Recently I read a article about Graeme Smith. It was a very insightful and meaningful article, however one statement made near the end made my toes curl. I am a South African and I love my country but is Smith the best captain currently playing?
I thought I would do some research into recent captaining greats. There are 3 criteria I am going to be looking at.
1.) Captaining record.
weight: max 10 points.
reason: obviously how well you do is very important.
2.) Impact of star players, and their contribution whilst captain led team.
weight: max 10 points.
reason: having great players in your team doesn't prove your skill as a captain.
3.) Personal Record.
weight: max 8 points.
reason: as captain, you still have to perform well.
The captains I have decided to analyse are:
Graeme Smith (South Africa), Ricky Ponting(Australia), Stephen Fleming(New Zealand), Sourav Ganguly(India), Mahela Jayawardene(Sri Lanka) & Michael Vaughan(England).
Captaincy Records *(See formula 1.1)
Graeme Smith- Score: 6.4/10
Captained 61 games of which he has won 29, lost 16 and drawn 15.
Ricky Ponting- Score: 8.9/10
Has Captained in 44 tests. Of which 33 were won, 4 lost & 7 drawn. He is the benchmark for performance.
Stephen Fleming- Score: 5.1/10
Fleming has led New Zealand 80 times, of which he has: 28 wins, 27 Losses & 25 Draws.
Sourav Ganguly- Score: 6.2/10
Led India to 21 wins, 13 losses and 15 draws in 49 Test Matches.
Mahela Jayawardene- Score: 6.3/10
Led Sri Lanka in 23 test matches: 12 wins, 7 losses & 4 drawn test matches.
Michael Vaughan- Score: 7.0/10
In the 51 games Vaughan has captained England, they have won 26 lost 11 and drawn 14.
Star Players
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