Cricket ODI Auction Draft

Samid said:
Batsmen win you matches on flat tracks that don't offer any kind of bowling assistance.
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Not really. If anything I'd argue the opposite. The difference in performance levels of a top class batsman and a mediocre batsman on a flat track is lesser than on a bowler's paradise. For example, just look up difference in S/R or averages of a Kumble and say Warne in India and Australia. Both have a similar average and S/R in India, whereas in Australia, the difference in quality between the two becomes evident
 
Samid said:
How are his openers + Waugh going to survive the slow pitches? That's 3 of his top 5 with poor batting records in Asia. Bairstow averages less than 20 there. Compare that to my top order who are basically born and bred on slower lower wickets.

Why is Afridi at 9? He played two games there in 20 years. Why is Rahim at 6 when his best position quite clearly is 4? Why have so many jack of all trades been picked? Did specialist bowlers stop existing? Why have so many players been shoehorned in for the sake of it rather than adding clear and defined value to the team?

So many question marks.
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I don't really get this "batting record in Asia" argument. While, I found it somewhat incorrect in the Test draft, it's unfathomable to consider that in ODIs.

I don't have much of a problem with Afridi at 9 if I'm honest. He's pretty much a brainless hitter for most part and can play that sort of role. He doesn't really deserve to bat ahead of any of the others in that lineup. He's also a very underrated ODI bowler and that's why he's been picked and played this way as far as I can see.

Mushfiqur seems ok at 6. He's batted there 51 times and averages 32. I agree it's not as good as his record at 4 but it seems ok to play him there.

Agree completely about the specialist bowler thing though. He really needed a better seamer than Kyle Mills in there. Someone who could lead his attack basically and not have everything depend on Bumrah.
 
Round 1 Match #5
Round 1 Match #5 - 12OunceEpilogue vs Himannv

Please adjudicate as to which team will win over a 3 match series with a match each on following pitches -
  1. Flat track - Paradise for batsmen, no assistance to either fast or slow bowlers.
  2. Good batting pitch with assistance for seamers/pacers - Reasonably good surface for batsmen; fast bowlers can exploit some movement off the pitch with new ball along with reasonable bounce; no particular assistance for slow bowlers or spinners.
  3. Good batting pitch with assistance for spinners - Reasonably good surface for batsmen; fast bowlers will get no help from the pitch; spinners will be able to exploit the pitch with an older ball
Team @12OunceEpilogue

1- Adam Gilchrist (wk)
2- Sourav Ganguly (c)
3- Mohammad Yousuf
4- Mahela Jayawardene
5- Ben Stokes
6- Shakib Al Hasan
7- Jason Holder
8- Mohammad Amir
9- Brett Lee
10- Javagal Srinath
11- Lasith Malinga

Team @Himannv

01. Graeme Smith*
02. Alec Stewart+
03. Zaheer Abbas
04. AB de Villiers
05. Andrew Symonds
06. Neil Fairbrother
07. Dwayne Bravo
08. Brad Hogg
09. Chaminda Vaas (Pitch #1, #2) /Rangana Herath (Pitch #3)
10. Nathan Bracken
11. Shoaib Akthar
 
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Write ups

Team 12OunceEpilogue

Batting

Adam Gilchrist wk L-
Innings: 287 Runs: 9619 Avg: 35.89 S/R: 96.94 50s- 55 100s- 16

Sourav Ganguly c L-
Innings- 311 Runs- 11363 Avg- 41.02 S/R- 73.71 50s- 72 100s-22

Mohammad Yousuf R-
Innings: 273 Runs: 9720 Avg: 41.71 S/R: 52.39 50s- 64 100s- 15

Mahela Jayawardene R-
Innings: 448 Runs: 12650 Avg: 33.37 S/R: 78.96 50s- 77 100s- 19

