Tomorrow our Liverpool side will take on Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, a game which we are not exactly confident that the men in red will emerge victorious.
To quell our nervousness, for our piece All Out Cricket this week we compiled an XI of cricketers that also played in the FA Cup Final.
Have a read of FA Cup Final Cricketers and be surprised at the identity of our 12th man - who incongruously came close to participating in the inaugural final of the FA Cup.
We learnt something new this week having not known before that Sachin Tendulkar's birthday falls on the same day - April 24th - as the first-class debut of Jack Hobbs in 1905.
This piqued our interest especially as in parallel the realisation dawned, that this was just one of many spooky coincidences linking The Master and the Little Master - even if unlike the modern day custodian of the mantle of the game's greatest batsman, Hobbs never became an MP - although his near contemporary C B Fry was offered the role of King of Albania.
The lineage of these two doyens of batting mastery is the subject of our latest piece for All Out Cricket's damn fine website, and if you read Sachin Tendulkar and Jack Hobbs: The Masters, you'll find out that the spooky coincidences go even further with Hobbs' first-class debut and the identity of the opposition captain.
We live in a world where sticking a group of has-beens and noneities into the Australian jungle is considered entertainment by ITV.
So it is perhaps no surprise that the expectation and coverage surrounding Sachin Tendulkar's quest for his hundredth international hundred has reached ridiculous and frankly tedious proportions.
Now before his legion of fans spew forth any vitriol and bile in our direction, none of this opprobium is directed at the Little Master himself, who is probably as fed up about it as we are.
Indeed, the admirably modest Tendulkar is probably more than a bit embarrassed that his 'failure' to reach this unprecedented landmark was deemed more important by some commentators and media outlets (including sadly the BBC) than Rahul Dravid's fabulous century against the West Indies in the 2nd Test in Kolkata.
If Tendulkar had been out in the nervous nineties, one could have understood the extent of the coverage, but he made 38, which isn't even halfway to the fabled three figures.
Interestingly, Jack Hobbs, whose sobriquet was of course The Master, was virtually the first victim of media pressure in cricket when his attempt to equal the then record for the highest number of first-class centuries stalled one short in the summer of 1925.
Hobbs was besieged by "a whole caravan of reporters, cameramen, photographers and feature writers" and WG Grace's record eluded him for 6 matches as the hype intensified. Even as implacable a man as Hobbs was affected, telling John Arlott that the scrutiny "frayed his nerves".
So the Indian fans and media willing Tendulkar to succeed would be wise to relieve the pressure and give him time to breathe. He obviously needs it given that the wait has now been extended to 15 international innings (11 Test and 4 one day) since he recorded his 99th hundred in March at Nagpur against South Africa in the World Cup.
Of course once Hobbs finally reached his landmark against Somerset, with the shackles removed he scored another hundred in the second innings. Tendulkar would probably do something similar - that would be the time for celebrating not endless discussion about it before.
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, God appears in the form of that Victorian master of cricket W.G.Grace and instructs the motley crew of Python knights to seek out the Holy Grail with hilarious results.
The ghost of Grace may well have been frequenting Somerset before the start of the season too as Marcus Trescothick has failed by just a whisker from obtaining one of cricket’s Holy Grail’s – 1,000 runs in an English season before the end of May.
Trescothick’s glorious unbeaten 151 (off just 131 balls) helped Somerset chase down 228 to beat Yorkshire yesterday. It was Trescothick’s fourth hundred of the season and second in the match and took him to 978 first-class runs for the season – just a tantalising 22 runs short of immortality.
Only eight batsmen in history have broken the fabled 1,000 run barrier before the end of May: Grace was the first to achieve the feat in 1895 and was followed by Tom Hayward (1900), Wally Hammond (1927), Charles Hallows (1928), Don Bradman (1930 and 1938), Bill Edrich (1938), Glenn Turner (1973) and Graeme Hick (1988).
Given Trescothick (and Somerset’s) shambolic start to the season, the former England opener’s haul is all the more impressive. Somerset were thrashed in their first two games with Trescothick contributing just 18, 5, 4 and 21 as his side were defeated twice by an innings.
But since then Trescothick has hit 227 and 23 against Hampshire, 31 and 23 against Worcestershire, 144 in his only innings against Durham, 63 and 79 at Hove versus Sussex and finally 189 and 151 not out against Yorkshire.
