Yeah, the 4 of them is possibly my all time bowling unit. I'm assuming you have Akram and Marshall?Ummm, that will be playing tomorrow
Imran, Akram, Marshall, Warne, McGrath. More often than not that would be my GOAT bowling unit.
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Imran, Akram, Marshall, Warne, McGrath. More often than not that would be my GOAT bowling unit.
Ummm, that will be playing tomorrow
He's a liar. feck him, lets go guys.
Send his sorry ass out of this draft right now.
Yes
Graeme Pollock 
The person who picks out all of my Easter eggs gets my votes for all of the next draft.
On serious note though, Ashwin on dustbowl is devastating. Otherwise, he should not be one of key bowlers in all-time drafts and I never developed liking for him, but on dustbowls he is very dangerous.
Yes, he's the reason behind India's rise to world number 1. They're home track bullies, and he's the enforcer. And he actually verifiably exists.
Facts!
He's a good bowler obviously and most good spinners would do well on a dustbowl, but what elevates the best of the lot is how they manage to keep up their performances regardless of the opposition and conditions, purely with their skill and ability. Warne and Murali are obviously the Tier 1 guys, but after that you have the likes of O'Reilly, Grimmett, Benaud etc who managed to be the top dogs when no one else was able to impact the game in that manner. So much of Grimmett's success came in an era which was dominated by batsmen and had loads of high scores, yet it was absolutely impossible to score against him and even someone like Don Bradman would be careful while playing against him.
He's easily one of the greatest names in spin bowling in an all time context, and wouldn't be out of place in any team regardless of conditions, but in this scenario he's absolutely unplayable and on a different level compared to the opposition. Especially as it's not just him but also Tayfield, who is the greatest spinner to come out of South Africa (possibly rivalled only by Faulkner), and was a wicket taking machine as the primary striker bowler for his team. As mentioned, his wickets per game are more than the likes of Jim Laker and Lance Gibbs, and he will be bowling in tandem with Grimmett on the other hand. While the opposition has Tony Grieg, a part timer as their second spinner. I would argue that Jayasuriya on a minefield was more dangerous to face than Grieg, who actually was used quite a lot by Sri Lanka as a bowling option.
But that's the match up here really. It's one top tier spinner + one excellent one who was a strike bowler for his team vs. one pretty good spinner + a part timer who's on a similar level as my third spinner.
Example of "He's stacked his team with pre-stone age players who we're not even sure if they ever existed. feck that, don't fall for this shit. He's playing you guys like a flute if you fall for it. Don't be a hipster and pretend to know more about cricket's history than you do. "
Bang on mate. @The Man Himself don't read any of that shit. It's like voodoo, he's trying to put a spell on you. Don't fall for it.
@Skills , why have you guys kept Gupte out?
O'Reilly is arguably tier 1 as well. Agree that Grimmett is tier 2 and Tayfield isn't far behind him. I think Benaud is overrated.
I don't think Grieg is a part-timer, but he's nothing special in comparison with the other spinners on display here.
I don't rate Jayasuriya much in tests (batting and bowling). He was always amazing as a OD player.
Anyway, in the case of spin bowling in this game, Grimmett + Tayfield is far superior.
Depth. When I think of a dustbowl I think of Mumbai 2004 or some shit.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...alia-4th-test-australia-tour-of-india-2004-05
Super low scoring, so even an extra 10 runs are so important.
What does this dustbowl mean? are we speaking about pitches in sub continent alone or other slow turners elsewhere(which in reality never existed)
In general it is a pitch that assists spin more than pacers. Doesnt have any grass cover and starts to crack as the match goes on.
He actual said it.wtf is this about
Yes but in that match you see, even likes of Murali Kartik (decent player nothing more) did well and Clarke picked 6 wickets. Batting would have gone slightly weaker but 3 spinners could have been a plus.
I think Moby's spinners are better. But as with the last game his opening bowlers were world class on all tracks and a lot more versatile than the opposition which probably tips it again for me .
Mostly it's a pitch that is dry and breaking up around day 4. It crumbles and you can sometimes see puffs of dust come off it when the ball pitches. Not all sub-continent pitches are dustbowls, just a few that are tailor-made to behave that way. So considering a spinners record in the sub-content will give misleading results.
True but unlike on a flat pancake I don't think you're racing against time to finish a match. You'll finish the match within 5 days, so it's about what totals you can put up in challenging conditions.
Also what's with this shit about people playing AB de villiers as a test wicketkeeper? It's a specialist role. Especially on dust bowls and spinners, the keeper is critical as he'll be calling most of the shots.
Moby's going to need to create 25 real chances to get 20 wickets in this match.
Moby's going to need to create 25 real chances to get 20 wickets in this match.
