Best international XI of your time?

The Passenger

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#26
Longevity is a mark of ability. However dissect his form, his opposition, the teams he plays against and guys like Richards who never had free innings against the bangers or zimmers like the current crop of batsmen and the different rules for batting
viv never played against sri lanka but there were plenty who did in the 80's. they were just as bad as zimbabwe in the 90's or bangaldesh in the 2000's.

admittedly they get more games against these teams now, but they also play more against the better teams. even the great don bradman even got tipped over the 100 average thanks to an average of 110 against south africa.

in the context of sachin v viv there is definate stat padding that sachin has done against zimbabwe and bangladesh while viv never played sri lanka and didn't perform well against new zealand (who decent by the 80's with more wins than losses, 17-15 from 59 tests).

some stat padding against sri lanka up to 1993; (they had 4 wins from 43 tests at this stage);

gavaskar 600 runs at 66, gooch 376 at 62, imran khan 46 wkts at 14, hadlee 36 at 12, waqar 16 at 17

stat padding ainst new zealand in the 60's and 70's (9 wins from 80-odd tests);

javed maindad 801 runs at 114, doug walters 720 at 72, g chappell 660 runs at 60, barrington 594 runs at 90, redpath 413 runs at 82, botham 41 wkts at 15, bedi 57 at 19, bob willis 28 at 19, derek underwood 48 at 12...

stat padding against zimbabwe (9 wins from 86 tests) and bangladesh (3 wins from 73 tests);

murali 176 at 16, vettori 82 at 20, waqar 80 at 17, kumble 52 at 20, s pollock 32 at 15, shane bond 24 at 11, kallis 38 at 14 (bowling), ntini 41 at 20, tendulkar 1738 at 99, dravid 1539 at 85, snagakarra 1400 at 78, jayawardene 1300 at 68, yousuf 1119 at 101, kallis 996 at 124 (batting), muppet 905 at 82, hayden 669 at 95, ian bell 633 at 158, ponting 550 at 78, steve waugh 546 at 273.

so there is more happening today, but there are also more internaitonal cricketers around today, and there is also more runs being scored, so where a guy ken barrington only had 594 runs against NZ in the 60's and 70's, that constitutes about 9% of his total runs, a pretty similar amount to what kallis or tendulkar or dravid has on these lists, and slightly more than say matt hayden and much more than steve waugh...

it is an interesting consideration and one that is not always easy to take into account.

what is also interesting is that a huge percantage of the modern day greats belted up on the minnows of their day, where as a lot of the older modern day greats didn't against their minnows;

v Sri Lanka to 1993; maindad 582 at 41, border 543 at 54 (pretty standard for him), imran khan 271 at 30 (batting), wasim akram 126 at 19 (batting), ian botham 41 at 13 (batting), abdul qadir 14 at 32 (standard going), wasim akram 22 at 30 (bowling),

and v new zealand 60's and 70's; imran khan 24 wkts at 28, sobers 17 at 37, lance gibbs 11 at 57, boycott 916 at 36, gavaskar 525 at 52 (standard), sobers 323 at 26, stackpole 197 at 19.7 (HS: 122), imran khan 168 at 33 (standard)...
 

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djrossie

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#27
Hayden
Kallis
Ponting
Tendulker
Lara
Sangakkara
Gilchrist
Warne
Steyn
Ambrose
Mcgrath

I know some are out of position but that's probably how i'd design my best team. I pick Gilly first but cannot leave out Sanga.
 

The Passenger

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#28
you could also check out what guys did against india up to 1959 (6 wins, 28 losses from 54 tests), New Zealand up to 1959 (i don't know why i only included the 60's and 70's. they had 1 win and 27 losses from 52 tests at this point).

you'd inlclude all these counties as the minnows of world cricket;

India up to the end of 1968; 110 tests, 13 wins - 47 losses (21% win rate from result matches), 50 draws
New Zealand up to the end of 1979; 136 tests, 10 wins - 64 losses (13%),
Sri Lanka up to to the end of 1994; 58 tests, 4 wins - 27 losses (12%), 27 draws
Zimbabwe up to current; 86 tests, 9 wins - 51 losses (17%), 26 draws
Bangladesh up to current; 73 tests, 3 wins - 63 losses (4%), 7 draws
 

Blue Heart

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#29
Players you've seen. Mine is:

Greenidge
Gooch
Ponting
Tendulkar
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist
Wasim Akram
Hadlee
Warne
Ambrose

I know its are hard task but you couldn't find room for the greatest of modern players (post mid 70's) ... however you then pick two of his contemporaries. Greenidge was technically a great player and certainly comparable to Viv ... but Gooch before Richards ... please !!!
 

dan warna

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#31
I know its are hard task but you couldn't find room for the greatest of modern players (post mid 70's) ... however you then pick two of his contemporaries. Greenidge was technically a great player and certainly comparable to Viv ... but Gooch before Richards ... please !!!

