Australia all time best X1

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#26
The thread is called Australia all time best XI, not the best I can remember in the short period of time I've watched cricket:
Its difficult to pick players you havent seen. Yes you can read/look at statistics etc but it doesnt always tell the whole story.

My test 12 THAT I HAVE SEEN (early 90's)

Slater
Hayden
Ponting
M Waugh
S Waugh
Border
Gilchrist
Warne
McDermott
Dizzy
McGrath

12th B Lee

One day side
Gilli
M Waugh
Ponting
Jones
M Clarke
Bevan
S Waugh (all rounder earlier in his career)
Warne
Lee
D Fleming
Mcgrath

12th A Symonds
 

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Cousin Jed

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#27
The thread is called Australia all time best XI, not the best I can remember in the short period of time I've watched cricket:
Actually the title is misleading because if you read his post

Me and my mate are having a debate over what is the greatest Australian side we've seen. both being 21. Born in 1990.

This is my best X1.
 

The_Reaper

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#28
Given that I am 18, my team basically selects itself.
Most of my memories of Waugh are post 2000, so I can only judge him on that.

1. Langer
2. Hayden
3. Ponting
4. Martyn
5. Hussey
6. Watson
7. Gilchrist
8. Gillespie
9. Lee/MacGill
10.Warne
11.McGrath
12.MacGill/Lee

In terms of an all time team, I prefer to split it into a before/after WWII teams.

The post WWII is based largely on what I have heard from my relatives- the oldest of which were born in the 30s so can remember all of this period.

Post WWII

1. Morris
2. Lawry
3. Ponting
4. Chappell
5. Border
6. Miller
7. Gilchrist
8. Davidson
9. Warne
10. Lillee
11. McGrath
12. Lindwall
 

The King!

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#29
Mines from 88 onwards

Test
Hayden
Boon
Ponting
M waugh
S waugh
Border
Gilchrist
Warne
Hughes
Gillespie
Mcgrath

Mcderrmott might play if at home.


Odi

Gilchrist
M waugh
Ponting
Jones
S waugh
Bevan
Odonnell
Warne
Reiffel
Lee
Mcgrath
 

The Governor

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#30
If it's from 1998 to 2006 then I'm not really sure how you can have Taylor in there gov.
Mark Taylor was a better captain than Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. He was an attacking captain.

I am prepared to say that CA made a huge mistake in not appointing SK Warne as our test captain after Tubby retired in 1999.

SK Warne would have made an excellent captain of Australia!!
 

dan warna

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#31
Mark Taylor was a better captain than Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. He was an attacking captain.

I am prepared to say that CA made a huge mistake in not appointing SK Warne as our test captain after Tubby retired in 1999.

SK Warne would have made an excellent captain of Australia!!
I don't rate taylor that much, he pretty much cruised as captain, we lost a lot of dead rubbers and taylor pretty much had the best of the bowlers, and chose his mates to bat. Also our fielding seemed to slip dramatically under taylor.

under s.waugh we because a brutal killing machine, we seemed fitter, more disciplined and punished sides. Yes I am aware that taylor led us to the 14 tests in a row win, but the team he had at his disposal was awesome.

I loved the way S.waugh terminated teams with attacking and threatening play. Even people in Aus thought something should be done to even up the international cricketing stakes.

IDC what people think of s.waugh as a person, or a personality, he was a great aussie captain (even though he was carried for the first 3 years of his international test career :p)

Border & S.waugh awesome captains.
Kim Hughes, terribad
Taylor, good but he had an awesome side.
PUnter, good while he had an awesome side, was lumbered with duds in the latter part of captaincy like smith, (sorry cam, but white), North, and a keeper who can't catch in haddin, but due to circumstances of old players, failing talent and daft selections, our 3rd best batsman...
 
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#32
Bit harsh on Taylor there DanWarna.

It's pretty well acknowledged that Waugh built on the successes of Border and Taylor.

When you look at the side that Waugh captained, it's not far off being the best Australian test side of any era:

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
M. Waugh
S. Waugh
Martyn
Gilchrist
Warne
Lee
Gillespie
McGrath

Taylor was a great captain, but his team wasn't as intimidating, or as settled as Waugh's. But he built the test team for the Waugh era. At the end of Taylor's reign though, the foundations of that team were there:

Taylor
Slater
Langer
M. Waugh
S. Waugh
Ponting
Healy
Fleming
Warne
Kaspa/ Gillespie/ Miller
McGrath


The differences between Taylor and S.Waugh's teams as I see it are as follows:

Gilchrist- the biggest factor in Waugh's captaincy success, along with McGrath/Warne. Gilchrist made games much more winnable by batting the way he did at seven. Remember the Hobart test against Pakistan, when he made 149no, and won us the game?

The Hayden/Langer- became a very successful opening pairing after Slater lost his spot in England in 2001. Not sure it was intended to be permanant, but it happened to work really well.

McGrath/Warne in their prime- you must have two great bowlers to be a great team, and we had two undisputed legends in their prime in Waugh's time. As well as that, we had Gillespie, Lee, Kaspa and Bichel backing them up. No wonder Waugh was a successful captain.

Fielding- so many excellent fielders created chances.


In the end, a captain is only as good as his team in cricket. Anyone who'd captained Australia in Waugh's era would've had success, because we could score quickly (Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilly), we could bowl teams out almost too easily, and our catching//throwing in the slips and point/cover was outstanding.

