Test Cricket draft: QF : Aldo vs prath92 @ Basin Reserve, Wellington

Who will win test match?

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .

The Man Himself

asked for a tagline change and all I got was this.
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Welcome to quarter final match up between Aldo and prath92 of test cricket sheep draft. Some basic rules to consider while voting:

1) This is test only draft. So, judge players and team on test records only.
2) Match up will be in test format.
3) The ground the match is on is to indicate overall conditions from that country, not JUST the ground. Although, specific ground related records maybe used in discussion.
4) Voting will be available for 24 hours after poll is created.


prath92 has won the toss and will be batting first.
 
Aldo XI: Sir Jack Hobbs, Barry Richards, George Headley, BC Lara, Stan McCabe, Ted Dexter, Mike Procter, Shaun Pollock, Don Tallon(WK), Sir Alec Bedser, Sir Andy Roberts

prath92 XI: Hayden, S. Fleming, Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Andy Flower(WK), Saleem Malik, Stuart Broad, Harbhajan Singh, Craig Mcdermott, Sarfaraz Nawaz, E. Prasanna
 
Aldo's team:

Brief Introduction of the Team
The team is composed of some of the most influential cricketers over the generations who led the way with their class and are immortals in the history of the sport.

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Batting Order
Opening the batting is the greatest opener of all time, and one of the greatest batsmen ever, Sir Jack Hobbs, THE most prolific run getter in cricket history - 61K FC runs and 199! FC centuries, an absolute machine, but more importantly, a man who literally mastered every single condition he faced, and showed flawless technique and invincible determination to clobber one bowler after another. Partnering him is one of South Africa's biggest legends and arguably their most talented player ever - Barry Richards, a man unfortunate not to have a full test career, but the times he got to face the world's best, he displayed his class against them - notably the tests against Australia and the World Series Cricket.

Coming in at number 3, is one of the biggest cricketing pioneers from West Indies, the man known as the Black Bradman, George Headley. Averaging over 60 and carrying an otherwise below par WI team for years and standing up against the storm time and again, the ultimate fighter, so much so that he even defeated racism. Following him is The Prince, Brian Charles Lara, an undisputed great of the game, who is suited for all situations and has a history of playing iconic knocks. Coming in at number 5 is the man who was always on Bradman's side when Australia dominated one team after another, Stan McCabe, the man renowned for his magnitude of class and style, one who even fascinated Bradman himself. Lastly, 'Lord' Ted Dexter, one of the most powerful and dynamic batsmen of his generation and a cornerstone of the English team during the 60s. Procter and Pollock are the two all rounders down the order, and Tallon and Bedser carry the bat down till 10, a very long tail.

Bowling
The bowling will be opened by Sir Andy Roberts and Shaun Pollock. An absolute fierce character and bowling with ferocious pace and deadly accuracy, Sir Andy was the original leader of the WI pace attack and for years one of the most feared bowlers in the world. Complimenting him perfectly, Pollock will bowl his line and length deliveries tirelessly at a very decent pace. Sir Alec Bedser will come as the first change. Bedser would be bowling long spells tirelessly wearing the opposition down and not giving an inch anywhere. Mike Procter comes in at second change, another paceman who could swing the ball either way and had deadly late inswing, his attacking approach would be devastating.

Why we'll win?
The opposition has decided to win the toss and bat first, a decision not likely to get much help given the conditions and the fact that he will be facing four genuine fast bowlers, and here are the stats for it:

  • 15/29 times teams winning the toss and batting first has lost, winning only 5 of those times.
  • 22/57 times the team fielding first has won, drawing 23 times and losing 12 times.


Hayden and Fleming is an impressing opening pair who will try get a solid opening stand, but Roberts and Pollock will make that difficult. Roberts will be charging in attacking the batsmen, with steaming pace and bounce, looking to attack the body with steep bouncers. Hayden likes to intimidate his bowlers but here I have a fierce provocative character who will take the mind games to him and look to force an error. While on the other side Pollock maintains his line and length, and he will also generate a good amount of pace here. Procter and Bedser will continue the pattern and will be rotated throughout the first two sessions. We will target all their batsmen apart from Sachin who can be left isolated here, with wickets falling around him. Flower and Malik while great players of spin and subcontinent conditions can possibly find it tough to face the pace battery.

