The first Cricket sheep thread

Aldo said:
Usually when the blocked list is opened in a sheep draft you also have to block someone, to make it tougher. So it's Pick 1 and Block 1.
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I didn't know this. Anyway, we don't have that many available for that I guess.
 
Frank-Tyson.jpg



Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson:drool:

And so to fast bowlers. It is the perennial cricket question: who has been the fastest? My answer to this is consistent. There have been some rapid bowlers in recent times, such as Brett Lee and Shaun Tait, with Pat Cummins the latest of them. The fastest single ball I have ever seen live, I will tell my interrogators, was delivered by Shoaib Akhtar: not the fabled first 100mph ball, which was a joke, but one that obliterated in a blink the stumps of Stephen Fleming in the 1999 World Cup semi-final. But I have never, in what is now four decades since, seen anyone bowl consistently faster than did Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding in the mid-70s. I commend to you Chris Ryan’s wonderful piece on Tommo in Wisden a couple of years back and do so without shivering at the prospect of facing him.

But then people older than I have taken up the argument. At one time it is probable that the wonderful former correspondent of the Times, John Woodcock, had witnessed around a third of all Test matches ever played. Later it is certainly true that no man had seen live more Test matches than Richie Benaud. Ah, they said of my argument, that may be your experience but did you ever seen Frank Tyson bowl?

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In the famous Ashes series of 1954-55 he touched heights of pace that neither of these eminences, one of them experiencing it first hand, had seen exceeded. And while my own postulation goes back four decades, this was only two decades further back than that. Then, though, they would say how, as Tyson was bruising Australians, there were those who had seen Harold Larwood bowl and would attest that Tyson was no quicker than he was during the Bodyline series. And so it is possible to conjecture that, whether or not Cummins or Lee or Tait has been a faster bowler than either Larwood or Tyson is open to debate, if they have been, it is by a margin so small that makes no difference to the perception: Larwood and, after him, Tyson, were bowlers of extreme pace.

Here is JM Kilburn, famed correspondent of the Yorkshire Post, on Tyson. “His best pace was nothing short of startling to batsmen and spectators alike. He represented an elemental force obscuring the details of his technique and the highest tribute he received was the gasp of incredulity frequently emitted by the crowd as the ball passed from his hand to the distant wicketkeeper.”

Don Bradman called him “the fastest bowler I have ever seen” while Tom Graveney recounts how he stood 40 yards back at slip.
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1. Kepler Wessels
2. Hanif Mohammed
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Alvin Kallicharran
5. Michael Clarke
6.
7. Ian Smith
8. Joel Garner
9. Michael Holding
10. Frank Tyson
11. Subhash Gupte
 
Mani said:
1. Kepler Wessels
2. Hanif Mohammed
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Alvin Kallicharran
5. Michael Clarke
6.
7. Ian Smith
8. Joel Garner
9. Michael Holding
10. Frank Tyson
11. Subhash Gupte
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damn
 
