Top 10 Greatest Cricketers of All Time

10. Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram (born 3 June 1966) is a former Pakistani cricketer.  Akram is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of cricket. He holds the world record for most wickets in List A cricket with 881 and is second only to Sri Lankan off-spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of ODI wickets with 502. He is considered to be one of the founders and perhaps the finest exponent of reverse swing bowling. Akram had a very special talent to move the ball both ways in one delivery which is called “double swing of Wasim Akram”. No one in cricket history has done it so far. He is Currently The Brand Ambassador alongside Ramiz Raja and Director of PSL Franchise Team Islamabad United (PSL).

9. Shane Warne

Shane Keith Warne (born 13 September 1969) is an Australian former international cricketer, widely regarded as one of the best bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet and the only one still playing at the time. Warne played his first Test match in 1992, and took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals), second to this milestone after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.In 2007, Cricket Australia and Sri Lanka Cricket decided to name the Australia- Sri Lanka Test cricket series, Warne–Muralidaran Trophy in honour of Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.

8. Brian Lara

Brian Charles Lara (born 2 May 1969) is a former Trinidadian international cricket player.

He is widely acknowledged as one of the supreme batsman of his era, and one of the finest ever to have graced the game. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out. Lara also holds the record for the highest individual score in a test innings after scoring 400 not out against England at Antigua in 2004. He is the only batsman to have ever scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class games over the course of a senior career. Lara has played some of his best innings in recent years. Wisden published a top 100 list in July 2001, a distillation of the best performances from 1,552 Tests, 54,494 innings and 29,730 bowling performances. Three innings by Lara were placed in the top 15 (the most for any batsman in that range)

7. Muthiah Muralitharan

Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. He retired from Test cricket in 2010, registering his 800th and final wicket on 22 July 2010 from his final ball in his last Test match. Muralitharan took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir on 5 February 2009 in Colombo to surpass Wasim Akram’s ODI record of 501 wickets. He became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket when he overtook the previous record-holder Shane Warne on 3 December 2007.

6. Jacque Kallis

Jacques Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a former South African cricketer and the current coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.

Kallis is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders ever. As of 2013 he was the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 11,000 runs and 250 wickets in both one-day and Test match cricket. From October to December 2007 he scored five centuries in four Test Matches; with his century in the second innings of the third test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest scorer of Test centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar with 51.

5. Imran Khan

Imran Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) better known as Imran Khan is a Pakistani politician, former cricketer, philanthropist, cricket commentator and former chancellor of the University of Bradford.

He was Pakistan’s most successful cricket captain, leading his country to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, playing for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992, and serving as its captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992. With 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, he is one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an ‘All-rounder’s Triple’ in Test matches. On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

4. Vivians Richard

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952), known as Viv Richards, is a former West Indian cricketer.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, especially in the ODI format of the game. Richards was voted one of the five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, by a 100-member panel of experts, along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne. In February 2002, Richards was judged by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack to have played the best ODI innings of all time. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest ODI batsman of all time, as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all time, after Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. Well deserved Best Cricketer in ODI history.

3. Gary Sobers

Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers (born 28 July 1936), also known as Gary or Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974, and is widely considered to be cricket's greatest all-rounder.

Originally playing mainly as a bowler, he was soon promoted up the batting order. Against Pakistan in 1958, Sobers scored his maiden Test century, progressing to 365 not out and establishing a new record for the highest individual score in an innings, which was not broken until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994. he is surly one of the finest Crickete of all time.

2. Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (born 24 April 1973) is a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

In 2002, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. Tendulkar was a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team in the later part of his career. Almost Every Batting Record Belong To Sechin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar has consistently done well in Cricket World Cups. He highest run scorer of the 1996 Cricket World Cup with a total of 523 runs and also of the 2003 Cricket World Cup with 673 runs. After his century against England during group stages of 2011 Cricket World Cup, he became the player to hit most number of centuries in Cricket World Cups with six centuries and the first player to score 2000 runs in World Cup cricket.

1. Sir Don Bradman

Sir Donald George "Don" Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest Test batsman of all time. Bradman’s career Test batting average of 99.94 is often cited as statistically the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport. During a 20-year playing career, Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him, in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull, “worth three batsmen to Australia”.

