Greatest test XI from each nation

[PaddyO]

Self explanatory, and bound to foster arguments/discussion. Rock on!

Australia
Victor Trumper
Bill Lawry
Don Bradman
Greg Chappell
Stan McCabe
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist
Bill O'Reilly
Dennis Lillee
Clarrie Grimmett
Glenn McGrath

England
Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Wally Hammond
Peter May
Dennis Compton
Ian Botham
Les Ames
Harold Larwood
Jim Laker
Fred Trueman
SF Barnes

West Indies
Gordon Greenidge
Desmond Haynes
Viv Richards
Brian Lara
Everton Weekes
Garry Sobers
Jeff Dujon
Malcolm Marshall
Michael Holding
Curtly Ambrose
Lance Gibbs

South Africa
Barry Richards
Graham Smith
Jaques Kallis
Graham Pollock
AB DeVilliers
Dudley Nourse
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Dale Steyn
Allan Donald
Hugh Tayfield



Let's hear some other teams or disagreements.

 

[ManWithNoName]

No Warne?

Obvious troll is obvious.

 

[CheekyMonkey]

New Zealand

John Wright
Glenn Turner
Kane Williamson
Martin Crowe
Stephen Fleming
Brendon McCullum
Richard Hadlee
Chris Cairns
Daniel Vettori
Shane Bond
Danny Morrison

 

[CheekyMonkey]

Pakistan

Anwar
Sohail
Younis Khan
Inzamam
Miandad
Yousuf Yohaana
Kamran Akmal - i know, but i read somewhere he has the most test matches and dismissals.
Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Waqqar Younis
Shoaib Akhtar/Saqlain Mushtaq

that was easy, its basically their whole 90s team with imran, javed and younis khan added in.

 

[CheekyMonkey]

India

Sehwag
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Kohli
Dhoni
Kapil Dev
Kumble
Srinath
Harbhajan Singh

also quite easy.

i'm probably ignoring a few batters, they probably have another 10 or so, its been a country of batsmen. maybe a little early to pick kohli but he has already done something no indian batsman has done, which is score the most runs by an indian on an australian tour.

they have absolutely nothing in the seam bowling but good spin options

 

[CheekyMonkey]

Sri Lanka

NFI with this one.

Attapparttu
Jayasurya
Sangakkara
Jayawardene
Dilshan
Ranatunga
Murali
Vaas
Malinga
Herath
some short bloke w/ dodgy action

guessing ranatunga will captain this mob and make murali bowl 50 overs on the trot

 

[PaddyO]

No Warne?

Obvious troll is obvious.

No reason to think Warne is better than either Grimmett or O'Reilly in any way.

Plus he's a campaigner.

I won't begrudge anyone picking him, but I rate Grimmett and O'Reilly higher.

 

[ManWithNoName]

No reason to think Warne is better than either Grimmett or O'Reilly in any way.

Plus he's a campaigner.

I won't begrudge anyone picking him, but I rate Grimmett and O'Reilly higher.

Saw a lot of Clarrie Grimmett then?

 

[PaddyO]

India

Sehwag
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Kohli
Dhoni
Kapil Dev
Kumble
Srinath
Harbhajan Singh

also quite easy.

i'm probably ignoring a few batters, they probably have another 10 or so, its been a country of batsmen. maybe a little early to pick kohli but he has already done something no indian batsman has done, which is score the most runs by an indian on an australian tour.

they have absolutely nothing in the seam bowling but good spin options

I'd include Mankad as an allrounder I think. And thus play 3 quicks and 2 spinners.

Sehwag
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Mankad
Dhoni
Kapil
Kumble
Zaheer Khan
Srinath

 

[PaddyO]

Saw a lot of Clarrie Grimmett then?

Do you just want to fight for the sake of it or what?

Didn't see a lot. Have seen what footage of him is available. Have also read plenty about him.

What are you disagreeing with? The fact that I can't include him if I haven't seen him? In which case pretty much any pre 1950s player is gonna be hard to pick in an exercise like this....

 

[KiwiRoo]

Mark Richardson
Glenn Turner
Williamson
Crowe
Sutcliffe
Fleming
Cairns
McCullum
Hadlee
Vettori
Bond

Strong tail !

Could also swap out a batsmen for an extra bowler.

 

[t_94]

Arthur Morris instead of Bill Lawry for the Australian 11, think Ricky Ponting should be in there too.

For India, I would include Vijay Merhcant for VVS Laxman. Laxman is my all time favourite cricketer and whilst Merchnat only played 10 tests, they were different times when India was not a superpower of World Cricket and thus did not pla many tests and his first class average of 71 should see him in he side IMO. Could toss up between bishen bedi and harbhajan as well

 

[t_94]

Australia

1- Victor Trumper
2- Arthur Morris
3- Don Bradman (c)
4- Ricky Ponting
5- Greg Chappell
6- Keith Miller
7- Adam Gilchrist ( wkpr)
8- Shane Warne
9- Dennis Lillee
10- Bill O'Rielly
11- Glenn Mcgrath

 

[Power Raid]

two spinners? I like it but clearly not suited to oz wickets

 

[t_94]

two spinners? I like it but clearly not suited to oz wickets

Miller as the third seamer in a 5 man attack

 

[CheekyMonkey]

Bradman, Border, McGrath, Warne and Gilchrist are impossible to leave out.

Border was one of the best batsman of his time and played in an era of great fast bowlers. He also scored his runs on a weaker team without much support. Great captain. Probably easier to leave out Ricky, although i'd have both in mine.

Warne and McGrath are Australia's greatest match-winners. They were unplayable in tandem. Helped us win a series in every single country.

Gilchrist redefined the keeper batsman position. and is dead set brilliant to watch

rest is debatable.

