Post 500 / World 11 Time

[Drakey]

Well it's post no. 500 for Drakey so I thought I would celebrate by naming my world 11. Here they are in batting order and assumed fit.

Jayasuriya
Slater
Tendulka
Lara
S.Waugh (Capt)
Gilcrest
Cairns
Pollock (V Capt)
Warne
Muraltharan
McGrath

To explain a few things. 1stly I have only picked 5 specialist batsmen but have 3 alrounders in Gilcrest, Cairns & Pollock so the team bats down to 8 with Warne capable of making a few. No.'s 10 & 11 are bunnies. I figure that the 5 batsmen I picked are going to make a few.

You could debate Lara's inclusion but I still rate him & he has made runs on all tracks under all conditions. That is more than can be said for Dravid & Gangooly who I rate as flat track bullies.

I like the bowling with 3 quicks, a leggie & an offie plus Jayasuriya & Tendulkar if required. I would like to have found room for Lee & Akram. In 12 months time I hope Lee would make the side.

Anyway thats the side. I probably would pick a different 1 tomorrow but I will stick my neck out with this side.

Now your turn.

 

[Guest]

Congratulations on your 500 Drakey.

Tough ask this one. On form Lara just misses out. I'm also a big Jayasuria (sp?) fan but he also just misses out. He would make my one day side though.

I've also included Darren Gough who carries 90% of Englands combined heart.


Ganguly
Anwar
Tendulka
S. Waugh
Ponting
Gilchrist
Pollock
Warne
Gough
Muralitheran
McGrath

12th Akram

Maybe swap Slater for Anwar as a genuine opener.



[This message has been edited by Spogs (edited 28 November 2000).]

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Congradulations on 500 Drakey

I like your squad but you have not named a 12th man.

I would choose another seam bowler to swap around with Murali depending on the conditions.

Shoab Akhtar maybe but somebody else said Darren Gough - an equally good choice.

cheers

 

[TigerTank]

Drakey,

Batting choices spot on IMO.
Bowling could do with a bit of flair though, I reckon.

Jayasuriya
Slater
Tendulkar
Lara
S.Waugh (Capt)
Kallis
Gilchrist
Wasim Akram
Warne
Waqar Younnis
McGrath


The Waqar Younnis/Wasim Akram combination is still the most fearsome in cricket, even if they hate each other's guts. If Pakistan could bat they would be unbeatable.

Your blokes might be more reliable, but if there is any humidity in the air at all, the two Ws will slaughter any batting combo.

BTW - I can't understand why Muralithuran isn't judged a chucker, but Shoab Akhtar is. Shoab Akhtar's action looks much more ridgy-didge to me than Merrilythrowin.

 

[Drakey]

I accept the critisism of my bowlers.

I wanted to fit 2 spinners & 3 seamers into the side so I was looking for alrounders. I nearly picked Akram (the best left armer I have seen)instead of Cairns but I went for Cairns because of his superior batting & because Akram is getting on a bit. Akram didn't look as good out here last season as he has previously.

Anyway lets say Akram as 12th man.

At this moment you can't go past McGrath & Pollock as the other bowlers. They are rated 1 & 2 in the world in that rating thingie.

Tigertank. I nearly picked Kallis as well.

 

[acuguy]

Slater
Anwar
Dravid
Tendulkar
S.Waugh
A.Flower
A.Gilchrist
S.Pollock
B.Lee
M.Muralthiran
G.McGrath
vs 2nd world 11
Jaysuria
Kirsten
Kallis
Ponting
Ganguly
Thorpe
Stewart
Kumble
Gillespie
Magill
Donald
Slater and anwar pick themselves
it is either i am pretty sure Dravid bats at three for india and he has just scored like three centuries in a row and has a test ave of over 50 though he could not hit a ball in australia.the others pick themselves flower gets the nod over ponting, just cause he gets runs for zimbabwe at the moment when they are needed and has an average of over 43
The second 11 has a very balanced attack, i cannot split the opening comb of McGrath and LEE vs Donald and Gillespie, Kallis is a very acomplised all rounder and bowls at genuine pace, magill and kumble will be an awesome combination.
would love to see these two teams play
if i have missed someone do tell me

 

[servo]

acuguy u got 2 keepers in your 1st side?? Gilly and Flower.

