Your team will be vastly different to most of us as you have seen players we haven't. But it's interesting to see how different
Cricket
- Thread starter EdWeatherall
- Start date
in a fictional game you’ve got to find space for kim jong un. he once scored 807 not out and his best bowling figures are 10-0.
2008? I thought you were older than that
Lara is undroppable. 11 from the time I started to watch live and have memories for (96 onwards)
Hayden, G.Smith (Dravid if he can open), Lara, Sachin, Kallis, S.Smith, Gilchrist, Warne, Akram, Mcgrath, Bumrah/Steyn
Bench: Pointing, Murali, ABD, Stokes, Bumrah/Steyn, Ambrose
I agree with your Kallis take but he is a lock due to him being the best 4th seamer option available.
I’m 35. Graeme Smith is a good shout.
Kallis ground us to dust many times but I wonder if he had any innings in the top 50 list that Cricinfo made..
My Jadeja pick reaction reminds me of the time I or someone else had Herath in the fantasy cricket 11 game on the caf and a couple of cnuts on here kept laughing each time the poll came up
Might’ve been KM
Might’ve been KM
Ooo love a greatest XI. For me...
Hayden
Sehwag
Sangakarra
Tendulkar
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist (wk)
Wasim Akram
Warne
Ambrose
McGrath
Honourable mentions: Cook, Ponting, De Villiers, Pollock, Murali, Anderson, Steyn. Not old enough to consider players further back than that - even Ambrose is pushing it a bit but his record is insane and he'd be the bowler that would terrify me the most.
I'm always tempted to put Pollock in as the all rounder in place of Kallis, simply because the top 5+Gilchrist should rack up enough runs anyway so having four front line seamers would ensure 20 wickets are taken in short order, but people get all upset when I do that.
Hayden
Sehwag
Sangakarra
Tendulkar
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist (wk)
Wasim Akram
Warne
Ambrose
McGrath
Honourable mentions: Cook, Ponting, De Villiers, Pollock, Murali, Anderson, Steyn. Not old enough to consider players further back than that - even Ambrose is pushing it a bit but his record is insane and he'd be the bowler that would terrify me the most.
I'm always tempted to put Pollock in as the all rounder in place of Kallis, simply because the top 5+Gilchrist should rack up enough runs anyway so having four front line seamers would ensure 20 wickets are taken in short order, but people get all upset when I do that.
Won't comment on the older greats such as Holding, Marshall, Lillee etc as i didn't get to seem them live unfortunately.
But from what i seen McGrath was the best in test cricket imo, would literally suffocate the opposition. Young Waqar was also something else to watch. In more recent times Steyn is probably the best given he bowled in probably the most batting friendly era ever, there were so many batsmen averaging between 50-60.
But from what i seen McGrath was the best in test cricket imo, would literally suffocate the opposition. Young Waqar was also something else to watch. In more recent times Steyn is probably the best given he bowled in probably the most batting friendly era ever, there were so many batsmen averaging between 50-60.
I'm not really sure you can have shocking inclusions in people's subjective best X1s
Here's my Test XI from 2000's+
Karunaratne
Tamim Iqbal
Gary Ballance
Mohammed Hafeez
Shakib Al-Hasan
Suresh Raina
MS Dhoni
Sreesanth
Ashley Giles
Peter Siddle
Matthew Hoggard
"Most boring XI of the 21st Century"
Alastair Cook
Rahul Dravid
Jonathan Trott
Che Pujara
Jacques Kallis
Shiv Chanderpaul
Andy Flower
Shaun Pollock
Tim Southee
McGrath
Herath the Destroyer
God I love defensive technical batsman but I think I'd cry watching this team and fall asleep.
Alastair Cook
Rahul Dravid
Jonathan Trott
Che Pujara
Jacques Kallis
Shiv Chanderpaul
Andy Flower
Shaun Pollock
Tim Southee
McGrath
Herath the Destroyer
God I love defensive technical batsman but I think I'd cry watching this team and fall asleep.
Just thought I'd point out that only Stokes, McCullum and Gilchrist have hit more 6s than Tim Southee in the history of test match cricket.
