Draft League Season 5 Voting Thread

[Jager]

Monk

1. Arthur Morris
2. Saeed Anwar
3. Clem Hill
4. Greg Chappell
5. Wally Hammond
6. Clive Lloyd *
7. Kapil Dev
8. Wayne Phillips +
9. Alan Davidson
10. Allan Donald
11. Clarrie Grimmett

Jager

1. Barry Richards
2. Vijay Merchant
3. Viv Richards*
4. Stan McCabe
5. Mohammad Azharuddin
6. Fawad Alam
7. Godfrey Evans +
8. Gubby Allen
9. Shane Warne
10. Andy Roberts
11. Glenn McGrath

Howe

1. Len Hutton
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Clyde Walcott+
4. KS Ranjitsinhji
5. Allan Border*
6. Shivnaraine Chanderpaul
7. Aubrey Faulkner
8. Moises Henriques
9. Chaminda Vaas
10. Fred Trueman
11. Courtney Walsh

Kyear

01. Sunil Gavaskar
02. Alec Stewart
03. Ricky Ponting
04. Sachin Tendulkar
05. Douglas Jardine*
06. Mushtaq Mohammad
07. Mike Procter
08. Richie Benuad
09. Malcolm Marshall
10. John Maclean +
11. John Snow

Watson

1. Geoff Boycott
2. Hanif Mohammad
3. Brian Lara
4. Dudley Nourse
5. Vijay Hazare
6. Javed Miandad
7. Imran Khan
8. Ray Lindwall
9. Jackie Hendriks
10. Saqlain Mushtaq
11. Joel Garner

Michael

Gordon Greenidge
Sid Barnes
Charles Macartney
Everton Weekes
Frank Worrell*
Billy Murdoch +
Shaun Pollock
Amar Singh
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralitharin
Brian Statham

KK

1. Jack Hobbs
2. Alastair Cook
3. Ken Barrington
4. Jacques Kallis
5. Garry Sobers
6. Stuart Law
7. Vinoo Mankad
8. Geraint Jones +
9. Dennis Lillee
10. Fazal Mahmood
11. Micheal Holding

Dan

1. Bruce Mitchell
2. Graham Gooch
3. George Headley
4. Kumar Sangakkara
5. Peter May
6. Doug Walters
7. Alan Knott +
8. Maurice Tate
9. Hedley Verity
10. Dale Steyn
11. Wayne Daniel

Himannv

1. Charles Bannerman
2. Trevor Goddard
3. Neil Harvey
4. Dennis Compton
5. Steve Waugh*
6. Kevin Pietersen
7. Ian Botham
8. Farokh Engineer +
9. Bill O'Reilly
10. Shoaib Akthar
11. Sydney Barnes

Blakus

1. Victor Trumper
2. Bob Simpson
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Tip Foster
6. Keith Miller*
7. Matt Prior+
8. Richard Hadlee
9. Curtly Ambrose
10. Bill Voce
11. Bishan Bedi

Baxter

1. Archie Jackson
2. Herbert Sutcliffe
3. Ted Dexter
4. Martin Crowe
5. Andy Flower
6. Tony Greig
7. Les Ames +
8. Wasim Akram
9. Jim Laker
10. Alec Bedser
11. Harold Larwood

 

[Jager]

Don't vote for yourself or ask anyone to vote for you or you'll lose

 

[Blakus]

How many teams are we voting for?

 

[Jager]

How many teams are we voting for?

Three.

 

[Jarquis]

Surprised not to get the Jager vote itbt.

 

[Himannv]

Went for Watson, Dan and Baxter after some thought. Some really good teams in there considering the clauses we had. Most teams gave me something to think about before casting my vote.

 

[Howe_zat]

Who the **** is Baxter?

 

[kyear2]

Down to the seven teams of Monk, Jager, Watson, Michael, kk, Dan and Blakus. All of them are so close. Hard to choose.

 

[Jarquis]

Bottom 4/11... kyear bringing the brutality

 

[kyear2]

Down to five, As I said Marcuss all of them are very close and I have to nit pick.
Yours was the last of the four to be eliminated, very strong team with no weaknesses, just as everyone knows not really a fan of Larwood or Wasim and Laker was at his best on a wet track. Love the top six.
You are quite safe though, so all is good.

 

[Jarquis]

Wasn't aware you didn't rate Wasim tbh!

 

[watson]

Kyear
01. Sunil Gavaskar
02. Alec Stewart
03. Ricky Ponting
04. Sachin Tendulkar
05. Douglas Jardine*
06. Mushtaq Mohammad
07. Mike Procter
08. Richie Benuad
09. Malcolm Marshall
10. John Maclean +
11. John Snow

Very well balanced team with an excellent captain and even better attack. The middle-order is not the best on show but that doesn't matter too much with Gavaskar, Ponting and Tendulkar at the top of the order, and then Procter and Benaud to protect the tail. Maclean lacks Test match experience, but his FC experience (1968-79) makes him OK.

Blakus
1. Victor Trumper
2. Bob Simpson
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Tip Foster
6. Keith Miller*
7. Matt Prior+
8. Richard Hadlee
9. Curtly Ambrose
10. Bill Voce
11. Bishan Bedi

I do like the bowling attack of Hadlee-Ambrose-Miller-Voce-Bedi a lot. The question is, will the team make enough enough runs with Foster in the middle-order? I'm also never quite sure about the ability of Pre-WWI batsman when facing up to modern fast bowling, despite the fact that Trumper is a legend. However, the class of Kanhai and Pollock, the toughness of Simpson, and the skills of Prior and Hadlee in the lower order should mean that the team scores enough runs to win.