Ben Stokes L-
Innings: 81 Runs: 2682 Avg: 40.63 S/R: 93.94 50s- 20 100s- 3

Shakib Al Hasan L-
Innings: 194 Runs: 6323 Avg: 37.86 S/R: 82.75 50s- 47 100s- 9

Jason Holder R-
Innings: 92 Runs: 1821 Avg: 24.94 S/R: 94.3 50s- 9

Mohammad Amir L-
Innings: 30 Runs: 363 Avg: 18.15 S/R: 81.75 50s- 2

Brett Lee R-
Innings: 110 Runs: 1176 Avg: 17.81 S/R: 83.58 50s- 3

Javagal Srinath R-
Innings: 121 Runs: 883 Avg: 10.63 S/R: 79.62 50s- 1

Lasith Malinga R-
Innings: 119 Runs: 567 Avg: 6.83 S/R: 74.5 50s- 1


Bowling

Brett Lee R-
Matches-221 Wkts-380 Avg-23.36 SR-29.4 4w-14 5w-9

Lasith Malinga R-
Matches-226 Wkts-388 Avg-28.8 SR-32.3 4w-11 5w-8

Javagal Srinath R-
Matches-229 Wkts-315 Avg-28.1 SR-37.8 4w-7 5w-3

Mohammad Amir L-
Matches-61 Wkts-81 Avg-29.62 SR-37.1 4w-1 5w-1

Shakib Al Hasan LO-
Matches-206 Wkts-260 Avg-30.21 SR-40.4 4w-8 5w-2

Jason Holder R-
Matches-115 Wkts-136 Avg-36.38 SR-39.3 4w-4 5w-2

Sourav Ganguly R-
Matches- 311 Wickets- 100 Avg- 38.49 S/R- 45.61 4w-1 5w-2

Ben Stokes R-
Matches-95 Wkts-70 Avg-41.71 SR-41.6 4w-1 5w-1

  • Superb openers who get us going
  • Solid middle order to keep us ticking
  • Game-changer in Stokes at 5, ahead of a fine finishing unit in Shakib and Holder
  • Long batting with Amir, Lee and Srinath

  • Great opening pair in Lee and Malinga
  • Experienced and underrated ODI first change in Srinath, and a fine modern day left hand quick in Amir
  • Top class modern offie
  • Some fine bowling options outside of the core bowlers in Holder, Dada and Stokes

Team Himannv

Graeme Smith*
6989 runs @ 37.98

Did not rate him highly in ODIs until I watched the 95 he hit off 55 balls. Just brute force and excellent determination that led to SA chasing down 434 against Australia. He's also a handy right-arm off-spinner (I highlight the "right-arm" part because he's a LHB. Ambidextrous players for the win!) The role of captain is a bit understated in cricket and it's important to get a good one. For me, Smith is a fantastic captain who led SA through what were some fairly lean years while their older stars were declining and their newer ones hadn't quite reached their potential.

Alec Stewart+
4677 runs @ 31.60

When Stewart was in full flow, there were few who could live with him. Relying on touch, he was in his element against the quicks, cover-driving with a neat flourish and pulling with panache. He wasn't quite as good against spinners, hence the less-than-ideal stats, but as an opener he's a very destructive bat and can cause some serious damage in the early overs. Also he's an excellent keeper and more than equal to the task.

Zaheer Abbas
2572 runs @ 47.62

The only ODI batsman better than him during his time was Viv. Zed is an incredible player and watching him is like watching Lara in full flow. High backlift, but incredible timing and precision. His strike rate of 84.80 was almost unheard of during his time and he was an exceptionally aggressive batsmen and a true ODI GOAT.

AB de Villiers
9577 runs @ 53.50

A batsman of breathtaking chutzpah and enterprise. A cricketer with overflowing talent and the temperament to back it up. A fielder able to leap tall buildings and still come up with the catch. De Villiers is a 360-degree batsman who can hit any ball, anywhere, against any bowler. Indeed, his range of inventive shots has grown as his career has unfolded. One of the best ODI batsmen of all time. He's not going to be burdened with the gloves here, he's in my team to bat.

Andrew Symonds
5088 runs @ 39.75 | 133 wkts @ 37.25

An unabashed six-hitter and a proper beast of a batsmen. He's also a spectacular fielder and can bowl both medium pace and unusually effective off-breaks. At 5, he brings the ability to build an innings while also brutalizing the bowling. Once he figured out his role in the team, there was no stopping him.

