da pixbet： Shane Warne revealed the top ten of his greatest cricketer’s list in his column
Cricinfo staff01-Sep-2007
“Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter,” Warne wrote about Tendulkar © Getty Images
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 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.”Warne and Tendulkar clashed several times on the field, but their most famous battles were on Australia’s tour to India in 1997-98. Warne struck the first salvo, dismissing Tendulkar for 4 in the first Test, but was then taken apart in the second, going for 122 runs in 30 overs as Tendulkar smashed a matchwinning unbeaten 155. Tendulkar finished the series with an average of 111, while Warne’s ten wickets cost him 54 apiece.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. “He has helped to turn Sri Lanka into a formidable side at home,” Warne wrote. “It is also worth remembering the work he did in the aftermath of the tsunami when he gave so much hope to people in despair.”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.Shane Warne’s list of greatest cricketers
1 Sachin Tendulkar2 Brian Lara3 Curtly Ambrose4 Allan Border5 Glenn McGrath6 Wasim Akram7 Muttiah Muralitharan8 Ricky Ponting9 Mark Taylor10 Ian Healy11 Courtney Walsh12 Mark Waugh13 Anil Kumble14 Rahul Dravid15 Graham Gooch16 Andrew Flintoff17 Matthew Hayden18 Merv Hughes19 Aravinda de Silva20 Adam Gilchrist21 David Boon22 Martin Crowe23 Stephen Fleming24 Brett Lee25 Darren Lehmann26 Steve Waugh27 Jacques Kallis/ Shaun Pollock28 Saeed Anwar/ Mohammad Yousuf29 Shoaib Akhtar/ Craig McDermott30 Kevin Pietersen31 Tim May32 Robin Smith33 Allan Donald34 Bruce Reid35 Michael Vaughan36 Andy Flower37 Stephen Harmison38 Sanath Jayasuriya39 Stuart MacGill40 Kapil Dev41 Justin Langer42 Ravi Shastri43 Michael Atherton44 Alec Stewart45 Waqar Younis46 Dilip Vengsarkar47 Chris Cairns48 Brian McMillan49 Darren Berry50 Jamie Siddons