Unfortunately, Somerset don’t have another First-Class match before the end of May, so for Trescothick it is a case of so near, yet so far – just like the Pythons, whose quest for the Holy Grail memorably ended with arrest by the police.
England and Australia have competed in 321 Test matches since the first acknowledged Test started on 15 March 1877. Australia have the edge in the oldest international sports contest with 132 wins to England's 99 and there have been 90 draws.
There have been many classic Tests in the battle for the little urn. In a three-part series, we have picked 25 of the best, which we will list chronologically.
The Oval, 28-29 August 1882 - Australia won by 7 runs: The birth of the Ashes with Australia winning a stunning victory after bowling out England for 69 having set them only 77 to win. Spofforth took 14 for 90 after declaring that "this thing can be done" and the dismissal of Grace saw England slide from 51 for two to a defeat considered so ignominious that Reginald Shirley Brook penned his mock obituary to English cricket in The Sporting Times.
1st Test, Sydney, 14-20 December 1894 - England won by 10 runs: An amazing come-from-the-dead victory for England after following on 261 runs behind. Ward hit 117 as England recovered to set Australia 177 to win - a target they appeared to be coasting to when 130 for two. But Peel took six for 67 and Australia lost their last eight wickets for 53 as England completed an unlikely victory. England eventually won the series 3-2 by chasing down 297 in the decider at Melbourne.
3rd Test, The Oval, 10-12 August 1896 - England won by 66 runs: It was all square going into the final and deciding test of the 1896 series, but with the home side being skittled for 89 in their second innings it seemed that with Australia only needing 111 victory the tourists had regained the Ashes. But on a wet pitch, they slid to 25 for nine and ultimately 44 all out.
4th Test, Old Trafford, 24-26 July 1902 - Australia won by 3 runs: Australia retained the Ashes in a match that swung one way then another. Trumper became the first batsman to score a hundred before lunch on the first day of a Test as Australia hit 299. England recovered from 44 for five thanks to a hundred from F.S Jackson and then bowled Australia out for 86 in their second innings. But then the hapless Fred Tate took over. Having dropped a skier to reprieve Darling, Tate was last man out and the urn had gone. The test is still known as Tate's Match.
5th Test, The Oval, 11-13 August 1902 - England won by 1 wicket: The Ashes may have gone in the previous match, but that didn't stop this Test from being a classic. Set 263 to win, England slipped to 48 for five before Gilbert Jessop bludgeoned a hundred in 75 minutes. Then Hirst and Rhodes - England's last pair - came together with 15 required and 'got 'em in singles' to record a famous win.
5th Test, The Oval, 14-18 August 1926 - England won by 289 runs: After a period of utter Australian dominance following the end of World War I, the 1926 series in England was a much tighter affair. In the decider at The Oval, England were just ahead near the start of their second innings before a thunderstorm rendered the wicket as a treacherous 'sticky dog'. All seemed lost, but Hobbs and Sutcliffe thought otherwise and compiled an opening stand of 172 (Hobbs 100, Sutcliffe 161). England set Australia 415 and Rhodes and Larwood did the rest. Ashes regained.
3rd Test, Melbourne, 29 December 1928 - 5 January 1929 - England won by 3 wickets: Hobbs and Sutcliffe reprised their heroics in the next series, where with England set 332 to win on another wet wicket they compiled another century opening stand. Jardine, Hammond and then Hendren also provided sterling support to Sutcliffe who anchored the chase with 135. Despite some late wickets, England made it home by just three wickets to achieve an unassailable 3-0 series lead.
5th Test, The Oval, 16-22 August 1930 - Australia won by an innings and 39 runs: Despite the utter brilliance of Bradman, who scored 974 runs at 139.14, the series was locked at 1-1 going into the timeless decider at The Oval. England won the toss and 161 from Sutcliffe helped England compile 405 in their first innings. But with Bradman around that was never going to be enough. The Don scored 232 with Ponsford hitting 110 and Jackson 73 in a crucial 243 run partnership with Bradman as Australia made 695. It was too much for England and they folded for 251 to hand the Ashes back to Australia.
Thanks to the news that the W.G Grace of modern day cricket (in terms of size rather than talent), Yuvraj Singh, has been recalled for India's forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka, the Reverse Sweep has become aware that these two familiar foes are about to come up against each other again.