Neil Fairbrother
2092 runs @ 39.47

England's best ODI batsman in the 90s. He was able to pick gaps and get quick singles and turn ones into twos. He was also an excellent fielder. What stood out for me was also an ability to clear the ropes when required and is a good batsman to come in later on in the innings.

Dwayne Bravo
2968 runs @ 25.36 | 199 wkts @ 29.51

DJ Bravo! Excellent allrounder to have coming in at 7. He's not just a mindless hitter and can play a good solid innings if the situation calls for it. As evidenced by his exploits in the latter overs and in the shortest format, he can also be an effective hitter. Where he's really at his best though is with the ball. His swing bowling and cutters are quite effective and he's also great at getting those yorkers in. As a T20 specialist, bowling restrictively and clearing the rope come naturally to him.

Brad Hogg
790 runs @ 20.25 | 156 wkts @ 26.84

One of the most underrated ODI spinners ever. With his booming grin, zooming flipper and hard-to-pick wrong'un, Brad Hogg is Australia's most mercurial ODI chinaman bowler. He's also very underrated with the bat and started his career as a batsman. He's a very good six-hitter and he also averages 35+ with the bat in FC cricket, which proves he's no mug (4 hundreds and 27 50s!).

Chaminda Vaas
2025 runs @ 13.68 | 400 wkts @ 27.53

Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas! I'm not that much of a fan of his exploits in Tests, but he's truly a great ODI player. Useful batsman to come in at 8, he can hit the ball, but his skills with the bat are more suited to actually playing proper cricket shots and offering useful support. With the ball he's something else. He get's the new ball to swing into the right handers in the early overs and even though they know it's coming, it's still hard to not lose their wickets. While that's his stock ball, he also can get the ball to go straight through and also swing away just enough to cause problems. He's well-versed in bowling cutters in the middle overs, and at his peak, he was an excellent death bowler, prompting the name "Dr Death" from the commentators.

Nathan Bracken
174 wkts @ 24.36

Bracken moves the ball both ways in the air and off the seam and fitted easily into Australia's rampant one-day squad. He's extremely good with his yorker and is a specialist ODI player. At some point in his career he was the number 1 ranked ODI bowler in the world, which is an exceptional feat considering the bowlers he had to compete with in his own team. His strengths lie in containing rampant limited-overs batsmen with his clever variations of pace and length.

Shoaib Akhtar
247 wkts @ 24.97

With so many clever bowlers who can keep things tight in this side, it was ideal to pick up someone who can add some fire and brimstone into this cocktail. Who better than the fastest bowler in the world eh? I don't care what the speed gun tells us, this guy was the fastest, not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of how he bowled. He practically sprinted in off a super long runup, hair flying in the breeze, and practically hurled the ball at the batsman. Every delivery was like an event in itself with the crowd getting on board the Rawalpindi Express. He wasn't afraid to bounce people out and beat plenty of great batsmen on pace alone. He even got the old ball to reverse swing in the death overs and was a true terror to batsmen everywhere.

Rangana Herath
74 wkts @ 31.91

He plays instead of Vaas in more spin-friendly pitches. Herath is one of those wily clever foxes who know exactly what they're doing. His stats are messed up by an ordinary early career where he played in Murali's shadow. It is once Murali retired though that Herath really came into his own in both Tests and ODIs. His off breaks were always right on the money and his accuracy and skill came to the fore. He was able to restrict the flow of runs while also picking up wickets. He played at a time when Sri Lanka cricket were in dire need of quality and he delivered this in spades.
 
Toyed with it, but wanted to partner Mahela with a seasoned top order batsman and went with Mo Yousuf (after my opponent nicked Abbas :nervous:). I predict Shakib will have plenty of time to do his thing during that fifth wicket partnership with Stokes.
 
On the whole, I think ABdV, Zed, and Symonds kind of swing this thing my way. 12Oz has better openers, but I think the rest of my team is better in almost all departments.

Pitch 1: I think this is where 12Oz has a slight advantage. MoYo and Mahela are both better on this pitch. I still back my batsmen to chase down anything on the board as we're a lot more explosive and very suited to this format.

