. Bowling: 376 wickets @ 20.94

Across the 1950s, May was the most consistent and prolific English batsman in both county (representing Surrey) and Test cricket. He made his Test match debut against the South Africans at Headingley in 1951, scoring 138, and was then a regular England player until forced out by illness at the end of the 1950s. May was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1952. He was the natural successor to Leonard Hutton as England captain after the successful defence of the Ashes on the 1954/55 tour of Australia, and went on to be regarded as one of the best England captains of all time, as well as enjoy success as Surrey skipper. Batting: 4537 runs @ 46.77

Stan McCabe was one of Australia's greatest and most enterprising batsmen. In 62 Test innings between 1930 and 1938 he scored 2,748 runs, including six centuries, for an average of 48.21. During a first-class career lasting from 1928 to 1942, he obtained 11,951 runs, average 49.39, reaching three figures on 29 occasions. Short and stockily-built, with strong arms, flexible wrists and excellent footwork, he was at his best when facing bowlers of pace. Though he scored most of his runs by strokes in front of the wicket, with the drive his speciality, he also hooked splendidly. In addition, he was a useful change bowler above medium pace, with the ability to send down the occasional ball which came back from the off at disconcerting speed, and an energetic and accurate fielder. (Biography from Gideon Haigh in Wisden Almanack, published on ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 2748 runs @ 48.21 / Bowling: 36 wickets @ 42.86

Catapulted from the outback of New South Wales into Test cricket to replace Merv Hughes in 1993, McGrath became the greatest Australian fast bowler of his time. He went on to beat Courtney Walsh's 519 wickets in the 2005 Super Test to become the leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers and his claim to the title of Australia's greatest fast man is contested only by Dennis Lillee. He retired from Tests at the SCG - his home ground - after Australia whitewashed England 5-0 in the 2006-07 Ashes and was adjudged the Man of the Tournament during Australia's successful World Cup campaign in 2007, his final one-day appearance. McGrath's USP was an unremitting off-stump line and an immaculate length. He gained off-cut and bounce, specialised in the opposition's biggest wickets - especially Atherton's and Brian Lara's - and he was unafraid to back himself publicly in these key duels. Bowling: 563 wickets @ 21.64

Javed Miandad is the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced. He was not of the classical school of batting, though he possessed a beautiful square cut and most shots in and outside the book: he was a fine early reverse-sweeper. But he worked the angles and spaces equally well; he knew above all how to score runs in almost any situation. These qualities presented themselves through his entire career and uniquely, not once did his career average fall below fifty. No Pakistani has scored more Test runs than him and, Inzamam-ul-Haq aside, probably no batsman has won as many matches for Pakistan. (Biography edited from Osman Samiuddin, Cricinfo) Batting: 8832 runs @ 52.57

Keith Miller enlivened the post-war years with his brilliant all-round play, able to turn a match with an attacking innings or a fiery spell of bowling. He is probably best remembered for his new-ball partnership with Ray Lindwall, but it was as a classical batsman that he first made his mark: a photograph of Miller clipping a textbook square-drive adorned the desk of the cricket-loving Australian prime minister Robert Menzies for many years. Miller made his official Test debut after the war, and went on to play 55 times for Australia, scoring 2958 runs at 36.97, with seven centuries, three of them against England and four against West Indies, whose captain, John Goddard, once sighed, "Give us Keith Miller and we'd beat the world." Bradman's strong side needed Miller more as a bowler than a batsman, and he ended up with 170 Test wickets, at the excellent average of 22.97. He was the perfect foil to the smooth, skiddy Lindwall: Miller would trundle in off a shortish run, but could send down a thunderbolt himself if he felt like it. Or a legspinner. Or a yorker. Or a bouncer, an overdose of which led to his being booed during the 1948 Trent Bridge Test: Miller simply sat down until the barracking had subsided. What few people realised was that he had trouble with his back throughout that tour - he often pressed an errant disc back into place at the base of his spine before somehow sending down another screamer. Batting: 2,958 runs @ 36.97 / Bowling: 170 wickets @ 22.97

Hanif was the first star of Pakistan cricket, the "Little Master" who played the longest innings in Test history - his 970-minute 337 against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1957-58 - then followed it a year later with the highest first-class innings to that point, 499 run out. With such feats, broadcast on radio, he turned cricket in Pakistan from the preserve of the Lahore educated elite into the mass sport it is today. Although famous for his immaculate defence and never hitting the ball in the air, Hanif could also attack, and was probably the originator of the reverse-sweep. His versatility extended to captaining and keeping wicket, and bowling right- and left-handed in Test cricket. But in addition to being the jack of all trades, he was the master of one. (Biography courtesy of Scyld Berry, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 3915 runs @ 43.98