That can't be true
I put him in mainly for his bowling style.
Poor mans/Defensive Anderson.
Gentle outswingers at 135kph.
Yeah I have been using this as my pub stat after the latest England series.
That's madness,
You can’t not have Ponting in the above.
Pretty much the best world 11 is the Australian team circa 2002 but with Smith Tendulka, Steyn and either Cummins or Anderson in replacement for Martyn, Langer, Lee and Gillespie.
I think you have to have Sachin open the batting and smith replaces Martyn.
I think also people forget just how good Steve Waugh was… he pretty much single handedly ended the fear factor of WI.
Sangakarra over Ponting for me. Sangakarra's average is insane, especially without the gloves (almost 70). I love him as a person too, super bright, speaks well, loves the game.
I also gave myself the rule that I had to have two actual openers. Otherwise it'd be easy to drop Sehwag and Hayden and include bigger name middle order batsmen with better averages. Gotta give the openers credit.
Waugh is a good shout and arguably is more suitable at 6 than Kallis as he batted there regularly. But Kallis has a better average (from memory) and is a better bowler so I cant do it. No chance having Waugh or Smith over Lara though. The style, the huge scores, the computer game, Lara is an icon.
I can't work out your side, think your missing a top order player? From what you've said it's presumably Hayden, Tendulkar, Ponting, Smith, S.Waugh at 5/6, then someone missing, Gilchrist, Cummins, Warne, McGrath, Steyn. Surely not Mark Waugh!? Too many Aussies already!!
Going back to the Stokes/Jadeja chat from yesterday, I want to give a mention to Flintoff.
From 2003-06 ish he was the best all rounder I've seen in my lifetime. Genuine front line bowler, 90+mph, bowling average under 30 for those few years, and averaged around 40 with the bat scoring quickly. A more natural fit at #6 than a batting all rounder.
Only problem is it wasn't a long enough time frame and his averages outside of that spell were pretty poor.
From 2003-06 ish he was the best all rounder I've seen in my lifetime. Genuine front line bowler, 90+mph, bowling average under 30 for those few years, and averaged around 40 with the bat scoring quickly. A more natural fit at #6 than a batting all rounder.
Only problem is it wasn't a long enough time frame and his averages outside of that spell were pretty poor.
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When you pointed out that I'd probably seen many players that a lot of you hadn't, it got me thinking about what my earliest cricket memory actually was.
It was 1968 and it was the game where Gary Sobers hit 6 sixes off Malcolm Nash. It was on the news later. Always stuck with me.
Just wonder what the earliest cricketing memories are for the rest of you.....
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i actually invented cricket, so probably that.
Wasim's amazing bowling spell in the 92 WC final.
Late to the best XI, but here goes:
Gavaskar
Hayden
Ponting (prime Ponting averaged nearly 60 for a very long time, so he just edges Smith)
Tendulkar
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist
Marshall
Warne
Ambrose
McGrath
Gavaskar
Hayden
Ponting (prime Ponting averaged nearly 60 for a very long time, so he just edges Smith)
Tendulkar
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist
Marshall
Warne
Ambrose
McGrath
From the players I've seen:
Hayden
G.Smith
Sangakara
Tendulkar
S.Waugh (c)
AB De Villiers
Gilchrist (wk)
Akram
Warne
McGrath
Steyn
I'm going strictly by batting position so that's why guys like Lara and Ponting miss out since Lara had to compete with Tendulkar at 4 while Ponting at 3 with Sangakara. A lot of those batsman didn't play a lot at 5/6 so that's why I have S.Waugh and ABD there, who did.
What I find more interesting is an Asian XI, including players I didn't see:
Anwar/Sehwag
Gavaskar
Sangakara
Tendulkar
Mohammad Yousuf
Pant (wk)
Imran Khan (c)
Akram
Ashwin/Waqar
Murli
Bumrah
Hayden
G.Smith
Sangakara
Tendulkar
S.Waugh (c)
AB De Villiers
Gilchrist (wk)
Akram
Warne
McGrath
Steyn
I'm going strictly by batting position so that's why guys like Lara and Ponting miss out since Lara had to compete with Tendulkar at 4 while Ponting at 3 with Sangakara. A lot of those batsman didn't play a lot at 5/6 so that's why I have S.Waugh and ABD there, who did.
