The All Time ODI Cricket Draft QF 3: Crappy vs MJJ

[Norris]

Welcome to the third Quarter Final match of the All Time ODI cricket draft. Some basic rules to consider while voting:

1) Judge players only on the basis of their ODI records.
2) Base your vote on which team you think is more likely to win an ODI between the two.
3) The voting will be open for 24 hours from Poll creation.

Crappy has won the toss and will Bowling first.

The Teams:

@crappycraperson: 1. Greame Smith 2. Saeed Anwar 3. Sir Viv Richards 4. Jacques Kallis 5. Clive Llyod (*) 6. Brendon Taylor (+) 7. Chris Cairns 8. Kapil Dev 9. Shane Warne 10. Damien Fleming 11. Shoaib Akhtar


@MJJ: 1. Stephen Fleming 2. Brendon McCullum 3. Steven Smith 4. Brian Lara 5.Kevin Pietersen 6. Glenn Maxwell 7. Imran Khan 8. Darren Gough 9. Dale Steyn 10. Waqar Younis 11. Imran Tahir


Pitch Conditions:
Green pitch. Little dust. Well-rounded and bouncy offering seam movement for the quick bowlers early on and tones down as day goes. Windy conditions aid swing bowling.

 

[Norris]

Team Crappy​

Batting - Quality combined with depth

Anwar, G. Smith, Viv Richards, Kallis, Llyod

Just read that again. There is no other team in the draft with a top 5 to match that quality. Each is capable of playing a big innings.

• Sir Viv Richards - Best ODI player of all time, bonafide match winner.
• Anwar remains one of the best ODI openers of all time with 20 centuries to his name. Along with Smith, he forms a dangerous opening pair. Both are capable of scoring at a quick pace to boot.
  
• Kallis and Llyod make up the middle order. Kallis is one of the best cricketing all rounders in any format and one of the best batsmen in any kind of format. Clive Llyod known for the first ever WC final century, trotting out at 50-3 in WC final, he made 102 off 86 balls.

Lower order is supplemented by 2 of the best ODI all rounders in Chris Cairns and Kapil Dev.

• Both have played match winnings innings for their country in this format, most notably Dev's 175 in 83 WC and Cairns with a tournament winning innings in 2003 champions trophy final.
• Taylor proved his mettle in the last cricket WC with big knocks against likes of India, Pakistan and SA. His numbers are not just against weak teams, as designated keeper against the big nations (Ind, SA, WI, SRL, Oz, Eng, Pak, NZ) he averages a respectable 31.90.
• Warne is no mug with bat himself, even appeared as pinch-hitter for the Oz team at odd times.

Bowling - Match winners and variety

Pace options - Akhtar, Kapil Dev, Fleming, Kallis, Cairns
Spin options - Warne, Richards

Bowling is led by the best spinner of all time in Warne and the most feared paceman of modern era in Akhtar. Kapil dev, India's best fast bowler ever, adds further firepower to the attack.

• Warne is the ultimate big game bowler in ODIs. He practically won the 96 WC semi against Windies on his own and brought Oz back into contention against SA in 99 WC semi as well.
• Akhtar is one of only five bowlers in the history of ODI cricket to take more than 150 wickets at an average of less than 25 and a strike rate of below 32 balls per wicket. He has produced plenty of devastating spells for Pakistan as well over his career. Simply unplayable at his peak.
• Kapil Dev's at his very peak was one of the best bowler of his generation. During the period between May 1983 and March 1986, when India won the World Cup and the World Championship of Cricket, he averaged 31.25 with the bat and 20.39 with the ball, taking 69 wickets in 47 games. He was also known for being a miser in terms of runs. Of the 212 games in which he bowled at least five overs, 63 times he conceded fewer than three runs per over, which is 30% of those matches. Similarly, in another 32% his economy rate was between three and four. Only 34 times did he go at five or more per over.
• Rest of the bowling options include - Damien Fleming - ever dependable bowler for the Oz team with figures to prove that. Kallis and Cairns - both capable of bowling out and producing match winning spells. Viv Richards as a spin option

Game plan as per local conditions

• Having won the toss and asked opposition to bat, the team will rely on the fast bowling unit of Akhtar, Kapil Dev, Kallis, Fleming and Cairns to send the opposition's top order back home. Brendon Mccullum for example will find it difficult to execute his usual attacking game in such conditions. Key will be to expose the likes of KP and Lara to the pace attack early. Llyod has 5 pace options to choose from on such conditions. FIVE
• Warne is always a factor on any ground. His record for example on following grounds not known for supporting spin too much -
  • MCG - 28 matches 46 wickets
  • WACA, Perth - 7 matches, 11 wickets
    