Completed Teams after Criteria 11

Mani 1. Holding 2. Ian Smith 3. Adam Bacher 4. J. Garner 5. Michael Clarke 6. Kanhai 7. K. Wessels 8. Gupte 9. Kallicharan 10. Hanif Mohammad 11. Frank Tyson
Akshay 1. Ambrose 2. Harshan Tillakratne 3. Inzamam 4. Chanderpaul 5. Herbert Sutcliffe 6. Graeme Smith 7. Younis Khan 8. Phil Tufnell 9.Darren Gough 10. Darren Powell 11. Bill Johnston
Ijazz17 1. McGrath 2. Rod Marsh 3. Trescothick 4. F. Trueman 5. Wally Hammond 6. Sir Frank Worrell 7. SPD Smith 8. Jeff Thomson 9.Misbah ul Haq 10. Shakib Al Hasan 11. Bruce Mitchell
Samid 1. Waqar Younis 2. Moin Khan 3. Michael Hussey 4. P. Collins 5. Kane Williamson 6.M. Vaughan 7. Ravi Shastri 8. Gillespie 9. Chris Gayle 10.Mohammad Amir 11.Wasim Raja
PaulScholes18 1. Botham 2. Prior 3. Mohammed Yousuf 4. Sehwag 5. Kevin Pietersen 6. Shervin Campbell 7. Ravi Ashwin 8. Philander 9. Gambhir 10. Ryan Harris 11. Jonathan Trott
RedTiger 1. Hirwani 2. Mushfiqur Rahim 3. Klusener 4. Kallis 5. Miandad 6. Mark Taylor 7. M. Slater 8. Bishan Singh Bedi 9. Ganguly 10. Merv Hughes 11.Shane Watson
Skills 1. Steyn 2. Carlton Baugh 3. Justin Langer 4. Border 5. Greg Chappell 6. Swann 7. Chris Cairns 8. Mohd. Asif 9.Bill Lawry 10. Damien Martyn 11.Denis Amiss
Crappy 1. Mendis 2. Alan Knott 3. Nick Knight 4. S. Sreesanth 5. Alviro Petersen 6. M. Waugh 7. Chatfield 8. Ian Bishop 9. Arthur Morris 10.Zaheer Abbas 11.Mohinder Amarnath
NM 1. Donald 2. Les Ames 3. Roger Twose 4. Lance Gibbs 5. Martin Crowe 6. Clive Lloyd 7. C. Hooper 8. Sir Wes Hall 9. Sir Conrad Hunte 10. John Edrich 11.Fazal Mahmood
VanGaalEra 1. Shillingford 2. Junior Murray 3. Ajay Jadeja 4. Vettori 5. Amla 6. J. Root 7. S. Akhtar 8. Bob Willis 9. Herschelle Gibbs 10. Rahane 11.Dilshan
Boycott 1. Chetan Sharma 2. Khaled Mashud 3. Blair Pocock 4.Boycott 5. Gooch 6. R. Benaud 7. J. Srinath 8. Alderman 9. Richie Richardson 10. Ian Chappell 11. Nathan Astle
Kazi 1. Bond 2. Dhoni 3. Craig Spearman 4. Greenidge 5. Haynes 6. Tony Greig 7. Mahela Jayawardene 8. Mohammad Rafique 9. Herath 10. McDermott 11. Angus Fraser
Aldo 1. Andy Roberts 2. Don Tallon 3. Basit Ali 4. D. Malcolm 5. George Headley 6. Stan McCabe 7. Abdul Qadir 8. Bedser 9. Barry Richards 10. Mike Procter 11. Ted Dexter
Harshad 1. Marshall 2. McCullum 3. Vaas 4. D. Compton 5. Graeme Pollock 6. Bobby Simpson 7. Azharuddin 8. Nicky Boje 9.John Snow 10. Wilfred Rhodes 11. Hugh Trumble
Prath 1. Harbhajan 2. Andy Flower 3. Stephen Fleming 4.Stuart Broad 5. Kohli 6. Jayasuriya 7. John Wright 8. Prassanna 9. Sarfaraz Nawaz 10. Heath Streak 11. Saleem Malik
Skizzo 1. Mushtaq Ahmed 2. Jeff Dujon 3. Laxman 4. D. Boon 5. Colin Cowdrey 6. Neil Harvey 7. David Warner 8. George Lohmann 9. Lindsay Hassett 10. Clarrie Grimmett 11. Tony Lock


Blocked player list: Hadlee, Imran Khan, Warne, Pollock, Ntini, Murali, Akram, Saqlain, AB DeVilliers, Sangakarra, Alec Stewart, Clyde Walcott, Adam Gilchrist, Boucher, Healy, Ponting, Hayden, Lara, Dravid, Kirsten, Kumble, Flintoff, Thorpe, Sobers, Lillee, Kapil Dev, S. Waugh, Viv Richards, Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Jack Hobbs, Ken Barrington, Keith Miller, James Anderson, Alastair Cook, Sir Len Hutton, David Gower, Mitch Johnson, Walsh, Brett Lee, Jim Laker, Colin Croft, Underwood, Alan Davidson, Sydney Barnes, Lindwall, Stuart MacGill, Chandrashekhar, Zaheer Khan, Everton Weekes, Saeed Anwar, Bill O'Reilly, John Brian Statham, Aravinda de Silva, Graham McKenzie

@KM Please threadmark this post.
 
I'll be honest, I don't know like 12-13 players from that round. :|
 
RedTiger said:
Watson?
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Yep :devil:

Tbf statistically he's a very good 5/6. Can't avoid a bit of Watson bashing though.

Unlike guys who have really gone out for players before Elizabeth began her reign there will be some bias/agenda against guys we've watched through their career and seen flaws.

Players from the early part of the 20th century will only have their strengths highlighted. I suppose it counters the inflation to batting averages now with flat pitches and low quality bowlers but then again, current players are professional sportsmen. Bradman's days were featuring amateurs.

Swings and roundabouts :)
 
Boycott said:
Unlike guys who have really gone out for players before Elizabeth began her reign there will be some bias/agenda against guys we've watched through their career and seen flaws.
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Age old argument that has been going on since the dawn of drafts.
You accept those shortcomings when you agree to participate in an all time draft.
 
Boycott said:
Unlike guys who have really gone out for players before Elizabeth began her reign there will be some bias/agenda against guys we've watched through their career and seen flaws.
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Agreed.

Most of these antique players will get horribly overrated.
 
1. Bob Simpson (c)
2. Wilfred Rhodes
3. Denis Compton
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Mohd. Azharuddin
6.
7. Brendon McCullum (wk)
8. Chaminda Vaas
9. Malcolm Marshall
10.John Snow
11. Hugh Trumble

Sub: Nicky Boje
 
Boycott said:
Players from the early part of the 20th century will only have their strengths highlighted. I suppose it counters the inflation to batting averages now with flat pitches and low quality bowlers but then again, current players are professional sportsmen. Bradman's days were featuring amateurs.
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I just find it weird picking players I've never heard of let alone seen with my own eyes, I'm sure they were unbelievable players but just doesn't sit right.
 