What I find more interesting is an Asian XI, including players I didn't see:
Anwar/Sehwag
Gavaskar
Sangakara
Tendulkar
Mohammad Yousuf
Pant (wk)
Imran Khan (c)
Akram
Ashwin/Waqar
Murli
Bumrah
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I really don't like how overrated Matthew Hayden is.
He's basically the Australian Virender Sehwag. Absolute monster on flat tracks, the moment there's swing/seam he's a sitting duck.
Averages 34 in England, 34 in South Africa, 27 in New Zealand.
Too big a hole to be considered an all time great.
He's basically the Australian Virender Sehwag. Absolute monster on flat tracks, the moment there's swing/seam he's a sitting duck.
Averages 34 in England, 34 in South Africa, 27 in New Zealand.
Too big a hole to be considered an all time great.
Is Kallis the best performing / least lauded sportsman of all time?
Great numbers. Periods of being top 3 in the world with the bat, had his moments as a bowler but fairly meh.
I think he's remembered about right.
There's a little to much credence being put on pure numbers for my personal taste in this thread. But it's a game of opinions isn't it.
In cricket, memories and performances fade but averages don't. It's why Smith (despite being a cheating cnut!) will be remembered as an all time great even though he is in my opinion horrible to watch.
Smiths 2019 ashes is legendary.
Smith is a tough watch but he'll be remembered well on numbers and legendary series unfortunately.
Moments and memories and one off performances are a good differentiator between people with a small gap in averages -
Like Stokes is a better all rounder than Shakib despite having slightly worse stats.
You can't argue a moments player like Flintoff is better than Jacques Kallis because the gap in stats is just too great.
Like Stokes is a better all rounder than Shakib despite having slightly worse stats.
You can't argue a moments player like Flintoff is better than Jacques Kallis because the gap in stats is just too great.
Thoughts about a two division Test structure going forwards?
surprised pakistan sneak through in the top tier.
It’s already a two division structure, that’s why South Africa got to the WTC final without really playing any of the other top teams (not a slight, they can only beat what’s put in front of them). I think the WTC is good in theory but it was always just a vehicle to get the big 3 playing against each other non stop and marginalise everyone else. The 2 division structure is another step to that logical endpoint and it’s a bad idea. I don’t want to watch England play Australia all the time and I think fans will get bored of it, Ashes are brilliant because they are unique. The game doesn’t need the 2 division structure to increase competition either, we’ve just come off the back of year where everyone’s beaten everyone at some point. All the game needs is a sensible calendar the puts test cricket at the heart of everything for everyone, not just the big 3. It’s a brilliant format that people are more than willing to watch if you put it at the centre of everything.
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You put India and Pakistan in Division 1, would they actually ever play each other? Pakistan are not there as equals.
Sri Lanka have 12 tests scheduled in the next 3 years, do we think that would change if they’re in Division 1?
It’d be a 3 division structure in reality. Div 1 - the big 3, Div 1.5 - Some teams the big 3 might want to play now and again to warm up for the other 2 within the big 3 and Div 2 - The teams the big 3 could not care less about and don’t want to play. So thanks West Indies for all you’ve done adding to rich fabric of test cricket and playing during Covid when certain other big nations couldn’t be bothered, we’re just going to kill 4 day cricket stone dead as if it wasn’t already in a pretty bad state for you guys already.
A debate about two divisions is fine in theory. Pros and cons, could be interesting etc.
In reality, we all know what it means. Well explained by a few above me already. It will be to milk major series, killing the magic in the process and seeing the collapse of the global red ball game.
In reality, we all know what it means. Well explained by a few above me already. It will be to milk major series, killing the magic in the process and seeing the collapse of the global red ball game.
Personal preference. I think Smith is great to watch.
Now Boycott was a tough watch.
Now Boycott was a tough watch.