Since the 1st test kicked off in Ahmedabad on 16 November last year, the two sides have probably seen more of each other than they have their wives, girlfriends and children. By the time the games in Sri Lanka have been completed, India and Sri Lanka will have played six tests, 14 or 15 (if the two sides contest the final of the tri-series with New Zealand) one day internationals and 3 Twenty 20's.
That is 48 days of cricket in nine months or just under 20% of the players' time from November to August. When you add in the IPL for the majority of the players that is a lot of time in each others company. It is the cricketing equivalent of Groundhog Day.
Whether it is a case of familiarity breeding contempt or a precursor to pending nuptials between a player from each of the two teams awaits to be seen (King Kumar and Dhoni are certainly looking admiringly at each other in the above picture). But it is another case of crazy scheduling in cricket.
Last year we wrote a post for World Cricket Watch, where we named our top 20 batsmen of all time. As we explained a couple of days ago, now seems a good time to revisit this. Firstly, so we can extend the list this time to 30. But secondly, because we are prepared to admit that we erred somewhat last time in placing Sachin Tendulkar behind Ricky Ponting in the all-time batting pantheon. Given that the Ashes were on at the time, we must have done it out of fear that Ponting would inspire his side to retain the little urn.
Today, in the final part we count down from 10 to 1. At this point we should add, that this exercise was just as difficult as it was last year when we wrote a similar piece for World Cricket Watch. This time, despite extending the list to 30 names, there was still no place for the likes of Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Abbas, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Frank Woolley, CB Fry, Neil Harvey, Kumar Sangakkara, Martin Crowe, Geoff Boycott, David Gower, Ted Dexter, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, or Aravinda da Silva. Next time, we might have to go for a top 50!
If you missed our earlier posts on this subject, please check out the batsmen who filled numbers 30-21 and 20-11.
10. Victor Trumper(Australia) – 48 Tests, 8 100s, 13 50s, Average 39.04, HS 214* - Widely acknowledged as the best Australian batsman before Bradman, Trumper was both stylish and versatile with a penchant for playing match-winning innings on treacherous wet wickets. After scoring 135 not out against England at Lord’s in 1899, Grace gifted Trumper his own bat with the inscription "From the present champion to the future champion."
9.Brian Lara(West Indies) – 131 Tests, 34 100s, 48 50s, Average 52.88, HS 400* - The man with the highest Test and First Class scores of 400 not out and 501 not out respectively, Lara is the fourth of six West Indians on the list. When he started his career, West Indian dominance was on the wane.By the time he finished it, his side was in the doldrums and as a result he spent most of his time trying to keep the West Indies afloat making his record even more impressive. Perhaps his best achievement was in 1999 in the home series against Australia, when he single-handedly won the second and third tests with scores of 213 and 153 not out after his side had been obliterated in the first test.He scored a century too in the fourth and final test, but couldn’t prevent Australia squaring the series.
8.Sachin Tendulkar(India) – 166* Tests, 47 100s, 54 50s, Average 55.56, HS 248* - The Little Master’ holds a number of prestigious Test batting records including most runs and most centuries; and he hasn’t finished yet with four hundreds in his last four tests. Other than Hobbs, Tendulkar is the only player to score ten centuries or more against Australia. Many (certainly a billion Indians) would have him higher on this list – certainly Wisden ranked him behind only Bradman as the second greatest batsman of all time in 2002.
7.George Headley(West Indies) – 22 Tests, 10 100s, 5 50s, Average 60.83, HS 270* - Like Brian Lara over 60 years later, Headley had to keep a struggling side afloat. He managed this scoring a staggering ten centuries in his 22 Tests with his scoring feats leading to him being dubbed the ‘Black Bradman’. Headley was noted for his phenomenal back foot play and the time he seemed to have to play the ball, with such a shrewd judge as Len Hutton declaring that he had never seen a batsman play the ball later.
6. William ‘W.G’ Grace(England) – 22 Tests, 2 100s, 5 50s, Average 32.29, HS 170 - Until Bradman, Grace was regarded as the greatest cricket player ever and was certainly one of the most competitive. Over the course of a 44 year career, he transcended the sport and in the words of John Arlott “created modern cricket”. Amongst other nicknames, Grace was known as “the Champion” and one of his contemporaries and fellow all-time great batsmen Ranjitsinhji said of him in the Jubilee Book of Cricket “I hold him to be not only the finest player born or unborn, but the maker of modern batting”.