PLAYERS LIKE RAHUL DRAVID, ADAM GICHRIST, KUMAR SANGAKARA, RICKEY PONTING AND DHONI DESERVED TO BE MENTIONED IN ALL TIME GREATEST LIST.

The 10 Biggest Doping Scandals In Sport!

10. Justin Gatlin

Justin Gatlin (born February 10, 1982) is an American sprinter, who is an Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter dash. His 100m personal best is 9.74 seconds. He is a twice World indoor champion in the 60-meter dash.

Twice banned for testing positive before returning to sprinting and running faster than ever. The US sprinter almost beat Usain Bolt at this year’s World Championships.

9. Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist. Landis at first appeared to be the winner of the2006 Tour de France, before testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. 

Landis was considered the biggest drugs cheat in cycling until his predecessor as Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong, was finally exposed. The 2006 Tour winner tested positive for an unusually high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone and was banned for two years.

8. The Mitchell Report

 The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, informally known as the "Mitchell Report," is the result of former DemocraticUnited States Senator from Maine George J. Mitchell's 21-month investigation into the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone(HGH) in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Former United States Senator George Mitchell’s inquiry into widespread drug-taking in Major League Baseball found that during the random testing period in 2003, up to 7 per cent of players tested positive for steroid use. In all, 89 former and current MLB players - including legends such as Barry Bonds - were named in the report.

7. The Festina affair

The Festina affair was a series of doping scandals, doping investigations and confessions by riders to doping that occurred during and after the1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a car of the Festina cycling team just before the start of the race.

The discovery of a cache of doping products in the possession of Bruno Roussel's Festina cycling team during the 1998 Tour de France was the first great drugs scandal of modern cycling. The affair led to the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

6. Operacion Puerto

Operación Puerto (Operation Mountain Pass) is the code name of a Spanish Police operation against the doping network of DoctorEufemiano Fuentes, started in May 2006, which resulted in a scandal that involved several of the world's most famous cyclists at the time.

Already a huge doping scandal - the name was bestowed on the case by Spanish police who were targeting the doping ring of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes (pictured) - this could yet be the most explosive ever if an appeal against the destruction of blood bags by a Spanish judge is upheld. Cyclists named in the case included Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Alberto Contador (the latter was ultimately cleared of involvement in the affair by the Spanish courts), and there are suggestions many other high-profile sportspeople could be implicated.

5. The BALCO scandal

The BALCO scandal is a scandal involving the use of banned, performance-enhancing substances by professional athletes. 

Britain’s Dwain Chambers (pictured), Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones and baseball great Barry Bonds were among those found to have been customers of the steroid-producing Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.

4. Diego Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona (born 30 October 1960) is a retired Argentine professional footballer. He has served as a manager and coach at other clubs as well as the national team of Argentina. Many in the sport, including football writers, former players, current players and football fans, regard Maradona as the greatest football player of all time.

From the mid-1980s until 2004 Diego Maradona was addicted to cocaine. He allegedly began using the drug in Barcelona in 1983. By the time he was playing for Napoli he had a regular addiction, which began to interfere with his ability to play football. Over the years following his retirement his health seriously deteriorated. On 4 January 2000, while vacationing in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Maradona had to be rushed to the emergency room of a local clinic. In a press conference, doctors stated that it was detected heart muscle damage due to "an underlying health issue". It was later known that traces of cocaine were found in his blood and Maradona had to explain the circumstances to the police.

One of the greatest footballers of all time was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for ephedrine.

3. Ben Johnson

Benjamin Sinclair "Ben" Johnson, (born December 30, 1961) is a Jamaican-born Canadian former sprinter, who won two Olympicbronze medals and an Olympic gold medal, which was later rescinded. He set consecutive 100 metres world records at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics, but he was disqualified for doping, losing the Olympic title and both records.

The most reviled drugs cheat in athletics. The Canadian was found to have taken steroids to win the 1988 Olympic 100 metres title in a world-record time of 9.79secs. Ultimately, six of the eight finalists from that race tested positive for banned drugs or were implicated in a doping scandal in their careers.

