Top 10 test captains off all time

Who would be your top 10 test captains all time, i will write the options but if there are others i havent thought of let me know.

1)Imran Khan

2)Michael Vaughan

3)Aravninda Da Silva

4)Stephen Fleming

5)Clive LLoyd

6)Steve Waugh

7)M.S. Dhoni

8)Ricky Ponting

9)Andrew Strauss

10)Graeme Smith

Daniel Vettori would be in there over Strauss for me

Gregers wrote:Daniel Vettori would be in there over Strauss for me

what did he do to earn that??

A few others:


Mike Brearly
Richie Benaud
Frank Worrell
Douglas Jardine
Mark Taylor
Allan Border
Ray Illingworth
Clive LLoyd
W.W. Armstrong
Geoff Howarth

Hoggy_Bear wrote:A few others:


Mike Brearly
Richie Benaud
Frank Worrell
Douglas Jardine
Mark Taylor
Allan Border
Ray Illingworth
Clive LLoyd
W.W. Armstrong
Geoff Howarth

a perfectly anti Asian list.

i forgot about AB, i no there will be controversy over me picking ponting, in that list as well, but he was a truly great captain, but i think when his batting form dropped, he got confused in himself and i think he got anxious and fretted about his form, which may have affected his captaincy in the later years of his captaincy.

activereactive wrote:

Hoggy_Bear wrote:A few others:


Mike Brearly
Richie Benaud
Frank Worrell
Douglas Jardine
Mark Taylor
Allan Border
Ray Illingworth
Clive LLoyd
W.W. Armstrong
Geoff Howarth

a perfectly anti Asian list.

Wasn't meant to be anti-anything. Don't know why anyone would even assume it was.
Just a few names that the OP didn't mention (though I realise he DID mention Lloyd, I just missed him in the OP's list).

Clive Lloyd is probably the one who achieved most, in managing to unite a West Indies team that became the dominant force in world cricket. Viv Richards did a decent job of carrying that on, but it's been gradually down hill since.

As far as the Aussies are concerned, for me Waugh was the captain that made them great, Taylor and Ponting then inheriting the side and maintaining the level until the retirement of their great bowlers.

For me, they (Lloyd and Waugh) are the guys that stand above the rest - not necessarily better on-field captains than some of the others, but able to bring together a unit of players to make them play to their highest potential.

Sri Lanka's best captain was Arjuna Ranatunga.

The guy made SL into a side opposition had to respect.

allen border for me

Imran Khan. is the only man so far who united a Pakistani team behind just one cause, being the best and he almost acheived it too, they were a joy to watch and seemed to perform in virtually every game, unlike under any other captain.
Similar could be said of Clive Lloyd, the difference there though is no matter what squabbling has gone on in the West Indies, it would be an average day compared to the problems Pakistan teams have faced over the decades.

In terms of tactics and decision making on the field of play, Mike Brearly would probably be regarded as top of that particular list and as for others mentioned, some have done a good job as captain, but others have just been guys who happen to be in the job with great teams around them.

Mike Brearly should not have been in the team though cant imagine him being able to survive in the modern day game despite being a great captain he should not have been there on playing ability therefore i think his greatness as a captain should be a bit lower then border and loyd

Mention of Mike Brearley leads me to recall something Brears said about Clive Lloyd - that he may have been a successful captain of the West Indies (where he had a great team) but did little as Lancashire skipper (where the players were, somewhat, less great).
Almost anyone who has played cricket at any reasonable level would have been able to captain the great West Indies sides of 1976 to 1992/3. Work out which two of the four great fast bowlers was tired and put the other two on. Hardly rocket science.
The REALLY good captains have been the guys who have managed to coax something special out of ordinary players.

sirfredperry wrote:Mention of Mike Brearley leads me to recall something Brears said about Clive Lloyd - that he may have been a successful captain of the West Indies (where he had a great team) but did little as Lancashire skipper (where the players were, somewhat, less great).
Almost anyone who has played cricket at any reasonable level would have been able to captain the great West Indies sides of 1976 to 1992/3. Work out which two of the four great fast bowlers was tired and put the other two on. Hardly rocket science.

