Why are batsmen always captain?

[Rob H]

Every captain in world cricket today is a batsmen. Only Pollock and Mahmud have been captains in recent years?
Why are bowlers overlooked? |-K

[easy]

ganguly being the exception that proves therule. serious;y, tough burden for a bowler to mke decisions whilst on the field and thinking about their own personal bowling

same with batting. also bowlers should understand other bowlers better. at the end of the day it doesnt make a difference really, you are a good captain or you arent, batsman, bowler, keeper, all rounder.

[SHER-E-PUNJAB]

Seriously even now, i dont see too many bowlers as captain.Why?Wasim Akram made a great captain.

[Who Knows]

I would say it's more difficult as a bowler to be captain, because you have a lot more things to worry about. For e.g your own bowling performance, fielding placements, how other bowlers are performing, how long should you be bowling for, when you should come on.
Last summer against Sri Lanka, Flintoff as captain bowled 50 overs in one innings i think?

Where as the batting captain he has no worries of his own performance in the field and 'can' make better judgements on who is bowling well, how long should they be kept on for and the other bowling resources.

[Straight Bat]

Originally Posted by Who Knows I would say it's more difficult as a bowler to be captain, because you have a lot more things to worry about. For e.g your own bowling performance, fielding placements, how other bowlers are performing, how long should you be bowling for, when you should come on. Last summer against Sri Lanka, Flintoff as captain bowled 50 overs in one innings i think? Where as the batting captain he has no worries of his own performance in the field and 'can' make better judgements on who is bowling well, how long should they be kept on for and the other bowling resources.

Yep I agree, IMO it's easier for a non bowling captain in the field to analyse the attacks performances without any bias and thus it will benefit the team

[Hash]

wouldn't really describe Vaughan as a batsman though, he is more of a specialist fielder isn't he? Even his fielding isn't that great. So what is he? Just a specialist captain?

[Easa]

Originally Posted by Hash wouldn't really describe Vaughan as a batsman though, he is more of a specialist fielder isn't he? Even his fielding isn't that great. So what is he? Just a specialist captain?

So true!

[pakistani_banda]

wasim and waqar were captains but they were bowlers

[W63L35]

Originally Posted by pakistani_banda wasim and waqar were captains but they were bowlers

Imran, Kapil, Willis, Utseya, Bedi, Venkat, Pollock, Walsh ...to name a few!

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by W63L35 Imran, Kapil, Willis, Utseya, Bedi, Venkat, Pollock, Walsh ...to name a few!

Benaud, Mushtaq Mohammad, Intikhab Alam and some who maybe partimers atleast in ODIs like Waugh, Cronje, Ganguly, Viv Richards,

[Abdul Qadir 236]

For me the best captain in cricket is Shane Warne, almost could be described as the Barry Richards of captaincy. Leg spinners should be the best captains because they have to think more about the game and analyse more I feel. Ultimately it just comes down to who has the best cricketing brain and also reasonable man management skills, regardless of being a batsman or a bowler. That said, the captain should hold his place in the team.

Also often in Asia, the oldest player or the best player is made captain and they tend to be batsmen in that region - look at the example of Bashar.

[shahidrazzaq]

bowlers that have been captain:
Waqar, Wasim, Imran, Pollock, and lots of others.
Back then bowlers would be captains alot of times, now batsmen are captains.

[salman24]

Originally Posted by Rob H Every captain in world cricket today is a batsmen. Only Pollock and Mahmud have been captains in recent years? Why are bowlers overlooked? |-K

What about Waqar Younis and Akram

[Assassin7]

Thought crossed my brain today when Sky Sports pundits were talking about Misbah and his captaincy and it occurred to me why are the majority of international captains batters? Do they have more focus and less responsibility on the field in regards to they are not bowling so their minds are not occupied elsewhere. Not just currently, even in the past the international captains have predominantly been batters.

