Cricket is a fantastic sport. In fact we’d go so far as to say that cricket is one of the best sports ever. The UK, Australasia, India, the West Indies and South Africa all share a common bond in the love of hitting wickets, and between them they have produced some of the greatest cricket players of all time. Whichever country you support, when you sit there watching The Ashes this summer in your custom cricket clothing or hit the field to practice bowling wickets, here are 10 players you can really aspire towards.
1) Muttiah Muralitharan
The Sri Lankan cricketing King of Swing, Muttiah Muralitharan, is the bowler we all want to be. In his second test career he took exactly 800 wickets, which seems to be a record which nobody will beat in the T20 any time soon. Muttiah is the without a doubt one of the greatest spinners of all time.
2) Jacques Kallis
Scoring more than 24,000 runs and 500 wickets over his career, this South African cricketer is widely regarded as one of the best all-rounders of all time. He set up a foundation in his name back in 2005 to help kids from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve their sporting potential.
3) Dennis Lillee, AM, MBE
A member of the Order of the British Empire, the Order of Australia and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, Dennis Lillee is a cricketer with an impressive history. Easily the fastest bowler of his generation, Lillee was popular with his fans and tenacious in his game. He managed to recover from stress fractures in his back which almost made him retire from international cricket early in his career. He retired in 1984 with the then world record for most test wickets at 355.
4) Sir Ian Botham
One of the finest sportsmen England has ever produced and star of Botham’s Ashes, Sir Ian was easily the best all-rounder of the 70s. Loved by fans and feared by rivals at the time, this player was known for bringing a certain swagger to his games.
5)Imran Khan
Leading Pakistan to win the World Cup in 1992, Imran Khan is one of the best bowlers of all time. Since retiring from international cricket, Khan moved into politics. He is now Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a political party in Pakistan.
6) Kapil Dev
Captain of the Indian team when they won their first World Cup in 1983, Kapil Dev was a genuine star player. Not only was he gifted with a bat, but his bowling skills were simply phenomenal.
7) Viv Richards/ Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, KNH, OBE
This West Indian cricketer is widely renowned as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Viv Richards, the Master Blaster, is known for his exceptional batting skills to the point where he received an OBE for his contributions to cricket. Over his career, Viv Richards scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches. That includes an impressive 24 centuries.
8) Gary Sobers/ Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, AO, OCC
This cricketer from the West Indies is the most successful all-rounder of all time. His batting average is above many of the cricket legends, and one of ten National Heroes of Barbados. With 8032 runs in 93 Test matches for the West Indies, Gary Sobers well deserves his title of one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
9) Sachin Tendulkar
Former captain for the Indian team, Sachin Tendulkar is the second best batsman of all time. Tendulkar is the only player to have ever scored one hundred international centuries in cricket and the first batsman to ever score a double century in a One Day International match. He also holds the current record for the most runs in both ODI and Test cricket. On top of all this, he is the only player to rack up more than 30,000 runs in international cricket. When he retired in 2013 with his 34,357 runs, cricket lost one of its best players ever.
10) Sir Donald “The Don” Bradman, AC
Sir Don Bradman, “The Don”, was not only the best cricketer Australia has ever produced, but the greatest batsman of all time, beating even Sachin Tendulkar’s impressive feats. His Test batting average of 99.94 is often cited as the greatest sporting achievement of all time – not just in cricket. He was so good, in fact that the England team had to devise a new tactic, the Bodyline, just to beat him.
His legacy goes on outside of the world of cricket – he has appeared on Australian postage stamps and coins, and even has a museum dedicated to his life which opened while he was still living. In November 2009, 8 years after his death, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Team Colours is a sports and leisurewear manufacturer, specialising in custom team kits for a wide range of sports.
