Further comments on my ATG system......
1. Number of runs/wickets in the Top Five for your role (Opener, middle-order batsman, keeper, spinner, pace bowler) in history up to the time you play. Obviously this ensures that a cricketer is judged by the standards applicable up to the present day at any given time.
2. Average as a batsman/bowler/keeper in the Top Five in your role in modern history up to the time you play. (Excluding the 19th and early 20th century, whose averages are impossible to match, and with a minimum qualification of 100 wickets for fairness to rule out the likes of Frank Tyson, which proves that I listen to [MENTION=134300]Tusker[/MENTION] ).
3. Assignment of ATG status is made at the time the player plays. So Sir Richard Hadlee retired with the wickets world record, so satisfies the requirements for number of wickets taken.
I would add that for players like Shane Warne or Kapil Dev, whose average isn't good enough to qualify, I probably need to add a special exemption to include people who retire with the world record for most runs/wickets but at an inferior average.
So by my reckoning, you have the following ATGs:
Openers:
Gavaskar, Boycott, Greenidge, Kirsten, Hutton
Middle Order batsmen:
Bradman, Richards, Tendulkar, Sobers, Kallis
Spinners:
Murali, Warne, Laker, O'Reilly
Quicks:
Trueman, Marshall, Hadlee, McGrath, Ambrose
Overall that looks like a really sensitive system.
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