Look at some of the guys who couldn't get a decent run in this era-

Katich
Hodge
Love
Law
Lehmann
Haddin
Bichel
Bracken
Williams
MacGill

We'd kill for some of those guys now!
 

dan warna

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#33
Katich
Hodge
Love
Law
Lehmann
Haddin
Bichel
Bracken
Williams
MacGill

We'd kill for some of those guys now!
I was a bit rough on taylor, just my opinion that s.waugh was better <shrug> I rate border ahead as well because, lets face it, he inherited an broken team, some arrogant twats, an ACB that antagonistic to him and his independent thinking.

Pretty much all those players would walk into the current side, through in reiffel, devonuto, fleming, siddons amongst others. There was even ruminations that Australia A would be no.3 or no.4 in the world in rankings given the depth of our talent at the time...
 

The King!

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#34
Mark Taylor was a better captain than Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. He was an attacking captain.

I am prepared to say that CA made a huge mistake in not appointing SK Warne as our test captain after Tubby retired in 1999.

SK Warne would have made an excellent captain of Australia!!
Tactically maybe... But i think he would of struggled with being a leader off the ground
 

koutamarto

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#36
Geez Damien martyn get sold short as an ODI batsmen. Loved his style if he striked @ 5 more runs per 100balls he would be in every bodies best XI
 

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no_remorse28

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#37
Geez Damien martyn get sold short as an ODI batsmen. Loved his style if he striked @ 5 more runs per 100balls he would be in every bodies best XI
Its funny thinking now that Damien Martyn was often the fans least favorite batsmen in our dominant era simply because he was probably the "worst" (if you could call him that) of the top 6 at the stage.

I bet now some one of his caliber in the top 6 would be accepted and loved in an instant, always rated the bloke. Silky smooth cricket shots comparable to M Waugh, all class
 
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#39
TEST
Bill Ponsford
Arthur Morris
Don Bradman
Greg Chappell
Ricky Ponting
Alan Border
Adam Gilcrhist+
Shane Warne*
Ray Lindwall/Keith Miller
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

ODI
Adam Gilchrist+
Mark Waugh
Ricky Ponting
Dean Jones
Steve Waugh
Michael Hussey
Michael Bevan
Shane Warne*
Nathan Bracken
Dennis Lillee
Glen McGrath
 
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#42
Steve Waugh in the early part of his career was about the best one-day bowler going around. Always used to bowl in the last ten overs, very clever medium pacer.

My teams would be:

Test

Victor Trumper
Bill Ponsford
Don Bradman
Greg Chappell
Ricky Ponting
Allan Border
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Allan Davidson
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

One day

Adam Gilchrist
Mark Waugh
Ricky Ponting
Greg Chappell
Dean Jones
Steve Waugh
Andrew Symonds
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath
 

pluga_4

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#43
my best time XI (since the end of WSC)

M.Hayden (51)
M.Hussey (52)
R.Ponting (53)
G.Chappell (54/41)
A.Border (51/39)
S.Waugh (51/37)
A.Gilchrist + (48)
J.Gillespie (19/26)
S.Warne (17/25)
D.Lillee (14/24)
G.McGrath (7/22)

probably only hussey and gillespie's spots interchangeable but the rest pick themselves.

best 6 bats, and best 4 bowlers.

i'm not obsessed with an allrounder as 3 of the top 6 bats can have a trundle and gilchrist batting at 7 adds the batting depth.
 

Donners

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#44
Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Border
S.Waugh
Watson
Gilchrist
Warne
Gillespie
McGrath
Reid

The only ones I had difficulty with were a pace bowler to join McGrath and Reid (Gillespie, Lee, Kasper, Alderman, Clark, Fleming) and the #4 batsman (Martyn, Jones, Boon, Hussey, etc).
 

Gazza_11

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#46
This thread has kind of made me wonder if I'll ever feel as attached to Australian representatives as I did growing up. I used to be on the verge of tears when Ponting, Gilchrist, Hayden, Langer, Martyn, Waugh, etc got out or if McGrath, Warne, Lee etc had a bad spell. Now the team (which I still love) is kind of just made up of players.

We've had it seriously good.
 

Team DJ

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#48
Born 1989:
Taylor (c) Slater Ponting Waugh Waugh Gilchrist Healy (wk) Warne Lee Gillespie McGrath
Reserves: Langer Hayden MacGill Fleming


Ive gone with Taylor and Slater ahead of Langer and Hayden. My reasoning for this is that I feel the opening quicks that these two face far exceed that of the later.
IE:
WI: Ambrose Walsh v Dillon ?????
PAK: Akram Younis v Akthar Sami
SA: Donald Pollock DeVillies v Pollock Ntini
IND: Srinath v Khan
SL: Vaas v Malinga
ENG: Gough v Hoggard Harmison
NZ: Cairns v Bond

For the most part you would have to say the pace attacks of the 90s were far better then those of the 200s.

The other decision ive made is to play both Gilchrist and Healy. Gilly is one of the best 6 batsmen of the past 15 years and can change a game. Healy is one of the best gloveman this country has seen so I couldnt split them.
 

CHIEF SMACKAHOE

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#49
That I've seen:

Langer
Hayden
Ponting
Boon
S.Waugh
Border
Gilchrist
Warne
Gillespie
McDermott
McGrath

All time:

Trumper
Morris
Bradman
Ponting
Border
Gilchrist
Miller
Lindwall
Warne
Lillee
McGrath
 
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