Aldo said:
Age old argument that has been going on since the dawn of drafts.
You accept those shortcomings when you agree to participate in an all time draft.
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I accept that buddy :)

I was just using Watson as an example of someone who may be put down because he gets a lot of negativity and hate
 
RedTiger said:
I just find it weird picking players I've never heard of let alone seen with my own eyes, I'm sure they were unbelievable players but just doesn't sit right.
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If you do some digging you'll see a number of 30-40 yr old "quick bowlers" in the early 20th century.

It works both ways. Tendulkar played professional athletes charging in at 90mph albeit on flat/batting friendly pitches.

George Headley for instance played on poor uncovered pitches with demons in them, but lower skilled bowlers? We will never know as we weren't there

The 70s and 80s provide a happy medium
 
Akash said:
To some degree, yes, but an average of 99 is hard to argue against so he's an exception.
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Then why is an average of 60 odd easy to argue against?

Does anyone talk of Bradman's shortcomings? Bowlers he had problems facing, and there were a few, etc.

It's pretty obvious that we are bound to criticize those who we have followed day in day out than those who we only know through tributes and obituaries which are obviously not going to talk about how they couldn't play the short ball or something like that. 50 years from now no one is going to talk about how Cristiano's dribbling went down in a particular season compared to the previous one, they'll look at his stats, highlights and tributes and nothing else.
 
1 Hunte
2 Edrich/??
3 Edrich/??
4 Crowe
5 Lloyd
6 Ames
7 Hooper
8 Mahmood
9 Hall
10 Mahmood
11 Donald

Thoughts? Can go for an opener or middle order bat.

Happy with 3 quicks and a spinner, with part time support from hooper
 
RedTiger said:
I just find it weird picking players I've never heard of let alone seen with my own eyes, I'm sure they were unbelievable players but just doesn't sit right.
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Then just make it a modern timeline for the draft. No point in including the entire history of the sport and then moaning when widely acknowledged legends are involved.
 
Boycott said:
If you do some digging you'll see a number of 30-40 yr old "quick bowlers" in the early 20th century.

It works both ways. Tendulkar played professional athletes charging in at 90mph albeit on flat/batting friendly pitches.

George Headley for instance played on poor uncovered pitches with demons in them, but lower skilled bowlers? We will never know as we weren't there

The 70s and 80s provide a happy medium
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Unfair to Tendulkar. he was actually a better batsman in the 90s and early 00s when the discrepanccy wasn't this bad.
 
NM said:
1 Hunte
2 Edrich/??
3 Edrich/??
4 Crowe
5 Lloyd
6 Ames
7 Hooper
8 Mahmood
9 Hall
10 Mahmood
11 Donald

Thoughts? Can go for an opener or middle order bat.

Happy with 3 quicks and a spinner, with part time support from hooper
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I don't need him but I am blocking Hobbs. :D

Jokes apart, I would play Edrich at 3 and get an opener to partner Hunte.
 
NM said:
Unfair to Tendulkar. he was actually a better batsman in the 90s and early 00s when the discrepanccy wasn't this bad.
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Just a comparision between the best batsman from the early 20th century and the best from the late 20th century and how things differed for both.

Ultimately the game is still bat and ball and 3 stumps. It's an all time draft and I'll be lying if I wasn't eyeing some old timers
 
Boycott said:
Just a comparision between the best batsman from the early 20th century and the best from the late 20th century and how things differed for both.

Ultimately the game is still bat and ball and 3 stumps. It's an all time draft and I'll be lying if I wasn't eyeing some old timers
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Cricket especially has gone through such massive changes over the years that if you sit down to objectively compare the players 100 years apart you'll end up nowhere.

Since this is over and no new names can be picked, what about W G Grace? There is literally no way, not a single one, to put him in comparison to a modern cricketer. He's as close to what you will get to a 'father' of cricket.
 
Aldo said:
Then why is an average of 60 odd easy to argue against?

Does anyone talk of Bradman's shortcomings? Bowlers he had problems facing, and there were a few, etc.
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Bradman gets away with it because his average is by far and away the best (Nearly 40 more) of any era. Chances are, despite any flaws he might had the guy was pretty good.
 
Akash said:
Bradman gets away with it because his average is by far and away the best (Nearly 40 more) of any era. Chances are, despite any flaws he might had the guy was pretty good.
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Oh there are solid arguments against him as well if you want to go there. Like anyone else.
I don't think they are overrated that much in comparison. e.g. I don't see any difference in the impact AB De Villiers can make to that of Garry Sobers, for example, both are genuine all time greats and equally deserve to be in this.
 
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