Re: Shane Warne, My top 50 greatest cricketers
^ Javed was definitely among the top three batsmen of his time. He averaged 52.57 in tests. The other great test batsmen of his time were Richards (50.23), Gavaskar (51.12), Greg Chappell (53.86), Greenidge (44.72), Haynes (42.29), Border (50.56), Gower (44.24), Boycott (47.72) and Gooch (42.58)
http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/223646.html](http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/223646.html)
And in ODIs Miandad averaged 41.70. The other great batsmen of his time were Richards (47), Greenidge (45.03), Dean Jones (44.61), Haynes (41.37), Zaheer Abbas (47.62), Martin Crowe (38.55) and Azharuddin (36.92)
http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/83548.html](http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/83548.html)
Yes some people would always try to put him down because of pure bias, that incident with Thomson ((ask yourself who provoked it (Thomson kicked him in the butt) and Miandad only raised his bat in anger. He did not actually hit Thomson)) and his occ. over the top clowning and gesturing etc. but as a batsman Miandad was very special, very very dependable.
Yes Miandad’s overall record against WI was n’t great but he did score two hundreds in the Caribbean when Marshall was at his peak. His stats against all the other major test playing nations of his time are impressive. Infact Miandad has a better record against Australia, India and NZ than Viv Richards
Miandad
Javed Miandad - Test Cricket - Performance Analysis by Opponent](Javed Miandad - Test Cricket - Performance Analysis by Opponent)
Viv Richards was arguably the best batsman of that era but he did not have such an impressive record against Pakistan either, only two hundreds in 16
tests (cf. Miandad v WI) and his average of 41.96 is his lowest against any test opponent (a credit to Imran, Qadir and Wasim Akram among others). Also don’t forget Viv never had to face his own fearsome bowlers
Richards
Viv Richards - Test Cricket - Performance Analysis by Opponent](Viv Richards - Test Cricket - Performance Analysis by Opponent)
To his immense credit Gavaskar averaged 65.45 against the mighty West Indies with 13 hundreds but his record against England was just about ok
Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar - Test Cricket - Performance Analysis by Opponent](Sunil Gavaskar - Test Cricket - Performance Analysis by Opponent)
And this is what the veteran English journalist Scyld Berry had to say about Miandad.
**"**Miandad was the greatest Test run-scorer and scrapper Pakistan has ever produced. His street-fighting qualities indeed almost led to a fight with Dennis Lillee at Perth in 1983-84, when Miandad raised his bat to strike in anger. Normally he used it like a maestro to work the ball into space or play big shots, and there was a touch of genie or genius about his finest innings, like his two hundreds in successive Tests in the West Indies in 1987-88. As a captain he was too abrasive to get on with all of his players, but nobody can touch his record of being the only cricketer to play in the first six World Cups, starting as a legspinning allrounder in 1975 when he had just turned 18. As Pakistan’s coach, he had his ups and downs. After three stints in charge, he parted company with the team in 2004 to make may for Bob Woolmer after being blamed for Pakistan’s one-day and Test losses to India. Scyld Berry"
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/40879.html](http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/40879.html)
OK enough of stats for now.