5.Vivian Richards(West Indies) – 121 Tests, 24 100s, 45 50s, Average 50.23, HS 291- Regarded by cricket aficionados as probably the most devastating batsman in the history of the game, King Viv was absolutely unstoppable on his day. His style was a mixture of swagger and intimidation and most bowlers seemed to visibly cower when faced with an on-song Richards. It is befitting that he is the scorer of the fastest-ever Test century, from just 56 balls against England in his home island of Antigua during the 1986 tour.
4.Jack Hobbs(England) – 61 Tests, 15 100s, 28 50s, Average 56.94, HS 211 - Popularly referred to as ‘The Master’, Hobbs scored more runs (61,760) and more centuries (199) than anyone else in the history of the sport – and but for the Great War these figures could have been more spectacular still. His opening partnership with Herbert Sutcliffe is considered to be the best England and maybe the game has seen. Hobbs made his first class debut against a side captained by W.G.Grace who presciently observed that "He's goin' to be a good'un". Even the learned Doctor could not have realised how ‘good’ Hobbs would become.
3.Walter Hammond(England)– 85 Tests, 22 100s, 24 50s, Average 58.45, HS 336* - Throughout his career, Hammond was often compared to Bradman, which is testament to what a great player he was, and he was included in the Don’s all-time XI. His seven Test double centuries has only been surpassed by Bradman and Brian Lara, and Hammond certainly had an ability to get big scores. His most notable series came on the tour of Australia in 1928-29 when he scored an incredible 905 runs at 113.12 in the five Tests. This has only been surpassed once – by Bradman, of course.
2. Garfield Sobers(West Indies) – 93 Tests, 26 100s, 30 50s, Average 57.78, HS 365* - Widely regarded as Cricket’s greatest all-rounder, Sobers was so good with the bat that he also ranks behind only the immortal Bradman on this list. Sobers mixed elegance with power and for a long time held the record for the highest Test score until he was usurped by his fellow West Indian Brian Lara. Perhaps his best innings though came for the Rest of the World against Australia in 1972 when Sobers played an innings of 254 which was described by Bradman as "probably the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia".
1.Donald Bradman(Australia) – 52 Tests, 29 100s, 13 50s, Average 99.94, HS 334 - Who else? No self-respecting list of the greatest batsmen ever could have anyone else at its head. Has anyone dominated their sport as much as Bradman? It almost defies belief that his average of 99.94 is almost 40 runs higher than the second best for 20 completed innings (Graeme Pollock at 60.97). Of his many staggering batting feats, here are three examples. First, his consecutive triple centuries at Headingley in the Ashes tests of 1930 and 1934. Second, his 974 runs in five tests during the 1930 Ashes series in England including three double centuries – both records. Finally, his second innings knock of 270 during the Third Test at Melbourne during the Ashes series of 1936/37, which was rated by Wisden as the best test match innings of all time in 2001. It enabled Australia, who were two down in the series, to win the match and they duly completed a remarkable turnaround by winning the fourth (Bradman making 212) and fifth (Bradman, 169) tests – still the only time a team has come back from two down to win a test match rubber, and Bradman was the captain of course.
Here is our list of England's ten greatest captains. Andrew Strauss doesn’t make it just yet. If of course he leads England to retaining the Ashes in Australia next winter he will certainly join this list; and probably near the top too.
1. Douglas Jardine – P15 W9 D5 L1: ruthless, stubborn and a brilliant strategist. Thanks to “Bodyline” his name will live in infamy. We should also mention here that Jardine is our favourite cricketer ever so it was perhaps inevitable that he tops our list - also see Heroes: Douglas Jardine. 2. Raymond Illingworth – P31 W12, D14, L5: tough, also ruthless and uncompromising, and also like Jardine won the Ashes in Australia.
3. Mike Brearley – P31 W18 D9 L4: mediocre batsman but outstanding skipper who inspired Botham to his unforgettable heroic feats in the 1981 Ashes.
4. Michael Vaughan – P51 W26 D14 L11: took the foundations laid by Hussain and together with Fletcher created the all-conquering side of 2004/05.