  • Durban - 4 matches, 5 wickets
• Opposition has a very good fast bowling unit but they don't get to bowl when the conditions suit them best. They also face a much superior batting line up. Players who have proven their mettle even in test cricket. Someone like Kallis may not be a ODI specialist but he sure can take on any bowling attack in the world in any kind of conditions.
• Even if worst case, the opposition bowlers get the front 2, any two of Kallis, Viv, Llyod can stand up and build a partnership. Even after that you have Taylor to come. Finally Cairns and Kapil Dev to finish off the chase if needed. It just never stops.
• VIV RICHARDS!!! Not a better match winner in this format.

 

[Norris]

Team MJJ​

Overall Comments:-

Batting:-

• I feel my openers are slightly better than his. Not much between fleming and smith, whereas anwar's average drops by a great deal when playing overseas.
• 3-5 I would say is even. Vivs, Kallis and Hooper vs Smith, Lara and Pieterson. The only difference being that my three are capable of scoring runs at a quicker pace but he has vivs in there which evens it out.
• 6-7 is a clear win for me. Maxwell and Imran Khan vs Taylor and Cairns/Dev. This is offset by him having an extra bat in kapil.

Overall, I would say the batting is even. My batsmen would score at a quicker rate and have the firepower to finish things off. Crappy's side can face issues accelerating the run rate, specially when chasing.

Bowling:-

• Waqar Younis and Imran Khan are the best bowlers on the pitch.
  
• Gough and Steyn are better than Cairns,Kallis and Dev as well.
• Warne obviously shits all over Tahir, but tahir can perform the role assigned to him very well here. Just like the world cup, crappy's bats will have no choice but to go after him if they want to accelerate and he will get wickets.
• Chris Cairns is also the weakest bowler on the pitch and with Kapil Dev/Kallis, not much of a wicket taking options(relatively), crappy's side will struggle to keep the runs down.

Overall, I would say my pacers are better than his and with the match being played on a green pitch, that will be enough to see us through.

 

[Norris]

@Rado_N, Could you please set up a poll for this.

Title: Who will win the ODI match ?

• Crappy
• MJJ

Same rules as before; 24 hours, one choice only, open to public, vote can be changed.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Rado_N]

Poll added.

 

[crappycraperson]

Oh come on.. @MJJ .. batting don't match up at all.

• G.Smith > Fleming. You don't even need stats to verify that.
• The middle order does not balances out in anyway. Viv is by far the best ODI batsmen there. If this was tests, then only you could argue Lara ~ Vivs. Steven Smith has a long way to go yet. I wish people would stop underrating Kallis. He will get to play the anchor role here. Also llyod can bat as fast as anyone, his 100 off less than run a ball in a WC final testify to that.
• Cairns > Maxwell. Faced better attacks on tougher conditions and played more critical innings from his country.

I would happily concede that your bowling on paper edges out mine , even though I have much more depth and variety. But that is minimized under the following context
- You don't get to have your bowlers bowl when the conditions suit them best. As pitch conditions says, the seam movement tones down as the match goes on.
- Lack of depth in bowling means if couple of your bowlers go for runs, you will rely on part timers like Maxwell, Smith and KP. With only Maxwell out of those likely to bowl more than 5 overs.
- In ODIs unlike tests, batting is more critical to win matches.

 

[Donaldo]

Crappy wins this, batting lineups great, and should be able to withstand MJJ's bowling might.

 

[MJJ]

Oh come on.. @MJJ .. batting don't match up at all.

• G.Smith > Fleming. You don't even need stats to verify that.
• The middle order does not balances out in anyway. Viv is by far the best ODI batsmen there. If this was tests, then only you could argue Lara ~ Vivs. Steven Smith has a long way to go yet. I wish people would stop underrating Kallis. He will get to play the anchor role here. Also llyod can bat as fast as anyone, his 100 off less than run a ball in a WC final testify to that.
• Cairns > Maxwell. Faced better attacks on tougher conditions and played more critical innings from his country.