Pitch 2: On a somewhat pace friendly pitch, I back my batsmen to sort this out. All of them are excellent players of pace bowling, plus I have 5 genuine pace bowling options to match up. 12Oz has plenty of bowling options for this pitch, but a number of his batsmen wouldn't be at their best here.

Pitch 3: On the spin friendly pitch, Hogg, Herath, Symonds, and even Smith can bowl a bit and they'll be in a better position to contain and cause problems to the opposition than just Shakib by himself on their side.
 
Himannv said:
On the whole, I think ABdV, Zed, and Symonds kind of swing this thing my way. 12Oz has better openers, but I think the rest of my team is better in almost all departments.

Pitch 1: I think this is where 12Oz has a slight advantage. MoYo and Mahela are both better on this pitch. I still back my batsmen to chase down anything on the board as we're a lot more explosive and very suited to this format.

Pitch 2: On a somewhat pace friendly pitch, I back my batsmen to sort this out. All of them are excellent players of pace bowling, plus I have 5 genuine pace bowling options to match up. 12Oz has plenty of bowling options for this pitch, but a number of his batsmen wouldn't be at their best here.

Pitch 3: On the spin friendly pitch, Hogg, Herath, Symonds, and even Smith can bowl a bit and they'll be in a better position to contain and cause problems to the opposition than just Shakib by himself on their side.
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I'm not going to pretend Smith and Stewart are mugs but I'd expect Gilchrist and Ganguly to make the better start for me on the pace track. Yousuf had a mixed bag of players above him throughout his career. For every Inzi, Anwar and Younis Khan there's a clutch of journeymen. He certainly never had two ATG openers above him so I'd expect him to rise to the challenge on any wicket. As for pacy pitches he has good records in England, New Zealand and South Africa. Australia is tricky to gauge but he's very good at the Gabba and averaged 80+ in two matches at the WACA in 05 in a VB series vs Windies and Aussies, back when it had some genuine pace and nasty bounce. For me Yousuf is a consumate player of any bowling on any surface. As for Mahela he's scored runs everywhere throughout a very lengthy career.

Don't get me wrong, you have the better middle order, that is not in question. But I have no anxiety about those two, plus Shakib for that matter, batting on a pacers' wicket when two ATGs have opened the batting. I think our pace attacks match up fairly well but the amount of quick options I have, plus Shakib who seems to get joy for Bangledesh on any surface, tips the balance in my favour in that second game.
 
12OunceEpilogue said:
I'm not going to pretend Smith and Stewart are mugs but I'd expect Gilchrist and Ganguly to make the better start for me on the pace track. Yousuf had a mixed bag of players above him throughout his career. For every Inzi, Anwar and Younis Khan there's a clutch of journeymen. He certainly never had two ATG openers above him so I'd expect him to rise to the challenge on any wicket. As for pacy pitches he has good records in England, New Zealand and South Africa. Australia is tricky to gauge but he's very good at the Gabba and averaged 80+ in two matches at the WACA in 05 in a VB series vs Windies and Aussies, back when it had some genuine pace and nasty bounce. For me Yousuf is a consumate player of any bowling on any surface. As for Mahela he's scored runs everywhere throughout a very lengthy career.

Don't get me wrong, you have the better middle order, that is not in question. But I have no anxiety about those two, plus Shakib for that matter, batting on a pacers' wicket when two ATGs have opened the batting. I think our pace attacks match up fairly well but the amount of quick options I have, plus Shakib who seems to get joy for Bangledesh on any surface, tips the balance in my favour in that second game.
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I've watched a fair bit of MoYo and Mahela as they're two of my favourite players. The problem I have with them is the consistency factor. They're just so hard to predict and more often than not, they let you down. I think you could get away with having one of them in your ATG team, but having them both coming in one after that other at 3 and 4 is just asking for trouble in my view. I do give the nod to your openers, they are better than mine, but once they get out, you're looking at a questionable middle order. MoYo batted much more often at 4 and 5 than at 3, and it was a constant debate about Pakistan's number 3. A lot of people felt that Inzy should bat there since he was their best batsman at the time. Some argued that MoYo could play there but even he didn't seem comfortable there. They ended up shoehorning the liked of Shoaib Malik in there until they finally stumbled upon Younis Khan. Now I'm not saying MoYo is a mug and useless at cricket, he's not, it's just not an ideal situation considering you also have Mahela coming in right after, who is my favourite ever batsman, but is such a heartbreaker.
 