There are very few people outside a handful of hardy brits and a few others marginally deranged who would rate Gooch ahead Richards.

Gutsy player but not in the same ball park as Richards in my opinion.
 

Jascave

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#33
M.Hayden (AUS)
D.Haynes (WI)
R.Ponting (AUS)
A.Border (AUS) (C)
M.Crowe (NZ)
R.Hadlee (NZ)
A.Gilchrist (AUS) (wk)
S.Warne (AUS)
M.Holding (WI)
D.Lillee (AUS)
M.Marshall (WI)

T.Alderman (AUS) 12th
 
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#35
My cricket viewing started from the early 1970's:

Gavaskar
Hayden
Ponting
Greg Chappell
Tendulkar
Viv Richards
Imran Khan
Gilchrist
Marshall
Warne
Lillee
Ambrose

(with sincere apologies to Greenidge, Lara, Kallis, Border, Sangakarra, Botham, Murali, Garner, Holding, Roberts, Hadlee, McGrath, Pollock, Wasim Akram, Dale Steyn)
Very good side. l'd take Lara ahead of Punter which is no slight, Lara is the best bat l've seen.

Maybe Greenidge for Hayden, my memories are greyer there. Gavaskar was a wonderful bat, he played some great knocks against the best attacks of all time (like AB).

It's just about impossible to sneak Akram in but l feel l should. Saw him bowl some unbelievable spells. Unplayable.

i remember the dynamism of Imran but it's hard to go past the numbers of Kallis and l'm not sure the bowling needs strengthening!
 

greatwhiteshark

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#36
almost impossible to leave Kallis out of the greatest 11 ever.

His record is incredible.

if you don't play him as a batsman, which you must, then play him as the all rounder.

Best cricketer I have ever seen and by some margin, never saw Sobers but hard to imagine him better than Kallis.

How Kallis is not talked about in God status is beyond me. tendulka is a great batsman as is Kallis with a better average and the longevity, but Kallis also has taken nearly 300 wickets also.

Amazing
 

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Asgardian

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#37
My cricket viewing started from the early 1970's:

Gavaskar
Hayden
Ponting
Greg Chappell
Tendulkar
Viv Richards
Imran Khan
Gilchrist
Marshall
Warne
Lillee
Ambrose

(with sincere apologies to Greenidge, Lara, Kallis, Border, Sangakarra, Botham, Murali, Garner, Holding, Roberts, Hadlee, McGrath, Pollock, Wasim Akram, Dale Steyn)
My 1st test match was the Ashes test in Adelaide, 1971, seen lots of greats, picking a non-Aussie team from the blokes I have seen play I'd go for something like this

Gavaskar
Barry Richards
Graeme Pollock
Viv Richards
Tendulkar
Lara
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Knott
Holding
Muttiah Muralitharan

Clive Lloyd 12th man
 
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Thread starter #38
There are very few people outside a handful of hardy brits and a few others marginally deranged who would rate Gooch ahead Richards.

Gutsy player but not in the same ball park as Richards in my opinion.
I understand that, don't shoot me!

I picked my two openers first, that's why I opted for Gooch. Opening batsman in an era of quality quicks, did well against the WIs in that time. Struggled against Aust and Alderman though.

As I said, forgot Viv! Maybe this would be the team...

Greenidge
Gilchrist
Ponting
Tendulkar
Richards
Lara
Kallis/Imran (depending on the deck)
Wasim
Hadlee
Warne
Ambrose


I know Gilly never opened, but meh!
 

NMFC 1811

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#39
1. Greenidge
2. Gavaskar
3. Richards
4. Tendulkar
5. Lara
6. S.Waugh (c)
7. Gilchrist
8. Warne
9. Marshall
10. Ambrose
11. McGrath

Stiff- Hadlee, Murali, Ponting, Border and so many others........