5. Percy Chapman – P17 W9 D6 L2: like Jardine four years later he won the Ashes 4-1 in Australia; but unlike DRJ he earned the respect of the locals with his natural bonhomie.
6. Sir Len Hutton – P23 W11 D8 L4: England’s first professional captain for 65 years who regained the Ashes (after 20 years) in 1953 and then retained them in 1954/55.
7. Peter May – P41 W20 D11 L10: Other than Vaughan, he won the most Tests as skipper and led England to number one in the World
8. Nasser Hussain – P45 W17 D13 L15: took England from the bottom of the pile (behind even Zimbabwe) to series wins in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, providing the building blocks for Vaughan to take England into the stratosphere.
9. W.G. Grace – P13 W8 D2 L3: the giant (literally) of the Victorian age captained his country for the last time at the age of 51.
10. Hon. Ivo Bligh - P4 W2 D0 L2: presented with the original Ashes urn after winning the series 2-1 Down Under in 1882/83. For that alone he deserves to make the list.
I've already posted this as part of my latest 'Reverse Sweep' column for Pongo Cricket and World Cricket Watch, but wanted to include it on my own blog too. I had planned it to be my 100th post since I started this blog just before Christmas, but I managed to cock that one up. So therefore, I am now celebrating my 102nd post. Hooray!
A list of my cricketing heroes
As some of you will know, the brain behind Cricket With Balls has recently embarked on Cricket Sadist, which is described as “the cricket magazine for sadists and masochists, not tragics”. Anyway, the first issue is due out on 1 April and I contributed a piece on Douglas Jardine, my all-time cricketing hero. So in order to promote the magazine and subsequently therefore ensure (I hope) that my Jardine piece makes the cut, here is a list of my all-time cricketing heroes.
Douglas Jardine – You’ll have to read Cricket Sadist to find out why Jardine (below) is at number one, if my article makes the cut that is….
Hedley Verity – England’s greatest ever spinner who tragically died prematurely as a hero in World War II. He took 7 wickets for 9 runs in what proved to be his last match for Yorkshire.
Donald Bradman – He may have been the scourge of England, but 99.94 mean no other words are necessary.
David Gower – My favourite player as a schoolboy. I even tried but failed to change my natural right handed style to be a left hander like him. And like me, also a David G.
Keith Miller – Not only a brilliant cricketer, but also a raconteur and notorious cad. What’s not to like?
Harold Larwood – Jardine’s main weapon in Australia in 1932/33 refused to apologise for Bodyline and never played for England again. I like people with strong principles.
Ian Botham – Great cricketer, crap commentator. But always a hero of mine simply because of 1981 when as a wide eyed nine year old I watched his historic feats at Headingley, Edgbaston and Old Trafford.
Viv Richards – The coolest cricketer ever? He even makes Chris Gayle look positively uncool in comparison.
W.G.Grace – Of all the many reasons to like Grace this is my favourite. When he was bowled once, first ball, he promptly picked up the bails and replaced them, repositioning himself to take the next ball. The umpire, not unnaturally, objected. "Don't be silly," said WG, and pointed to the crowd. "They've come to see me bat, not you umpire." Magical.
Paul Collingwood – I know. But here I’ve picked the cricketer that reminds me most of my own batting ‘style’. Well the Brigadier Block version anyway.
And I still haven't written about Victor Trumper, Imran Khan, Gary Sobers, SF Barnes... The list goes on. More cricketing heroes on the 202nd, 302nd and so on posts!
I was having a debate come argument with one of my best pals over the weekend as to who is the greatest of the three modern day batting greats of Ponting, Tendulkar and Lara. I reckon it is the Australian captain who wins the day (just) because in my view he has played the greater number of match winning or game saving innings during his career.
Whoever is the best modern day batsman (and there will never be common consensus on this one!), all three princes must rank amongst the twenty best batsmen to ever play the game. This leads rather aptly to my own list of the greatest batsmen ever.
Being in my mid-thirties, I obviously do not have the benefit of seeing the great players of yesteryear live at the crease. Thus, I have relied on my extensive collection of Wisden and other cricket books, plus newsreel footage and general knowledge of the game in order to arrive at my final list.