Himannv said:
I've watched a fair bit of MoYo and Mahela as they're two of my favourite players. The problem I have with them is the consistency factor. They're just so hard to predict and more often than not, they let you down. I think you could get away with having one of them in your ATG team, but having them both coming in one after that other at 3 and 4 is just asking for trouble in my view. I do give the nod to your openers, they are better than mine, but once they get out, you're looking at a questionable middle order. MoYo batted much more often at 4 and 5 than at 3, and it was a constant debate about Pakistan's number 3. A lot of people felt that Inzy should bat there since he was their best batsman at the time. Some argued that MoYo could play there but even he didn't seem comfortable there. They ended up shoehorning the liked of Shoaib Malik in there until they finally stumbled upon Younis Khan. Now I'm not saying MoYo is a mug and useless at cricket, he's not, it's just not an ideal situation considering you also have Mahela coming in right after, who is my favourite ever batsman, but is such a heartbreaker.
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Agree about Mahela, but MoYo was one of Pakistan's most consistent cricketers, even more so than Inzy, avg 40+ in that period was very good.
 
2mufc0 said:
Agree about Mahela, but MoYo was one of Pakistan's most consistent cricketers, even more so than Inzy, avg 40+ in that period was very good.
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Nah, MoYo was a mixed bag for me. He had spells where he did well and then some seasons where he fell off for almost no apparent reason. It made for frustrating watching as during that time you just felt if Inzy gets out they get bundled out for a low score. Which is typical of Pakistan really, you have no idea what you get from them. YK and Misbah were the ones who really gave them something more solid and dependable.
 
Himannv said:
Nah, MoYo was a mixed bag for me. He had spells where he did well and then some seasons where he fell off for almost no apparent reason. It made for frustrating watching as during that time you just felt if Inzy gets out they get bundled out for a low score. Which is typical of Pakistan really, you have no idea what you get from them. YK and Misbah were the ones who really gave them something more solid and dependable.
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Have to disagree mate, the last 2 years he was bad, but that is just a natural decline. During his peak years he was averaging between 36-60 every year. Pakistan have always be prone to collapses no matter who is in the team.
 
Himannv said:
I've watched a fair bit of MoYo and Mahela as they're two of my favourite players. The problem I have with them is the consistency factor. They're just so hard to predict and more often than not, they let you down. I think you could get away with having one of them in your ATG team, but having them both coming in one after that other at 3 and 4 is just asking for trouble in my view. I do give the nod to your openers, they are better than mine, but once they get out, you're looking at a questionable middle order. MoYo batted much more often at 4 and 5 than at 3, and it was a constant debate about Pakistan's number 3. A lot of people felt that Inzy should bat there since he was their best batsman at the time. Some argued that MoYo could play there but even he didn't seem comfortable there. They ended up shoehorning the liked of Shoaib Malik in there until they finally stumbled upon Younis Khan. Now I'm not saying MoYo is a mug and useless at cricket, he's not, it's just not an ideal situation considering you also have Mahela coming in right after, who is my favourite ever batsman, but is such a heartbreaker.
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The 2007 WC in the Caribbean is the touchstone for Mahela on the pacy tracks for me. While you're right that there are a coupe of indifferent scores in there, what I like is how he rallies the team after a couple of players above him misfire. 115* vs NZ on a quick (not 70s/80s quick, but quick) and bouncy Sabina Park after Sanath and Kumar don't score, 72 at St George's vs the Aussies after all the top three fail, 56 v England in Antigua with a couple of indifferent scores from Sanath and Kumar and 82 with Sanath v West Indies. Even the final that year is a run-a-ball 19 in very odd circumstances with the revised target (Gilly's final btw :drool:). That's a player who can scramble on some fairly lively decks and can alter their approach in adversity. If as I predict we start well it may not fall to Mahela to save the day, and he could put in an average or below average showing without too much damage but in '07 he shows just what he can do, supplying useful runs more often than not and repairing the innings on a few occasions.

Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here with Mahela, he's one of my favourites too.
 
Himannv said:
Nah, MoYo was a mixed bag for me. He had spells where he did well and then some seasons where he fell off for almost no apparent reason. It made for frustrating watching as during that time you just felt if Inzy gets out they get bundled out for a low score. Which is typical of Pakistan really, you have no idea what you get from them. YK and Misbah were the ones who really gave them something more solid and dependable.
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Mo's averages stand up for me. I'm not going to even think about pretending I wouldn't prefer Inzi or Abbas (you bastard ;)) at 3, but even at one down I prefer him to YK in ODIs. Even if you say one of Mahela or Mo will fail, which I would obviously contest, I'll have had a fine platform built by my openers and have plenty of decisive batting to come from Stokes, Shakib and to a lesser extent Holder, the latter two of whom will benefit from batting with better players than they're accustomed to.
 
12OunceEpilogue said:
Mo's averages stand up for me. I'm not going to even think about pretending I wouldn't prefer Inzi or Abbas (you bastard ;)) at 3, but even at one down I prefer him to YK in ODIs. Even if you say one of Mahela or Mo will fail, which I would obviously contest, I'll have had a fine platform built by my openers and have plenty of decisive batting to come from Stokes, Shakib and to a lesser extent Holder, the latter two of whom will benefit from batting with better players than they're accustomed to.
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I'm not saying your batting is rubbish or anything like that. I think you have good batsmen and a good team. Just not as good as mine. I have GOATs at 3 and 4 and a beast like Symonds coming in at 5. Fairbrother, as I alluded to in the writeup, is the best English batsman of the 90s and a proper ODI specialist perfectly suited to play the role required here. Bravo is fantastic at 7 as well and adds more than Holder in my view. I concede that you have better openers, but as you yourself said, mine are good as well. I think MoYo and Mahela in the same team is a problem, particularly since they occupy key batting positions for you. I mean, if you have Abbas at 3, as you said, it wouldn't even be a debate.
 
Himannv said:
I'm not saying your batting is rubbish or anything like that. I think you have good batsmen and a good team. Just not as good as mine. I have GOATs at 3 and 4 and a beast like Symonds coming in at 5. Fairbrother, as I alluded to in the writeup, is the best English batsman of the 90s and a proper ODI specialist perfectly suited to play the role required here. Bravo is fantastic at 7 as well and adds more than Holder in my view. I concede that you have better openers, but as you yourself said, mine are good as well. I think MoYo and Mahela in the same team is a problem, particularly since they occupy key batting positions for you. I mean, if you have Abbas at 3, as you said, it wouldn't even be a debate.
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Abbas is not GOAT level!

Flat track - Bowling attack matters more than batting as even average batsmen have a field day. Bowling wise - 12 Oz is better
Spin track - Batting and spinners matter. Yousuf and Jaya were great vs spin but will give this tie to you as you have better spinners
Pacers - Batting and Pacers mater. He has a better pace attack so have to give it to 12Oz
 
Round 1 Match 6
Round 1 Match #6 -Crappy vs Raees

Please adjudicate as to which team will win over a 3 match series with a match each on following pitches -

#2 Good batting pitch with assistance for seamers/pacers - Reasonably good surface for batsmen; fast bowlers can exploit some movement off the pitch with new ball along with reasonable bounce; no particular assistance for slow bowlers or spinners.
#3 Good batting pitch with assistance for spinners - Reasonably good surface for batsmen; fast bowlers will get no help from the pitch; spinners will be able to exploit the pitch with an older ball
#4 Good bowling pitch for seamers/pacers: pacers/seamers will be get assistance throughout the match; spinners will not get any assistance; batsmen will have to dig deep to make runs against pacers.