Perhaps no cricketer since Douglas Jardine has polarised opinion quite like Muttiah Muralitharan. For the believers, he's among the greatest to ever spin a ball. What was undeniable was his ability to turn the ball sharply on just about any surface, and bowl the sort of marathon spells that would have seen a lesser man retire after five seasons rather than 18. Whether Sri Lanka played at home, on pitches where he was often unplayable, or overseas, Murali was the go-to man for half a dozen captains. He seldom disappointed. From the outset, his action was an object of wonder or ridicule, depending on which side of the fence you stood. A deformed elbow was only part of the story. Murali had exceptionally supple wrists and a shoulder that rotated as rapidly as a fast bowler's at the time of delivery. A combination of all these factors combined to enable him to turn the ball far more than most orthodox finger-spinners, but it was only with his mastering the doosra, the one that went the other way or held its line, that he became Shane Warne's rival in the wicket-taking and greatness stakes. Darrell Hair called him for throwing on Boxing Day in 1995, and Ross Emerson followed suit three years later. In 2004, he was asked to refrain from bowling his doosra, after it was found to exceed the 15-degree tolerance limit that had been agreed on after extensive analysis of his and other actions. While the sceptics continued to denigrate his achievements, Murali even bowled on television in a special cast, going through his entire repertoire to try and convince the doubters. He averaged less than 30 with the ball in every country except India and Australia, and he finished a remarkable Test career with more than 100 wickets against India, England and South Africa. Bowling: 800 wickets @ 22.72

Bill O'Reilly, who died in a Sydney hospital on October 6, 1992, aged 86, was possibly the greatest spin bowler the game has ever produced. Bill Tiger O'Reilly was unquestionably one of cricket's great figures: as a player, as a character and later as a writer on the game. His cricket was proof that spin bowling was not necessarily a gentle art. He was 6ft 2in tall, gripped the ball in his enormous right hand and released it at a pace that could be almost fast-medium. It would then bounce ferociously on the hard pitches of his time and, on occasion, knock wicket-keepers off their feet. He bowled leg-breaks and, especially, top-spinners and googlies, backed up by an intimidating manner. He played 27 Test matches and took 144 wickets - 102 of them Englishmen and the vital wicket of Walter Hammond ten times - averaging 22.59. But his figures have to be judged by the fact that all but one of his Tests came in the 1930s, when other bowlers were dominated by batsmen to an unprecedented extent. No one ever dominated O'Reilly. Even when England made 903 at The Oval in 1938, he bowled 85 overs and finished with figures of three for 178. And before that, he had secured the Ashes by taking five for 66 and five for 56 at Headingley. He would probably have been lost to cricket had he not been asked to make up the numbers in a Sydney junior match and, with a method that at first made everyone giggle, whipped out the opposition. In his career he took 774 wickets at 16.60 and was successful at every level. He took a wicket every 49 balls in his first-class career and it was said he never bowled a wide. When O'Reilly died, Bradman said he was the greatest bowler he had ever faced or watched. Bowling: 144 wickets @ 22.59

Perhaps the finest left-hand batsman the game has ever produced - Donald Bradman certainly thought so, classing only Garry Sobers as his equal among those he saw play. Another deprived of greater exposure by South Africa's isolation, Pollock showed in his 23 Tests what an awesome talent he possessed; his highest score of 274 was for many years the South African Test record. Pollock was an extremely powerful batsman, although his timing was perhaps his most obvious natural asset, and could also bowl effective legspin at times. He scored his maiden first-class century when he was just 16 and then posted his first Test hundred at 19 in Australia. Part of a cricketing Pollock family, his brother Peter and nephew Shaun also played Test cricket. (Biography adapted from Neil Manthorp, ESPNcricinfo) Batting: 2256 runs @ 60.97

