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Matthew Hayden

18 (20.5%)

Sunil Gavaskar

27 (30.7%)

Geoff Boycott

7 (8%)

Jack Hobbs

15 (17%)

Herbert Sutcliffe

5 (5.7%)

Len Hutton

3 (3.4%)

Other Please specify

13 (14.8%)

Total Members Voted: 86

[Coach]

I just get the feeling people wont mention him as one of the 'Greats' of the game the Bradman - Sobers - Richards ect catagory

[dekaz]

hayden has faced the best bowlers in the world and taken them all to the cleaners at some stage or another.
gavaskar would be no where near hayden if he faced the likes of shaun pollock, anil kumble, alan donald and muralitharan. not to mention hayden faced the likes of glen mcgrath, shan warne and brett lee everyday in the nets!

[ianbuchanan]

i think the most successful opener of all time with no question is arul suppiah!

[Liam-SCCC]

Marcus Trescothick, any form of the game

[Singo]

sehwag has his ups and downs but what about the great tendulkar , he sometimes opens?

[ianbuchanan]

i changed my mind, i think the greatest has got to be neil edwards!

[Jeet]

hayden has faced the best bowlers in the world and taken them all to the cleaners at some stage or another.
gavaskar would be no where near hayden if he faced the likes of shaun pollock, anil kumble, alan donald and muralitharan. not to mention hayden faced the likes of glen mcgrath, shan warne and brett lee everyday in the nets!

Keep dreaming pal. Bowlers like Jeff Thomson, Imran Khan, Malcolm Marshall are up there with any of the bowlers that Hayden faced.

Hayden's lucky to be mentioned in the same breath as Sunny Gavaskar.

[WALSHY]

That's a good joke!

[shoaibuk]

hayden has faced the best bowlers in the world and taken them all to the cleaners at some stage or another.
gavaskar would be no where near hayden if he faced the likes of shaun pollock, anil kumble, alan donald and muralitharan. not to mention hayden faced the likes of glen mcgrath, shan warne and brett lee everyday in the nets!

You know very little about cricket, you poor ignorant little boy.

[art]

These questions always end up getting a little personal don't they.

Gavaskar and Hayden were somewhat different styles of openers who did not set the world alight in there first few tests. Hayden did revolutionise opening (with the help of Langer of course) and in many innings made that great West Indian opening partnership of Greenidge and Haynes look pedestrian.

Howver Gavaskar's career had many negative points including the infamous walkoff in Melbourne in the 80/81 series when he didn't like an umpire's decsion.

Hayden was brutal all all types of wickets. In fact watching Hayden walk at quality fast bowlers on a flirty wicket ranks as the greatest sight I have seen in cricket.

[Jeet]

Art - it's nice of you to mention the blemishes on Gavaskar's cv, but there are alot more high points than low points.

You just have to look at Gavaskar's stats for his debut series in the West Indies. 773 runs at an average of 154.80 (including 4 hundreds (also scoring twin hundreds at Port of Spain) and 3 50's) against a fearsome pace attack. The runs aggregate by Gavaskar in that series remains a record for a debutant.

[art]

Ah yes the blemishes. Cricket is an interesting game and I have always admired those who worked within the Laws and Rules to take an advantage.

Jardine with leg side theory, brilliant and within the laws and Rules. Chappell with the underarm at a crucial time, absolutely wonderful. I could never understand why Australians howled in protest when Grout and benaud appealed after Joe Solomn's cap fell on his wicket in Melbourne, he was out plain and simple. Cricket has never been a fair game to say the least. Spofforth for bringing in the stare and fast bowling to a new high. The great West Indies fast bowlers who never gave you an inch did it (mostly) within the known and accepted boundaries. (Although I remember one match where as I walking at the bowler he passed me before letting go. One of the all time biggest West Indian no balls)

However Gavaskar did leave the field with his batting partner because he thought he was not out. He disregarded the sanctity of the umpire's decision for benefit. And to top that instead of calling the match off they 'negotiated' with him and the match went on (for an Indian win). That blemish and a few recent ones off the field in journalism deminish greatly his repuation in my eyes. I can accept most things in cricket but that performance damned him forever in my eyes.

[Master-Basterd]

Marcus Trescothick. End off.

[Jeet]

Ah yes the blemishes. Cricket is an interesting game and I have always admired those who worked within the Laws and Rules to take an advantage.

Jardine with leg side theory, brilliant and within the laws and Rules. Chappell with the underarm at a crucial time, absolutely wonderful. I could never understand why Australians howled in protest when Grout and benaud appealed after Joe Solomn's cap fell on his wicket in Melbourne, he was out plain and simple. Cricket has never been a fair game to say the least. Spofforth for bringing in the stare and fast bowling to a new high. The great West Indies fast bowlers who never gave you an inch did it (mostly) within the known and accepted boundaries. (Although I remember one match where as I walking at the bowler he passed me before letting go. One of the all time biggest West Indian no balls)

However Gavaskar did leave the field with his batting partner because he thought he was not out. He disregarded the sanctity of the umpire's decision for benefit. And to top that instead of calling the match off they 'negotiated' with him and the match went on (for an Indian win). That blemish and a few recent ones off the field in journalism deminish greatly his repuation in my eyes. I can accept most things in cricket but that performance damned him forever in my eyes.

Think of it as you like, going on stats alone he's the best. He also never had a decent opening parter, so he knew he had to perform, otherwise his side would be under pressure.

Hardly the same for Hayden, the likes of Slater, the Waughs, Ponting, Martyn, Langer, Gilchrist etc in his line up at various times of his career. He had it much easier.

Marcus Trescothick. End off.

What rubbish. He wasn't even the best opener in his era, let alone the best ever.

[art]

Interesting view Jeet and one I will take on board. I always believed that Ponting etc had an easy time because the openers set things up so well.