best cricketer

Adam Craig Gilchrist, nicknamed Gilly or Churchy,is a former Australian cricketer who has captained Kings XI Punjab and Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national team through his aggressive batting.

He is considered to be one of the greatest wicket-keeper?batsmen in the history of the game. He holds the world record for the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in One Day International (ODI) cricket and the most by an Australian in Test cricket.

His strike rate is amongst the highest in the history of both ODI and Test cricket; his century against England at Perth in December 2006 is the second-fastest century in all Test cricket. He is the only player to have hit 100 sixes in Test cricket.

His 17 Test and 16 ODI centuries are the most by a wicket-keeper. He holds the unique record of scoring at least 50 runs in successive World Cup finals (in 1999, 2003 and 2007)and is one of only three players to have won three titles.
Full name Adam Craig Gilchrist
Born 14 November 1971 (age 42) Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname Gilly, Churchy
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Batting style Left Hand
Bowling style Right-arm off break
Role Wicket-keeper-batsman
National side Australia
Test debut (cap 381) 5 November 1999 v Pakistan
Last Test 24 January 2008 v India
ODI debut (cap 129) 25 October 1996 v South Africa
Last ODI 4 March 2008 v India
ODI shirt no. 18

Christopher Henry Chris Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies. He captained the West Indies' Test side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and also represents the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and the Dhaka Gladiators in the Bangladesh Premier League. He has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors, Barisal Burners and the Kolkata Knight Riders in his career. He was also selected for team Uva Next for the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012.

He is one of only four players who have scored two triple centuries at Test level: 317 against South Africa in 2005, and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010. He is known as a big hitter, often hitting sixes; in 2012 he became the first player to hit a six off the first ball of a Test match. Playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, he scored a 30-ball century, the fastest across any format, that became the highest individual T20 score (175). It eclipsed the previous mark set by Brendan McCullum of Kolkata Knight Riders. At the launch of the Caribbean Premier League he was announced as the first franchise player for the league.
Full name Christopher Henry Gayle
Born 21 September 1979 (age 34) Kingston, Jamaica
Nickname Gayleforce, GayleStorm, Master Storm,
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting style Left-handed
Bowling style Right arm offbreak
Role All-Rounder
National side West Indies
Test debut (cap 232) 16 March 2000 v Zimbabwe
ODI debut (cap 97) 11 September 1999 v India
ODI shirt no. 45
T20I debut 16 February 2006 v New Zealand

Sunil Manohar Sunny Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for the Bombay cricket team and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any batsman. He held the record of 34 Test centuries for almost two decades before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in December 2005.
Full name Sunil Manohar Gavaskar
Born 10 July 1949 (age 64) Bombay, Bombay State, Dominion of India
Nickname Sunny, Little Master
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Batting style Right-hand batsman
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Role Opening batsman
Relations MK Mantri (uncle), RS Gavaskar (son), GR Viswanath (brother-in-law)
National side India
Test debut 6 March 1971 v West Indies
Last Test 13 March 1987 v Pakistan
ODI debut 13 July 1974 v England
Last ODI 5 November 1987 v England

Stephen Rodger Steve Waugh, is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler. Born in New South Wales, with whom he began his first class cricket career in 1984, he captained the Australian Test cricket team from 1999 to 2004, and was the most capped Test cricket player in history, with 168 appearances, until Sachin Tendulkar of India broke this record in 2010. Thought of in the early stages of his career as only a moderately talented player, at one point losing his Test place to his brother Mark, Waugh went on to become one of the leading batsmen of his time.

He is one of only 11 players to have scored over 10,000 Test runs, led Australia to fifteen of their record sixteen consecutive Test wins, and to victory in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. He was named Australian of the Year in 2004 for his philanthropic work, and inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in front of his home fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2010.
Full name Stephen Rodger Waugh
Born 2 June 1965 (age 48) Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname Tugga, Iceman, Man-O'War
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Role Batsman
Relations DP Waugh, ME Waugh (brothers)
National side Australia
Test debut 26 December 1985 v India
Last Test 2 January 2004 v India
ODI debut 9 January 1986 v New Zealand
Last ODI 3 February 2002 v South Africa
ODI shirt no. 5

Rahul Dravid is a former Indian cricketer, who captained the national Test and One Day International (ODI) teams. Born in a Marathi family, he started playing cricket at the age of 12 and later represented the state team at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels. Hailed as The Wall,

Dravid has been described as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He was named one of the best five cricketers of the year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2000 and received the Player of the Year and the Test Player of the Year awards at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony in 2004. In December 2011, he became the first non-Australian cricketer to deliver the Bradman Oration in Canberra.
Full name Rahul Sharad Dravid
Born 11 January 1973 (age 41) Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nickname The Wall, Jammy, Mr. Dependable
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm off spin
Role Batsman, occasional wicketkeeper
National side India
Test debut 20 June 1996 v England
Last Test 24 January 2012 v Australia
ODI debut ) 3 April 1996 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI 16 September 2011 v England
ODI shirt no. 19
Only T20I 31 August 2011 v England

Inzamam-ul-Haq also known as Inzy, is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen Pakistan has produced. He is the leading run scorer for Pakistan in One-Day Cricket and second-highest run scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket, after Javed Miandad. He was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team from 2003-07 and is considered to be one of the best leaders in Pakistan Cricket history.

