Tendulkar tops Warne's greatest cricketers list
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Sachin Tendulkar topped Shane Warne's countdown of greatest cricketers edging out Brian Lara, who was placed second. Curtly Ambrose, Allan Border and Glenn McGrath rounded out the top five in Warne's Times column.
Warne rated Tendulkar ahead of Lara on account of his mental toughness and hailed him as a "great player and a great man". He wrote, "Outside grounds (in India), people wait until he (Tendulkar) goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer ... He (Tendulkar) grew up under incredible weight of expectation and never buckled once - not under poor umpiring decisions or anything else."
Five Australians were placed in the top ten, including three of Warne's captains - Border, Ricky Ponting and Mark Taylor. Ian Healy, tenth on the list, was described as the best wicketkeeper he'd ever seen.
Muttiah Muralitharan, who needs nine more wickets to go past Warne's record haul of Test victims, was the highest rated spinner - at seven.
Wasim Akram, who was sixth, was Pakistan's only representative in the top ten. Warne's complete list (of 53 cricketers) was dominated by Australia, with 20 players, though none were named among the top three.
Warne rated Tendulkar ahead of Lara on account of his mental toughness and hailed him as a "great player and a great man". He wrote, "Outside grounds (in India), people wait until he (Tendulkar) goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer ... He (Tendulkar) grew up under incredible weight of expectation and never buckled once - not under poor umpiring decisions or anything else."
Five Australians were placed in the top ten, including three of Warne's captains - Border, Ricky Ponting and Mark Taylor. Ian Healy, tenth on the list, was described as the best wicketkeeper he'd ever seen.
Muttiah Muralitharan, who needs nine more wickets to go past Warne's record haul of Test victims, was the highest rated spinner - at seven.
Wasim Akram, who was sixth, was Pakistan's only representative in the top ten. Warne's complete list (of 53 cricketers) was dominated by Australia, with 20 players, though none were named among the top three.