I would happily concede that your bowling on paper edges out mine , even though I have much more depth and variety. But that is minimized under the following context
- You don't get to have your bowlers bowl when the conditions suit them best. As pitch conditions says, the seam movement tones down as the match goes on.
- Lack of depth in bowling means if couple of your bowlers go for runs, you will rely on part timers like Maxwell, Smith and KP. With only Maxwell out of those likely to bowl more than 5 overs.
- In ODIs unlike tests, batting is more critical to win matches.

Smith wasnt significantly better than Fleming, marginal at best while anwar's poor record overseas means my openers are better than yours.
Agreed completely, viv is the best batsman on both sides and is miles better than smith. But lara is better than kallis and pieterson by lloyd. A one off match doesnt mean he can bat as fast as anyone.

Maxwell and Imran Khan have better averages and strike rate than cairns and taylor. No idea how you cna claim cairns is a better bat and played more critical innings. Whatever taht is.

The pitch at the start is the same for both? Its a green pitch, if you think that my bowlers wont get assistance than thats laughable. Its an ODI pitch, it wont change significantly for both sides. Who out of Imran, Waqar,Steyn,Gough or Tahir is going to go for runs? All of them have an economy less than five. Another key factor in my win is that if either of mccullum or maxwell gets going you are seeing a target north of 300 easy. Akhtar can be expensive at times and your supporting cast is no where near as good as mine. Kallis and Smith slowing the run rate down further isnt goign to help as well in a tough chase.

 

[crappycraperson]

A one off match doesnt mean he can bat as fast as anyone.

Not one off. His career SR is 80, which is great for that era. Imran's career SR is lower than that, does that mean he won't be able to hack it at number 7 position?

People need to throw out the padded stats of players now days out of their head. For most of ODI cricket, SR above 80 was tremendous and even one in 70s was accepable owing to your role in the team.

Maxwell and Imran Khan have better averages and strike rate than cairns and taylor. No idea how you cna claim cairns is a better bat and played more critical innings. Whatever taht is.

Again using stats of someone playing on modern day pitches which heavily favor batsmen with shorter boundaries to boot. I don't need to look at stats to say Cairns > Maxwell, I have watched them both bat.

The pitch at the start is the same for both? Its a green pitch, if you think that my bowlers wont get assistance than thats laughable. Its an ODI pitch, it wont change significantly for both sides. Who out of Imran, Waqar,Steyn,Gough or Tahir is going to go for runs? All of them have an economy less than five. Another key factor in my win is that if either of mccullum or maxwell gets going you are seeing a target north of 300 easy. Akhtar can be expensive at times and your supporting cast is no where near as good as mine. Kallis and Smith slowing the run rate down further isnt goign to help as well in a tough chase.

The very desctiption of pitch conditions say that that the seam movement will die down as the game progresses.

A number of your bowlers can be taken for cleaners. Steyn, Gough and Tahir would all be targetted. Steyn is simply not the same bowler in limited over cricket as tests.

And why would Smith go slow? He is capable of batting as quickly as any standard opener. It is Fleming who could be a slow starter.

If we are going on 'if player x gets going'.. then I have biggest trump card of all.. if Viv gets going, then yeah... game over

 

[Nighteyes]

A number of your bowlers can be taken for cleaners. Steyn, Gough and Tahir would all be targetted. Steyn is simply not the same bowler in limited over cricket as tests.

And why would Smith go slow? He is capable of batting as quickly as any standard opener. It is Fleming who could be a slow starter.

If we are going on 'if player x gets going'.. then I have biggest trump card of all.. if Viv gets going, then yeah... game over

Daley Steyn has the same average and same economy rate as your best bowler in Warne while having the better strike rate. He's not as good in ODI's but that's only based on his ridiculous standards in Tests. And he's not even our best bowler. If Steyn can go to the cleaners then so will every one of your bowlers including Warne. And Warne is playing against a middle order that's fantastic against spin. This underrating of Steyn needs to stop. He's better than anyone you have in these conditions and by some distance.

Viv won't get going. The bowler to have gotten him out more times than anyone else in ODI cricket is....Imran Khan. Your trump card failed. Sorry

 

[The Man Himself]

For some reason, I had Crappy's team down as an average one, not sure why. It doesn't look avg here.

 

[MJJ]

Not one off. His career SR is 80, which is great for that era. Imran's career SR is lower than that, does that mean he won't be able to hack it at number 7 position?

