KM
I’m afraid I just blue myself
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2008
- Messages
- 49,917
RI'S BASTARDS
A feature across my team is that they won’t give an inch. Starting from the Captain to Kumble bowling with a broken jaw, they’ll take everything you can throw at them and keep coming back. In fact, one of them – Dujon has never played in a losing series. I don’t think you can price that attitude too highly in a team and thats what I was looking for. In fact, I sacrificed averages a couple of times for players I thought had the right mentality.
That said, playing DE’s team is basically going to be all about breaking through that scary opening partnership to get into the soft center. If I do that, only Hussey stands between me and a really long tail. Given that Sehwag gets out before he gets to 30 in 50% of the innings he plays, I think it’s quite likely we’ll get that breakthrough . Between Pigeon, Streak, Nash and McMillan, we’ll plough through that middle order and Kumble will mop up the tail.
Batting wise, I don’t have a lot to fear from his bowlers in my opinion. There’s a bunch of honest triers in there but no one to give my boys any serious trouble. Smith will soften them up and Aravinda and Clarke will feast on them while Marsh or Lamb dig in at one end.
A biased view maybe but I think my XI would beat DE’s 4 out of 5 games except for the odd game when both Sehwag and Hayden click and nothing works. I’m hoping everybody else sees it that way
The XI
1. Graeme Smith (c)
2. Geoff Marsh
3. Allan Lamb
4. Aravinda de Silva
5. Michael Clarke
6. Brian McMillan
7. Jeff Dujon (wk)
8. Heath Streak
9. Dion Nash
10. Anil Kumble (vc)
11. Glenn McGrath
I think my team’s very nicely balanced with everyone in the position they’re best suited to.
Batting
Opening – Smith and Marsh are a solid set of specialist openers. Smith (8000 runs at 50) is probably the best opener of the last decade while Marsh (3000 at 33) is a tough son of a bitch who’ll hold his end up.
Middle Order - At 3 I’ve got Allan Lamb (4600 at 36) who was an ever-present in the England middle order for a decade and loved playing against the quicks. Then come the stroke players deSilva (6300 at 43) and Clarke(6000 at 49). They’re both quality players of spin and importantly for me in the middle get their runs relatively quickly. Brian McMillan at 6 was a technically perfect middle order batsman who accumulated 2000 runs with an average of 40.
Lower Order Okay its 350 for 4 and you’ve made it past my formidable middle order. Can you breathe a sigh of relief? No...because Dujon at 7 is a strokeplayer averaging 32 with 5 centuries, Streak and Nash are almost allrounders with averages of 22 and 23 (after Nash's injury restricted his bowling, there were suggestions he play on as specialist batsman). Anil Kumble at 10 has a fecking test century and 5 fifties and was the usual nightwatchman for India. You’ll get McGrath quickly enough I suppose if you make it that far.
Bowling
Glenn McGrath…I’m not even going to talk about except to say 563 wickets at 21 point fecking 6. Heath Streak was a one-man attack for Zimbabwe and a superb swing bowler with 216 wickets at 28. Dion Nash when not injured or smoking pot was a lively seam bowler who got 93 wickets at 28. Big Mac was a very underrated allrounder…international cricket came a little late for him in his career but he still managed 74 wickets at 34 always hitting the deck hard and making batsmen uncomfortable with his bounce. Now my spin option - Kumble has 619 wickets and every legspinner’s trick in the book plus some he's invented. Clarke and Aravinda will chip in and act as partnership breakers.
One thing you’ll note about the bowlers is that they won’t shirk long spells. There’s not one among them that needs to be mothered and bowled in short spells.
Dujon’s one of the all-time great keepers and an incredible athlete. Personally, I think McMillan’s the best slip fielder I have ever seen. From an article about him -
Quote:
If he dropped a catch - and there aren't too many recorded instances, so you have to rely on his first-class colleagues for that - the reaction in the field would be stunned silence. Just silence, players looking at each other, not saying a word.
McGrath will be buying him a lot of beers.
Smith’s captain and I have a bunch to choose from for Vice-Captain. Streak, Clarke and deSilva were all possibilities. I went with Kumble in the end because I think he’ll be a perfect complement for Smith’s aggression and impulsiveness.
DESERT EAGLES
Hayden
Sehwag
Shafiq
Hussey
Dhoni( C, Wk)
Sammy
Bravo
Mendis
Malinga
Srinath
Morrison
12th man: JP Duminy
My openers are pretty much sex on fire. Right/Left combo and if even one of them gets going they can take the game away from the opposition.
My middle order is also pretty strong, Hussey is obviously class. Shafiq has 2 centuries and 6 half centuries in 13 tests and can also contribute with occasional leg breaks. Ideally I would like to have Dhoni a position lower but i think an average of more than 37 along with 5 centuries and 24 half centuries makes him a very deserving number 5 batsman as well.
6 and 7 is filled with two west indian all rounders, one the current captain and one a former captain. Sammy is a decent medium pacer and a solid batsman. Bravo when on form is as destructive as it gets. Two centuries against a Mcgrath led Aussie pace attack down under shows his quality. He is also an excellent bowler.
8 and 9 are the two unorthodox sri lankan bowlers. "When I started playing Test cricket, I was not as good as Mendis. He is exceptional. He is the future of Sri Lankan cricket," Big words from Murali himself. Both bowlers had amazing test debuts and I would argue a little is due to the fact that their action takes some getting used to. I have no doubt that the older players in RI's team will struggle against them.
10/11 are my two opening bowlers. Morrison was NZ's number one pace bowler for almost a decade and Srinath carried the indian pace attack for a long time. They can both reverse swing the ball.
My twelfth man is JP Duminy. Can chip in with ball or bat and is an excellent fielder which is the number one prerequisite for a 12th man in test cricket.
other notes:
My fielding is excellent
7 out of my eleven players can bowl ( not counting Shafiq) giving me great variety.
RI's strength is Kumble and Mcgrath and I feel I have the kryptonite to those two in Hayden and Sehwag.
Good luck RI, may the best team win.
here we go.