 

[Drakey]

The only guys I would querry are Ganguly & Dravid.

I call those guys "flat track bullies".

They look awesome in 1 day games when they know they won't get any short stuff & great in test matches on wickets where the ball won't bounce above waist height.

But out here last year on our 3 easiest wickets against good fast bowling they were pathetic.

I recon they would shit their pants if they were playing at the WACA against McGrath, Lee & Dizzy this weekend.

 

[acuguy]

servo, i am full aware i have two keepers in my side, though i can justify it by using flower as a fielder and as a specialist number 6 batsmen, check his recent record it is as good as anyones, i also don't understand why we assume this game would be played in australia, as much as we love our conditions are our batsmen flat spinning track bullies like dravid and ganguly, i don't think so,
I could have been tempted to take another bowler into my world 11 side but i know that if 4 front line bowlers can't do the business then there is something wrong.

 

[Drakey]

fair call acuguy

I probably assumed it would be played here so I could go see it.

I don't know if I will ever get to Faisalabad for a game.

 

[Indian in ze cupboard]

This is what I reckon:

Tendulkar
Anwar
Dravid
Lara
S Waugh
Kallis
Gilchrist
Pollock
Akram
Muralitherun
McGrath

Apart from Anwar there is dearth of quality openers around at the moment, so I'd have tendulkar opening the innings (hey, he does it in one dayers and has a bradmanesque average).

Dravid is my no.3. I think it is a myth that Indian batsmen are flat track bullies. Drakey, by saying this you are insinuating that pitches in India are a batsmans paradise. If this is the case then why are Indian bowler's averages comparable to bowlers from other nations? Surely if batsmen were so advantaged on Indian pitches then bowlers would be equally disadvantaged and would demonstrate inflated bowling avarages - but this is not the case.

Lara no.4. He can be hot and cold but when he turn it on he makes test bowlers look like under-12 standard.

S Waugh no.5 I don't think anyone would argue with that.

Kallis at 6. I originally chose Ponting but that left the bowling depth a little thin.

Gilchrist at 8. Not because hes the best keeper around (although he's pretty damn good) but because I have never seen as dominant a wicket keeper batsmne since Kaluwitharana went insane in the world series a few years back. The difference between the two is that Gilchrist never seems to be out of form.

Pollock - I wish he was Australain. He can bat as well, a lot of critics believe that if he put his mind to it he cound be the best batsman in South Africa.

Akram - one of the best bowlers I have ever seen, swings it a mile, left-arm, super quick. I remember he bowled one over to Ian Healy and heals didn't know what was going on (Not that he ever really does). It was like Wasim was playing with him and then on the sixth ball he must of thought 'OK time to put this guy out of his misery' and duely removed him from the crease. Akran can bat too but is a huge underachiever. His top score in tests is something like 220 but he only averages around the 18 mark - I don't know how that's possible.

Muriltheran - the best spinner in the world at the moment although he may be chucking it - as long as he gets away with it I'll pick him.

McGrath - A great bowler, but he should stop trying to intimidate batsmen - he just looks like an idiot. A 6"6 beanpole eyeballing me down the pitch doesn't really frighten me too much.

 

[dr nick]

Interesting to reminisce on who were the best players. this thread was posted in late 2000.

2 years later, how much would this side have changed?? this is my world XI

1. Matthew Hayden
2. Michael Vaughan
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Jaques Kallis
6. Kumar Sangakkara
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Shane Warne
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. Glenn McGrath
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

i know this team has 3 spinners, but they would have to be the form bowlers in the world at the moment. Kallis would be the other quick, he is a class allrounder and can easily shoulder the responsibility of opening the attack with McGrath. Obviously on a track like the WACA i might replace Harbhajan with Pollock, but for mine, world fast bowling looks a little thin at the moment.