The thought of Viv & Gilly batting together:eek:
 
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#40
TEST
Hayden
Sehwag
Ponting
Tendulkar
Kallis
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Akram
Warne
Ambrose
McGrath

ODI
Tendulkar
Gilchrist
Ponting
Kallis
Waugh (Steve)
Bevan
Hussey
Akram
Warne
Ambrose
McGrath

These teams make me feel young, but I didn't really get into cricket until the 1999 World Cup, so these teams reflect that. Lara incredibly stiff to miss both :(
 

The Governor

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#41
My Best International Test XI

Gordon Greenidge
Matthew Hayden
Ian Chappell (CAPTAIN)
Ricky Ponting
Viv Richards
Sir Garfield Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Imran Khan
Shane Warne
DK Lillee
Glen McGrath

Ian Chappell is my captain with Sir Garfield Sobers batting at 6.

My best World XI has a well balanced varied attack where the side can take 20 wickets to win a test match on at least 70% of occasions. McGrath and Imran to open the bowling with DK at first change. And, the great SK Warne can bowl in tandem with Glen McGrath to create pressure.

Finally, Chappelli will have Sir Garfield Sobers at his disposal. He can bowl his handy left arm fast medium deliveries in combination with his left arm china man....

THE GOV
 

Asgardian

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#44
My 1st test match was the Ashes test in Adelaide, 1971, seen lots of greats, picking a non-Aussie team from the blokes I have seen play I'd go for something like this

Gavaskar
Barry Richards
Graeme Pollock
Viv Richards
Tendulkar
Lara
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Knott
Holding
Muttiah Muralitharan

Clive Lloyd 12th man
Can't believe I missed Sobers, he'd go in ahead of Lara
 

eth-dog

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#45
I'm young, so I only saw a bit of the Slater/Taylor/Waugh etc era- I'll go since 2000:

Hayden
G. Smith
Ponting
Tendulker
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist
S. Pollock
Warne
Vass
McGrath

Sangakara, Jayawerdena, Muralidaran, Steyn, Sehwag and Gayle all unlucky

EDIT: Imagine that slip Cordon: Warne at 1st, Kallis at 2nd, Smith at 3rd, Hayden Gully, Ponting would miss out :eek:
 

bradrowe#32

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#46
1. Hayden
2. Gayle
3. Pointing
4. Tendulkar
5. Lara
6. S. Waugh
7. Gilchrist
8. Warne
9. Akram
10. Ambrose
11. McGrath
 
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#47
Greenidge
Gavaskar
Tendulkar
G.Chappell(VC)
V.Richards(C)
B.Lara
Gilly
Hadlee
Warne
Lillee
Holding

12th man ,One of Ponting,Marshall,Akram,I.khan,Kallis,Ambrose.

Imagine Bowling to that batting line up and then having to come out and Bat to that bowling attack....lol....... thing of nightmares
 

Glacier

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#48
This may sound funny to some, but Greenidge was the greatest batsmen I ever saw live, and that includes Viv !
He was just so good
Jayasuriya the most explosive
 

The Governor

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#50
We can name a couple of World XIs based on time periods.

Here is my All Time World XI (1970-1980)

Gordon Greenidge
Barry Richards
Ian Chappell (CAPTAIN)
Greg Chappell
Viv Richards
Sir Garfield Sobers
Rod Marsh
DK Lillee
Andy Roberts
Derek Underwood
Jeff Thomson.

All Time World Test XI (1980-1990)

Gordon Greenidge
Desmond Haynes
Viv Richards
Greg Chappell
Allan Border
Ian Botham
Jeff Dujon
Imran Khan (CAPTAIN)
Malcolm Marshall
Michael Holding
Abdul Qadir

World Test XI (1990-2000)

Mark Taylor (CAPTAIN)
Michael Slater
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Sachin Tendulkar
Steve Waugh
Ian Healy
Wasim Akram
Shane Warne
Glen McGrath
Courtney Walsh

WORLD TEST XI 2000-2010

Matthew Hayden
V.Sehwag
Ricky Ponting (CAPTAIN)
Sachin Tendulkar
Jacques Kallis
Andrew Flintoff
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Brett Lee
Glen McGrath
James Anderson

THE GOV
 
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