 

[Plugger35]

No reason to think Warne is better than either Grimmett or O'Reilly in any way.

Plus he's a campaigner.

I won't begrudge anyone picking him, but I rate Grimmett and O'Reilly higher.

Do you just want to fight for the sake of it or what?

Didn't see a lot. Have seen what footage of him is available. Have also read plenty about him.

What are you disagreeing with? The fact that I can't include him if I haven't seen him? In which case pretty much any pre 1950s player is gonna be hard to pick in an exercise like this....

Warne was selected as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century, the others were Bradman, Sobers, Hobbs and Richards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisden_Cricketers_of_the_Century

I think that would entitle him to a spot in the best ever Australian Test XI ahead of any other spinner.

 

[Fryer Tuck]

West Indies XI? Bah, let's break that up and go for a Barbados XI (That's a nation):

Greenidge
Haynes
Walcott (wk)
Weekes
Worrell (c)
Sobers
Nurse
Marshall
Garner
Hall
Griffith

Not bad for an island nation.

 

[footyfan1978]

Ponsford
Morris
Bradman
G Chappell
Ponting
Border
Gilchrist (feel unsure about this as really want a better keeper but later order batting was dynamite)
Miller
Warne
Lillee
McGrath (unsure whether he really in despite his great figures but not sure enough about Ray Lindwall from earlier era so McGrath gets it by default)


Lillee
McGrath
Miller
Warne
G Chappell
Border
is the bowling options

 

[CheekyMonkey]

Ponsford

McGrath (unsure whether he really in despite his great figures but not sure enough about great bowlers from earlier eras not given it to him)

McGrath is the greatest bowler ever, he has no weaknesses in his record.

 

[footyfan1978]

McGrath is the greatest bowler ever, he has no weaknesses in his record.

In your opinion.
I do not rate him in best three I seen but his stats look better.
For mine, Lillee, Hadlee, Wasim Akram and Warne clearly better and I'd rather Holding and Imran Khan too.
I rate Ambrose and McGrath on a par as very very good tall bowlers and very accurate with annoying length but I rate all these others bowlers better.

 

[footyfan1978]

Not sure how Aravinda de Silva can be out of the best Sri Lankan side.

 

[Power Raid]

Bradman, Border, McGrath, Warne and Gilchrist are impossible to leave out.

Border was one of the best batsman of his time and played in an era of great fast bowlers. He also scored his runs on a weaker team without much support. Great captain. Probably easier to leave out Ricky, although i'd have both in mine.

Warne and McGrath are Australia's greatest match-winners. They were unplayable in tandem. Helped us win a series in every single country.

Gilchrist redefined the keeper batsman position. and is dead set brilliant to watch

rest is debatable.

Also a handy slow bowler and may have produced more with the ball if not so much was asked of him with the bat.

If you were to choose a side locking in those guys in the modern game you would probably select different guys around them to produce the best XI:

1. Waugh (the flashy opener who can take up the slack with a few handy overs)
2. Border (to play the grinding opener and could assist with a few handy china men)
3. Bradman
4. Ponting
5. Chappell
6. Hussey (biased...I just like him as he adapts to what the game requires better than anyone)
7. Gilchrist
8. Miller (a lillee type wicket taker who could bat)
9. Davidson (I couldn't go past a left armer)
10. Warne (a toss up between O'Reilly and Warne but felt there was room for only one spinner)
11. McGrath (ability to hold down an end and take wickets)

12. Oreilly and Lillee

 

[CheekyMonkey]

In your opinion.
I do not rate him in best three I seen but his stats look better.
For mine, Lillee, Hadlee, Wasim Akram and Warne clearly better and I'd rather Holding and Imran Khan too.
I rate Ambrose and McGrath on a par as very very good tall bowlers and very accurate with annoying length but I rate all these others bowlers better.

sorry, but wasim akram over mcgrath is an absolute joke.

wasim was nothing more than a tailender bully and he won a grand total of ONE test match in australia. remember him leading their side over here in 99 and they were whitewashed 3-0. flat track bullies.

he was also a bit dodgy, refused to cooperate in a match fixing inquiry. imagine if a cricketer were to do something like that today, we'd be labeling him a cheat in no time. the judge let him off the hook because he admittedly was a 'fan' of his --> http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakvind/content/story/232548.html

how typical of a subcontinent basket-case.

i'm sorry but i cant respect an overrated match-fixer.

mcgrath was easily a better bowler, he helped us win matches everywhere - including the most difficult tours like in india - where we won a series for the first time in over 30+ years back in 2004 - and led us to numerous ashes wins including a 5-0 whitewash. he also had a huge role in our three straight world cup wins. he had big performances in ALL conditons.

best of all, he dominated the best batsmen of his time. lara, tendulkar were his bunnies, and he inflicted some serious psychological damage on poms like atherton...too many good memories.

feel free to point out a weakness in his record. anything. you can't find one.

he is the greatest bowler EVER bar none. i could MAYBE accept a case for holding or imran, but mcgrath still has better figures than both and won more test matches/series/anything else you can think of.

 

[footyfan1978]

sorry, but wasim akram over mcgrath is an absolute joke.

he is the greatest bowler EVER bar none. i could MAYBE accept a case for holding or imran, but mcgrath still has better figures than both and won more test matches/series/anything else you can think of.

You are very much entitled to your opinion but simply do not agree.
He probably makes it in top ten bowlers of all time for me but no higher.
Not going to convince me otherwise. I rate on what I see from watching. His stats are great but I think he had era where not as many good bats as some other earlier eras plus he did benefit from bowling with the likes of Warne, Gillespie etc.
Do not get me wrong. He was a great bowler but I simply rate all the other guys I mentioned earlier clearly better on what I viewed. He probably has better stats but they are not everything with me.