Inzamam rose to fame in the semi-final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup, in which he scored 60 off 37 balls against a strong New Zealand team. His strong batting performance also propelled Pakistan to victory in the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He remained one of the team's leading batsmen throughout the decade in both Test and ODI cricket.

In 2003, he was appointed captain of the Pakistan team. His tenure as captain ended after Pakistan's early exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup. On 5 October 2007, Inzamam retired from international cricket following the second Test match against South Africa, falling three runs short of Javed Miandad as Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket. Following his retirement, he joined the Indian Cricket League, captaining the Hyderabad Heroes in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 competition. In the ICL's second edition, he captained the Lahore Badshahs, a team composed entirely of Pakistani cricketers.
Born 3 March 1970 (age 44) Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
Nickname Inzy
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Batting style Right-Hand
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox
Role Batsman
National side Pakistan
Test debut4 June 1992 v England
Last Test 5 October 2007 v South Africa
ODI debut 22 November 1991 v West Indies
Last ODI 21 March 2007 v Zimbabwe
ODI shirt no. 8

Sir John Berry Jack Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as The Master, he is regarded by critics as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.

He is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with 61,760 runs and 199 centuries. A right-handed batsman and an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Hobbs also excelled as a fielder, particularly in the position of cover point.
Full name John Berry Hobbs
Born 16 December 1882 Cambridge, England
Died 21 December 1963 (aged 81) Hove, East Sussex, England
Nickname The Master
Batting style right-handed (RHB)
Bowling style right-arm medium pace (RM)
Role opening batsman
National side England
Test debut 1 January 1908 v Australia
Last Test 16 August 1930 v Australia

Walter Reginald Wally Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England. Primarily a middle-order batsman, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him in his obituary as one of the four best batsmen in the history of cricket.

He was considered to be the best English batsman of the 1930s by commentators and those with whom he played; they also said that he was one of the best slip fielders ever. Hammond was an effective fast-medium pace bowler and contemporaries believed that if he had been less reluctant to bowl, he could have achieved even more with the ball than he did.

In a Test career spanning 85 matches, he scored 7,249 runs and took 83 wickets. Hammond captained England in 20 of those Tests, winning four, losing three, and drawing 13. His career aggregate of runs was the highest in Test cricket until surpassed by Colin Cowdrey in 1970; his total of 22 Test centuries remained an English record until Alastair Cook surpassed it in December 2012.

In 1933, he set a record for the highest individual Test innings of 336 not out, surpassed by Len Hutton in 1938. In all first-class cricket, he scored 50,551 runs and 167 centuries, respectively the seventh and third highest totals by a first-class cricketer as of 2013. With the ball, he took 732 wickets.
Full name Walter Reginald Hammond
Born 19 June 1903 Dover, Kent, England
Died 1 July 1965 (aged 62) Kloof, Natal, South Africa
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm fast-medium
Role Middle-order batsman
National side England
Test debut 24 December 1927 v South Africa
Last Test 25 March 1947 v New Zealand

Shaun Pollock was a fast-medium seam bowler, with the ability to deliver a quicker ball with accuracy and swing. The nephew of legendary South African cricketer Graeme Pollock and the son of former South African fast bowler Peter Pollock, expectations from him were high since he started playing for South Africa in 1995/96, in their home series against England.

He cemented his place in the team with some excellent performances and found a steady bowling partner in Allan Donald. They were to be the mainstay of South African bowling till Donald's retirement.

Pollock was also a very useful hard-hitting batsman, whose style bears some resemblance to his famous uncle on occasions. He has normally batted at 7 or 8, with a Test average of over 30 and ODI average above 25. He is also an athletic fielder.

After Hansie Cronje was banned from cricket for life, Pollock took over the captaincy in April 2000. He had the task of boosting the morale of the team in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal. After getting off to a good start as a captain he faced some disappointing series losses in his tenure.

He was eventually removed from the captaincy after South Africa's poor performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, a tournament that they were amongst the favourites to win as the host nation.
Full name Shaun Maclean Pollock
Born 16 July 1973 (age 40) Port Elizabeth, Cape Province, South Africa
Nickname Polly
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm fast-medium
Role Bowling all-rounder
Relations AM Pollock (grandfather) PM Pollock (father) RG Pollock (uncle)
National side South Africa
Test debut (cap 261) 16 November 1995 v England
Last Test 10 January 2008 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 39) 9 January 1996 v England
Last ODI 3 February 2008 v West Indies
ODI shirt no. 7

Mohammad Javed Miandad popularly known as Javed Miandad is a former Pakistani cricketer who played between 1975 and 1996. He is Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket. ESPNcricinfo described him as the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced.

He has served as a captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He is widely known for ? his historic last ball big sixer against India in 1986, when 4 runs were required to win ? winning an international game in that fashion for the first time. After his playing career, he has remained the coach of Pakistan cricket team at various occasions, as well as held positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board. He had three coaching stints with the Pakistan national team.
Full name Mohammad Javed Miandad
Born 12 June 1957 (age 56) Karachi, West Pakistan
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm leg break
Role Batsman
National side Pakistan
Test debut 9 October 1976 v New Zealand
Last Test 16 December 1993 v Zimbabwe
ODI debut 11 June 1975 v West Indies
Last ODI 8 March 1996 v India