While batting, we will look consolidate on the bowlers' hard work and play cautiously initially and steadily build a platform on which the middle order can further build upon. Hobbs is the master of difficult conditions, and him and Richards should successfully see out the initial onslaught. In an unlikely event of them getting out to Broad or McDermott, both Headley and Lara are again well versed on how to handle tough conditions, however in a much more likely event of them getting a solid platform from the openers, they can play aggressively and specially target the spinner Harbhajan Singh, who will likely bowl a lot of overs here. Later, McCabe and Dexter can play their natural game once the ball is old.

That's the basic gameplan, will add more in the discussions.
 
Prath's team:

BATTING


Mathew Hayden

A tenacious Australian opener, Hayden is perhaps the most technical, yet hard hitting opener Australia had in the 90s and 2000s. He played 103 tests, scored 8600 runs at an average of 50 hitting 30 centuries and 29 half centuries in his 15 year career with ability to play both spin and pace with equal finesse. He came on his own in late 90s and unsurprisingly averages 55.74 in home conditions. In the only game he played here, in the Trans-Tasman trophy in 2005, he scored 61. He has 21 centuries and 17 50s in fast bouncy Aussie wickets. He can play the pace bowling of the opposition with ease like he always does.


Stephen Fleming

Team captain Fleming surprisingly opens the innings with Hayden. Even though it’s not his normal position, it’s not an unknown role for him, having played 11 test matches as an opener towards the end of his career, notably in 2004 against England at Nottingham when he scored 117 opening the batting with Mark Richardson. He has in total played 111 games scoring a little over 7000 runs at an average of 40.06 with 9 centuries and 46 half centuries. Even though he averages only 33.87 in NZ, he has 7 50s on this ground and being a kiwi, knows the conditions better than anybody else. He also holds the record for highest scorer among all New Zealand Test batsmen. At home, he will be a good sensible and dependable option to complement the ever so stylish Mathew Hayden



Virat Kohli

In at 3, sees the arrival of one of the finest batsman of the modern era and India’s current Test Captain, Virat Kohli is often compared to teammate Tendulkar due to their similar batting styles, by eminent former players like Viv Richards and Dean Jones. He has almost 3000 runs, since his test debut in 2011, at an average of 44 with 12 centuries and 11 half centuries. Not surprisingly he has taken well to conditions in this region averaging a staggering 71 down under, often facing exceptionally fast bowlers unfazed. He is an aggressive yet stylish player with great ability to play spin and pace alike



Sachin Tendulkar

At 4, comes a true legend of the game. Master Blaster, God of Cricket. Many such names have been used to describe one player. Sachin Tendulkar. Known as the best test batsman of all time. He has played 200 test matches scoring a mouth-watering 15921 runs at an average of 53.78 with 51 centuries and 68 50s. Very few bowlers have tormented him and he averages 51.98 down under. He averages 40+ in every country he has played and is probably the only batsman to have this record. He has 8 100s and 12 50s. Very little troubles him when he bats.





Andy Flower

In at No.5 is Flower, perhaps the best batsman of Zimbabwe of his era, at a time when Zimbabwe were a good test playing nation frequently touring all over the world and were a more serious threat than the recent past, Flower played 63 tests scoring close to 4800 runs at a staggering average of 51.54 hitting 12 centuries and 27 half centuries. He has played only 5 games down under (all in NZ) but has scored 4 50s in those games at an average of 54.14. Scored 79 in this ground in 2000 which turned out to be his last game in NZ. A dependable WK batsman who has fine technique and is also explosive when the requirement arises.

Saleem Malik

In at 6 is Pakistani middle order batsman Saleem Malik. He has played 103 matches scoring almost 5800 runs at an average of 43.69 hitting 15 centuries and 29 half centuries. He has been a very good lower order batsman for Pakistan and averages 35.78 Aus and NZ playing at 6. He has a century in this very ground, scoring 140 in 1995 and has 6 50s in the region to go with it. He is a good option at 6 and can score handy runs with the support of the tail.