2. Lance Armstrong

Lance Edward Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He is the 1993 Elite Men's Road Race World Champion, and he had won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his Tour de France victories in 2012 after a protracted doping scandal.

Prior to the current scandal engulfing athletics, the revelation by the US Anti-Doping Agency that Armstrong had cheated his way to all seven of his Tour de France titles was the most shocking doping story in sport. Also involved unproven - and vehemently denied - allegations of a cover-up involving cycling's world governing body.

Armstrong continued to deny the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs for four more years, describing himself as the most tested athlete in the world. From his return to cycling in the fall of 2008 through March 2009, Armstrong claims to have submitted to 24 unannounced drug tests by various anti-doping authorities.

1. Athletics doping cover-up

 Bigger than anything that has come before due to senior figures in the sport - including former IAAF president Lamine Diack - being charged with criminal offences after allegedly taking of bribes from Russian athletes, who were found to be part of a state-sponsored doping programme that "sabotaged" London 2012. Russia became the first country suspended for drugs offences.

"Lamine Diack was responsible for organizing and enabling the conspiracy and corruption that took place in the IAAF. He sanctioned and appears to have had personal knowledge of the fraud and the extortion of athletes carried out by the actions of the informal illegitimate governance structure he put in place."

Martin Crowe dies aged 53 after battle with cancer

Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, writer, broadcaster and mentor, has died in Auckland at the age of 53.

Crowe had suffered from lymphoma since 2012, and withdrew from public life in his final months.

"It is with heavy hearts that the family of Martin Crowe, MBE advise his death," his family said in a statement.

"Diagnosed in September 2014 with terminal double hit lymphoma he passed away peacefully today, Thursday 3rd March in Auckland surrounded by family.

"The family request privacy at this time."

Widely considered the finest batsman in New Zealand cricket's history, Crowe debuted against Australia aged 19 in 1982, and quickly established a reputation as the most meticulous of batsmen, his technique widely admired.

In all he would tally a New Zealand record 17 Test centuries, including an innings of 299 against Sri Lanka in Wellington that also stood as the national record until Brendon McCullum overtook it, also at the Basin Reserve.

Arguably Crowe's finest month was his inventive and inspirational leadership of New Zealand during the 1992 World Cup, when he took an unfancied side to the top of the competition table before a narrow defeat to eventual champions Pakistan in the semi-final at Eden Park. This performance confounded many, not least the co-hosts Australia who were completely overshadowed by Crowe's tactics and skill during the opening match of the tournament.

Knee problems were to curtail Crowe thereafter, and he retired from the game in 1995, aged only 33. His post-playing life was to be equally rich and constructive.

He worked often as a television commentator, and was also visionary in his invention of a third format for the game, Cricket Max, that served as a precursor to Twenty20.

In 2011, Crowe made the bold decision to attempt a return to cricket at the age of 48, turning out for his local club side Cornwall with a view to playing again for Auckland. He was to be curtailed not by slowed reflexes but a series of soft tissue injuries.

Most valuably he served as a mentor for several members of the New Zealand side, notably Ross Taylor. After his replacement as captain by McCullum in 2012, Taylor leaned heavily upon Crowe as he rebuilt his confidence and career, going on to play brilliantly for a Test double century against in Perth last year, the highest ever score by a visiting batsman in Australia. Michael Clarke, the former Australia captain, was another friend.

Crowe's influence was also seen in his writing, much of which appeared on ESPNcricinfo, where his advocacy of a more personable era of player behaviour was taken up by McCullum's team. At the end of the recent Australia series, McCullum noted to team-mates that "we got our soul back", and Crowe's influence in this is not to be underestimated.

Despite worsening health as he sought numerous remedies to his lymphoma, Crowe was a welcome presence at last year's World Cup, where he watched McCullum's team go one better than the 1992 team by making the final. Crowe was presented with ICC Hall of Fame status during the pool game between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland, and was also present for the final.

One of his last public appearances would take place in April, when he delivered a typically articulate and heartfelt tribute to the retiring Daniel Vettori.

Crowe is survived by his second wife Lorraine Downes, daughter Emma and step-children Hilton and Jasmine. Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.

source : ESPNcricinfo