All-time Test XI with a twist

[Zinzan]

Your all-time Test XI with the criteria being;

1) Batsman averaging less than 46
2) Bowlers averaging more than 27
3) Wicket keeper averaging less than 30 with the bat and;
4) Maximum of two genuine all-rounders

 

[Riggins]

Greenidge
Slater
Langer
M Waugh
Azharuddin
de Villiers
Botham
Dev
Healy
Kumble
Ntini

Gave it a shot, bit biased by players I actually like, what do you think?

 

[Himannv]

1. W.G Grace
2. Victor Trumper
3. Charles Macartney
4. David Gower
5. Colin Cowdrey
6. Frank Woolley*
7. Ian Botham
8. Harold Larwood
9. Don Tallon +
10. Lasith Malinga
11. Lance Gibbs

 

[Athlai]

Yeah you got my opening pair.

 

[Himannv]

Was thinking quite a bit about whether to go for Mark Waugh or Colin Cowdrey. Also Reid or Dev vs Woolley.

Peter May just about missed out.

 

[Blakus]

I'll have a crack

1. W.G.Grace
2. G.Greenidge
3. C.Macartney
4. K.Ranjitsinhji
5. V.Trumper
6. I.Botham
7. I.Healy
8. K.Dev
9. H.Larwood
10. G.Mckenzie
11. B. Chandrasekhar

 

[Himannv]

Ah, forgot about Ranjit. Good team.

 

[Noble One]

1. G Greenidge
2. G Gooch
3. V Trumper
4. A de Silva
5. D Gower
6. WG Grace
7. I Botham
8. I Healy
9. H Larwood
10. L Gibbs
11. J Thompson

Quite a tough challenge. I could have swapped another 20 names into the batting order, and another 20 names into the bowling order.

 

[Migara]

1. W.G Grace
2. Victor Trumper
3. Charles Macartney
4. David Gower
5. Colin Cowdrey
6. Frank Woolley*
7. Ian Botham
8. Harold Larwood
9. Don Tallon +
10. Lasith Malinga
11. Lance Gibbs

De Silva over Gower EASILY, and Kumble over Gibbs.

WG Grace
Victor Trumper
Ranjit Sinji
Aravinda De Silva
Mark Waugh
Mohammed Azharuddin*
Kapil Dev
Jack Russell+
Lasith Malinga
Harold Larwood
Anil Kumble / Chandrashekar

 

[kingkallis]

Graham Gooch
Justin Langer
Daryll Cullinan
Mohammad Azharuddin [ c ]
Graham Thorpe
Ian Botham
Ian Healy [ + ]
Anil Kumble
Darren Gough
Craig McDermott
Makhaya Ntini

My 12th man : Heath Streak

13th : Brett Lee
14th : Saqlain Mushtaq
15th : Brian McMillan

I have selected players I;ve seen in action.

 

[L Trumper]

De Silva over Gower EASILY.

Any reason why is it that easy?

 

[weldone]

Any reason why is it that easy?

Country bias, etc.

 

[weldone]

I'll have a crack

1. W.G.Grace
2. G.Greenidge
3. C.Macartney
4. K.Ranjitsinhji
5. V.Trumper
6. I.Botham
7. I.Healy
8. K.Dev
9. H.Larwood
10. G.Mckenzie
11. B. Chandrasekhar

Good one. Not sure about Frank Worrell's batting average. If he fits the criteria, shouldn't he be in place of Macartney? I shall personally take Clem Hill over Greenidge, and make Trumper open. Yeah, and Peter May too deserves a place there (as pasag points out below). Might drop Clem Hill too in that case.

Also, how much did Compton average?

 

[pasag]

1. W.G Grace
2. Victor Trumper
3. Charles Macartney
4. David Gower
5. Colin Cowdrey
6. Frank Woolley*
7. Ian Botham
8. Harold Larwood
9. Don Tallon +
10. Lasith Malinga
11. Lance Gibbs

This is all kinds of win. If we could find a way to get in Learie Constantine and Peter May it'd be perfect.

 

[Pothas]

1. W.G.Grace
2. Victor Trumper
3. Ranji
4. Aravinda de Silva
5. Martin Crowe
6. Ian Botham
7. Ian Healy
8. Kapil Dev
9. Harold Larwood
10. Anil Kumble
11. Jeff Thomson

Could not resist the prospect of Thomson and Larwood in the same side.

 

[weldone]

Could not resist the prospect of Thomson and Larwood in the same side.

Why not Jardine too, then?

 

[Pothas]

Average was too high.

 

[weldone]

Average was too high.

Oh yes, of course...

 

[weldone]

Off the top of my head:

Victor Trumper
William Grace*
Peter May
Kumar Ranjitsinhji
Clem Hill
Ian Botham
Kapil Dev
Harold Larwood
Anil Kumble
Don Tallon+
Jeff Thomson

All the bowlers are from post-War era, and most of the batsmen are from pre-War era. It has to be that way if the conditions are to be met.

 

[Himannv]

May doesn't fit. I thought of him as well. A shde too high in average.