Probably been done but: Mud XI for each nation?

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

D G Bradman springs to mind.

Jacques Kallis, Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq all reached double figures just once in their first 4 innings. For Kallis it was once in his first 8 innings.

And Atapattu had a decent career after 5 ducks (and 1 run total) in 6 innings to start it.

 

[lord brown]

I'll base my England selections from 1987 onwards

Kim Barnett - Talented county batsman who scored lots of runs but was found lacking at test level
Tim Curtis - Ditto the above
Ed Smith - Looked decent on debut but was sadly proved to be out of his depth
Matthew Maynard - Another class country batsman who didn't cut the mustard for England
Chris Adams - Yet another one, although i thought he deserved a longer chance
Gavin Hamilton - The ultimate one cap wonder, a pair and two nought for's,
Richard Blakey - Hopeless out of his depth at test level
Ian Salisbury - Easily the most ineffective spin bowler England have ever had but kept on getting recalled for no apparant reason
Mike Smith - Effective county trundler, not England class
Martin McCague - Poor, simply poor
Simon Brown - Another one cap wonder, and understable

 

[gwo]

I'll base my England selections from 1987 onwards

Kim Barnett - Talented county batsman who scored lots of runs but was found lacking at test level
Tim Curtis - Ditto the above
Ed Smith - Looked decent on debut but was sadly proved to be out of his depth
Matthew Maynard - Another class country batsman who didn't cut the mustard for England
Chris Adams - Yet another one, although i thought he deserved a longer chance
Gavin Hamilton - The ultimate one cap wonder, a pair and two nought for's,
Richard Blakey - Hopeless out of his depth at test level
Ian Salisbury - Easily the most ineffective spin bowler England have ever had but kept on getting recalled for no apparant reason
Mike Smith - Effective county trundler, not England class
Martin McCague - Poor, simply poor
Simon Brown - Another one cap wonder, and understable

I'm going to sound like an ignoramus but...

WHO?

 

[lord brown]

Its probably best that you are asking who!!!

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Its probably best that you are asking who!!!

Many more besides - Alan Wells, Paul Taylor, Mark Ilott, Ed Giddins, John Stephenson.

Usually all in the search for something that other teams had that was successful.

Salisbury - England's answer to Warne
Taylor/Ilott - England's answer to (achem) Wasim Akram!!
McCague - He was Australian! He was bound to be the panacea for all ills. He certainly annoyed the Aussies. He was a great pinch-hitter too! How could he fail?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Ed Giddins. Haven't heard that name in a long...long time.

 

[Clarence]

Elliott....Hopes...wtf.

Elliott was the next big thing until he got injured and never made it back and Hopes has been impressive in the ODIs.

And has Hauritz played for Aus yet? If he has cant have been more than 1 or 2 ODIs

Come on mate. Don't just talk out your a-hole, Hauritz has played over five ODI's and a test.

 

[lord brown]

Ed Giddins, he is now a professional poker player.

I always thought he was a decent bowler.

I'll raise you Ed Giddins and give you Jimmy Ormond though!

 

[kwigibo]

From my viewing era.

AUS Test XI

351 WN Phillips Australia v India at Perth, 1991/92
368 MTG Elliott Australia v West Indies at Brisbane, 1996/97
372 S Young England v Australia at The Oval, 1997
367 GB Hogg India v Australia at Delhi, 1996/97
356 BP Julian England v Australia at Manchester, 1993
362 PA Emery Pakistan v Australia at Lahore, 1994/95
375 GR Robertson India v Australia at Chennai, 1997/98
364 PE McIntyre Australia v England at Adelaide, 1994/95
355 J Angel Australia v West Indies at Perth, 1992/93
373 SH Cook Australia v New Zealand at Perth, 1997/98
376 P Wilson India v Australia at Kolkata, 1997/98

12th man
382 SA Muller Australia v Pakistan at Brisbane, 1999/00


ODI XI

107 MA Taylor Australia v Sri Lanka at Melbourne, 1989/90
114 MJ Slater Australia v South Africa at Melbourne, 1993/94
134 MTG Elliott England v Australia at Lord's, 1997
117 JL Langer Australia v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 1993/94
122 GS Blewett Australia v South Africa at Wellington, 1994/95
143 SM Katich Australia v Zimbabwe at Melbourne, 2000/01
138 BE Young Australia v South Africa at Perth, 1997/98
120 PA Emery Pakistan v Australia at Lahore, 1994/95
157 BR Dorey Australia v South Africa at Melbourne (Dock), 2005/06
159 DJ Cullen Bangladesh v Australia at Chittagong (CDS), 2005/06
155 ML Lewis New Zealand v Australia at Wellington, 2005/06

12th man
136 P Wilson Australia v New Zealand at Melbourne, 1997/98

 

[NZTailender]

Haha, Katich was a good ODI player, but didn't fit with what the fans expected.

 

[Dan]

Zimbabwe current line-up...