Considering the type of stuff floating around in his gene pool, it would have been surprising if Shaun Pollock had not been an international cricketer - and a very good one at that. Shaun has bits of both in his makeup, but it is as an immaculate, Hadlee-esque, line and length seamer that he established himself. At the start of his first-class career, though, he was both slippery and aggressive and his Natal team-mates delighted in totting up the number of batsmen he pinned match after match. His new-ball partnership with Allan Donald was the springboard of much of South Africa's success during the latter half of the 1990s. Indeed, it is possible to argue that the emergence of Pollock inspired Donald to greater heights as the latter found himself with a partner who both complemented and challenged him. Perhaps the straightest bowler in world cricket, Pollock was able to move the ball both ways at a lively pace. He also possessed stamina and courage in abundance as he proved in Adelaide in 1998 when he toiled on hour after hour in blazing heat to take 7 for 87 in 41 overs on a perfect batting pitch. (Biography adapted from Peter Robinson / Jamie Alter, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 3781 runs @ 32.31 / Bowling: 421 wickets @ 23.11

Wilfred Rhodes was Yorkshire cricket personified in the great period of the county's domination, shrewd, dour, but quick to seize an opportunity. For Yorkshire he scored more than 30,000 runs, averaging 30 an innings; for Yorkshire he took 3,608 wickets at 16 runs each. When he was not playing for Yorkshire, in his spare time, so to say, he played for England and amassed 2,000 runs, average 30, and took 127 wickets, at the cost of 26.96 apiece. In his first Test match he was last in the batting order, and at Sydney in the 1903-04 rubber he took part in the most persistent and prolific Test match last-wicket partnership to this day; he helped RE Foster to add 130 for the tenth wicket, his share 40 not out. Eight years afterwards he went in first for England at Melbourne, and against Australia he was the partner of Hobbs in the record first-wicket stand of 323. (Biography excerpt from Neville Cardus, published on ESPNcricinfo) Batting: 2325 runs @ 30.19 / Bowling: 127 wickets @ 27.96

Barry Richards played just four Tests - and the cricket world is poorer for it. They were all in 1969-70 against Australia, and Richards made the most of his limited time in the limelight. A talent of such enormous stature that he once batted (and did well) using only the leading edge in a Durban club match, Richards was forced by South Africa's sporting isolation to play elsewhere, thrilling spectators with his nimble, aggressive strokeplay for Hampshire, Natal and South Australia, and in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. There were many feats of remarkable batsmanship from one of the finest talents of the 20th century, including nine hundreds before lunch and 1000 runs in a season 15 times. But South Africans will never forget the Durban Test of 1969-70, when Richards and Graeme Pollock flayed the Australian attack to all parts of the Kingsmead ground. (Biography from Neil Manthorp, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 508 runs @ 72.57

You knew when he was coming. The outgoing batsman would already have disappeared into the pavilion, and the expectation of what was to follow filled the air. Viv kept you waiting... time to ponder. Then he appeared, sauntering, swaggering, arms windmilling slowly. He would take guard, and then, head tilted back slightly and cudding his gum, he would walk a few paces down the pitch to tap it while looking the bowler in the eye. It was calculated menace and magnificent theatre from arguably the most devastating batsman of all time. His strengths were on the front foot. So far forward could he get that he was able to plant that left foot outside the line of off stump, at once eliminating lbw and creating his own leg stump line from where he would flick bowlers relentlessly through midwicket. Or he might send a similar ball skimming through extra cover. Straighten the ball down the line of the stumps and the bowler stood a chance, but he rarely missed and they ran a terrible risk. Batting: 8,540 runs @ 50.23

Deadpan and deadly. Wicket or boundary, not a flicker of emotion would be evident save a gunslinger's narrowing of the eyes. Andy Roberts kept his emotions in check. But under the veneer was an intelligent cricketer with a fertile brain, plotting and planning the downfall of batsmen as if it were a military campaign. The modern West Indian game based on the heavy artillery of fast bowlers, that served so well for a quarter of a century, began with him. Here was a bowler whose pace came from timing, with power from a huge pair of shoulders. His bouncer was regarded as one of the most dangerous. He varied its pace, often setting batsmen up with a slower one and then poleaxing them when they were late on the quickie. (Biography from Mike Selvey, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 202 wickets @ 25.61