Team Crappy
  1. Sachin Tendulkar
  2. Mark Waugh
  3. Brian Lara
  4. Martin Crowe (*)
  5. Jos Butler (+)
  6. JP Duminy
  7. Jimmy Neesham
  8. Pat Cummins
  9. Abdul Qadir
  10. Kagiso Rabada
  11. Craig McDermott

Team Raees
  1. David Boon
  2. Herschelle Gibbs
  3. Kane Williamson
  4. Ramnaresh Sarwan
  5. Yuvraj Singh
  6. Michael Bevan
  7. Mark Boucher (wk)
  8. Wasim Akram
  9. Chris Woakes
  10. Saqlain Mushtaq
  11. Zaheer Khan
 
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Write ups

Team Crappy

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Batting:

- Opening pair is the same one world 11 would have had in 90s. Sachin is pretty much the undisputed GOAT of ODI cricket. Mark Waugh the best batsmen for Oz team in 90s in ODIs. Both of them are capable of playing big innings and win the match for the team.

- Brian Lara does not need any introduction. He was to Windies team what Sachin was for Indian one in 90s. With Lara at 3, I have 3 players up top who can play a big innings to anchor the match from batting point of view. Martin Crowe was a super ODI player who proved himself in 92 world cup where he got man of the series.

- Jos Butler is perhaps the best finisher and middle/lower order enforcer in play right now. The type if innings he has played for innings at no.5 or no.6 defies belief. He is yet another match winner (4th) in the batting line up. Following him are pair of Duminy and Neesham. Both of them suited well for the role of no.6 and no.7 batsmen here. Neesham especially is capable of accelerating at the end if required. Cummins, Qadir and Rabada is not an especially strong lower order but each of them is capable of sticking around to hold an end to support a batsmen.

Bowling

- 4 front line bowlers. Craig Mcdermott record speaks for itself. He was the highest wicket taker for Oz in their 87 WC win. Rabada and Cummins are young up and coming bowler in ODIs who have already become go to bowlers for their respective sides. Cummins only second to Starc in Oz ODI side now while Rabada is most valuable pace bowler for SA right now.

- Qadir is the main winner but he is supported by Sachin, Waugh and Duminy. Sachin and Waugh by themselves are capable of playing the fifth bowler role.

- Neesham is in the side as an all rounder and provides the fourth pace bowling option. Over all the team has 8 solid bowling options. On good batting wickets, variety and options is a must to make up for any of regulating bowler having an off day.

Match Specific Thoughts

Batting wise while has a couple of strong players too, this is a no contest. My top 4 is rock solid with 2 GOATS and then Butler adds that oomph to it. Bowling wise Akram and Saqlain stand out in his side but only one of the pitch has support for spin and I have more varied options for pace attack. Overall his front line bowlers has a slight edge but it is equalised by lack of options in his attack, I believe Bevan is his 6th bowling option and he will almost always require Yuvi to bowl his full quota. Yuvi did well in 2011 WC but he has also gone for plenty of runs on other occasions. On pace friendly wickets he will be leaking plenty.

Team Raees

Raees XI:

David Boon - His 447 runs (at 55.87 average) was a major contribution to Australia's first World Cup victory in 1987. In the semi-final, he made 65 at Lahore against Pakistan and won the player of the match award in the final at Kolkata for his 75 from 125 balls.

Herschelle Gibbs - South Africa's most destructive ODI opener of all time. Gibbs played a monumental innings against Australia, scoring 175 off just 111 balls leading South Africa to victory. In the group stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Gibbs hit six sixes in an over off the bowling of Daan van Bunge becoming the first player in One Day International history to do so.

Kane Williamson - At the end of the 2019 World Cup, he was awarded the Player of the Tournament award after becoming the highest scoring captain in a single World Cup, making 578 runs in 10 matches. He was named as captain of the 'Team of the Tournament' by the ICC and ESPNCricinfo.

Ramnaresh Sarwan - Super underrated Windies Batsman in the post Lara/Walsh/Ambrose era.. averaging 55+ at No.4 and strong world cup credentials.

Yuvraj Singh - Destructive, match winning finisher at the highest level averaging near 40 at 5 and a dangerous support bowler too.

Michael Bevan - The greatest ODI finisher in history, multiple World Cup Winner and Australia's MVP during that period.

