Sanath, Murali among greatest
Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has named two Sri Lankan
veterans Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan as candidates to
form the greatest One Day International team of all time.
Muttiah Muralitharan |
Dashing left hander Jayasuriya and legendary off spinner Muralitharan
both members of the 30 members World Cup squad are slotted in the
opening and spin category respectively to form the greatest One Day
International team of all time.
The other Sri Lankan players who are included in the list of players
are Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Romesh Kaluwitharana and
Chaminda Vaas.
The International Cricket Council's official website is asking
supporters from across the globe to select their choice of the greatest
One Day International match and team of all-time to mark the 40th
anniversary of ODI cricket.
In his Greatest ODI Team of All Time, Lloyd believed quite a few West
Indies players would make the cut. "Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge,
Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and
Malcolm Marshall, would be some of the contenders for sure."
Lloyd named some of the candidates for the team: Brian Lara, Sachin
Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralidaran, Daniel
Vettori, Sanath Jayasuriya, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Ian
Botham, Javed Miandad, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Adam Gilchrist and Wasim
Akram. "I would love to lead a side like this. It will be dream come
true. If I cannot lead, then there is no one better than Imran Khan for
the job,"
As ODI cricket celebrates its 40th anniversary in January 2011, Lloyd
went down memory lane about his side which is rated the best ever in
cricket history.
"I think the approach we had, showed the way. We played quite a few
shots and enjoyed our cricket. I am sure some of the teams picked it up
from there. Sri Lanka certainly did with Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana in
1996.
'It was our thinking that shots must be played and the paying public
must be entertained. That is the reason the crowds enjoy watching
one-day cricket," said Lloyd.
Lloyd acknowledged that one-day cricket has changed quite a lot since
his time at least in terms of batting.
"At least now they are playing a lot more shots. Now they innovate a
lot. You have the Dilscooop, the reverse sweep, slog sweep and a lot
more. That's what crowds want, entertainment. All this makes one-day
cricket exciting," added Lloyd.
Sanath Jayasuriya |
Lloyd calls one-day cricket the greatest innovation for the sport.
He was part of the early years of the format in the 1960s in England
when it was played on Sunday afternoons between a select side called
International Cavaliers and retired and current county cricketers.
"Whoever thought this format up deserves credit. As the craze grew
everybody realised it was a bonanza. It started off as a 40-over game,
went to 60 overs and we even played 55 overs a side in county cricket.
It (ODIs) has improved the standards of fielding, raised tactical
awareness and also brought in innovation."
Lloyd was also part of the other key moment in history when World
Series Cricket (WSC) brought in new things like day-night cricket, white
ball and coloured clothing in the late 1970s. "We have to thank Kerry
Packer for these things.
He was instrumental for that. We owe him a great debt of gratitude,"
said Lloyd.
So dominant was Lloyd's side in that era that it made the final of
the first three ICC Cricket World Cups with absolute ease and even won
two of those editions (1975, 1979). |