Who would win.....

[The Passenger]

Who would win out of an all-time Australian XI, all-time England XI, all-time West Indies XI or an all-time Rest of the World XI.

Dont' have to base it on these teams (nor the batting order), but just to get a feel of what the team would look like:

Aus XI:
Hayden
Lawry/Ponsford/Morris/Simpson
Bradman
Chappell
Waugh/Border
Giilchrist
Miller
Warne/Grimmett/O'Reilly
Warne/Grimmett/O'Reilly
Lillee
McGrath/Lindwall/Davidson


Eng XI:
Sutcliffe
Hutton
Hobbs
Barrington
Hammond
Compton/May
Knott
Botham
Trueman
Laker
Bedser/Barnes

WI XI:
Lloyd/Worrell/Lloyd
Greenidge/Worrell/Lloyd
Richards
Headley/Walcott/Weekes/Lara
Headley/Walcott/Weekes/Lara
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Ambrose
Garner/Walsh/Holding
Garner/Walsh/Holding

ROW XI:
Gavaskar (Ind)
Mitchell (SAF)/Richards (SAF)
Pollock (SAF)
Tendulkar (Ind)
Maindad (Pak)
Flower (Zim)
Imran Khan (Pak)
Pollock (SAF)/Kallis (SAF)/Donald (SAF)/Waqar Younis (Pak)
Wasim Akram (Pak)
Hadlee (NZL)
Murilitharan (SRL)

 

[EssJayW]

FWIW my Aust XI

Ponsford
Hayden
Bradman
G. Chappell
N. Harvey
Border
Gilchrist
Lindwall
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

12th
Miller. Although from all reports I wouldnt want to be the one that tells him.

Would be some great games but I have gone for World XI.

 

[DaveW]

Well here's my rough judgement:

Opening batting - 1. England; 2. ROW; 3. Australia; 4. West Indies
Middle order batting - 1. Australia; 2. West Indies; 3. ROW; 4. England
Wicketkeeper - 1. England; 2. Australia; 3. West Indies; 4. ROW
Pace bowling - 1. West Indies; 2. Australia; 3. England; 4. ROW
Spin bowling - 1. Australia; 2. ROW; 3. England; 4. West Indies

Not the best analysis admittedly... since some categories are one player whilst others can be 4-5 players.

So converting those rankings to 4,3,2,1 votes I get:

1. Australia (16 votes)
2. England (13)
3. West Indies (11)
4. ROW (10)

Just on the Windies line-up... Worrell opened in a whole 6 of his 87 innings. So he wouldn't be in opening contention. I'd include Rohan Kanhai in the list of middle order contenders. So with the amount of class competing for middle order spots, I wouldn't consider Viv Richards a certainty.

And the ROW line-up... If Kallis isn't in the top six, I wouldn't bother with him at all.

 

[DaveW]

Originally posted by EssJayW
12th
Miller. Although from all reports I wouldnt want to be the one that tells him.

He'd be the 2nd player picked in my team.

 

[The Passenger]

just a few notes on selection:


- wasn't sure whether or not to include Viv as a certainty in the Windies team, but just couldn't not pick him in the team....

- if Kallis was in the ROW team he'd bat at number 6 (Donald and Waqar would bat 10 if in the team)

- If Davidson or Lindwall were in the Aus team they'd bat at 8.

 

[EssJayW]

Originally posted by DaveW
He'd be the 2nd player picked in my team.

Maybe so, but I havent seen any players before 1975 ( 1st test I saw at the SCG aged10) so most of it is hearsay and purely statistical. And I suppose it depends on how your pick your team. I went for 6 specialists, a WK, a 4 specialists. Although Miller could be regarded as specialist in both. No doubt he is our greatest all rounder. By all reports Lindwall was sensational. So I would have to replace McGrath. Cant do it.

Cheers

 

[EssJayW]

Originally posted by Black Thunder
just a few notes on selection:


- wasn't sure whether or not to include Viv as a certainty in the Windies team, but just couldn't not pick him in the team....

- if Kallis was in the ROW team he'd bat at number 6 (Donald and Waqar would bat 10 if in the team)

- If Davidson or Lindwall were in the Aus team they'd bat at 8.

No arguments here about Viv.

 

[DaveW]

I would agree that Keith Miller wouldn't be in our best 6-7 batsmen, and he'd probably just miss out in being part of our best 4 bowlers.

But geez, the combination of his batting and bowling has to be worth something. Heck, Gilchrist is in there for a combination of his two disciplines.

Miller took 170 @ 22.97. That's a better average than Lillee. So you've got a genuine top-notch pace bowler who batted at 3/4/5.

I'd put Miller in the top 6. With the way Bradman and Gilchrist strengthen that top 7 you can afford to carry a guy who 'only' averaged 36.97 with the bat.

The end result is it balances the bowling attack beautifully. Suddenly you can have three top quality pace bowlers AND two top quality spinners. A captain's dream.

 

[EssJayW]

My ROW XI

Gavaskar
Richards
Tendulkar
Pollock
Javed
M. Crowe
A. Flower
Imran
Hadlee
Akram
Murali

12th
Dev

 

[EssJayW]

Originally posted by DaveW
I would agree that Keith Miller wouldn't be in our best 6-7 batsmen, and he'd probably just miss out in being part of our best 4 bowlers.

But geez, the combination of his batting and bowling has to be worth something. Heck, Gilchrist is in there for a combination of his two disciplines.

Miller took 170 @ 22.97. That's a better average than Lillee. So you've got a genuine top-notch pace bowler who batted at 3/4/5.

I'd put Miller in the top 6. With the way Bradman and Gilchrist strengthen that top 7 you can afford to carry a guy who 'only' averaged 36.97 with the bat.

The end result is it balances the bowling attack beautifully. Suddenly you can have three top quality pace bowlers AND two top quality spinners. A captain's dream.

No doubt Miller is in the top 11 all time australian players and no doubt he is our best all rounder. I just dont know who to drop to put him in. Not a bad team all the same.

 

[dr nick]

when my fierce push for legal human cloning comes to fruition, this will be the first thing on my agenda.

the aussies.

 

[Destructive]

Australian XI.

 

[anduril]

ANY side containing "DK" and "The Don" is home as far as I'm concerned

 

[llosis]

Did anyone listen to Norman May on the ABC radio yesterday. He was talking about the comparison between the 1948 invincibles and the current Australian team (including those currently injured etc).

From his perspective he said only 3 of the current side would make the Don's 1948 team. That surprised me. He reckoned Steve Waugh in the middle order. Gilly in place of Don Talon (who the Don rated as our best ever keeper). And Warne or McGrath (not both). He said in those days you didn't need a spinner because you got a new ball every 55 overs.

FWIW I would've thought the four above plus Matty Hayden at least would've been an upgrade on the 48 side.

 

[DaveW]

This would be my combined Invincibles/current side:

Hayden
Morris
Bradman (c)
Harvey
Waugh
Miller
Gilchrist
Lindwall
Warne
Gillespie
McGrath

12th: Johnstone

I've got 6 current players in the XI.

McGrath and Warne would walk into any Australian side.

I don't about this "no need for a spinner" business either. Every test in the 1948 Ashes series involved either Ian Johnson or Doug Ring. A bit of selective memory going on there.