Why is the batting strength being ignored here? Hell, I'd say strong batting is much more important in this game as its going to be a low scoringg
We're talking about a game where 270-300 would be considered a great score, and we have a batting lineup comfortably better than Moby's! I mean, our top order has probably the greatest opener ever as well as Greame Smith who was among the finest opening batsmen of the last 20 years or so. Then you have Ken Barrington - who averages 58.67! If Moby manages to dismiss these guys, we have 2 players coming in who averaged 60+ in tests. Steve Smith - who will go down as the finest test batsman of this generation and Graeme Pollock - again a GOAT level player. Surely you can't tell me that this top 5 on their own wouldn't manage 250-300 on their own, which is likely going to be what Moby's team scores in total!
We're talking about a game where 270-300 would be considered a great score, and we have a batting lineup comfortably better than Moby's! I mean, our top order has probably the greatest opener ever as well as Greame Smith who was among the finest opening batsmen of the last 20 years or so. Then you have Ken Barrington - who averages 58.67! If Moby manages to dismiss these guys, we have 2 players coming in who averaged 60+ in tests. Steve Smith - who will go down as the finest test batsman of this generation and Graeme Pollock - again a GOAT level player. Surely you can't tell me that this top 5 on their own wouldn't manage 250-300 on their own, which is likely going to be what Moby's team scores in total!
The best batsman in the match is Viv Richards.
Moby’s batting line up starting from 3 till ABD is really good and it’s much better than what you guys had presented up,I don’t rate Moby’s opening duo and you guys had edge over when it comes to opening.
On what metric! Had it been a flat track, I might even have agreed with you where you are required to score runs at a greater rate.
FYI: Just checked Viv's stats in Asia (ofcourse not all pitches would be dustbowls, but it paints an interesting picture)
Dismissed 33 times in Asia
3 times vs Shastri, 3 times vs Chandrasekhar, 3 times vs Nazir, 2 times vs Qadir, Prassana, Maninder Singh, Iqbal Qasim,Hirwani
Once against Tausif Ahmed, Alam, Mushtaq Muammad
That's 22 dismissals right here, and that right there tells a story!
Probably meant the same on both accounts. Your openers are easily better, but so is my middle order especially with Viv elevating it to GOAT levels. Imran coming in at 7 is a huge asset as mentioned in the OP, he was averaging in 40s for a lot of the years in his career. Even close to his bowling peak in 82/83 season he played 9 tests and averaged over 60! That 3-4-5-6-7 is absolutely cream.Wait so you're saying his MO is much better than ours, but our openers just edge his?
So now Viv Richards needs to bat on a flat track to have a good game. This is worse than the Cummins>McGrath argument that we had to face in the last game.
The difference in quality between our top 3 is bigger than the difference between our 4-7.
Steve Smith is easily in the arguement for the best MO batsman involved in this. 77 test matches is enough of a sample size even if he's not old sod yet.
Yes your oponer gives you an edge when it’s come to overall batting.Wait so you're saying his MO is much better than ours, but our openers just edge his?
Mate, you know what I'm talking about. On a flat track, batsmen need to score quickly, so that you have time remaining to get the other team out twice. That's not a concern on a dustbowl. Patient game is what is required here, and I wouldn't mind if my players score at 3 RPO as long as they keep their wicketsSo now Viv Richards needs to bat on a flat track to have a good game. This is worse than the Cummins>McGrath argument that we had to face in the last game.
Not really. And what do you mean top-3? Barrington isn't clearly better than Harvey by any means. If average alone was the indicator then Barrington would be rated ahead of the likes of Sachin, Lara, Viv, etc which isn't the case. Plenty will have Harvey over Barrington and there's nothing wrong in that. I actually was surprised that you played Pollock at 5, as he's your best MO batsman.
Hobbs is obviously the best opener in the match, Trumper would be the next best. I am a huge fan of Smith but Trumper made his name putting up huge scores on absolute terrible pitches and was regarded as the best Aussie batsman of his generation. If I had to put up a combined top-7, it would be Hobbs, Trumper, Pollock, Viv, Chappell, AB, Imran. But if we go by position in both the line ups, then Harvey would come in at no. 3.
Funny you mention that Smith is in the conversation for the best MO batsman in this, when the best batsman of his generation is in the opposite team.
Who has mentioned anything about the rate of scoring runs here?
Sounness much?Also, can one of you guys post in this thread? We don't do 2v1 in drafts and I'm not gonna keep on replying to two guys.
Which plenty? Both of their careers overlapped and Barrington scored heavier and at a much better average. He's quite clearly the better batsman.
Again, what you're doing is trying to polish your turds with horseshit. Graeme Smith's one of the best openers of his generation - you hadn't heard of Trumper until you opened up cricinfo to put together together some leftovers at the end.
You're trying to sell your team based on the history lessons you're preaching in this thread. Yet at the same time, you're coming out with crap such as AB de Villiers being a better test batsman than Steve Smith? You're completely deluded, your judgement is completely out of sync and nobody should take a word you're posting seriously.