My Favourite Cricketer

The art of Z

The art of Z

Watching Zaheer Abbas bat from the other end was a study in the art of elegant batsmanship. And a lesson in running yourself out

29-Nov-2010•Alastair Hignell

The stolid buccaneer

The stolid buccaneer

As batsman, Taylor was safe as houses; as captain, he was an adventurer

17-Oct-2010•Sharda Ugra

Graceful and gracious

Graceful and gracious

Bishan Bedi's talent was vast and he had the heart to match. The beauty of his action was bewitching and he had the cruelty to go with it

23-Sep-2010•Suresh Menon

The flawed, the fabulous

The flawed, the fabulous

Imran was a true hero and he had the cracks in his armour to prove it

20-Sep-2010•Kamran Abbasi

A boy's own idol

A boy's own idol

Les Favell was an inspiration to many - one lad in particular

04-Sep-2010•Mike Coward

A princely state

A princely state

Pataudi brought to Indian cricket a dash of hauteur and a touch of heroism

21-Aug-2010•Mukul Kesavan

Emperor, empowerer

Emperor, empowerer

With his magnetic presence and enormous talent, Richards instilled a sense of self-belief in every team he played for

15-Aug-2010•Scyld Berry

Past perfect

Past perfect

Talent, skill, cricketing smarts and a ferocious will to achieve: the world's most romanticised player had it all

21-Jul-2010•Trevor Chesterfield

The smiling spoilsport

The smiling spoilsport

He may be remembered for one delivery, but there was rather more to the Falstaff-like Warwickshire leggie born 98 years ago today

05-Jun-2010•Michael Billington

Mine's a pint - or 72

Mine's a pint - or 72

To everyone else he was "the rat who joined the sinking ship" but to one impressionable teenager he was a six-foot-tall lamb in need of protecting

29-May-2010•Rob Smyth

First and dearest

First and dearest

A Parsee from Bombay who captured the imagination of an eight-year-old in Lancashire

15-May-2010•Michael Henderson

Piece de resistance

Piece de resistance

An Englishman who made an art out of obduracy

21-Mar-2010•Gideon Haigh

Beefy to the max

Beefy to the max

In the 80s in England, Ian Botham transcended cricket alone - he represented the spirit of achievement in all areas of life

09-Nov-2009•Alan Tyers

A flashing blade, a canny mind

A flashing blade, a canny mind

He may have seemed a trigger-happy dasher, but he also had the sharpest of cricketing brains

15-Oct-2009•Rajan Bala

The promise of Fred

The promise of Fred

Flintoff did for British cricket what Botham did, invigorating and replenishing. He brought fresh hope for the game's future

14-Aug-2009•Rob Steen

Hard and fast

Hard and fast

Take no prisoners, show no mercy. So what if you've got to wear pink on occasion?

03-Jun-2009•Fazeer Mohammed

Portrait of the workman as artist

Portrait of the workman as artist

To one teenager at least, Fraser made relentless application and sweaty doggedness glamorous. Almost

11-May-2009•Andrew Miller

Swing with a smile

Swing with a smile

Meeting one's heroes can often be a disappointment but not for this loyal Queenslander

28-Apr-2009•Peter English

The artful stodger

The artful stodger

In a team of strugglers and second-stringers, one man stood upright and unsmiling against the tide

13-Apr-2009•Malcolm Knox

Baggage claim

Baggage claim

An emblem for a nation, he came to be defined by one stark image… and for one boy growing up in Zimbabwe at the time, an item of cricket kit

02-Apr-2009•Dan Nicholl

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