A cricketing genius, Garry Sobers excelled at all aspects of the game, and few would argue his claim as the finest allround player in modern cricket. His exceptional Test batting average tells little about the manner in which he made the runs, his elegant yet powerful style marked by all the shots, but memorably his off-side play. As a batsman he was great, as a bowler, merely superb, but would have made the West Indies side as a bowler alone. He was remarkably versatile with the ball, bowling two styles of spin - left-arm orthodox and wrist spin, but was also a fine fast-medium opening bowler. His catching close to the wicket may have been equalled but never surpassed, and he was a brilliant fielder anywhere. He was an enterprising captain - at times maybe too enterprising, as when a generous declaration allowed England to win a decisive match at Port-of-Spain. He was played initially mostly as a bowler, but four years later set the Test record for an individual batsman with a mammoth 365 against Pakistan. His achievments are numerous - including the six consecutive sixes hit off an over from the unfortunate Malcolm Nash, a superb innings of 254 for the Rest of the World against Australia in 1971 that earned the praise of Don Bradman, and much more. Batting: 8,032 runs @ 57.78 / Bowling: 235 wickets @ 34.03

Tall, spindly, and a player who consistently tested the wits of opposing batsmen, Fred "The Demon" Spofforth was Australia's first true fast bowler. His first-class career spanned the 23-year period between 1874 and 1897 and, throughout that time, his accuracy, his lionhearted endeavour and the phenomenal rapidity of his wicket taking made him a revered figure. Although he possessed a relatively unremarkable run-up and action (the most notable feature of which was a high leap just before he released the ball) and was never regarded as a tearaway fast bowler, Spofforth was an inspiration both for his peers and succeeding generations of pacemen. From the time of his debut for New South Wales, he was a larger than life character in the sport - the quality of his performances matched in kind by his ability to enhance the growing popularity of cricket in Australia. (Biography from John Polack, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 94 wickets @ 18.41

Brian Statham was one of the best of all English fast bowlers, and beyond question the best-liked. A gentle man who had to be persuaded to bowl a bouncer, he was a mainstay of the England team in its vintage period between 1951 and 1963: he took 252 wickets in 70 Tests. His name will forever be coupled with that of Freddie Trueman, though they actually played together in only half his Tests. Statham's name always came second because he was the foil to Trueman's sabre - and the more reticent man. In cricketing folklore he is remembered primarily for his accuracy: "If they miss, I hit," he would say. This diminishes his astonishing skill. He was indeed accurate; so are many fast-medium bowlers. Statham kept his line and length at a very high pace indeed, comparable with all but the very fastest of Test match bowlers. A batsman hit by Statham - even on the foot, which was more likely than the head - knew all about it. In Statham's case the area around off stump was more a corridor of certainty than uncertainty, but if the ball hit the seam it jagged back in very sharply. The results were always formidable, and occasionally devastating. (Biography from John Thicknesse, Wisden Almanack published on ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 252 wickets @ 24.84

Herbert Sutcliffe was one of the great cricketers and he brought to cricket as to all his undertakings an assurance and capacity for concentration that positively commanded success. His technical talent matched his character and his achievements were therefore on the highest plane. In a career extending from 1919 to 1939 he scored more than 50,000 runs and averaged 52. He never knew a season of failure, except by the standard of his own astonishing peaks, and at the zenith of his career he scored 16,255 runs in five years as a measure of mastery in all conditions and over the world's best bowling of the time. His artistry and efficiency in difficult conditions became legendary in his lifetime, with his centuries against Australia at The Oval in 1926 and at Melbourne in 1929 as historic examples. His defensive patience and skill became a byword, yet at need his hitting was brilliant in the extreme. (Biography adapted from Wisden Almanack, published on ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 4555 runs @ 60.73

A classical easy action, a mop of unruly jet-black hair and a menacing scowl were the trademarks of Freddie Trueman, the Yorkshire fast bowler who was the first man from any country to take 300 Test wickets, a landmark he reached at The Oval in 1964. Since then many have gone past his overall figure of 307, but few have matched his average (21.57) and strike rate (a wicket every 49 balls). Trueman's tally might have been nearer 400 if he hadn't missed numerous matches and tours because of various disciplinary breaches, some true, some imagined - he was once hauled before the Yorkshire committee for some misdemeanour, and escaped punishment by pointing out that he was 200 miles away playing for England at the time. But on his day Trueman was fast and frightening: in his first Test series, in 1952, he helped reduce India to 0 for 4 on his debut, and took 8 for 31 - the best Test bowling figures by a genuinely fast bowler at the time - in the third match. In the second half of the '50s he formed an incisive new-ball pairing with Brian Statham, the legendarily accurate loose-limbed Lancastrian, who raced him neck-and-neck to the 250-wicket mark. By then "Fiery Fred" had great control of swing, and had some claim to being, as he only half-jokingly suggested to John Arlott as the title of his planned biography, "T'Greatest Fast Bowler Who Ever Drew Breath". (Biography from Steven Lynch, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 307 wickets @ 21.57

