Good cricket teams can be made great with the right captain and here we take a look at the best players to have led their sides out into the middle.
Douglas Jardine (England)
Few cricketers cut quite such a controversial figure as England captain Douglas Jardine, the Scottish-born cricketer seen as the architect of the infamous "Bodyline".
It was Jardine, seen as an abrasive, arrogant man who didn't mind who he upset, who hatched the plan on the team ship which sailed out to Australia in 1932 for one of the most notorious series in cricket folklore.
And the results speak for themselves. He ruffled the feathers of the great Sir Don Bradman as England's leg-stump, bouncer onslaught yielded an astonishing 4-1 Ashes win and made him without question public enemy No.1 in Australia.
MS Dhoni (India)
Where Jardine divided opinions, MS Dhoni united a nation, helping transform India into the foremost one-day side in the game.
Calm, calculated, Dhoni was appointed soon after India's disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign and in just under a decade became a national icon.
His Test record as skipper was decent, but it was in the limited-overs arena he truly shone with a radical, innovative eye for detail which enabled India to win three major ICC trophies.
Graeme Smith (South Africa)
Aged just 22 and with only eight Test appearances under his belt, South Africa were taking quite the gamble when they handed the captaincy to Graeme Smith.
It was a decision which paid off handsomely, with the left-handed opener turning an inconsistent team into one of the grittiest and gutsiest in the world, with the doughty Smith leading from the front.
He boasted an impressive 61 per cent win rate in the one-day arena, but it was in the Test theatre where Smith truly shone, taking the Proteas to the No.1 ranked Test side in the world with 53 wins, the most for any captain.
Ricky Ponting (Australia)
The man they call 'Punter', Ricky Ponting a tough act to follow in Steve Waugh, but succeeded in taking Australia to even greater heights.
He retired with an incredible 71 per cent win rate in ODIs, helping the Baggy Greens secure back-to-back 50-over World Cups in 2003 and 2007.
An aggressive captain, his crowning glory in the longer format was leading the Aussies to 16 straight Test wins between 2005 and 2008.
Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka)
Former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga's bare stats are modest - 12 wins in 56 Tests and a sub-50 per cent win rate in one-dayers.
However, it isn't the numbers that have cemented the legacy of Ranatunga, a true leader who inspired generations of Sri Lankans.
His finest hour came at the 1996 World Cup where, under his radical approach to how to attack 50-over cricket, the Islanders would reach a first final and stun the overwhelming favourites, Australia, to lift the trophy.
Clive Lloyd (West Indies)
Clive Lloyd knew his good fortune to be captaining a West Indies team containing arguably the greatest battery of fast bowlers ever assembled, plus the wonderful Viv Richards, but he led them magnificently.
The Cat, as he was known, may have epitomised cool but he was steely tough and turned the Windies from a modest camp into the finest in the world.
His 48 per cent win rate as Test skipper was decent enough, but it will be lifting the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 for which he will be best remembered.
Mike Brearley (England)
Not the greatest batter of his generation, not even the best batter at county side Middlesex, it was captaincy at which Mike Brearley excelled.
A deep thinker and very much his own man, Brearley was memorably recalled for the third Test of the 1981 Ashes following Ian Botham's resignation and duly steered a seemingly outclassed England to one of the greatest series turnarounds in living memory.
He captained his country in 31 Tests and lost just four of them.
Steve Waugh (Australia)
Australia would dominate world cricket in the 2000s and it was Steve Waugh, the bridge between Allan Border and Ponting, who set the ball rolling.
The archetypal tough, uncompromising Aussie, Waugh shone as a leader with a record in Test cricket that is unmatched. In 57 matches as captain, he won 41, boasting a world-record win percentage of 71.92.
He also guided his country to World Cup glory in 1999, kickstarting a decade of domination by the Baggy Greens.