The tail is good enough to add another 50 runs as well. Broad and Bhajji have test centuries and Mcdermott and sarfraz can hang in there too giving support and hitting valuable runs.
 
BOWLING


Craig Mcdermott (Right Arm Fast)

Average: 28.63 Wickets: 291

The Spearhead of Australian pace attack in 80s and early 90s, Mcdermott had an impressive career lasting 71 games. He was one of the best bowlers outside of West Indies in that era and was very good in outswing with his classic side-on action and could run through batting lineups on his own in the fast bowling pitches in Australia. A very intelligent and consistent bowler, he was the main difference between Australia and England in most of the Ashes Tests that he took part in. In pitches like the one here, he will wreak havoc on opposing batsmen.


Sarfraz Nawaz (Right Arm Fast Medium)

Average: 32.21 Wickets: 177

Pakistani bowler Sarfraz was the bowler who introduced reverse swing in the early 70s which is now a deadly weapon in the pitches in India and Pakistan. He could also mix it up between vey fast and fast medium and at 6’6” he also had the ability to a ball a very good bouncer that could surprise even the best of batsmen in the 70s. Remembered for an amazing deadly spell where he took 7 wickets for 1 run in 5 overs, against Australia in MCG, a rare feat for a subcontinent player even today. He ended the game with magical figures of 9/86. And with the old ball in this pitch, his reverse swinging ability will be troublesome for most batsmen.

Stuart Broad (Right arm fast)

Average: 28.66 Wickets : 333

A tall English Fast bowler, he is one of the most underrated fast bowlers, Broad is England’s second highest wicket taker at 333 wickets. He is also the current #1 Bowler in Tests and is one of the few bowlers with 2 Test Hattricks to his name. He has an average of 34 down under and had figures of 6/51 when he last played here in this stadium in 2013. He is very temperamental and accurate but at the same time, very fast in pitches like these. Even though he may give the impression that he is easy to handle, you don’t get to be your country’s second highest wicket taker (ahead of many who could be considered legends of the game) and Test No.1 Bowler without being very good.










E Prasanna (Right Arm off-Spinner)

Average : 30.38 Wickets : 189

Part of the legendary Indian spin quartet during the 60s and 70s, Prasanna had complete mastery over flight and out thought every batsman he faced. Everyone knows that he can rip apart through any batting lineup in spin assisted pitches. What really shows his brilliance is that he averages 24.83 down under. Surprisingly he averages 19.24 in NZ with a 5/32 in Basin Reserve as well. It should be recalled that very few pitches really assist spinners here. It’s not based on a low sample. He has played 15 games in the region and 7 in NZ, often facing very good batsmen. What it proves that he can contribute very well even when the pitch isn’t spin friendly and he is definitely a tough nut to handle even here.


Harbhajan Singh (Right Arm Off-spinner)

Average : 32.46 Wickets : 417

Harbhajan was one of India’s spin spearheads with Kumble during the 2000s and was a very key player in many of Australian and NZ tours. He only has an average of 38.90 down under but he has an economy of just under 3. He can keep it tight and take a few wickets to complement the others.



Fielding

Captain Stephen Fleming is often hailed as the best captain ever by his contemporaries, including MS Dhoni and Shane Warne among others, having led his team for almost 11 years. His intelligent field placings often win games and save runs. He himself is a top fielder with almost 170 catches, often a slip fielder. In addition, Mathew Hayden is also a safe fielder, again having 128 catches.

Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar are excellent fielders, Sachin having 115 catches in his career. Nimble and Agile Andy Flower is a very good keeper with very good reflexes. Others like Harbhajan, Broad, Malik, Mcdermott are also more than competent in putting 100% in the field.
 
Team Plan

Batting

1. Dealing with Andy Roberts

Andy Roberts, one of the quartets of WI fast bowling in the 70s is the main spearhead. He is a very fast bowler probably one of the fastest bowlers of that time as per various contemporaries. However, his main weapons were pace in the ball and his bouncers, where he had a fast and a slow bouncer. Very few could face him and his bouncers caused confusion.

