World Cricket Captains.... (Test matches)

1. Ricky Ponting (Australia)
2. Graeme Smith (South Africa)
3. Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka)
4. Anil Kumble (India)
5. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
6. Chris Gayle (West Indies)
7. Shoaib Mallik (Pakistan)
8. Kevin Pieterson (England) -- In his first test, so placed at No.8

One-Day Captains

1. RIcky Ponting (Australia)
2. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India)
3. Graeme Smith (South Africa)
4. Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka)
5. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
6. Shoaib Mallik (Pakistan)
7. Chris Gayle (West Indies)
8. Kevin Pieterson (England) --- yet to captain, so placed at no.8

Certainly, Ponting - Smith - Jayawardena are in the all-round class of their own...

Shows a legacy building in each of those countries, when it comes to leadership

Last 4 captains --

Australia --- Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting
South Africa- Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, Shaun Pollock and Graeme Smith
Sri Lanka--- Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Attapatu and Mahela Jayawardena

very strong captains...

Grame Smith #1...Test Arena
Daniel Vettori #1.. ODI Arena.

In reply to Raggs

Smith Vs Ponting in tests is arguable

But Vettori is not even close to Ponting, Dhoni, Smith and Jayawardena.

i would put mahela as number one both forms of the game...well...maybe 2 in odis...

What has Mahela done?

In reply to thefacts

For what Vetorri gat ta work with, we works wonders.
Smith been in de bizzness longer dan all of dem......always top 3 ICC ratings..

In reply to Surya


doesw a good captain mean they have to be winning?....


well then this thread title needs to be modified to state the most winningest captains...

In reply to larafan

No he doesn't have to be winning....

But the captain's performance should lift the team and his handling of his team, is the key!!

I think the way Ponting handles his team, is just the benchmark of Professionalism.

Graeme Smith is a more vocal and passionate captain, more like a war-leader!!

Dhoni is captain cool. Sort of in the Steve Waugh mould. His calm attitude and fearless approach has brought India lot of self-belief recently.

Jayawardena is an amazing performer as a leader. He has some way to go in Test cricket, but in ODI's, he has handled Sri Lanka exceedingly well.

These guys are more than the result sheet for their team.... and it shows.

so what is the real point of this thread?

In reply to doosra

The real point is just a reflection... on the good, the bad and the ugly -- side of world cricket, when it comes to captaincy...

There are (& have been) so many captains.... each with his own unique style, yet they all can be brought under broader categories.

For us, in the West Indies, there is really no culture of leadership.
West Indies captaincy, has always been about the individual personality of the player chosen to lead.
The team, then has either gone ahead and moulded itself or resisted in adopting that personality of the leader.

Unlike, teams like Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa, where you can say, the teams play pretty much the same way, irrespective of the individual personality of the captain.

West Indies, much like India, Pakistan and England -- depend heavily on the captains personality... hence, there is a great fluctuation in the team character, with each captain....

For India, since 2000, Sourav Ganguly has set a team culture, which is to play tough cricket.... and his legacy has been greatly followed up with Dravid, Dhoni and Anil Kumble. But since the same bunch of players are still playing since 2000, its hard to say, whether this is now a set thing in the cricket culture and will be followed with future Indian teams to come or is it just to do, with the current crop of players. So still early days with indian leadership culture.

Pakistan and England, are the most leader oriented teams, along with West Indies.. a average captain, will certainly mean a poor team!!

It took an Imran Khan or Wasim akram to give Pakistan its glory days.... for England, despite having wonderful players throughout 70's, 80's, it has come back amongst the top teams, in the Michael Vaughan era... Pakistan, even today has wonderful individual players, but is not able to work as a team...

Bottom line. This thread, more than anything else, gives a view, of what are the effective and different styles of captaincy and whether a case can be drawn out for lesser successful captains, to learn from the better one's!

Dhoni leads the pack in ODI's. Just how he has made a young team into a winning team is beyond a lot of people.

In reply to jen
spot on man..

In reply to thefarts

that was a lengthy one bro...

In reply to thefacts

In reply to Surya

for all of 5 overs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In reply to Surya

You're funny, I believe you mean Gayle's feet stand firmly. (For a small bit of time)

In reply to Surya
true!
!

In reply to barbar

You've got it wrong, he doesnt stand firmly at the crease, his FEET DO.