Close one. Sitting on the fence here.
Test Cricket draft: paulscholes18 vs RedTiger @ SSC, Colombo
- Thread starter The Man Himself
- Start date
I just put the write up as provided. From now onwards though, I will put playing XI of both teams in one post. By comparison if you mean stats, that depends if they are in write up.
No not stats. I meant that if you can just put up a line up of players from 1-11 (Like how we use sharemytactics.com to share football formations or even a simple table will do really) in the OP itself. The subsequent posts can about the players and whatever is provided to you. I might know maybe 4-6 players who are playing and what team they play for, but it is obvious that I will forget a few. The names that aren't familiar, I can look for in the subsequent posts for additional info or just cric info it.
This is the only thing that can be said towards Watson. Luckily I'm not playing him as an opening batsman (the position he received the vast majority of DRS) I'm playing as a seam bowler, something he was more than adept at.The weak link from the 2 sides is redtiger pick Shane "LBW" Watson
P
Team with more fire power as the winning edge here and for me it look like Redtiger got edge with Javed /Kallis in the middle order these two can bat long innings.
This is really tight. I thought RT might just edge this owing to the fact that he has two fine subcontinent spinners, but a quick look at Cric info tells me that Philander and Harris have been monsters in Sri Lanka.
I'm also adamant that my bowling attack has more variation than paulscholes. I've got 2 excellent stock bowlers in Watson and Hughes, swing with kallis and klusener and occasional leg-break from Miandad.
I'm not even touching on Saqlain and bedi.
I'm not even touching on Saqlain and bedi.
Eh? Harris sure, but Philander has just 2 wickets at a rate of 76 in SL.
Sometimes the problem with All rounders, especially those that bat at their own pace is that their bowling won't be up for it. Considering it's a pace attack for Merv, Klusener,Kallis, RT's team could let it slip in the 2nd Innings allowing PS18 to build a big score. They may not last 1.5 days, but you can expect quickfire knocks from KP,Sehwag, Botham and a main stay in Mohammed Yousuf. And as someone mentioned already, PS18's team is not exactly afraid of spin.
On any other ground, I'd have betted RT to just edge this, but this is really tight.
Oh, you are right. I read the stat above Sri Lanka by mistake.
ps18 IMO has the better team. The thing swaying me was RedTiger's two spinners in Colombo, but it's not enough for me.
That's convinced me. Didn't clock that paulscholes had a good line up to face a spin attack
Do you not think I have a good line up to face pace??
What kind of batting line up is that?
Come on. Pietersen's played what is rated by many as one of the best innings ever in Mumbai. I do not rate it as such, but he could clearly do it in south Asia.
Prior was excellent in the UAE. Averages 40 in Asia against a career average of 40.. so.. he's clearly equally good everywhere.
Mushfiqur has an average of 50 in Sri Lanka because he was playing against a shit Sri Lankan side.
Why is draw never an option? Half the matches in the 20th century used to end in draws.
This is bloody tough to call.
Ha. If we allow draws then we should hold a rematch but in opposite conditions. So here we're playing on Sri Lankan roads, next take them to the WACA.
Starting XI: Mark Taylor, Slater, Kallis, Miandad, Ganguly, Shane Watson, Lance Klusener, Mushfiqur Rahim, Merv Hughes, Bishen Singh Bedi, Saqlain Mushtaq
Ganguly was just a decent test batsman. Watson, Kluesner are players I do not rate as test batsmen. Mushfiqur's played some decent knocks, but at the end of the day, he's not a quality player.
#3 and #4 are clearly world class.. but beyond #4, it's weak. Opposition team bats all the way till 11.
I disagree with your comment on Rahim, was the Sri Lanka side really that bad? Seriously? And the fact mushi had next to no support during his innings.
I think your batting line up is marginally better but paulscholes' line up really is shielded by the conditions and your bowling attack relying on spin. In the end, I fancy his bowling line up to bowl your batting one out more than the other way around
I don't think Ashwin is good enough to be the main bowler against these batsmen and in these conditions he has to take the mantle.
Both batting line ups are proven in harder conditions so I doubt the seamers will be of much impact.
For me the separating factor is RedTiger has two top spinners who will relish bowling in the final innings chase.
Both batting line ups are proven in harder conditions so I doubt the seamers will be of much impact.
For me the separating factor is RedTiger has two top spinners who will relish bowling in the final innings chase.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-bangladesh-2013/engine/match/602472.html
Sorry.. just have to disagree. Look at the average scores there and Sri Lanka's bowling..
That's a hilarious test. Was it a very flat pitch or something? Herath, Mendis, and Dilshan as the best SL bowlers..
It's a very good batting wicket, if the pitch played tricks and helped the bowlers then ask yourself would the team batting 2nd win more then the team batting 1st, Sehwag & Pietersen are the kind of batsman who can hit bowlers out of the attack
I don't think this is a spinners paradise like Indian pitches or Galle. This pitch saw Vaas take 8 wickets once and Iirc sanga and Mahela wreaked havoc here (or was that kandy?) and Mahela scored 370 or so too. It is a good wicket with something for everyone. I don't think having more spinners guarantees anything really.
