Players who take your breath away

Over on the Silly Point donthaveaclue has written about the 10 players who in his opinion annihilate attacks or rip through opposition batting line-ups. I started thinking about who would be in my top 10 and here's the list. Positions 2-10 are rather fluid and players move up and down depending on what mood I'm in.

10. Lance Klusener
In the one day game there have been few people who have been able to finish innings as well as Klusener. He particularly excelled when it came to performing in World Cups and dragged South Africa over the line on several occasions when they seemed down and out.

9. Kevin Pietersen
Switch hits for six, flamingo flicks through midwicket and the Red Bull single to get off the mark. The man is so special they have had to invent names forsome of his shots. He can score quickly in all forms of the game and has a habit of scoring big hundreds. His performances in his debut one day series against South Africa and in the 2005 Ashes are perfect examples of his ability to smash the ball around the ground no matter who is bowling.

8. Herschelle Gibbs
There are few players who would bat well enough for their team to be able to chase 434 in a one day game but Gibbs made 175 from 111 balls and South Africa beat Australia. He has played many innings in a similar fashion no matter what form of the game and the match situation but none better than that.

7. Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose
The ultimate double act. Opening bowlers for the West Indies and the last world class examples (for now) of their feted fast bowlers. 421 wickets between them in the 49 tests they played together shows how they were vital for the West Indies and their ability to continually pick up wickets. Both were genuinely quick and fantastic to watch.

6. Andrew Flintoff
He makes this list thanks to performances with the bat and ball. Highlights of his batting include the 2005 Ashes while his spell to Jacques Kallis at Edgbaston this year was breath-taking to watch.

5. Virender Sehwag
He has become hit and miss recently but still scores at a rate of 99 in one day cricket and 77 in test cricket. His triple hundred off 278 balls against South Africa in Chennai (2008) as well as his 309 against Pakistan in 2004 were wonderful examples of the shots he is capable of playing when in good form.

4. Shane Warne
There are too many unbelievable performances for me to go through. His spell in the 1999 World Cup against South Africa and 40 wickets in the 2005 Ashes are the two that stand out immediately. He made leg spin and cricket cool.

3. Allan Donald
There are few better sights in the game than watching stumps go flying and Donald did that a lot. He would always run in as fast as he could even when the game seemed lost and more often than not made something happen.

2. Sachin Tendulkar
Probably the greatest batsman since Bradman. He can hit balls for boundaries or sixes that lesser mortals would tap for a single or leave alone. 'Nuff said.

1. Adam Gilchrist
In case you hadn't worked it out yet, Gilchrist is my cricketing idol. I would get up at 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning just to watch him bat. Sometimes it would be worth it and other times he’d get out in about five mins after I’d stayed up for 3 hours waiting for him and I’d feel like crying (the only thing I love more than cricket is sleep lol). He was one of the main reasons that Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting could demand his team to try and score at 4 an over to give the bowlers time to bowl sides out twice.

His innings of 201* against South Africa in 2002 was exceptional as was his maiden Test hundred in a game that everyone said Australia couldn’t win. Even when he wasn’t in the greatest form he could tear attacks apart - his 57 ball hundred against England at Perth in 2007 being a great example. As an opener in one day cricket he could win games for Australia almost by himself as his innings in the 2007 World Cup final showed.

I’m waiting to find a player who can make me feel that way about the game again. Others such as Tendulkar come close in my opinion but Gilchrist was one of a kind - the first and so far only player I really idolised.

So that's that. Anyone I've missed or shouldn't have included in your opinion then comment away.

Vaughan left out

Michael Vaughan has been told by the selectors that he hasn't done enough in county cricket to be given a place on the tour to India. In my opinion this is the right decision. In terms of Vaughan's form he has averaged 23 for Yorkshire this year and hasn't played a significant or substantial innings since his resignation as England captain.

The decision to leave him out would make things easier for KP as well. India is a difficult place to tour at the best of times and having Vaughan there in the background provides the potential for conflict. Vaughan has recently said that he won't get in KP's way but I think that when things go wrong (which they are likely to do at some point) the press and maybe the players would find it easy to say that under Vaughan, things would have been different.

The last tour of Australia in 2006-07 showed that Vaughan can make things difficult when he wants to. He followed Flintoff's England around Australia supposedly working on his fitness but having plenty to say to the press about how the team was going. The conflict between Flintoff, Fletcher and Vaughan was distracting for the players and was part of the reason England imploded so spectacularly and were whitewashed.

As for Vaughan, going away to play in South Africa, New Zealand or Australia this winter could give him the chance to play a series of innings, spend time in the middle, get his feet moving in time again and pick up some form. If he scored runs this winter the selectors would be likely to pick him for the England tour to the West Indies in order to see if he would be ready for the Ashes later in 2009. Vaughan's presence as a player in the Ashes would be wonderful to see - when in form he is one of the best batsmen around to watch and scores at a quick rate as well.

Hints for Stanford series?

England fans got an early look at the possible tactics of our Twenty-20 batsmen in the Stanford trophy later this year, as the one-day game against South Africa was shortened due to rain and became a 20 over run chase.

While the openers appeared to get a little carried away with the idea of scoring boundaries and managed to get themselves out, Owais Shah, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff showed that the middle order have the ability to improvise, take advantage of poor deliveries and manage a run chase. Flintoff in particular looks in fantastic form and played with maturity. Since coming back from injury he has played himself in and then looked to start swinging instead of swinging every ball and hoping it worked. His confidence with the ball appears to be helping him with the bat.

Bring on the West Indians and Middlesex!