For example
Englands last few ODI captains have all been mainly batters: Cook, Pieterson, Strauss, Vaughn, Trescothick, Thorpe, Atherton, Hussain.

Australia: Clarke, Ponting, Hussey, Gilchrist. There has been Shane Warne also but again the majority have been batsmen

India: Ghambir, Dhoni, Raina, Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid. Kumble had a stint but again majority are batsmen.

Pakistan: Mishbah, Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf, Inzi, Anwar, Sohail. Pakistan however had the exception with Waqar and Wasim.

South Africa with Smith and Amla currently and Sri Lanka had Sangakara, Dilshan and Jayawardene.

You can even go back further 15-20 years and see captains have been batsmen, Boycott, Willis, Gooch, Lamb, Marsh, Border, both Chappells, Gavaskar, Dev, Shastri, Miandad, Alam
With the exception of a few all rounder captains such as Imran Khan and Ian Botham.

So my question is, is it just a coincidence that captains on the international scene amongst these teams have been batsmen or is because maybe batsmen are mentally stronger and more able?

[ads101]

Cause it's easier for a batsman to manage the field, change over the bowling as what he's doing is standing in the field.

A bowler has to bowl, so it's difficult to manage everything at the same time.

As a captain in terms of batting all you have to do it bat. So more natural it is a batsman. Batsmen also tend to last longer than bowlers, so better to chose a captain that can last longer and groom the youngsters into the team.

[w8in_4_0402]

Depends to be honest?? Wb Wicket keeper batsmen captain??

[nosferatu372]

Also bowlers get injured quite frequently

[ahmed16]

Im guessing its because a) less workload then a bowler, who would be frequently bowling aswell setting fields etc and b) A batsman captain would know more about the mindset of the oppositions specialist batsmen (because he is a batsman himself), who are your primary wickets.

[dhump]

Why spinners are not captains??

[90MPH]

Batsmen are generally calm and cool.

Bowlers can be hot headed.

[Love Pakistan]

Originally Posted by dhump Why spinners are not captains??

Afridi, Vettori, Malik, Warne, Kumble were all captains!

[Patriot]

Interesting to see Barbie as the T20 captain.

[Love Pakistan]

Originally Posted by Patriot Interesting to see Barbie as the T20 captain.

He's been bowling good in the tests! With Tim Bresnan back, expect anything!

[t_kaay]

courtney walsh captained west indies......he definately wasn't known for his batting skills!!

[Saqs]

Originally Posted by ads101 Cause it's easier for a batsman to manage the field, change over the bowling as what he's doing is standing in the field. A bowler has to bowl, so it's difficult to manage everything at the same time. As a captain in terms of batting all you have to do it bat. So more natural it is a batsman. Batsmen also tend to last longer than bowlers, so better to chose a captain that can last longer and groom the youngsters into the team.

Generally speaking, yes.

But I would say that some of our more attacking captains have been bowlers (Imran, Wasim).

Something about the 'instinct' in bowler-captains on the field that sets them apart.

[cric]

In 90's there were many fast bowlers captain. but now more and more cricket been played, and specially after inclusion of t 20. so hardly any fast bowlers going to fit for all 3 formats. and very few fast bowlers are good enough for all 3 formats.

[WalkingWiggett]

Originally Posted by t_kaay courtney walsh captained west indies......he definately wasn't known for his batting skills!!

My first thought exactly, and WI have a bowling captain presently too.

[Justcrazy]

Its about selectors, they do not see bowlers as captain.

[dhump]

Originally Posted by Love Pakistan Afridi, Vettori, Malik, Warne, Kumble were all captains!

Vettori can be the only name who stayed captain for longer period and was a genuine spinner, warne and kumble were captain for not so long and Malik and Afridi are both all-rounder Malik is hardly a spinner.

[JibranAnsari]

Probably bowlers especially fast are more susceptible to injuries thats why.

[velu]

Cricket is batsmens game.