However, all the top 6 in the team have played in an era where bowlers where they have played against bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose Waqar Younis, Brett Lee and all (except Kohli of course, who have faced his own share of fast bowlers in Steyn, Starc and many others). All of them got pace well into 90s and not only that they were themselves proficient in experimentation bowling (swing to both sides, reverse swing, slow bouncers, slow Yorkers etc.). With Roberts, his pace would not be as difficult as it would seem to us. In the 70s very few bowlers could generate this pace (few other than the quartet, Thomson, Lillee) and very few batsmen were equipped to handle them especially from the subcontinent. Other than the bouncers, his bowling would be handled well by batsmen of the quality of Hayden, Fleming, Sachin, Kohli, and all. Even Andy Flower and Saleem Malik are no strangers to fiery pace.







2. Dealing with Alec Bedser

Alec Bedser is yet another medium pace bowler from the glorious 40s era playing against greats like Sir Don himself. He was, by accounts, a hardworking bowler with a good inswinger. He was difficult to handle initially but once the swing bowling was used to by the Aussie batsmen, they were easily handling him. His “special ball” was a slow leg break which the unexpected batsmen were unable to handle and even Sir Don called it the best ball he faced. It is effectively a slow swing delivery that a lot of bowlers these days use which will hardly test seasoned batsmen like Sachin and the others a great deal.


3. Dealing with Mike Procter

Mike Procter has played 7 tests and all in South Africa. His average of 15.02 in Tests cannot be used for any comparison as he has played 7 teams all in home conditions. He could swing both ways which is a good weapon to have but all the batsmen are adept at handling the same. While he is a good talent, he is an unknown quantity at pretty much every other country.

4. Dealing with Shaun Pollock

Most of the batsman have faced Shaun Pollock in their careers (exception being Kohli) and as such have dealt with him reasonably well.


So to sum up, if you objectively look past the colourful descriptions by their compatriots, this is what is my plan for the opposition bowlers. Bedser is a good bowler from the 40s and 50s and a legend of the game but going by the stock of bowlers faced by our batsman in their career, he should be dealt with fairly comfortably. Procter hasn’t played a single test outside his country and as such has no guarantee of success either simply taking into account his test career alone. Pollock and Roberts while good bowlers hardly can be expected to take all 20 wickets on their own especially against a daunting batting lineup like ours who are unfazed by pace. Ted Dexter and Stan Mccabe are part timers at best who will be cannon fodder in this pitch. The batsman are capable of batting for a good day and a half at the least and putting on a very good score.


BOWLING


Use of Reverse Swing

Normal swing occurs mostly when the ball is fairly new. As it wears more, the aerodynamics of the asymmetry change and it is more difficult to extract a large amount of swing. When the ball becomes very old—around 40 or more overs old—it begins to swing towards the shine. This is known as reverse swing—meaning a natural outswinger will become an inswinger and vice versa. In essence, both sides have turbulent flow, but here the seam causes the airflow to separate earlier on one side. The result is always a swing to the side with the later separation, so the swing is away from the seam.

Reverse swing tends to be stronger than normal swing, and to occur late in the ball's trajectory. This gives it a very different character from normal swing, and because batsmen experience it less often, they generally find it much more difficult to defend against. It is also possible for a ball to swing normally in its early flight, and then to alter its swing as it approaches the batsman. This can be done in two ways: one for the ball to reverse its direction of swing, giving it an 'S' trajectory: the other is for it to adopt a more pronounced swing in the same direction in which the swing is already curving; either alteration can be devastating for the batsman. In the first instance, he is already committed to playing the swing one way, which will be the wrong way to address swing which is suddenly coming from the opposite direction: in the second instance, his stance will be one which is appropriate for the degree, or extent, of the expected swing, and which could suddenly leave him vulnerable to LBW, being caught behind, or bowled. Two consecutive deliveries from Wasim Akram, one of each type, were considered to be the turning point of the 1992 World Cup final.

Pioneers and notable practitioners of reverse swing have mostly been Pakistani fast bowlers. In the early days of reverse swing, Pakistani bowlers were suspected of ball tampering to achieve the conditions of the ball that allow reverse swing. According to Shahryar Khan, reverse swing was invented by Salim Mir, who played for the Punjab Cricket Club in Lahore and taught it to his team-mate Sarfraz Nawaz. Sarfraz Nawaz introduced reverse swing into international cricket during the late 1970s, and passed their knowledge on to their team-mate Imran Khan,who in turn taught the duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. The English pair of Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones, having been taught by Troy Cooley and the Indian bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, are also well known for the ability to reverse swing.