Monk
1. Arthur Morris
2. Saeed Anwar
3. Clem Hill
4. Greg Chappell
5. Wally Hammond
6. Clive Lloyd *
7. Kapil Dev
8. Wayne Phillips +
9. Alan Davidson
10. Allan Donald
11. Clarrie Grimmett

I think that Monk's team is very dynamic. It has a long list of attacking, but also sound batsman who can pile the runs on quickly. Grimmett and Davidson can 'turn the screws' at one end when bowling, while Donald and Dev attack at the other. The bowlers are backed up by a great captain and excellent slips fieldsman. The only real blemish is that Phillips was an average Test match keeper. But few of these teams are perfect.

Watson
01. Geoff Boycott
02. Hanif Mohammad
03. Brian Lara
04. Dudley Nourse
05. Vijay Hazare
06. Javed Miandad
07. Imran Khan *
08. Ray Lindwall
09. Jackie Hendriks +
10. Saqlain Mushtaq
11. Joel Garner

As for Watson's team - its batting is solid right down to Imran Khan, and made dynamic by the brilliance of Lara and Miandad. I defy any opposing line-up to keep-out Lindwall-Imran-Garner-Saqlain for too long on any type of wicket, even if it is Gold Tier. The keeper is an ATG, and the Captain inspirational. Admittedly Boycott is a bit of a bore, but I think that it would be overly picky to let him colour the rest of the team. No really, I can't see any other team on show beating this one in the long haul of a 5-test series - with the possible exception of kyears. That match-up would probably end 2-2.

 

[Himannv]

Who the **** is Baxter?

I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

[Jager]

Thought I'd poll a little better, 8 world class players in there.

 

[kyear2]

very good team actually, was going to vote, but KK's team is better than just one vote. Viv and Warne in the same team in it self was worth my vote.

 

[watson]

Thought I'd poll a little better, 8 world class players in there.

The number of world class players is only one category when people judge a team. Then they bring their own expectations and likes/dislikes which are highly personal/individualistic.Watson's XI has 11 world class players in the side with no obvious weak links - but that fact has only counted for so much;

Boycott - ATG Top 4 English opening batsman
Hanif - ATG Top 2 Pakistani opening batsman
Lara - ATG Top 6 best ever middle-order batsman (Possibly No.2 after Bradman).
Nourse - ATG Top 3 South African middle-order batsman
Hazare - ATG Top 3 Indian middle order batsman
Miandad - ATG best ever Pakistani middle-order batsman
Imran - ATG best ever bowling-allrounder
Lindwall - ATG Top 3 Australian opening fast bowler
Hendricks - ATG Top 2 West Indian keeper
Saqlain - ATG Top 2 Pakistani spinner
Garner - ATG Top 5 West Indian fast bowler

 

[kyear2]

Love the bowling and the batting is strong, just feel that apart from Lara it would put me to sleep.

As you said subjective.

 

[Himannv]

The number of world class players is only one category when people judge a team. Then they bring their own expectations and likes/dislikes which are highly personal/individualistic.Watson's XI has 11 world class players in the side with no obvious weak links - but that fact has only counted for so much;

Boycott - ATG Top 4 English opening batsman
Hanif - ATG Top 2 Pakistani opening batsman
Lara - ATG Top 6 best ever middle-order batsman (Possibly No.2 after Bradman).
Nourse - ATG Top 3 South African middle-order batsman
Hazare - ATG Top 3 Indian middle order batsman
Miandad - ATG best ever Pakistani middle-order batsman
Imran - ATG best ever bowling-allrounder
Lindwall - ATG Top 3 Australian opening fast bowler
Hendricks - ATG Top 2 West Indian keeper
Saqlain - ATG Top 2 Pakistani spinner
Garner - ATG Top 5 West Indian fast bowler

I don't like Saqlain in there, but excluding that, clearly one of the best teams. Miandad at 6 says it all.

 

[watson]

Love the bowling and the batting is strong, just feel that apart from Lara it would put me to sleep.

As you said subjective.

I do find your comment interesting kyear and I'm not going to question your perception, because it's your perception.

But how do you know that the batsman would put you to sleep when it is highly unlikely that you have seen any of them bat in real life or on TV, with the exception of Boycott?

Also, I doubt very much whether you can quote their respective Strike Rates off-hand. But even if knew that they were all in the mid-30s doesn't mean that any of those batsman couldn't play an attactive attacking role if asked by their captain. Bradman himself commented that Hazare had all the shots, but restricted himself because he had to prop up the weak Indian middle-order.

 

[watson]

I don't like Saqlain in there, but excluding that, clearly one of the best teams. Miandad at 6 says it all.

Prasanna
Tests = 49
Wickets = 189
Ave = 30.38
SR = 75.9
5w = 10
10w = 2

Saqlain
Tests = 49
Wickets = 208
Ave = 29.83
SR = 67.6
5w = 13
10w = 3

As you can see Himannv there's not a lot of difference in the stat's between Prasanna and Saqlain (the only two viable choices in the 9th Wicket clause).

However, I will say that a sub-70 strike rate is pretty damned good for an off-spinner, and quite close to Laker's benchmark of 62.3.

Again, I find it very interesting how people form their opinions, and I don't discount myself from mixing the rational with the emotional either.