The twenty names are based primarily on Test cricket, which is undoubtedly the real barometer of a batsman’s ability and greatness. In any case, international limited overs cricket was not played before 1971 so we will never know how Bradman, Hammond and other such great luminaries would have fared in this form of the game. Naturally, comparing players from different generations is difficult as the game has changed irrevocably over the course of its history with covered pitches, faster scoring rates and changes to the laws of the game. As such, Ponting will never play on a ‘sticky dog’, but can be adjudged leg before to a ball pitching outside off-stump, which would not have been the case before 1935.
It has been an agonising process to come down to the final twenty names and several great names have not made the cut. Hopefully, it will provoke some discussion and debate amongst Cricket fans worldwide.
An Indian prince and giant of Victorian and Edwardian cricket, Ranji was credited with bringing several new strokes into the game including the late cut and was an early exponent of back foot defence. Widely considered to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time prior to World War I, Neville Cardus described the stylish and unorthodox Ranji as "the midsummer night's dream of cricket".
19. Clyde Walcott (West Indies) – 44 Tests, 15 100s, 14 50s, Average 56.68, HS 220
One of two of the ‘three Ws’ on this list, Walcott played an instrumental role in the first West Indian victory on English soil at Lord’s in 1950 scoring 168 not out. Along with Weekes, he was arguably the best batsman in the World during the mid-1950s reaching his peak with an incredible five hundreds and 827 runs during Australia’s first Test series in the Caribbean.
The best Australian batsman of the seventies and early eighties, Chappell allied steadfast concentration with attractive stroke making. Despite his excellent Test record, perhaps his best batting was during the World Series Cricket schism where he made 621 runs at 69 in five ‘Super Tests’ versus the mighty West Indies in the Caribbean in 1979.
Gavaskar was one of the best openers of all-time and the pre-eminent Indian batsman before Tendulkar – the man who broke his record of most Test match centuries. A brilliant batsman against fast bowling, Gavaskar scored a superlative 13 centuries at an average of 65.45 against the formidable West Indies side of the seventies and eighties.
The greatest Pakistani batsman ever, Miandad was a precocious teenage prodigy scoring a century on debut and in the same series breaking George Headley’s record as the youngest player to score a Test match double century. His non-textbook style, pugnacity and ability to rile bowlers made him a thorn in the side of most opponents during a long and glittering career.
15. William ‘W.G’ Grace (England) – 22 Tests, 2 100s, 5 50s, Average 32.29, HS 170
Until Bradman, Grace was regarded as the greatest cricket player ever and was certainly one of the most competitive. Over the course of a 44 year career, he transcended the sport and in the words of John Arlott “created modern cricket”. Amongst other nicknames, Grace was known as “the Champion” and one of his contemporaries and fellow all-time great batsmen Ranjitsinhji said of him in the Jubilee Book of Cricket “I hold him to be not only the finest player born or unborn, but the maker of modern batting”.
14. Graeme Pollock (South Africa) – 23 Tests, 7 100s, 11 50s, Average 60.97, HS 274
Of those that have played at least 20 Test match innings, Pollock holds the second highest average after Bradman, who described the South African as the best left hander along with Sobers that he had ever seen. Widely recognised as his country’s best ever player, Pollock’s Test career was cut short abruptly at the age of 26 due to the sporting boycott of South Africa.
13. Everton Weekes (West Indies) – 48 Tests, 15 100s, 19 50s, Average 58.61, HS 207
The highest ranked of the immortal ‘three Ws’, Walcott believed that Weekes was the best all-round batsman of the three. An attacking batsman with a vast array of strokes, Weekes made an electric start to Test cricket, reaching 1,000 runs in only his 12th innings, one fewer than Bradman. During this run he also scored five centuries in five consecutive innings against England and India – still a Test record.
12. Leonard Hutton (England) – 79 Tests, 19 100s, 33 50s, Average 56.67, HS 364
Despite World War II robbing him of six years of cricket from the age of 23, Hutton is still considered amongst the giants of English batters. Before the War and at the age of 22, he scored the then highest Test match score of 364 against Australia. Afterwards, he continued to amass runs for Yorkshire and England and became the first professional player to captain his country.
The ‘Little Master’ holds a number of prestigious Test batting records including most runs and most centuries; and he hasn’t finished yet. Other than Hobbs, Tendulkar is the only player to score ten centuries or more against Australia. Many would have him higher on this list – certainly Wisden ranked him behind only Bradman as the second greatest batsman of all time in 2002.
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