Cricket All-Stars: Warne's Warriors Player Ratings

Cricket All-Stars: Warne’s Warriors Player Ratings: The Warne’s Warriors had a bowling line-up that halted the legends in the Blasters squad and their batsmen seemed to have more than what it takes to dismiss the opposition bowling attack and overhaul whatever score was put ahead of them.

While almost all the bowlers in the other team proved to be ineffective Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara in particular, were the pick from the team. The two batted their team to victory in all the three matches and made sure they had a clear edge in the series. Some serious bowling show from former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds and a world-class spin bowling unit of Shane Warne, Daniel Vettori and Shaqlian Mushtaq distinguished the Warriors from their counterparts.

Here are the ratings of all the players of the Warne’s Warriors:

Matthew Hayden – 4:

Warne had picked the destructive and the ever reliable Haydos to open the innings for his team, but the big Australian could do little in the 3 matches as he could not even score 50 runs collectively from all the outings. A good show from the middle order covered up for his failure.

Michael Vaughan – 3:

If there was one batsman in this team who wasn’t as convincing a T20 batsman, it had to be Michael Vaughan. The former English skipper scored just 30 runs in two innings.

Jacques Kallis – 5:

The best all-rounder of the decade South African Jacques Kallis had quality Twenty20 experience with him heading into the tournament and one saw him in a better position than most to come good. He did perform well but not as much as he was expected to, 58 runs and a wicket from three outings is okay for an all-rounder certainly not Kallis standards, but in the end his team held trophy and that is what counts.

Ricky Ponting – 9:

Ricky Ponting was the man who rose to the occasion for his team, not just in the last match, but every time that he walked out with the bat. Punter made sure he stayed there until the job was done for his team. With 132 runs in 3 innings and a best of 48 not out, he was the second highest run scorer of the league. He was at his best with the bat and his shots were a delight to watch, the former Aussie skipper struck 11 fours and 8 sixes and made sure his team stood first in all the games.

Jonty Rhodes – 4:

Jonty has been around the T20 format for some time being the fielding coach of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL but since being on the sidelines and on the field are two really different things the South African found it a little difficult to take off in this series. He scored 55 runs in 3 matches and played his part to an extent.

Kumar Sangakkara – 9:

He is the man and was rightly named the Player of the Series. Kumar Sangakkara was not only the leading run scorer in the series with 153 runs (41,70 and 42) but all of his knocks were crucial for his team’s victory. Sanga batted as fluently as he did in his international career and was one of those players who did not look like a retired chap since he continues to have the spark and charm in his batting.

Andrew Symonds – 9:

Though he had a not to be discussed economy of 13.11 Symo also got the Warriors regular wickets, in fact in a league full of bowling legends, the best pacers and spinners of their generation this all-rounder grabbed most number of wickets with 8 wickets in 3 matches. Not only that Symonds also scored 51 runs and that certainly makes him the most valuable player and the best all-rounder of the Cricket All-Stars.

Shane Warne (C) – 6:

The skipper of the Warne’s Warriors and the champion captain had an average series as a bowler as he could get rid of just 3 batsmen in the three matches and since he got all the wickets in the same game returning with figures of 3/20 shows that he was little but effective in the remaining matches. Despite that, he led his team like champions and was the skipper who held the trophy, winning all the matches quite comfortably.

Ajit Agarkar – 3:

The former Indian pacer was used by his team in just one match and Agarkar returned with a wicket in it. He was quite expensive in his spell and was taken away for 40 runs from his 4 overs and he failed to make it into the XI after that.

Allan Donald – 4:

He was expected to lead the Warriors’ attack, but the white lightning did not strike this time round and all Allan Donald managed was 1 wicket from 6 overs he bowled in two matches. The batsmen rather enjoyed playing him and scored 71 runs off him, giving him an economy rate of 11.83.

Saqlain Mushtaq – 7: 

The inventor of the ‘doosra’ came out to bowl in the era where the bowlers who attempt to imitate his creation are booked off bowling. Saqlain Mushtaq continued to pose questions ahead of the batsmen and this time he had the best batsmen from his age facing him. The offie scalped two wickets in the only game he played, one among which was that of arch rival Sachin Tendulkar.

Daniel Vettori – 5:

Daniel Vettori was impressive with his slow left-arm bowling in the All-Stars league as well. The Kiwi spinner grabbed 4 wickets in the two matches he was in the squad, with the best bowling effort of 3/33, he was able to maintain a respectable economy of 5.75.

Courtney Walsh – 2:

Courtney Walsh was one of the legends who actually struggled. The West Indian was neither able to prey wicket nor keep the batsmen quite. In the two matches, he played Walsh got just 1 wicket while he costed 71 runs to his team in the 5 overs that he bowled, moreover he was taken apart and had an economy rate of 14.20.

Wasim Akram – 3:

Though Wasim Akram could not draft a single wicket in the 2 matches that he played, he was not easy for the batsmen. He was particularly good in the 1^st match where he bowled as many as 13 dot balls and thus despite having nothing in his wickets tally he had an economy of 8 which is quite decent in comparison to the overall series standards.