Picking an englishman in this world side may shock some, but Vaughan remember is the years leading runscorer, and besides this test match, Langer's scores have been very shallow of late.

Tendulkar and Dravid was a toss up, and Sangakkara i rate extremely highly as a batter, so he slots in at 6.

Interesting to see some other people's world XI and hopefully someone can revive this thread in a years time.

 

[DaveW]

Giving Kallis the new ball is a waste. I like him as an all-rounder, but not a new ball bowler! Put Pollock in that side instead of Harbhajan.

If Sangakkara is a better batsman than Tendulkar then I'll go... ah whatever, Tendulkar is the best batsman of our era, his 2002 performance was also sensational, its a crime not to include him.

 

[dr nick]

Sangakkara is in better form than tendulkar of late. Sure Tendulkar might have the reputation and thats probably what you are basing your selection of him upon, but i merely picked mine on form. as i say i'd play pollock on a fast/green track, and he would give the side huge batting depth.

Tendulkar's form recently has been so-so, especially away from india.

here are his last 20 innings

0,0,8,0,41,86 v WI @ WI
16,12,34,92,193,54 v Eng @ Eng
35,43,16*,36,176 v WI @ Ind
8,51,9,32 v NZ @ NZ

averaging 46.50 in these figures, and away he averages 39.75

Sangakkara's last 20
54 v Ban @ SL
140, 15, 45, 55 v WI @ SL
128, 42, 29, 56 v Zim @ SL
230, 14* v Pak @ Pak
10, 6*, 16, 1, 40, 32 v Eng @ Eng
75 v Ban @ SL
26, 7, 35, 89 v SAF @ SAF

averaging 57.25, and away averaging 50.6

 

[larrikin]

I thought I'd have a go. I didn't do much research, but here it is......

Hayden
Vaughan
Ponting
Tendulkar
Kallis
Ul Haq
Gilchrist
Pollock (c)
Warne
McGrath
Murali

12th Martyn

 

[dr nick]

doesn't look like a bad side larrikin, the only one that stands out noticeably to me is your 12th man.

 

[larrikin]

Originally posted by nicko18
doesn't look like a bad side larrikin, the only one that stands out noticeably to me is your 12th man.

Why?

He's a great fieldsman, and is still ranked the number 9 batsmen in the world!!!

I can't believe people on this site wanted him dropped from the Aussie team!!!!

 

[dr nick]

i disagree he's a great fielder, we lost a lot in that regard when he replaced mark waugh in the slips. just my opinion though, i think i'd put another 6 or so batters in that team before i would Martyn

 

[larrikin]

Originally posted by nicko18
i disagree he's a great fielder, we lost a lot in that regard when he replaced mark waugh in the slips. just my opinion though, i think i'd put another 6 or so batters in that team before i would Martyn

He's not the same kind of fielder as Waugh. He's really never been a first slip to a spinner before (coming from WA), however the only chance he really missed in there was a real tough one. He's very good in the covers, and is extremely quick across the ground.

Fair enough on the 6 other batters, but your right this is opinion based, and IMO he's Australia's third best batsmen (excluding Gilly) behind Hayden and Ponting. And with Australia being as dominant as they are at the moment, I think they deserve a pretty large representation.

 

[jefffff34]

Who would win?

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Martyn
Waugh
Love/Lehmann
Gilchrist
Lee
Gillespie
Warne/MacGill
McGrath

or.......................................

Gibbs
Vaughan
Lara
Tendulkar
Chanderpaul
Jayawardene
A.Flower
Pollock
Shoaib Akthar
Bond
Muralitharan

 

[Navy Master]

Australia, even without Steve Waugh

F*** MacGill off, he is poxy, if you are smart, you just dont let him settle and he will bowl you plenty of easy full tosses