For me klusener and Watson aren't very good test bowlers. saq Hughes and Bedi are the only front line bowlers and with the batting PS18 has it's a difficult task to get them out cheaply.
For me klusener and Watson aren't very good test bowlers. saq Hughes and Bedi are the only front line bowlers and with the batting PS18 has it's a difficult task to get them out cheaply.
Redtiger winning the toss and choosing to bat swings the match slightly in his favour for me.. He has 2 bowlers who can cause headaches in the fouth innings.. Ashwin I don't can trouble the likes of taylor, Ganguly or Miandad..
Ultimately I think its going to be runs on the board and the pressure of chasing them, that is going to be ps18's undoing.. Though if any team can chase it,he certainly has a batting line up which can do it.. Still on the fence.. Going to take a while before I vote in this one..
Ultimately I think its going to be runs on the board and the pressure of chasing them, that is going to be ps18's undoing.. Though if any team can chase it,he certainly has a batting line up which can do it.. Still on the fence.. Going to take a while before I vote in this one..
The Issue with batsmen trying to score quick is, they just putting risk on loosing thd wickets especially when oponent have bowlers like Saqlain (who loves lot of variety)and Bedi(who loves to flight it ) it might be tempting to hit out of the ground but at the same time mis timing or stumping might cost your wkts.This apply to batsmen mentioned by you.
On other side Redtiger got Miandad and kallis both can go long innings, apart from their own innings they too can also help batsmen at otherside play freely.
The reason I went for RedTiger is Kallis and Miandad have the ability to dominate tests in a way few others do, plus the spinners. However, this is a very close one and I could easily go the other way too
But even by Test Match definitions, scoring quick is not a run a ball innings. KP, Sehwag, Botham play with more patience in the longer format (even if their SR is about 60), and you have Yousuf who is very very good at keeping his wicket. So even if they lose wickets at regular intervals, Yousuf will build 50+ partnerships with players all the way to No 8 or dare I say 11. So even if they don't play maybe 100-120 overs, they will still build up a formidable score.
Also the point I was referring to earlier was that apart from Hughes, RT's other seamers are all allrounders. If Kallis does indeed build up a strong innings in RT's 1st innings (i.e 150+), he will be way too tired for long bowling spells in the 2nd. The same applies to Klusener and Watson, though I doubt the latter two will be capable of building such a long innings.
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This doesn't really hold true for Kallis, though. He's bowled 20+ overs right after scoring 150+ in tests before. Don't think RT plans to use him for long spells anyway.
Most here under rating Saqlain's ability to take wickets, he's specialist who attacks batsmen and commit them to mistake.he can turn matches on his own.
Best eg. has to be his tour of India 1999, though Wasim,Akthar had there own share of wkts, this guys was completely unplayable, Indian batsmens( Dravid, sachin laxman, Azar ganguly ) all best players of spin struggled to get runs against and in fact lost their wkts .We played 2 test, Saqlain's figure of 35-10-94-5Wkts( Dravid, Sachin and Azar) IInd innings 32-8-93-5(Sachin,Azar and Ganguly) He had 10 wkts in match, picking price wkt of sachin wkt twice,In fact we lost the match with sachin going down at 136.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63828.html
2nd test though India had won this,Once again Saqlain claiming match figure of 10 wts in the match
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63829.html
Also If i'm not wrong he won the MOS.
Just assume if this guy can do it the worlds best on the track that help spinners as this game is played at SL where pitch should be either flat or turner friendly, i'm not going to tell you that he's not going to dominate batsmen each time when he's a ball ,what i say is he can break well set batsmen's going on their 50+ or even at 0's.new batsmens and tail end's will certainly suffer if they no going to apply them self.
If Kallis can bowl 10 over spell in second innings is good enough as Saqlain and Bedi can take care of the rest as they are the ones given task of bowling long spells.
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Then who else ? Klusener or Watson ? I rate Kallis a better bowler than both of them. It is certain the spinners will bowl the majority of the overs, but I find it really hard to believe that any player can bat for a long innings and then be asked to bowl for a reasonably long spell immediately especially if he is a medium to fast pacer.
Do you have any record where Kallis has done this ? You maybe right, but I just want to be certain.
It's a close game still think it will be a long game and it will come down to the spinners.
still think it will be a long game and it will come down to the spinners.Klusener's bowling I rate close to useless in these conditions. Hughes and Watson would be RT's primary seamers I would think. Watson's got a very good average in SL although he's only played 3 matches there.
Kallis games:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64063.html
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64117.html
Kluseners figures in Sri Lanka of 5 wickets, in 93 overs with a E/R of 2.77 isn't too bad for a useless bowler.
http://howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerCountries.asp
Kallis was the 3rd or 4th bowler in those matches and his performance dipped. Either taking one wicket or none at all. Yeah 3 matches isn't much (I remember getting slated for this too), but it's all we have to go by.
Considering that the sub-continent is pretty much the same for most wickets, why don't we look at the figures for the sub-continent?