Saw a video comparing basketball players when the individual fans are in their 20’s see those players as the greatest ever!!!

I find this true as I believe Lara and Shiv are the best ever and in terms of cricket the peak was the 90’s and early 2000’s!!!

The current 20 year olds unfortunately ain’t got no WI to look up too 🫠

What are your thoughts???

@WIfan26

I respectfully have to disagree. Many of the cricketers who became stars in the 2000s struggled in the 90s. A good example is Matthew no technique, head-on-shoulder Hayden. Many people don’t know or forget that Hayden’s debut as a test player was in 1994, in South Africa, and Allan Donald put him out of commission with a broken knuckle for the entire series, and he only came back two years later, and still struggled against Ambrose and Walsh, and only became a regular after those guys had either retired, like Ambrose in 2000, or were going down clearly like Allan Donald. Even his own skipper, Allan Border was unsure of how he’d survive with that technique

many of the so called prodigies from the early 2000s flashed for a second but then were taken down by players who established themselves in the 90s. Imran Nazir’s struggles against Glenn McGrath or Parthiv Patel’s career are great examples of this

@Jumpstart

Fair enough so in that case we’re roughly around the same age what era of cricket would you deem as the GOAT?

@WIfan26

You missed the Daren Sammy era? 😀

@anthonyp

😂

@WIfan26

Like Jumpy, I have to respectfully disagree.

Any era with helmet, limited bumpers rules, DRS of any sort,

not to mention video analysis, diet fitness and other aids;

cannot be in the GOAT conversation.

You have to think about:

1. unlimited bouncers
2. no helmets (or no proper ones)
3. uncovered pitches
4. working on one's own fitness regime.
5. poor or just plain teefing umpiring
6. racist crowds and systems
7. I can go on forever

These modern (90's and beyond) players had/have it good.

Imaging how Greenidge and Haynes dealt with Thompsonn and Lillee

Imagine Mohinder Amarnat got sent to hospital by Marshall,

but returned to make a 50 in both innings in a Barbados test.

Imagine Gavaskar scoring centuries versus the Windies fearsome foursome.

Sir Viv never wore a helmet, who since 90's did/does that (limited bouncer rules apply)

When Greenidge of Haynes got out fielders celebrated,

until they saw Sir Viv walking out and shoulders dropped.

Who nowadays inspire fear in fielding teams like Sir Viv????

Do you think Root, Kallis or even Lara and Tendulkar

would be so consistent with the old bowlers of yesteryear?

Maybe, maybe not.

But please do not put these young jokers in the same breath of the past greats.

It's an insult to cricket to even consider anything post the 80's as greatest.

@TanteMerle

Goes for football as well, saw some flash backs, the way Pele was tackled compared to these players now a days, how many could last 5 matches on a trot.

@anthonyp

😂😂😂😂😂

@TanteMerle

So you’re saying you were in your 20’s in the 70’s or 80’s 😂

Yea I can’t really argue with that to be honest but what I will say is shouldn’t technology and scientific advancement in any sport create better players?

How many games were the players in the 70’s & 80’s playing compared to guys in the 90’s not to mention today!!!

I think fast bowlers bowled with a lot more freedom knowing they wouldn’t be playing another series for a while and could get necessary rest compared to bowlers in the 2000’s had to worry about playing a lot more games and today it’s even worst with the amount being played!!!

Yea I know it’s a pretty weak argument but it’s the best I got 🙃

@WIfan26

I was born in 1962, so you do the maths.

😂

It is an impossible task to compare eras.

However, these youth today disrespect the old eras that they know nothing about.

Imagine comparing a Greenidge cover drive or squarecut to

anybody's today.

Some may occasionally play such a shot, but not consistently.

The guys of yesteryear play shots consistently against better bowling,

and bowled consistently against better bating.

I am not going to even mention the fielding.

Very few today compare to yesteryear.

All I am saying is enjoy today's cricket but don't compare.

@TanteMerle

On point champ....an I'm of the same era...thing is we can enjoy an appreciate all formats moreso generally than the newer lickit cricket generation who by an large might only know the difference between a 4 & 6....well great if that's all yuh need to know!!

@WIfan26

I find this true as I believe Lara and Shiv are the best ever and in terms of cricket the peak was the 90’s and early 2000’s!!!

You left out Sarwan, the last class batsman the region produced...

@WIfan26

The greatest era in terms of cricket is the one in which AB de Villiers, Kohli, Smith, Root and Williamson redefined batting.

@XFactor

all great batsmen no doubt....but who was the great bowlers of that era that they were up against???🤔

@WIfan26

For cricket, 1979-1999. If you look at the vast majority of ICC Hall of fame inductees, they were stars in this period: the West Indians from Lloyd to Lara. Pakistan: from Imran to Waqar. South Africa: Allan Donald. India: Tendulkar, Kapil and Dravid. Sri Lanka: Murali and Arvinda de Silva. New Zealand: Martin Crowe and Richard Hadley. Australia: AB, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne. Not to mention the other non inductees who still had very successful careers: Larry Gomes, Kallicharran, Inzimam Ul Haq, Craig McDermott etc. from the next 20 years only one West Indian was inducted and probably will be inducted and that is Shiv Chanderpaul, and even he debuted in the 90s. and there are only a few from that 20 year period who are knocking on the door or have been inducted already: kallis, who debuted in the 90s, Graeme smith, an de fillers, all of whom have been inducted already. Pakistan and the WI have nobody to look forward to getting inducted and Sri Lanka are in the same boat as us. NZ: Williamson, possibly built and southern although their averages as pacemen are high, the same with Anderson and broad. The next set of ICC inductees will almost certainly be from Australia, India, SA, NZ and England exclusively. Half of the test cricketing world has collapsed. And on the point of 90s batsmen against 80s bowlers, many of the 90s batsmen had to face 80s era bowlers at one point in time. Lara’s third innings was 92 at QPO versus Marshall and Garner. And Glenn McGrath was as difficult a challenge as any of the West Indian pacemen of the 1980s. That is why his average is bowling 21 with only three pacemen in front of him: Bumrah, who has had to bowl to mostly mediocre batsmen, Ambrose and Marshall. Both Lara and Tendulkar had to face Wasim Akram, who was already a star in the 1980s, imran khan and Abdul Qadir. And Waqar Younis would prove himself to be as good as any 1980s fast bowler

with football: 1960-1990. Reason is this was the emergence of football’s first global superstar, Pele, and also defenders weren’t castrated as they are now so players had to be of the highest skill and conditioning to prosper. That is why Maradona’s performance in the 1986 World Cup is the greatest individual performance by a player in the history of football. Yes the hand of god but he led an extremely mediocre team to glory based on his skill and charisma. He didn’t get a tournament like Messi with absurd ridiculous refereeing decisions.