 

[Lillian Thomson]

A sort of semi-recentish partially muddy XI

1. Mike Atherton
2. Wilf Slack (RIP)
3. Paul Parker
4. Robert Key
5. Chris Adams
6. Ronnie Irani
7. Matt Prior
8. Gavin Hamilton
9. Ian Salisbury
10. Mike Smith
11. Neil Williams (RIP)

 

[bond21]

Clearly, in order to make this Australian XI viable, we will have to make separate ones. The cut-off criteria, for me, given that Australian cricket from 1995- has largely avoided introducing duds, will be a mere 4 Tests and/or 8 ODI's. There were a multitude of substandard mid-80's Australian players, as we all know, but my area of expertise where the 80's are concerned is a tad too limited. I know the vast majority, if not all, of the Australian players who played Tests and ODI's during or after 1995, so I'll stick with that. In case some of my selections seem weird, I'll explain all of 'em.

Anyway, my Australian Test Mud XI 1995- is:
- MTG Elliott (talented opener, poor temperament/average)
- GS Blewett (talented batsman, served as opener, poor average)
- ML Love (his best feats came against Bangladesh, a really harsh call on my part)
- * SM Katich (his Test record is surprisingly unimpressive)
- MG Bevan (" ", although he offered more with the ball than Katich)
- GB Hogg (temperament went against him in a big way)
- AJ Bichel (it says a lot about the Australian XI from 1995- that he's here, but Kaspr>Bichel)
- BP Julian (talented left-arm seamer, poor average)
- G Robertson (could've been worse, but still warrants a place here)
- NW Bracken (Bracken the Test bowler is largely innocuous unless conditions are right)
- BA Williams (one good performance = poor average)

I couldn't pick a specialist keeper for my Mud XI - otherwise, I'd have to draft in Ian Healy. Keeping duties can be shared between Love and Elliott, as neither bowl much.

Anyway, my Australian ODI Mud XI 1995- is:
- MJ Slater (surprisingly poor ODI average)
- M Di Venuto (" ")
- BJ Hodge (" ", except against minnows and NZ)
- SG Law (" ")
- GS Blewett (" ", no room for him higher up and he has served in the middle order)
- +* JP Maher (" ", can be a surrogate keeper, as he has kept in ODI's)
- CL White (one of the worst 1995- to have played more than 10 ODI's, IMO)
- BP Julian (terrible ODI bowler, unpenetrative and expensive)
- G Robertson (" ")
- NM Hauritz (more penetrative, still too expensive)
- P Wilson (his ODI record, while not terrible, isn't all that)

So, here are my two mud XI's.



He's got two, IIRC.

martin love?

wtf....he is a superb batsman.

 

[bond21]

disagree with Bichel aswell but whatever.

 

[Burgey]

Australia

Turner, A.
Phillips, W. (not the 'keeper, the other one)
Darling, R.
Wood, G.(c)
Ritchie, G.
Trimble, GS.
Young, S.
Dyer (or is it Dire?), G.+
Hohns, T. or Holland, R.
Campbell, G. or Angel, J.
Thomson, A "Froggy".
12th man: Hilditch, A.

 

[Smudge]

Dyer (or is it Dire?), G.+

Just call him "Cheat".

 

[DaRick]

martin love?

wtf....he is a superb batsman.

Read my criteria and you'll understand why I picked Love. I basically had no choice. He fitted under the criteria of 4 Tests and/or 8 ODI's. The same applies to Bichel.

They were both really, really harsh calls. But, Bangladesh-aside, he didn't really do a whole lot. There was his unbeaten half-century against England, but little else of significance.

Also, I could've thrown Kaspr into the foray (their Test averages are similar), but I believe that he is a superior bowler to Bichel, as do most people.

If I didn't set that criteria, it would be unfair on the blokes who only got the chance to play one or two Test matches or only a few ODI's, because they didn't really have a chance to establish themselves.

BTW, mate, I'm a Queenslander, so I know that Martin Love is a classy batsman and I know that he's a gun at domestic level. I know too, that Bichel is a good bowler. However, my Australian Mud XI 1995- doesn't list bad players, per se (they wouldn't have come around often enough, obviously). It lists the players who, while commendable on their own, underperformed the most out of an elite, world-class bunch.

 

[Burgey]

Just call him "Cheat".

Ah, you remember!!!

Did have a touch of the Dhonis about him, didn't he? Interesting that after that incident, it was like he carried that around with him and he never really kicked on at all.

It was that incident which had me pick him over Zoehrer.

 

[Smudge]

Ah, you remember!!!

Did have a touch of the Dhonis about him, didn't he? Interesting that after that incident, it was like he carried that around with him and he never really kicked on at all.

It was that incident which had me pick him over Zoehrer.

I was only 8, but I remember. NZers, whatever age, remember every single injustice, every act of treachery and every little back-handed effort thrown at us by Australians ever since we made the simple mistake of sending Derryn Hinch over there.

 

[DaRick]

Just call him "Cheat".

That's not fair. Dyer apparently did not realise that Andrew Jones' dismissal was incorrect, until he saw the slow-mo. He apparently then realised that he should've called the batsman back and wanted to apologise for his indiscretion, but the board's player code (if you think CA is inept, the ACB of the 80's was a thousand times worse) prevented him from commenting on umpiring decisions, which he would've done had he apologised. Dyer, apparently, was so guilty about it all that his career declined from that point on.

That's how Steve Waugh tells it, anyway. Were you watching that match?