Maurice Tate began as a slow off-break bowler and had been playing some years before he developed his fast-medium action which gave him a deceptive swerve and tremendous pace off the pitch. He was probably the first bowler deliberately to use the seam and many of the best batsmen of the day regarded him as the most dangerous bowler they had ever played against. He will be remembered as one of the greatest-hearted bowlers in the game -- and one of cricket's most lovable and colourful personalities. He was an inveterate fun-maker and wherever he went he found new friends. He could go on bowling for hours, keeping an immaculate length and seeming to enjoy every moment of the game. A large and amiable man, with many of the characteristics of the true rustic, his broad grin and large feet were a gift to contemporary cartoonists. (Biography from Wisden Almanack, published on ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 1198 runs @ 25.48 / Bowling: 155 wickets @ 26.16

Trumper, an Australian batsman, was great under all conditions of weather and ground. He could play quite an orthodox game when he wished to, but it was his ability to make big scores when orthodox methods were unavailing that lifted him above his fellows. For this reason Trumper was, in proportion, more to be feared on treacherous wickets than on fast, true ones. No matter how bad the pitch might be from the combined effects of rain and sunshine, he was quite likely to get 50 runs, his skill in pulling good-length balls amounting to genius. Under all conditions Trumper was a fascinating batsman to watch. His extreme suppleness lent a peculiar grace to everything he did. When he was hitting up a big score batting seemed quite an easy matter. He took so many liberties, however, and scored from so many good balls, that in order to do himself justice he had to be in the best possible health and condition. The strokes with which he drove even the best bowlers to despair demanded a marvellous union of hand and eye. Batting: 3,163 runs @ 39.04

No nickname was better earned that the "Deadly" which Derek Underwood's Kent team-mates conferred on him for the havoc he caused on rain-affected pitches. Such was his accuracy and, for a left-arm spinner, pace - either side of medium when the ball was really biting - that when conditions favoured him an avalanche of wickets was almost guaranteed. His wizardry brought England one of the most dramatic wins in the history of Tests when, with six minutes left against Australia at The Oval in 1968, he took his fourth wicket in 27 balls. That clinched a 226-run win which squared the series, even though a lunchtime cloudburst which flooded the ground had swallowed all but 75 minutes of the last four hours. In similar circumstances at Hastings in 1973, Underwood demolished Sussex by taking 8 for 9 after a bare-footed Kent team helped the Fire Brigade mop up another flooded ground. Underwood's accuracy, intelligence and patience meant he was always a blessing to his captains. He adapted to conditions overseas, especially in Australia, by dropping his pace, and might have added 50-100 wickets to his England haul of 297 but for joining World Series Cricket in 1977, then the disapproved tour of South Africa in 1981-82. (Biography from John Thicknesse, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 297 wickets @ 25.83

Viewed by many as the greatest spin bowler to have ever lived, Warne was the first cricketer to reach 700 Test wickets. He swatted more runs than any other Test player without making a hundred, and was probably the wiliest captain Australia never had. His ball that gazoodled Mike Gatting in 1993, bouncing outside leg stump and cuffing off, is unanimously esteemed the most famous in history. He revived legspin, once thought to be extinct. A true character of the game for all kinds of reasons, Warne's huge personality, unrivalled skill and zest for the game was second to none, even earning the begrudging respect of the England fans he tormented for so long by the time the curtain fell on his magnificent career. Batting: 3,154 runs @ 17.32 / Bowling: 708 wickets @ 25.41

Sir Clyde Walcott was a hard-hitting batsman and run-machine in the 1940s and 1950s. Standing over 6 feet, he was the tallest and also the youngest of the `three Ws' - the other members of the famous trio being Sir Frank Worrell and Sir Everton Weekes. "He quickly won a reputation as one of the hardest hitters of the ball in the game, and delighted in driving off the back foot," according to the book "100 Great West Indian Test Cricketers" by Bridgette Lawrence with Reg Scarlett. "His square-cut was second to none and he excelled at the hook shot, a stroke he often played standing on tiptoe, as he took full advantage of his height." Despite his size, Walcott was a nimble wicketkeeper and unchallenged in the position until a back injury forced him to give up. He saved his most memorable assault for the visit to the Caribbean by the Australians in 1955, by which time he was widely acknowledged as the best batsman in the world. "He scored five centuries in three Tests to wipe out memories of his traumas in Australia four years earlier," the cricket book said. "Against one of the best bowling attacks of all time, Walcott hit the then record West Indian aggregate for a series of 827 runs at 82.70." (Biography adapted from 100 Great Black Britons) Batting: 3798 runs @ 56.68