People need to throw out the padded stats of players now days out of their head. For most of ODI cricket, SR above 80 was tremendous and even one in 70s was accepable owing to your role in the team.



Again using stats of someone playing on modern day pitches which heavily favor batsmen with shorter boundaries to boot. I don't need to look at stats to say Cairns > Maxwell, I have watched them both bat.



The very desctiption of pitch conditions say that that the seam movement will die down as the game progresses.

A number of your bowlers can be taken for cleaners. Steyn, Gough and Tahir would all be targetted. Steyn is simply not the same bowler in limited over cricket as tests.

And why would Smith go slow? He is capable of batting as quickly as any standard opener. It is Fleming who could be a slow starter.

If we are going on 'if player x gets going'.. then I have biggest trump card of all.. if Viv gets going, then yeah... game over

Well if you are going to argue that way then there is no point. I can say maxwell is a much much better bat because I have watched both back and we are back to square one.

By how much though? Its an ODI, the pitch doesnt change significantly from one side batting to the others. Not my fault that @Edgar Allan Pillow has the wrong description up.

See akash's point about viv and steyn. So the boundaries are smaller and the conditions of the modern era is batsman friendly yet his strike rate is on par with warne. So if we are evening out lloyds and imran's stats, imagine how good he will be in that case.

 

[crappycraperson]

Well if you are going to argue that way then there is no point. I can say maxwell is a much much better bat because I have watched both back and we are back to square one.

By how much though? Its an ODI, the pitch doesnt change significantly from one side batting to the others. Not my fault that @Edgar Allan Pillow has the wrong description up.

You can of course, ultimately what matters if the voters agree with you or me.

Also ofcourse, conditions can change in ODIs across 2 innings. In several matches, conditions only support bowling for first part of the inning and in some in second part of the innings. Overcast conditions, dew among other factors contribute to such discrepancies. To claim otherwise and insinuate the draft runner has gotten it wrong is laughable.

 

[crappycraperson]

Daley Steyn has the same average and same economy rate as your best bowler in Warne while having the better strike rate. He's not as good in ODI's but that's only based on his ridiculous standards in Tests. And he's not even our best bowler. If Steyn can go to the cleaners then so will every one of your bowlers including Warne. And Warne is playing against a middle order that's fantastic against spin. This underrating of Steyn needs to stop. He's better than anyone you have in these conditions and by some distance.

Viv won't get going. The bowler to have gotten him out more times than anyone else in ODI cricket is....Imran Khan. Your trump card failed. Sorry

Steyn is not a better ODI bowler than Akhtar at his peak. IIRC his record at one point was even better and got padded off late in his career.
It is also laughable to suggest that likes of KP , Smith and Maxwell will be able to handle Warne with ease. .. and yet my middle order will struggle to attack Tahir

 

[Mani]

Why Taylor batting ahead of Cairns and Kapil, later two are better strikers than B.Taylor and don't you need someone at depth to accelerate the score?
You already got good MO 3 in Viv/Kallis/Lloyd any by the time B.Taylor comes into crease you need someone with long handle to score it quickly.

 

[MJJ]

You can of course, ultimately what matters if the voters agree with you or me.

Also ofcourse, conditions can change in ODIs across 2 innings. In several matches, conditions only support bowling for first part of the inning and in some in second part of the innings. Overcast conditions, dew among other factors contribute to such discrepancies. To claim otherwise and insinuate the draft runner has gotten it wrong is laughable.

None of which has to do with the actual pitch which is the case here.

Steyn is not a better ODI bowler than Akhtar at his peak. IIRC his record at one point was even better and got padded off late in his career.
It is also laughable to suggest that likes of KP , Smith and Maxwell will be able to handle Warne with ease. .. and yet my middle order will struggle to attack Tahir

Warne and tahir are bowling 30 overs in the middle?

 

[MJJ]

You can of course, ultimately what matters if the voters agree with you or me.

Also ofcourse, conditions can change in ODIs across 2 innings. In several matches, conditions only support bowling for first part of the inning and in some in second part of the innings. Overcast conditions, dew among other factors contribute to such discrepancies. To claim otherwise and insinuate the draft runner has gotten it wrong is laughable.

Not to mention as per your argument the pitches are shorter now, more batsman friendly. So if steyn has the same stats than akhtar, in a worse era for bowling, what does that say about akhtar?

Not to mention that steyn's stats from 2011-2013(three year peak) are insane if you want to use that argument for akhtar.

