All Time New Zealand XI

[Brett Dale]

Wright
Turner
Sutcliffe/Fleming
Crowe
Donnelly
Cairns
Vettori
Parore
Hadlee
Taylor
Bond

I'd almost be tempted to have Reid as the keeper, as I know he was competent, but I'm not sure quite how good, so I go with Parore who's keeping skills were unparalled. Sutcliffe and Fleming is really difficult to pick, but I'd probably side with Fleming on account of his captaincy skills. The top order is a little light with Cairns coming in at number 6, but the batting ability of the lower order (with Taylor and his two test hundreds coming in at 10) nicely makes up for it.

You would have Parore ahead of Ian Smith?

 

[The Sean]

Sutcliffe and Fleming is really difficult to pick, but I'd probably side with Fleming on account of his captaincy skills.

You could have both - Sutcliffe was largely an opener so could put him up top in place of Wright and then play Fleming at 3.

 

[Brett Dale]

I wouldnt include Fleming in my all time 11, he never got us a test victory Australia.

 

[The Sean]

Vettori will compare ok with derek underwood. Underwood has a SR of 73 and Vettori 76. Both have a similar number of wickets.
He also compares well to West Indies' Lance Gibbs and even has a better SR than him. Gibbs had a SR of 88

I've always liked Vettori a lot but he's not in their class. Judging purely on S/R forgets that most bowlers today have a better strike rate than those of decades past due to Test cricket being more attacking and faster scoring these days - Brett Lee has a better Test S/R than Lindwall or Davidson but you'd never say he should be in an all time Australian XI ahead of those two because of it.

As S/R improves due to more attacking cricket, so E/R invariably declines - Gibbs and Underwood both have significantly better E/Rs than Vettori, and importantly they both have substantially better career averages as well.

I am trying to think of who SA will put up and I don't know enough about their history but think they might struggle to come up with someone as good.

Hugh Tayfield would be the South African choice I imagine, though the likes of Schwarz and Vogler may have a say too.

 

[Flem274*]

I wouldnt include Fleming in my all time 11, he never got us a test victory Australia.

Ooooh wow, such credible criteria. He only played against arguably the best Australian side of all time, and had it not been for umpiring, could have come away with a win in Australia.

But then again, you're the bloke that thinks everything sucks, so I'm not going to bother.

 

[Hurricane]

They had voting for the spinner

One horse for this course | All-time XIs | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

And voting for the fast bowlers

Seven for two | All-time XIs | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

This comment caught my eye on cricinfo
"Posted by Maui3 on (September 30 2009, 22:42 PM GMT)
Vetori, by default and mostly because of his batting. Can we speed this thing up please? I am losing interest in this. Take 6 weeks a pick a NZ side? By the time you are through with all 10 teams for test, ODI and twenty20, The sun would cool down."

They should be announcing the team soon.

 

[DingDong]

Patel might be pushing for vettori's place 10 years down the line if he can keep up the form he showed in the SL series..

 

[S.P. Fleming]

Patel might be pushing for vettori's place 10 years down the line if he can keep up the form he showed in the SL series..

haha the guys like the same age as Vettori and clearly not the same class. Your an asset to this forum "DingDong"

 

[Flem274*]

Here it is, and bar Vettori's inclusion (which tbf they had no choice in) I completely agree with it. A team from all seasons | All-time XIs | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

 

[Hurricane]

One member of the panel did not vote for Vettori so means he voted for one of the other spinners instead. I guess John Bracewell I would imagine.

Interesting that the panel went for Dempster over wright. I guess they weren't bothered by his lack of test matches.

 

[subshakerz]

I cant believe they didnt select Cairns, for me he was a lock at no.6, after Hadlee, Crowe and Bond.

 

[DingDong]

I cant believe they didnt select Cairns, for me he was a lock at no.6, after Hadlee, Crowe and Bond.

+1
it's a ridiculous selection.

 

[Smudge]

Not quite "ridiculous". People underestimate how much Reid had to do for the NZ teams when he was playing. I still feel Cairns never quite lived up to his potential, while Reid carried the weight of NZ at times.

 

[James]

I would say the team is too light in the bowling attack, and that's where Cairns is needed.

Apart from Cairns for Reid, wouldn't disagree with the rest.

 

[subshakerz]

Not quite "ridiculous". People underestimate how much Reid had to do for the NZ teams when he was playing. I still feel Cairns never quite lived up to his potential, while Reid carried the weight of NZ at times.

Okay but he only had 85 wickets in 58 matches, compared to Cairns who had over 200 wickets around that time. They scored around the same number of runs at pretty much the same average.

I would always have at least some viable fifth bowler, especially in test cricket where bowling wins matches.

This makes me think that Cricinfo has something in for Cairns. I recall sometime ago when they had this debate/poll for greatest all-rounder and Cairns wasn't even shortlisted while guys like Ravi Shastri were. Such an underrated cricketer.

 

[Smudge]

Disagree. Cowie, Bond and Hadlee as the seamers, with Vettori as the spinner and Reid as the fifth bowler who could bowl pace or off-spin. Perfect fifth option. Teams more often than not go into a test with no more than four bowlers. Reid was essentially two bowlers in one, ala Sobers.

 

[aussie]

I'd say there was a stong case for having Reid @ 6 & Cairns @ 7. Especially in NZ conditions - thus Vettori would have to be dropped.

 

[Hurricane]

I have been thinking about our all time XI - the Aussies in 2006 were a strong team. Do you think our All time XI could beat them.

Langer ? Dempster (Dempsters average was 65.72 but was he really that good or just a flash in the pan)
Hayden > Turner
Ponting > Sutcliffe
Martyn = Crowe
Clarke ? Donnelly (Do you think Donnelly could sustain a batting average of 52)
Hussey > Reid
Gilchrist > Smith
Warne > Vettori
Lee < Hadlee
Clark < Bond
McGrath > Cowie

 

[Athlai]

Hayden > Turner? DWTA

 

[Hurricane]

Went by averages

Hayden avg 50.73
Turner avg 44.64

Turners FC avg 49.7 Haydens 52.6