A physiological phenomenon, Courtney Walsh probably bowled faster for longer than any man in history. His spirit was as unbreakable as his body, urging him on to the previously undreamed-of heights of 519 Test wickets and 30,019 balls, not to mention the countless overs he sent down for Gloucestershire and Jamaica. For the first half of his career, Walsh was the willing workhorse cantering into the wind while Curtly Ambrose or Malcolm Marshall galloped down the hill. But he grew stronger and wilier with age, graduating to the new ball around 1993, and forming one of the great opening partnerships with Ambrose: 421 wickets between them from 49 Tests. Walsh's action was neither elegant nor orthodox, but it was hugely economical, catapulting the ball down from 10 foot high with a simple snap of the hips. An old-fashioned specialist, his comic incompetence with the bat earned him a Test-record 43 ducks. (Biography from Simon Briggs, ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 519 wickets @ 24.44

Steve Waugh is the ultimate evolved cricketer. Thrown to the wolves at 20, he flailed at all bowling, sent down bouncers at Viv Richards, and tasted Ashes defeat. Then he helped win a World Cup and made 393 runs before losing his wicket in England in 1989 - but admitted that he did not understand his own game, and 18 months later lost his place to his minutes-younger twin, Mark. It was his catharsis. Upon his recall, he minimalised his batsmanship, forgoing risk and waiting for the loose ball, which he still punished severely. He was all but forced to give up bowling by back problems. A series of epic innings ensued, none better than his 200 in Jamaica in 1994-95 to speed Australia to an historic series win, or his twin hundreds at Old Trafford to turn the 1997 Ashes series. He succeeded Mark Taylor as Test captain in 1999, and began with a torrid 2-2 draw in the Caribbean, but later led Australia boldly in 15 of their world-record 16 successive Test victories. (Biography from Greg Baum, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 10927 runs @ 51.06 / Bowling: 92 wickets at 37.44

A case could be made that Bob Willis was the most courageous fast bowler who ever played for England. After operations on both knees in 1975, when he was 26, he seldom bowled without pain, and at one stage had to run five miles a day to build the strength to play at all. Yet through sheer willpower he sustained his career for nine more years, and emerged with 325 wickets from his 90 Tests. Fitting as it was the last game of any consequence he played should have been for England, it was cruel that the 1984 West Indian assault that proved his time had come took place at Headingley, scene of the his greatest triumph, the famous 8 for 43 that beat Australia in the Botham Test three years before. (Biography from ESPNCricinfo) Bowling: 325 wickets @ 25.20

Short, stocky but endearing, Everton Weekes, one of the three Ws, was quick-footed and possessed an admirable variety of strokes, almost all of them attacking. His debut against England in 1947-48 was unremarkable, and he was dropped to make way for George Headley, although he was restored when Headley had to drop out. The Kingston crowd wanted John Holt instead of Weekes, and he was booed throughout the England innings. He responded with 141, and on the tour of India which followed he scored 779 runs at 111.28 and set a world record of five successive hundreds, the highest being 194 at Bombay. It would have been six were it not for a controversial run-out decision at Madras. In England in 1950 his rich form continued with 2310 runs at 79.65 on the trip, including a triple hundred against Cambridge, although in the Tests he made only 338 at 56.33. His form returned from superlative to good on the tour to Australia which followed, but against India at Port-of-Spain in 1952-53 he made 207 in the first Test and another big hundred on the same ground in the third Test. He scored heavily against England in 1953-54, and in New Zealand in 1955-56 he hammered 940 runs at 104.44 in eight first-class matches. (Biography from Martin Williamson, ESPNCricinfo) Batting: 4455 runs @ 58.61

A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became famous in the 1950s as the first black captain of the West Indies cricket team, and is the only batsman to have been involved in two 500-run partnerships in first-class cricket. Sir Frank was a man of strong convictions, a brave man, and it goes without saying, a great cricketer. Though he made his name as a player his greatest contribution was to destroy for ever the myth that a coloured cricketer was not fit to lead a team. Once appointed, he ended the cliques and rivalries between the players of various islands to weld together a team which in the space of five years became the champions of the world. Batting: 3,860 runs @ 49.48 / Bowling: 69 wickets @ 38.72