The 54 Greatest Cricketers of All Time

Batters against bowlers, eras against eras, Tests against the short forms. There is no settling it on paper, so this one is settled by votes: two players at a time, one pick each.

1. 1
   Sachin Tendulkar

   One hundred international centuries and 34,000 runs across a 24-year career.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Don Bradman

   A Test batting average of 99.94, a figure no other cricketer has come close to.
   984pts
3. 3
   AB de Villiers

   Holds the fastest one-day fifty, hundred and 150, and could bat anywhere in the order.
   699pts
4. 4
   Glenn McGrath

   563 Test wickets built almost entirely on landing the ball in the same spot.
   699pts
5. 5
   Sydney Barnes

   Edwardian bowler often called the greatest ever, who took 189 Test wickets at 16.43, including 49 in a single series in South Africa.
   663pts
6. 6
   Shane Warne

   708 Test wickets and the delivery that bowled Mike Gatting in 1993.
   663pts
7. 7
   Curtly Ambrose

   Antiguan fast bowler with 405 Test wickets at 20.99, whose spell of seven wickets for one run at Perth in 1993 is legendary.
   663pts
8. 8
   Victor Trumper

   Australia's golden-age batsman, famous for scoring a hundred before lunch on the first day of the 1902 Old Trafford Test on a wet pitch.
   641pts
9. 9
   Matthew Hayden

   Powerful Australian opener whose 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003 briefly held the Test record, with 30 Test hundreds in all.
   623pts
10. 10
    Wally Hammond

    Elegant England batsman of the 1920s and 30s who made 7,249 Test runs, including 336 not out against New Zealand, and was a fine slip fielder.
    623pts
11. 11
    Chris Gayle

    The Universe Boss, West Indies opener with two Test triple hundreds, the first T20 international century and a record 175 not out in the IPL.
    579pts
12. 12
    Garfield Sobers

    Batted, bowled three different styles and fielded anywhere, all at Test standard.
    529pts
13. 13
    Wasim Akram

    The finest left-arm fast bowler in the game's history, with 916 international wickets.
    529pts
14. 14
    Virat Kohli

    The most prolific chaser in one-day cricket, with more one-day international hundreds than any other batter and a fixture of India's top order for over fifteen years.
    529pts
15. 15
    Javed Miandad

    Pakistan's street-smart batting great with 8,832 Test runs, famous for his last-ball six to beat India at Sharjah in 1986.
    529pts
16. 16
    Graeme Pollock

    South African left-hander whose Test average of 60.97 is second only to Bradman's among long careers, cut short by the sporting boycott.
    529pts
17. 17
    Clive Lloyd

    Captain who led West Indies to the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 and built their era of fast-bowling dominance.
    473pts
18. 18
    Kumar Sangakkara

    Averaged over 57 in Tests while also keeping wicket for much of his career.
    473pts
19. 19
    Rohit Sharma

    India's opener with a record three one-day double centuries, including 264, who captained India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title.
    473pts
20. 20
    Richie Benaud

    Leg-spinning all-rounder and shrewd Australian captain who was first to 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in Tests, later the voice of cricket.
    473pts
21. 21
    George Headley

    Jamaican batsman called the Black Bradman, who averaged over 60 in Tests and carried West Indies batting through the 1930s.
    473pts
22. 22
    Everton Weekes

    One of the three Ws of Barbados, who scored a record five consecutive Test centuries in 1948 and averaged 58.61.
    473pts
23. 23
    Joel Garner

    Towering Barbadian fast bowler known as Big Bird, whose yorkers made him one of the most economical bowlers in one-day history.
    473pts
24. 24
    W. G. Grace

    The bearded Victorian who shaped modern batting, scoring over 54,000 first-class runs and taking more than 2,800 wickets across a 44-year career.
    410pts
25. 25
    Mahela Jayawardene

    Sri Lanka's stylish batsman and captain who scored 374 against South Africa in 2006 as part of a world-record 624 partnership.
    410pts
26. 26
    Jasprit Bumrah

    India's unorthodox fast bowler, named player of the tournament when India won the 2024 T20 World Cup and a leader of the Test attack.
    410pts
27. 27
    Anil Kumble

