Hello and welcome to Group D round robin match of test cricket draft.
Please keep in mind that The voters are being asked to choose a team that will prevail over a three match series on these respective grounds.
Please keep in mind that The voters are being asked to choose a team that will prevail over a three match series on these respective grounds.
- Eden Gardens, Kolkatta
- Lords, London
- SCG, Sydney
crappy said:Michael Vaughn - Stats don't do complete justice to him. Was easily the best English batsmen about in his prime (was ranked number 1 in world once, not saying he was the best but an indicator of his form at his peak). Known for playing long innings. Average - 41.44 (45.48 as an opener!), 18 centuries, 18 fifties
Michael Slater - Part of my experienced opening partnership. Can blow hot and cold but has dealt with all kinds, opening the batting for one of two best teams of all time. Average - 42.83, 14 hundreds, 21 fifties
Robin Smith - Extremely solid player with a reputation of playing pace bowlers really well which will be handy up top. Avg of 43.67 with 9 hundreds and 28 fifties
Javed Miandad - A player who is sadly ignored by history whenever names of great batsmen are discussed. A dogged player who was also a match winner. Most definitely the best Pakistani batsmen of all time- likes of Inzy, Yousuf never performed against the caliber of attack he faced. 8832 runs, 52.57 average, 23 hundreds, 43 fifties, 6 double centuries. (His average actually went down during the 90s when he overstayed his welcome)
Mahela Jayawerdene (c) - Superb player, one of the best Lankan ones of all time. Captain of the side as well, his average shoots up when he is the captain. An astute thinker who would be supported well by Vaughn and Gilchrist. 49.56 average, 31 hundreds and 45 fifties, 10k+ runs. Average as captain is 58!
Adam Gilchrist (wk) - Quite comfortably the best wicketkeeper of all time. A true match winner with his batting as well. 47.60 average with 17 hundreds and 26 fifties, 379 catches and 37 stumpings! Match winning/turning innings- countless!
Nathan Astle (plays at Lords and SCG) - Attacking batsmen who can bat really well with the tail. 37.02 average, 11 hundreds and 24 fifties, 51 wickets at 42.01 average.
Geoff Lawson - Handy third pacer. 180 wickets at 30.56 avg, 61.7 SR and 4 fifties! Good foil to Holding and Ntini
Michael Holding - Whispering death! It is between him and Marshall as the best West Indies bowler of all time. 249 wickets at 23.68 average and 50.9 SR. Has 6 fifties to boot!
Abdul Qadir - Take out any best spinners of all time list and he will be a constant on them. Best Pak spinner of all time? Between him and Saqlain. 236 wickets at 32.80 average; 3 fifties to his name as well
Makhaya Ntini - Severely underrated. He is not in the top most tier of fast bowlers but comfortably in the next one. Provided much needed support to likes of Donald, Pollock and even spearheaded the attack at times. 390 wickets at 28.82 avg and 53.4 SR
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Greg Mathews (plays at Eden) - - 61 wickets at 48.22 (bowling average of 29.07 in 3 tests in India) . batting average of 41.08 with 4 hundreds and 12 fifties. Hard working all rounder who will be extremely handy with his off spin as a foil to Qadir in India.
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Batting - My main strength. Not a weak player in my top 7. Tail may look weak on surface but my no.8,9 and 10 ave 13 fifties combined, plus they are guarded by Gilcrist and Astle, two batsmen who know how to play with the tail . Vaughn and Slater are more than adequate to take on any opening attack followed by Robin smith who was known for playing fast bowlers well. After that one of the best middle orders in the draft in Miandad, Jayawerdene, Gilchrist and Astle. Make no mistake, this batting order will rack up runs on any pitch against any attack. It will take a special individual performance from a top top bowler to run through this order.
KM also only has hearth as spinner in his ranks. Miandad and Jayawardene will milk him all day long in the middle overs, both of them have a habit of playing long innings as well I also think having 4 seamers is over kill on his part. There is no way all 4 of them will get a fair crack and someone like Fraser may end up being a total passenger.
Bowling - I admit upfront that I would be relying on Holding and Qadir to clean up most of the wickets. But Ntini is no mug, you don't pick 390 wickets with a healthy average and good strike rate just like that.. Astle will be my fifth bowlers in two of the grounds.
I don't think his openers will last too long against Holding and Ntini. He is too dependent on the middle three of Flower, Azhar and Ganguly. The last two while being good were not match winners in test cricket. Hearth, Ambrose, Willis and Fraser as 8,9,10,11 might as well be the worst tail in this draft. They have 2 fifties between them.
