Top 10 Greatest Cricket Players of All Time

The Australian batsman who played from 1928 to 1948 has a Test batting average of 99.94 -- so far above the second-highest average of 61.87 that statisticians have calculated it represents a 4 standard deviation outlier from the mean performance of all cricketers, more extreme than any outlier in any other professional sport. England's 1932-33 Bodyline series -- bowling short-pitched deliveries at Bradman's body -- was devised specifically to curb his scoring and caused a diplomatic crisis between Australia and Britain.

Widely regarded as the most devastating batsman in cricket history in his era, Viv Richards of Antigua scored 8,540 Test runs at an average of 50.23 for the West Indies from 1974 to 1991, but his impact on the game extended beyond statistics -- his refusal to wear a helmet against the fastest bowlers in history (Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Michael Holding) while averaging above 50 made him an icon of personal courage and cultural pride across the Caribbean.

Australian leg-spin bowler Shane Warne transformed the art of spin bowling from a defensive weapon into an attacking force, taking 708 Test wickets at 25.41 over a career spanning 1992 to 2007 -- the second-highest tally in Test history. His first ball in an Ashes Test in 1993, which turned sharply to dismiss Mike Gatting through an apparently impossible angle, became known as the Ball of the Century and is replayed more often than any other delivery in cricket history.

The highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history with 800 wickets at an average of 22.72, Sri Lanka's off-spinning mystery bowler had a bowling action that was twice officially cleared by the ICC despite producing turn and bounce that seemed physically impossible from his unusual elbow joint. His 800th and final wicket, taken in his last Test match against India in 2010, was a fitting conclusion to the most prolific bowling career in cricket history.

The only cricketer to be knighted for his services to the game while still playing, Garfield Sobers of Barbados scored 8,032 Test runs at 57.78 while also taking 235 wickets as a left-arm bowler capable of three different bowling styles -- making him the only all-round cricketer in history who might have been selected for the same team as a specialist batsman AND specialist bowler. In 1968 he hit six sixes in a single over off Malcolm Nash -- the first time it had been done in first-class cricket.

Pakistan's greatest cricketer captained his country to their only Cricket World Cup victory in 1992 at age 39, having rebuilt a team from a position of 43 for 4 in the final against England to win 249 to 227. Imran Khan took 362 Test wickets at 22.81 while scoring 3,807 Test runs at 37.69 -- statistics that make him the greatest all-rounder in Pakistan's history -- before retiring to found a cancer hospital in memory of his mother and enter politics.

The only batsman to hold the record for the highest individual score in both Test cricket (400 not out vs England, 2004) and first-class cricket (501 not out, 1994), Trinidad's Brian Lara was the most technically gifted stroke-maker in the post-Sobers era, with a backlift of extreme height that produced a crack-of-the-bat sound so distinctive it was recognizable from across a stadium. He scored 11,953 Test runs at 52.88 despite playing for a West Indies side in long-term decline.

Pakistan's left-arm fast bowler, who took 414 Test wickets and 502 ODI wickets -- the most by any fast bowler in ODI history -- was the first bowler to master reverse swing (making an old ball swing in the opposite direction to conventional swing) and became its greatest exponent. His ability to swing the ball both ways at express pace made him virtually unplayable in the final overs of an innings, and he is the only bowler to take four consecutive wickets in four balls in two separate ODIs.

India's greatest fast bowler and all-rounder captained India to their first Cricket World Cup victory in 1983, hitting a remarkable 175 not out against Zimbabwe in a qualifying match when India appeared certain to be eliminated -- a knock that turned the tournament around. Kapil Dev took 434 Test wickets at 29.64 while scoring 5,248 Test runs at 31.05, making him the first player in history to take 400 Test wickets and score 5,000 Test runs.

The Australian batsman who played from 1928 to 1948 has a Test batting average of 99.94 -- so far above the second-highest average of 61.87 that statisticians have calculated it represents a 4 standard deviation outlier from the mean performance of all cricketers, more extreme than any outlier in any other professional sport. England's 1932-33 Bodyline series -- bowling short-pitched deliveries at Bradman's body -- was devised specifically to curb his scoring and caused a diplomatic crisis between Australia and Britain.

Widely regarded as the most devastating batsman in cricket history in his era, Viv Richards of Antigua scored 8,540 Test runs at an average of 50.23 for the West Indies from 1974 to 1991, but his impact on the game extended beyond statistics -- his refusal to wear a helmet against the fastest bowlers in history (Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Michael Holding) while averaging above 50 made him an icon of personal courage and cultural pride across the Caribbean.

Australian leg-spin bowler Shane Warne transformed the art of spin bowling from a defensive weapon into an attacking force, taking 708 Test wickets at 25.41 over a career spanning 1992 to 2007 -- the second-highest tally in Test history. His first ball in an Ashes Test in 1993, which turned sharply to dismiss Mike Gatting through an apparently impossible angle, became known as the Ball of the Century and is replayed more often than any other delivery in cricket history.

The highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history with 800 wickets at an average of 22.72, Sri Lanka's off-spinning mystery bowler had a bowling action that was twice officially cleared by the ICC despite producing turn and bounce that seemed physically impossible from his unusual elbow joint. His 800th and final wicket, taken in his last Test match against India in 2010, was a fitting conclusion to the most prolific bowling career in cricket history.

The only cricketer to be knighted for his services to the game while still playing, Garfield Sobers of Barbados scored 8,032 Test runs at 57.78 while also taking 235 wickets as a left-arm bowler capable of three different bowling styles -- making him the only all-round cricketer in history who might have been selected for the same team as a specialist batsman AND specialist bowler. In 1968 he hit six sixes in a single over off Malcolm Nash -- the first time it had been done in first-class cricket.

Pakistan's greatest cricketer captained his country to their only Cricket World Cup victory in 1992 at age 39, having rebuilt a team from a position of 43 for 4 in the final against England to win 249 to 227. Imran Khan took 362 Test wickets at 22.81 while scoring 3,807 Test runs at 37.69 -- statistics that make him the greatest all-rounder in Pakistan's history -- before retiring to found a cancer hospital in memory of his mother and enter politics.

The only batsman to hold the record for the highest individual score in both Test cricket (400 not out vs England, 2004) and first-class cricket (501 not out, 1994), Trinidad's Brian Lara was the most technically gifted stroke-maker in the post-Sobers era, with a backlift of extreme height that produced a crack-of-the-bat sound so distinctive it was recognizable from across a stadium. He scored 11,953 Test runs at 52.88 despite playing for a West Indies side in long-term decline.

Pakistan's left-arm fast bowler, who took 414 Test wickets and 502 ODI wickets -- the most by any fast bowler in ODI history -- was the first bowler to master reverse swing (making an old ball swing in the opposite direction to conventional swing) and became its greatest exponent. His ability to swing the ball both ways at express pace made him virtually unplayable in the final overs of an innings, and he is the only bowler to take four consecutive wickets in four balls in two separate ODIs.

India's greatest fast bowler and all-rounder captained India to their first Cricket World Cup victory in 1983, hitting a remarkable 175 not out against Zimbabwe in a qualifying match when India appeared certain to be eliminated -- a knock that turned the tournament around. Kapil Dev took 434 Test wickets at 29.64 while scoring 5,248 Test runs at 31.05, making him the first player in history to take 400 Test wickets and score 5,000 Test runs.