Based on Bedser’s Special ball anecdote, it is apparent that any change in swing is going to surprise most batsman pre 70s and 60s. Sarfraz Nawaz is the innovator of the reverse swing that have bamboozled many batsmen since then. He also had many weapons in his arsenal like Slow and fast bouncers, in the air swing, swing to both sides, most of which a lot of the top order batsmen except Lara and maybe Richards may not have ever faced in their careers. It is sure to be a tough work for these batsmen. Sarfraz was instrumental in a Pak victory in 1978 taking 9/86 at MCG. He will be difficult to face in these conditions especially by players not used to swing


Pace, Swing and Accuracy

Both Broad and McDermott are capable of bowling accurately and at a good pace to the batsman and they have good strike rates of 60.10 and 54.94 down under. They also have good movement and line. Broad is an underrated bowler who people don’t take seriously even though he is currently the Test No.1 bowler and England’s #2 in terms of wickets taken in career (and still only 29). They may not be big names but all three fast bowlers are well over 6 ft and can bowl with good bounce and pace and are greatly effective as shown by their career stats.

Effective Spin

While this is not a spin assisted wicket, that hasn’t stopped India’s legend Prasanna in being quietly effective. He has gone against the conditions with his intelligence and this is shown in that he has a staggering average of 24.20 down under (19.25 only in NZ). Taking 65 wickets in 15 tests at a SR of 65.39 in pitches where he had little to no assistance is commendable. With Harbhajan Singh to complement him with a few wickets and keeping it tight like he always does.

All in all, the team is well capable of taking 20 wickets, even against a good batting side like the opponents
 
@Rado_N need help with poll:

Title: Who will win test match?

Option 1: Aldo
Option 2: prath92

Similar poll options to the other draft polls.

Thanks in advance.
 
Good Lord Prath's write-up. :rolleyes: Good thing Mani/Varun didn't play Prath in the QF :drool:
 
The Man Himself said:
Based on Bedser’s Special ball anecdote, it is apparent that any change in swing is going to surprise most batsman pre 70s and 60s.
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Similarly, lack of protective gear, umpires allowing the bowler to bowl as many bouncers, longer boundaries and pitches not flattened out will surprise a lot of post 90s batsmen.

However this being an all time draft, not only is it impossible to compare rules, conditions, changes in technique etc across eras but it also goes against the spirit of this competition and we are generally advised to evaluate a player based on how he performed in his era, compared to his peers and competition, etc. Otherwise by your logic the likes of Bradman and Sobers will find it tough to face the carrom ball R Ashwin uses because it wasnt there during there era? What's to say the pre 60s and 70s batsmen wouldn't adapt against this technique like they did against the ones they were facing, given how talented they were and they could always train themselves against what they were facing?

All in all, a really moot point.
 
Aldo said:
Similarly, lack of protective gear, umpires allowing the bowler to bowl as many bouncers, longer boundaries and pitches not flattened out will surprise a lot of post 90s batsmen.

However this being an all time draft, not only is it impossible to compare rules, conditions, changes in technique etc across eras but it also goes against the spirit of this competition and we are generally advised to evaluate a player based on how he performed in his era, compared to his peers and competition, etc. Otherwise by your logic the likes of Bradman and Sobers will find it tough to face the carrom ball R Ashwin uses because it wasnt there during there era? What's to say the pre 60s and 70s batsmen wouldn't adapt against this technique like they did against the ones they were facing, given how talented they were and they could always train themselves against what they were facing?

All in all, a really moot point.
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It's not the same though. Reverse swing is a weapon which not many bowlers master. It has flummoxed batsmen time and again be it from subcontinent or otherwise (mainly outside as few outside have mastered this) even today.