 

[Nighteyes]

Steyn is not a better ODI bowler than Akhtar at his peak. IIRC his record at one point was even better and got padded off late in his career.
It is also laughable to suggest that likes of KP , Smith and Maxwell will be able to handle Warne with ease. .. and yet my middle order will struggle to attack Tahir

They're about the same level on stats but as Steyn has played a lot of his cricket in the "Stat padding era" of cricket it's quite obvious he'd have been hell of a lot better had he played during the time Akhtar did.

Why have you excluded Lara from that list? And yes Smith, Lara and KP (Only struggled against left arm spin of which you have none) are very good off spin bowling and all are brilliant using their feet to spin.

 

[MJJ]

@Edgar Allan Pillow can you clarify the pitch condiitons? Are the conditions teh same for both sides? or am i batting on a bowling paradise and bowling on a batting one.

 

[harshad]

@Edgar Allan Pillow can you clarify the pitch condiitons? Are the conditions teh same for both sides? or am i batting on a bowling paradise and bowling on a batting one.

Pitch Conditions:
Green pitch. Little dust. Well-rounded and bouncy offering seam movement for the quick bowlers early on and tones down as day goes. Windy conditions aid swing bowling.

Whilst it may not be a batting paradise for Crappy, your bowlers will not get the same assistance from the pitch as Crappy's bowlers will get.

 

[Nighteyes]

I don't see how we're at a disadvantage in any case.

Conditions are windy and pitch is green. Both will assist in conventional swing bowling. Might not be as pronounced later on but it will swing both off the pitch and in the air.

Also, it's slightly dusty as well meaning more chances of reverse wing if the ball gets scuffed up. We have 3 bowlers (Imran, Waqar and Gough) who are reverse swing specialists while also having the ability to swing it conventionally.

We have the bowling to get crappy's batsmen in loads of trouble. Not to mention we have Khan who's got his best player out more times than any other bowler.

 

[prath92]

Steyn is not a better ODI bowler than Akhtar at his peak. IIRC his record at one point was even better and got padded off late in his career.
It is also laughable to suggest that likes of KP , Smith and Maxwell will be able to handle Warne with ease. .. and yet my middle order will struggle to attack Tahir

Steyn is way better than Akhtar imo. Akhtar was all about raw pace iirc. Steyn is more intelligent and has got all type of swings too. Agree with the other points.

 

[MJJ]

Viv vs Imran in England, Australia and WI (Similar bowlign conditions)

Matches:-18
Average:-19.7 (boosted by a score of 80*)
Strike Rate:-78.51

So viv is going to be pretty much useless @Aldo @Donaldo tempted to change your vote?

 

[KM]

Imran Tahir and Brendan Taylor weak links for both the teams IMO. I'm not sure why MJJ didn't change Tahir tbh. Gets butchered by very good batsmen and is very inconsistent.

His pace attack though is out of the world.

 

[MJJ]

Imran Tahir and Brendan Taylor weak links for both the teams IMO. I'm not sure why MJJ didn't change Tahir tbh. Gets butchered by very good batsmen and is very inconsistent.

His pace attack though is out of the world.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/40618.html?class=2;template=results;type=bowling

The only team against whose his economy is higher than 5 is India and England, against the latter he has a strike rate of 28.3. So I would say the only team taht has "butchered" him is India. Not a significant weakness.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Not my fault that @Edgar Allan Pillow has the wrong description up.

@Edgar Allan Pillow can you clarify the pitch condiitons? Are the conditions teh same for both sides? or am i batting on a bowling paradise and bowling on a batting one.

What's wrong with the description? It's the same as what I suggested in the main thread. Conditions are known to both sides for a couple of days now.

Being ODI there will not be any significant change in pitch conditions, but the side bowling first will have slight advantage in seam. The conditions will support swing all through.

 

[prath92]

MJJ's bowling is considerably better. I rate Tahir but not better than warne obviously. He has bowlers in Steyn Imran and Waqar who can swing it even if pitch doesn't really support. None of crappy's bowler can swing with the old ball though so after about 15 overs they wouldn't get a lot of help anyways. Warne is a top bowler however. Mccullum is a very dangerous batsman who can definitely build a platform for others to play to. And Lara is a very good player even in ODI who along with Chanderpaul and Sarwan were the only hopes for a poor WI batting side late 90s and early 2000s.

