gshatadal

The past few days have featured some threads related to captaincy eg
Jardine, Best Eng captains post WWII, how good is Hussain, and even
related to ****ography.

I want to ask one question from all of you.

Out of all the captains you have seen which one would you choose to
captain if your life depended on it? And why?

(As squad strength comes into the pic assume you have a decent squad,
neither as great as AUS-1948 or WI-late 70s and 80s or the current
Aussies nor as weak as Ban or Zim. Assume you have the current SA or
Ind or Eng as the rest of the sqaud)

Shatadal.

uday rajan

The easy answer is Bradman, since that approximately doubles
the strength of the batting as well. And he had tactical
a***en as well, as evidenced by his reversing the batting
order on a sticky pitch in the 3rd Test of the 1936-37
series.

Other than that, I'm somewhat partial to Benaud and Worrell
as captains, for that 1960-61 series and their respective
roles in it. In particular, Benaud for going for it at 92/6
on the last day of the first Test, and Worrell for telling
Hall "Remember, Wes, if you bowl a no-ball, you'll never be
able to go back to Barbados."

aditya basrur

<snip>

Nasser Hussain. Even if I lost, I could die claiming a moral victory.

Aditya [Death is a bridge too far, BTW.] Basrur

john p darcy

Brearley. Results speak volumes, and he has (IMHO) the most amazing
results relative to the talent of his lineup.

First alternate is Ian Chappell, because all the horses' mouths say the
same thing, that he was the best motivator and leader they ever played
under.

--

Cheers

John

..

gshatadal

Well what I meant was for you to choose among the captains you have
SEEN. I don't think you were in the position to see any of the three
you mentioned. Among all the captains you have SEEN which one would
you choose and why?

Shatadal.

mike holmans

On 30 Jul 2003 15:26:09 -0700, gshatadal@rediffmail.com (Shatadal)
tapped the keyboard and brought forth:


If we were up against an invincible team and we had just about no
chance at all, then Brearley. If the opposition were beatable, but I
couldn't afford to lose, Allan Border.

Cheers,

Mike

megapode

Dead easy. Mark Taylor.

vijaykumark

I've not SEEN him, but my vote goes to MAK Pataudi.

Credit him for getting India from being eternal no-hopers to strong
contenders, for creating a viable all-spin attack, for bringing India back
from the dead in the 2-3 rubber loss to WI in 74-75. There are differing
accounts of him as captain - either he was the most inspirational leader of
players, or aloof and snobbish, depending on who you asked.

And he was a good enough batsman to command his place and respect in the side
except right at the end. His Leeds feats and his tour of Australia must
remain batting highlights in any history of Indian cricket.

Vijay

gshatadal

And why?

Shatadal.