It's a weakness that they had. They could train but very few could master and this isn't a series. It's a single game. Alec Bedser used a variation that he found and batsmen including sir Don were a bit flabbergasted. It's not a big leap to assume that variations like reverse swing, in the air swing, slow yorkers etc would trouble them more (except Lara of course). I never said I'm going to take 20 wickets using reverse swing but that such diverse bowling will not allow the batsmen to get used to any bowlers. That's the control I meant. Broad with his accurate swingers. McD with his pacy swingers and Sarfraz with his variations. Not to mention pras with his intelligent off breaks, Bhajji chipping in with his offspin and Sachin with his leggies if the need arises (who has a decent average down under for a part timer).
 
Again not much discussion in Aldo's match :lol: Partly it being Saturday and partly because it is difficult to have lot of info on most of his players :D
Overall his team is more complete imo and should be winning this.
 
Not much to say here. Aldo has the better batting and better bowing. Easy win really.
 
Akash said:
Not much to say here. Aldo has the better batting and better bowing. Easy win really.
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Don't like the fact that he has two players who have just 11 tests between them. Not fair really, will sit this one out.
 
Ijazz17 said:
Don't like the fact that he has two players who have just 11 tests between them. Not fair really, will sit this one out.
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Well, I agree, but there was no rule stopping him from picking up these players. Once you pick them you have to judge them on how god they are and evidence suggests they were quite good (Well, Richards anyway).

I would have put a 25 game cap myself before the start.
 
Akash said:
Well, I agree, but there was no rule stopping him from picking up these players. Once you pick them you have to judge them on how god they are and evidence suggests they were quite good (Well, Richards anyway).

I would have put a 25 game cap myself before the start.
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There are players on cricinfo's amazing Database of batsmen with a better record than the Don or an insane bowling average. But they are pretty useless otherwise. The fact is, this is a test cricket draft and FC records have absolutely no place here. Had they played more International test cricket, their impressive records would have fallen no doubt (It still would have been excellent btw, just not as good as it stands now) and these great players would have certainly lost some of their charm, and the so called "aura" surrounding them would have diminished a little.

I voted for Aldo in the first Round thinking that these greats atleast deserve one round more (was my only reason for voting infact), but just like their short test careers, my voting will also be very short. So if Aldo goes onto win the Draft because of a genius move, congrats to him, but I'll stay out of this one. No dissrespect meant at all. It's just a matter of principle.
 
If Stan and Ted playing in this era they would have been an T20 specialist,Just got chance to read about your older generation players you had assembled one hell of a side,baring Procter, whom imo didn't have enough test or not playing outside his own country is bit difficult to judge.
 
I forgot about this last night. Had a lot to study. Looks like it's been decided anyway. Which isn't surprising. @Aldo has a very good side and tough to beat. I tried though :p

Ijazz17 said:
@prath92 , why 2 spinners mate ?
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Prays was very good down under. He confused batsmen. Bhajji is also decent there so it would be a good variation.
 
Ijazz17 said:
There are players on cricinfo's amazing Database of batsmen with a better record than the Don or an insane bowling average. But they are pretty useless otherwise. The fact is, this is a test cricket draft and FC records have absolutely no place here. Had they played more International test cricket, their impressive records would have fallen no doubt (It still would have been excellent btw, just not as good as it stands now) and these great players would have certainly lost some of their charm, and the so called "aura" surrounding them would have diminished a little.

I voted for Aldo in the first Round thinking that these greats atleast deserve one round more (was my only reason for voting infact), but just like their short test careers, my voting will also be very short. So if Aldo goes onto win the Draft because of a genius move, congrats to him, but I'll stay out of this one. No dissrespect meant at all. It's just a matter of principle.
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Agreed. I said this to Aldo during drafting too. Makes me uncomfortable judging players from their first class records when it's a test draft. He'll get my vote this game too because the team is comfortably better but it's something that could go against him in a close game.

Not sure why Prath chose to bat first too, makes things tougher for him :confused:
 
Varun said:
Agreed. I said this to Aldo during drafting too. Makes me uncomfortable judging players from their first class records when it's a test draft. He'll get my vote this game too because the team is comfortably better but it's something that could go against him in a close game.

Not sure why Prath chose to bat first too, makes things tougher for him :confused:
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Poor Prath, he was right after all. It was MK Dons vs Barca. Shame van Gaal wasn't in charge at Barca at the time!
 
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