 

[KM]

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/40618.html?class=2;template=results;type=bowling

The only team against whose his economy is higher than 5 is India and England, against the latter he has a strike rate of 28.3. So I would say the only team taht has "butchered" him is India. Not a significant weakness.

Perhaps not but looking at your bowling lineup he's a clear weak link.

 

[crappycraperson]

Can only one of you post?

 

[Nighteyes]

Viv is the best batsmen on show (a batsmen who has an appalling record against Imran). Aside from him, our batting is more than a match for yours (with better hitters as well) and our bowling is considerably better.

 

[Nighteyes]

I'll leave @MJJ to do the talking from now on

 

[MJJ]

What's wrong with the description? It's the same as what I suggested in the main thread. Conditions are known to both sides for a couple of days now.

Being ODI there will not be any significant change in pitch conditions, but the side bowling first will have slight advantage in seam. The conditions will support swing all through.

@crappycraperson just as I thought, the support for the bowlers is largely going to remain the same through out the match. And two of your batsman have really poor record(Anwar and vivs). How are you chasing the big score my team puts up again?

 

[MJJ]

Perhaps not but looking at your bowling lineup he's a clear weak link.

That I agree with but only because my bowling is so good. With the pitch supporting pacers throughout I would only require him to play a support role.

Smith and kallis aren't the ideal pair to chase a big total.

 

[crappycraperson]

Why Taylor batting ahead of Cairns and Kapil, later two are better strikers than B.Taylor and don't you need someone at depth to accelerate the score?
You already got good MO 3 in Viv/Kallis/Lloyd any by the time B.Taylor comes into crease you need someone with long handle to score it quickly.

The batting order is ofcourse going to be flexible. Cairns/Dev will come ahead if the situation demands it. Taylor is only likely to come out if the 4 the wicket falls before 25/30 over mark.

 

[crappycraperson]

None of which has to do with the actual pitch which is the case here.

We don't know that. We only go by teh conditions selected EAP which clearly states that -

offering seam movement for the quick bowlers early on and tones down as day goes

Why is even this arguable? This has been specified as part of game conditions and it is ridiculous that you think you can argue that this won't be the case here. This not about guessing how a particular ground will behave, it has already been said how it will.

 

[MJJ]

]

We don't know that. We only go by teh conditions selected EAP which clearly states that -



Why is even this arguable? This has been specified as part of game conditions and it is ridiculous that you think you can argue that this won't be the case here. This not about guessing how a particular ground will behave, it has already been said how it will.

See EAP's reply below. Its weird you are actually saying that the pitch is going to change in the ODI when even the mod has said otherwise.

What's wrong with the description? It's the same as what I suggested in the main thread. Conditions are known to both sides for a couple of days now.

Being ODI there will not be any significant change in pitch conditions, but the side bowling first will have slight advantage in seam. The conditions will support swing all through.

 

[crappycraperson]

Whilst it may not be a batting paradise for Crappy, your bowlers will not get the same assistance from the pitch as Crappy's bowlers will get.

Yes. And this factored into my decision to bowl first. So for MJJ to claim that it is false is absurd. If you have an issue with game rules, take it up with mods. Don't argue dishonestly in a game thread.

 

[Boycott]

I think MJJ's top order lacks guys who score big consistently. Batting first you need someone to get a century but on that front you're lacking. A lot of pressure will be on Lara and Pietersen and against Crappy's bowling I can't see a big enough total.

Crappy's batting too is a lot more balanced.

 

[crappycraperson]

Imran Tahir and Brendan Taylor weak links for both the teams IMO. I'm not sure why MJJ didn't change Tahir tbh. Gets butchered by very good batsmen and is very inconsistent.

His pace attack though is out of the world.

Taylor is not a weak link given the line up he is in. It is very unlikely he will have to play any kind of batting role. I mean I have Kapil and Cairns following the top 5.. chase will be done between them.

 

[MJJ]

Facts.

1. Anwar has an average of 27 in similar conditions to this i.e.pace bowler friendly.
2. Vivs average, in matches involving Imran, drops down to 19!. An average that is boosted by an 80* score.
3. Smith and Kallis are the two guys you dont want when chasing a score 300+
4. In Waqar,Imran,Steyn and Gough I have four guys who can destroy a batting. Particularly if the pitch supports pace bowling which it does
5. I have the batting to get 300+ score and crappy doesnt have the batting to chase it.