How true it also applies for Ricky Ponting & Steve Waugh who had great bowlers to lead, once they retired look at australia's test rankings.

indianmonk wrote:

sirfredperry wrote:Mention of Mike Brearley leads me to recall something Brears said about Clive Lloyd - that he may have been a successful captain of the West Indies (where he had a great team) but did little as Lancashire skipper (where the players were, somewhat, less great).
Almost anyone who has played cricket at any reasonable level would have been able to captain the great West Indies sides of 1976 to 1992/3. Work out which two of the four great fast bowlers was tired and put the other two on. Hardly rocket science.

How true it also applies for Ricky Ponting & Steve Waugh who had great bowlers to lead, once they retired look at australia's test rankings.

i disagree about steve waugh, he was an amazing captain, and he had to shape the side, when they were going through transition, with the batsman etc, so they had mcgrath and warne, mecgrath wasnt at his best at the time, and warne was going through bad patches of form, he was a very good captain

Ponting isn't a great captain.

He never won a series in England

He never won a Test in India

With all the legends he had at his disposal.

Ponting was captain just by name. Guys like Warne and McGrath don't need to be told what to do.

i put ponting in the list, cos of the stuff he has achived whilst captain.

Allan Border had the tougher job of picking up the pieces from the mid-late 80s and instilling that sense of competitive pride back into the team after they had been ripped to pieces by the great West Indies sides.

In terms of leadership I'd have him slightly ahead of Waugh (who had the right stuff too), and ahead of Tubby and Punter.

For me the top captains of all time:

Steve Waugh
Graeme Smith
Da Silva
Stephen Flemming
Daniel Vettori
Ricky Ponting

1, Dhoni
2, Clive Lloyd
3, Alan Border
4, Steve Waugh
5, Sarav Ganguly
6, Imran Khan
7,A. Ranatunga
8,Ricky Ponting
9,Mike Brierly
10,Andrew Strauss

This is the final, and most "making sense" like list.

Dhoni at 1? Interesting decision, he's good but ahead of Waugh?

Gregers wrote:Dhoni at 1? Interesting decision, he's good but ahead of Waugh?

yepp, Dhoni is the only one in the history to claim 20-20, ODI and Test matches titles, now you can figure out why he is ahead of Waugh.

activereactive wrote:

Gregers wrote:Dhoni at 1? Interesting decision, he's good but ahead of Waugh?

yepp, Dhoni is the only one in the history to claim 20-20, ODI and Test matches titles, now you can figure out why he is ahead of Waugh.

in waugh's defence 20-20 werent around when he played, he did win the world cup as skipper, and was no1 in tests with australia for a long time, so he was just as good if not better.

In Bradman's time 20-20- ODIs and 5 days Test matches were not around, how do we define who is the best in what?
We should create so many categories to do a proper justice to yesterday's greats, for example, Bradman was the greatest in Test matches only, Sachin is the best in both ODIs and Test matches, etc.

waugh was still a better captain to be honest.

Agree with cf, Waugh was a class above everyone else

The problem here is that only the players themselves really know how much of an impact the captains had on their sides. For example we will never really know how successful the aussie team would have been without Ponting as captain, so we can't really quantify his captaining ability other than basing it purely on success rates. Therefore the best test captain can only quantifiable be chosen by looking at which captain had the best success rate. All other systems of rating them will only be based on subjective conjecture and speculation.

It seems that too many people are judging captaincy simply on the success of the team, when in reality any Tom, Dick or Harry could have captained the GREAT sides to success.
Captaincy is about making the most of your assets, instilling team spirit/ethics, making the right decision even when your backs are against the wall and probably most importantly, being able to change things not just when they're needed, but to preempt things and judge the outcome accordingly.
Few ever acheive mastery over all these things and I can't think of anyone who comes close over the last decade or so, Vaughan probably tops the list for recent captains, but his coaches/managers must also take a lot of the credit too.

ReallyReal wrote:It seems that too many people are judging captaincy simply on the success of the team, when in reality any Tom, Dick or Harry could have captained the GREAT sides to success.
Captaincy is about making the most of your assets, instilling team spirit/ethics, making the right decision even when your backs are against the wall and probably most importantly, being able to change things not just when they're needed, but to preempt things and judge the outcome accordingly.
Few ever acheive mastery over all these things and I can't think of anyone who comes close over the last decade or so, Vaughan probably tops the list for recent captains, but his coaches/managers must also take a lot of the credit too.

Thats your ignorance though. Ganguly achieved this and lot more than Vaughan with no disrespect to latter.

Is there a place for Hansie Cronje? Before his ban his was a very good captain indeed., or does the ban disqualify him from such a list?

erm not sure about him to be honest..