Australia's best captain of last 20 years

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froggythomson

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Australia's best captain of last 20 years

After a heated and lengthy discussion last night i need a few different opinions,

who has been Australia's best cricket captain of the last twenty years?

i've always thought Mark Taylor was by far the best tactician and was a bit surprised that i was one out last night and every one else was split between Steve Waugh and Alan Border. While both these gents were excellent leaders of men i still believe Mark Taylor changed the way Test cricket is played with agressive and imaginitive field placings and his insistance on scoring runs quickly

hoping to get some honest opinions on this and i apologise if this point has been raised before

cheers
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

I'm split between Border and Waugh. Border laid the foundations for an era of domination, Waugh made sure it happened.

Welcome to the site, by the way.
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

I am leaning to Border

Waugh had a quality side full of champions with some of the best brains helping him out (Gilchrist and Warney). Of course he need to craft out some hard wins but he had some many high class options that I he could experiment, he could change things up and not have the risks of other captains faced.

Border. Well the guy played in one of Australia's worse era.s The Windies were dominant and Aussie's were average at best. Players in and out. Hhe held the middle/lower order together with some many captains knocks. Pulling us out of danger, rescuing us in times of need and the occaisional domination of the bowling.Its a huge plus the example he set as a player with the bat and the ball at times. Something for the rest of the team to strive for.

Ponting isnt rated very high as well.
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

schwab2clarkson;296270 said:
Hard to split Mark Taylor, Alan Border and Stephen Waugh. All of them have been pretty good.
Click to expand...

But what makes them good?
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

Ponting the worst of the last 20 years.

CAn't really comment on before then.
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

D.K;296285 said:
But what makes them good?
Click to expand...

They are all skillful players who knew how to get the best out of their players and keep their own performance at the same time. I think tactically wise Taylor was the best.
But I have no doubt that Border was the best player captain as he averaged in the 50s in the days that the West Indies had a fiery fast bowling unit.
Waugh took Australia through an era of sheer dominance but the whole team were superstars so he never really had to be a good tactician. He was however a superb batsman and manager of players.
Ponting seems to lack alot of these qualities however and that is why he is definitley the worse bar Kim Hughes who we didn't see much of.
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

Taylor, had the best team but was a great captain. Every time he made a bowling change even a left field one it seemed to work.
Punters good just need's to keep his emotions in check.
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

Buddy23#;299191 said:
Taylor, had the best team but was a great captain. Every time he made a bowling change even a left field one it seemed to work.
Punters good just need's to keep his emotions in check.
Click to expand...

I think Waugh had a better team than Taylor tbh. He had Shane Warne at his peak along with Glenn Mcgrath who could destroy batting line ups single handedly. But they were well backed up by Jason Gillespie who was a sensationable fast bowler until the 2005 ashes he bowled at 145 km/h regularly with good swing and seam it was incredibly good. And the young Brett Lee who ripped in thunderbolts at 150 - 160 km/h regularly he would always unsettle a line up.
Then in the batting Hayden and Langer would put on huge partnerships in their hayday that would almost single handedly take the match away from the opposition. This made a star studded middle order which consited of Ponting Martyn Waugh Waugh and Gilchrist to smash a damaged non moving ball.
 
Re: Australia's best captain of last 20 years

I'd say Border was the best, as he took Australia off the bottom of international cricket and gave Taylor an easy ride, this ride continued on to Waugh and Ponting. Border's winning record doesn't compare to the other 3s but he didnt have a team full of superstars at his disposal and at that stage, test cricket was very competitive, which it hasn't been for the last 10 years or so. Ponting isn't that bad, it's just that other teams are starting to become competitive again and Australia going the other way.
 
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