New Delhi: Dickie Bird, the former international umpire, has not found space for three of the modern era's greatest batsman - Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting - as well as the legendary Don Bradman in his list of the greatest Test XI. Bird, ahead of his 80th birthday, had his greatest-ever XI published in The Telegraph but conspicuous with their absence from the list were the top ten run-getters in the Test format as well as the man who finished his career with a batting average of 99.94.
Bird, who officiated in 66 Tests and stood in three World Cup finals during a 28-year career as a first-class umpire, included just one Indian in his XI - former opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar. Opening the batting with Gavaskar in Bird's XI was South African Barry Richards. Gavaskar was termed by the English umpire as "one of the two best opening bats" while claiming that Richards "would have broken all the records, but for apartheid".
Vivian Richards and Greg Chappell were shoo-ins, as was the West Indian great Garfield Sobers of whom Bird said was "the greatest I have ever seen play the game". The second South African chosen was Graeme Pollock because in Bird's view he was "largely lost because of apartheid".
The designated wicketkeeper was England's Alan Knott and the captain of Bird's greatest XI was Pakistan allrounder Imran Khan. After Khan, the bowlers were Shane Warne, Lance Gibbs and Dennis Lillee -
03:38 PM, Apr 18, 2013
Port of Spain: Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara says his decision in the past to select Darren Sammy as a member of the West Indies team was based more on the player's passion for the game and his dependability than cricketing ability. Lara has revealed that Sammy was one of the last two players he decided to select in a 14-man squad after ignoring suggestions to pick two other...
03:28 PM, Apr 10, 2013
His idea comes after Alex Blackwell was awarded the Belinda Clark Medal for New South Wales' best female cricketer. ...
06:09 PM, Mar 29, 2013
He is not the 1st great to face difficulties at the end of his career, but Sachin appears to be in denial. ...
10:36 AM, Dec 15, 2012
"The way I judge players has always been on their ability to win games by themselves," Ricky Ponting said. ...
05:48 PM, Dec 03, 2012
The former Indian captain in conversation with Cricketnext on his contemporary and opposite number, Ricky Ponting. ...
06:27 PM, Nov 29, 2012
Sachin Tendulkar is the fourth non-Australian cricketer to be conferred with the Order of Australia honour. ...
09:32 PM, Oct 16, 2012
Chittagong Kings have named former West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara as their brand ambassador. ...
06:08 PM, Oct 16, 2012
Lara said that Tendulkar would be missed by the cricket world whenever he decides to hang his boots. ...
07:10 PM, Sep 20, 2012
The former West Indies captain said Sachin is a great player and that he would know what's the right time for retirement. ...
12:04 PM, Sep 16, 2012
The former West Indies captain said Sachin is a great player and that he would know what's the right time for retirement. ...
11:31 AM, Sep 16, 2012
Lara, who retired from international cricket five years ago, will be formally inducted at the ICC Awards ceremony. ...
02:05 PM, Sep 15, 2012
The West Indies great is the 67th male inductee on the list. ...
12:23 PM, Sep 13, 2012
Former India captain Ravi Shastri has also said Vivian Richards was the best batsman of his era. ...
06:35 PM, May 26, 2012
The West Indian cricket icon has called upon Chanderpaul to move up the order for his team's three-Test series with England. ...
08:47 AM, May 16, 2012
One hundred hundreds. A series whitewash. Another series whitewash, this time the whitewasher becoming the whitewashed. Statistics, decimal points, run rates, rankings - perhaps it ...
12:44 PM, Feb 13, 2012
Ganguly, playing the last Test series of his career, himself crossed the 7000 Test run mark. ...
09:11 AM, Oct 18, 2008
With little left to achieve Sachin can finally relish his remaining time in the game. ...
08:08 AM, Oct 18, 2008
Cricketer breaks West Indian Brian Lara's record of 11,953 Test runs. ...
06:40 PM, Oct 17, 2008
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is now the highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket. ...
02:32 PM, Oct 17, 2008