Mark Boucher - Played integral innings during that famous ODI v Australia and one of the most explosive Wicket-Keeper batsmen of his era.

Wasim Akram - Does anything need to be said...best ODI bowler - period.

Chris Woakes - Underrated change bowler, capable of breaking partnerships and an excellent no.8 batsman.

Saqlain Mushtaq - Best ever ODI spinner.

Zaheer Khan - Akram-lite, THE bowler of the 2011 Indian World Cup win.
 
Himannv said:
First time I've ever heard someone say that tbh. I don't think there's a better Pakistani ODI batsman and his stats are unprecedented during his era.
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I'm a big fan.

GG mate, you made some good arguments regarding Mahela and Mo, food for thought for sure.
 
12OunceEpilogue said:
Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here with Mahela, he's one of my favourites too.
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Didn't want to address this during the game since it'll be counter-productive to me winning if I wax lyrical about one of my opponent's players. :lol:

I wasn't lying when I said Mahela is my favourite batsman ever. A lot is made of ABdV being a 360 degree player, but I think Mahela is actually in the same mould, particularly against spin. I feel he just has so much ability and can simply place the ball wherever he wants regardless of who the spinner is. If he gets out to spin, it's mostly because he's trying out something fairly audacious as opposed to being unable to read spin or anything like that.

I think his late cut is a thing of beauty and it's a shot he's played so often that he can even predict that when he taps it, the ball spins off to the right after it pitches and it becomes harder for the fielder. I also think his shots to the leg side for a ball pitching outside off stump are magnificent and unusually well-timed.

He's always a little bit tentative early on in the innings for some inexplicable reason and if he doesn't get to 30 odd he'll get out. If he does play himself in, we're in for a treat though. It's weird that he never had those starting problems when he opened the batting. It was like the shackles were off and he was playing pace as effectively as he was playing spin. I could kill the Sri Lankan selectors for not giving him more opportunities there when it was clear he was performing well as an opener. I mean, why would you give Upul fecking Tharanga a go when you have your most talented batsman of all time finally coming good? It's insane!

But being a fan of Mahela is hard, he's just so frustrating! You find yourself just starting to get fed up to the back teeth with him and then he goes and scores a hundred out of nowhere in a World Cup final or in some such ridiculously unexpected game. He's incredible when you least expect him to be and I don't think I've ever enjoyed cricket as much after he retired.

12OunceEpilogue said:
I'm a big fan.

GG mate, you made some good arguments regarding Mahela and Mo, food for thought for sure.
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Well argued by both you and @2mufc0 I think. MoYo's stats are a lot better than I thought they'd be. I do think they're a terrible pairing though, I'd be pulling my hair out everyday I watch them. Gilchrist is another one of your players that I'm a big fan of, but maybe that's a post for another day.

Well played and good luck going forward mate.
 
My first thoughts on the current game are "how the hell did we allow @crappycraperson to assemble that top 6!?" It's very very good! Up against a better bowling attack though so some food for thought. Will read the arguments put forward and cast my vote tomorrow.
 
Himannv said:
First time I've ever heard someone say that tbh. I don't think there's a better Pakistani ODI batsman and his stats are unprecedented during his era.
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Great batsman but GOAT level is stretching it. 3-5 batsmen at max in that tier.
I mean you'd have SRT, Viv, Kohli, AB, Ponting (Ponting and AB is stretching it already)
 
Himannv said:
Well argued by both you and @2mufc0 I think. MoYo's stats are a lot better than I thought they'd be. I do think they're a terrible pairing though, I'd be pulling my hair out everyday I watch them. Gilchrist is another one of your players that I'm a big fan of, but maybe that's a post for another day.

Well played and good luck going forward mate.
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The only issue i have with MoYo here is his position, he wasn't really a top order batsman, ideally you want him coming in at 4/5.
 
Best of luck @crappycraperson. I think you have the better opening pair but I think Kane Williamson credentials are unbelievable at 3 and personally think I have the better proven finishers. Bowling wise - can’t see how your attack would hurt my batting lineup the same way Akram and Saqlain could do to yours.
 
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