    India's leg-spinner who took 619 Test wickets and became the second man to take all ten wickets in a Test innings, against Pakistan in 1999.
    410pts
28. 28
    Adam Gilchrist

    Wicketkeeper who redefined the role with explosive batting, including 149 in the 2007 World Cup final and 17 Test hundreds.
    410pts
29. 29
    Dale Steyn

    South African fast bowler who topped the Test rankings for a record stretch and took 439 wickets at an outstanding strike rate.
    410pts
30. 30
    Jack Hobbs

    England and Surrey opener known as The Master, whose nearly 200 first-class centuries and 61,000-plus runs remain records nobody has approached.
    410pts
31. 31
    James Anderson

    Took over 700 Test wickets and kept playing at the top past his fortieth birthday.
    410pts
32. 32
    Rahul Dravid

    The Wall, India's technically flawless No. 3 who scored more than 13,000 Test runs and over 10,000 in one-day internationals.
    410pts
33. 33
    Michael Holding

    Whispering Death, the silky-smooth West Indies fast bowler whose 14 wickets at The Oval in 1976 remain one of the great displays of pace.
    410pts
34. 34
    Muttiah Muralitharan

    800 Test wickets, the most anyone has taken, with an action that was argued about for years.
    410pts
35. 35
    Vivian Richards

    Faced the fastest bowling of his era without a helmet and averaged over fifty.
    410pts
36. 36
    Ben Stokes

    All-rounder behind England's 2019 World Cup final win and the miracle 135 not out at Headingley the same summer, later Test captain.
    410pts
37. 37
    Joe Root

    England's all-time leading Test run-scorer, passing Alastair Cook's record in 2024, with a classical technique and a flood of hundreds.
    338pts
38. 38
    Allan Border

    Captain who rebuilt Australia into a world power, winning the 1987 World Cup and retiring with a then-record 11,174 Test runs.
    338pts
39. 39
    Sanath Jayasuriya

    Sri Lanka's explosive opener who transformed one-day batting and was player of the tournament as Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup.
    338pts
40. 40
    Dennis Lillee

    Australia's fearsome fast bowler of the 1970s and 80s, who retired with a then world-record 355 Test wickets.
    338pts
41. 41
    Brian Lara

    Holds the highest individual Test score at 400 not out, and the first-class record at 501.
    338pts
42. 42
    Ricky Ponting

    Captained Australia to two World Cups and scored over 27,000 international runs.
    338pts
43. 43
    Steve Smith

    The highest Test batting average of any modern player, built on a technique nobody teaches.
    255pts
44. 44
    Sunil Gavaskar

    India's opener who mastered the great West Indies pace attacks without a helmet and was the first man to 10,000 Test runs.
    255pts
45. 45
    MS Dhoni

    The only captain to win all three ICC white-ball trophies, the 2007 World T20, the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.
    255pts
46. 46
    Jacques Kallis

    More than 13,000 Test runs and nearly 300 Test wickets in the same career.
    255pts
47. 47
    Imran Khan

    Won Pakistan the 1992 World Cup as captain and took 362 Test wickets.
    255pts
48. 48
    Ian Botham

    England's great all-rounder who won the 1981 Ashes almost single-handedly at Headingley and took 383 Test wickets alongside 14 hundreds.
    255pts
49. 49
    Waqar Younis

    Pakistan's master of reverse swing and toe-crushing yorkers, with 373 Test and 416 one-day wickets alongside Wasim Akram.
    255pts
50. 50
    Keith Miller

    Charismatic Australian all-rounder of Bradman's 1948 Invincibles, a wartime fighter pilot who scored nearly 3,000 Test runs and took 170 wickets.
    158pts
51. 51
    Steve Waugh

    Uncompromising captain who led Australia to a record 16 consecutive Test wins and the 1999 World Cup, scoring 10,927 Test runs.
    158pts
52. 52
    Courtney Walsh

    Jamaican fast bowler of remarkable stamina who became the first man to take 500 Test wickets and finished with 519.
    158pts
53. 53
    Kapil Dev

    India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain and the first to 400 Test wickets.
    158pts
54. 54
    Len Hutton

    Yorkshire opener whose 364 against Australia in 1938 stood as the Test record for twenty years, and England's first professional captain.
    0pts

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