Best Test XI from each nation (that you have seen)

[Flem274*]

Saw this thread linked to and decided to have a crack.

Aussie

Langer
Hayden
Ponting
Martyn
Clarke
Watson
Gilchrist
Warne
Lee
Gillespie
McGrath

Team sheet looks familliar...

Not sure how to rate Martyn and Hussey. Twatto gets in because his ridiculous h4x bowling adds more value than another awesome batsman.

No Bath Land

Trescothick
Cook
Trott
KP
Thorpe
Prior
Flintoff
Swann
Caddick
Anderson
Hoggard

Ten minutes before half of that side is injured. Broad unlucky, and largely affected by being thrown into test cricket too early.

Pakistan

Mohammad Hafeez
Taufeeq Umar
Younis Khan
Inzamam ul Haq
Mohammad Yousuf
Misbah ul Haq
Moin Khan
Saeed Ajmal
Umar Gul
Wahab Riaz
Shoiab Akhtar

The cheats ommitted naturally.

New Zealand

Mark Richardson
Brendon McCullum
Stephen Fleming
Ross Taylor
Nathan Astle
Jacob Oram
Chris Cairns
Adam Parore
Doug Bracewell
Shane Bond
Iain O'Brien

Marto very unlucky, but he's had one awesome year which doesn't offset 3-4 years of not being as good as O'Brien, and Dougeh has had one awesome year without the baggage of being **** for a few. Franklin misses out because I can't pick the first version that could bowl. Vettori misses out because I want the team to take a wicket and his batting isn't better than the others.

South Africa

Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kallis
AB de Villiers
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Vernon Philander/Morne Morkel
Dale Steyn
Makhaya Ntini

Undecided on the rest

 

[morgieb]

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Hussey
S Waugh
Clarke
Gilchrist
Warne
Lee
Gillespie
McGrath

 

[NUFAN]

1 M Hayden
2 M Slater
3 R Ponting
4 M Waugh
5 S Waugh
6 A Border
7 A Gilchrist
8 S Warne
9 J Gillespie
10 C McDermott
11 G McGrath


Edit - I find it hard to rank Slater, Taylor, Boon, Langer. I don't rank JL as highly as others do.

Also MWaugh, Clarke, Hussey, Martyn for the number 4 spot is tough. I hate Clarke at 4, so he didn't make my team.

- The next bowling spot would be difficult too. Fleming, Hughes, Lee, Reid, MacGill, Siddle all in with a shot for my team.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Nah, Vettori has to be in the NZ team, for either O'Brien or Bracewell. Already have four quicks (Oram, Cairns, Bond, O'Brien/Bracewell), no need for five, and it adds a heap to New Zealand's batting depth.

 

[Burgey]

Simpson
Hayden
Ponting
Chappell, G
Border
Waugh, S/ Walters
Gilchrist
Warne
Thomson/ Gillespie
Lillee
McGrath

Fmd, I'll take that for an XI.

 

[kingkallis]

Saw this thread linked to and decided to have a crack.

Aussie

Langer
Hayden
Ponting
Martyn
Clarke
Watson
Gilchrist
Warne
Lee
Gillespie
McGrath

Team sheet looks familliar...

Not sure how to rate Martyn and Hussey. Twatto gets in because his ridiculous h4x bowling adds more value than another awesome batsman.

No Bath Land

Trescothick
Cook
Trott
KP
Thorpe
Prior
Flintoff
Swann
Caddick
Anderson
Hoggard

Ten minutes before half of that side is injured. Broad unlucky, and largely affected by being thrown into test cricket too early.

Pakistan

Mohammad Hafeez
Taufeeq Umar
Younis Khan
Inzamam ul Haq
Mohammad Yousuf
Misbah ul Haq
Moin Khan
Saeed Ajmal
Umar Gul
Wahab Riaz
Shoiab Akhtar

The cheats ommitted naturally.

New Zealand

Mark Richardson
Brendon McCullum
Stephen Fleming
Ross Taylor
Nathan Astle
Jacob Oram
Chris Cairns
Adam Parore
Doug Bracewell
Shane Bond
Iain O'Brien

Marto very unlucky, but he's had one awesome year which doesn't offset 3-4 years of not being as good as O'Brien, and Dougeh has had one awesome year without the baggage of being **** for a few. Franklin misses out because I can't pick the first version that could bowl. Vettori misses out because I want the team to take a wicket and his batting isn't better than the others.

South Africa

Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kallis
AB de Villiers
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Vernon Philander/Morne Morkel
Dale Steyn
Makhaya Ntini

Undecided on the rest

So you didnt see Allan Donald???

 

[Spark]

For us,

2nd Test: Australia v England at Adelaide, Dec 1-5, 2006 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Sticking by that (and I still think it makes a case at being the strongest XI ever to take a cricket field), although I'd obviously rotate the batting order a bit.

For England, 2nd Test: England v India at Nottingham, Jul 29-Aug 1, 2011 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo is fairly obvious. Ridiculous batting depth gets them over the line against the 05 lot.

 

[morgieb]

So you didnt see Allan Donald???

Phlegm is younger than you think.

 

[Rasimione]

So you didnt see Allan Donald???

My thought exactly. Ntini over Donald? Blasphemy i say!

 

[Days of Grace]

Richardson
McCullum
Fleming (c)
Taylor
Astle
Cairns
Parore (wk)
Nash
Vettori (late 1990s - early 2000s version)
Bracewell
Bond

 

[Hurricane]

I think it is too soon to put Bracewell into any all time team. Give him 20 tests.

 

[kingkallis]

India

Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Mohammad Azharuddin
VVS Laxman
MS Dhoni ( c & + )
Kapil Dev
Anil Kumble
Javagal Srinath
Zaheer Khan

Pakistan

Saeed Anwar
Aamir Sohail
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Javed Miandad
Inzamam ul Haq
Imran Khan ( c )
Moin Khan ( + )
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Saeed Ajmal

South Africa

Graeme Smith ( c )
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kallis
AB de Villiers
Mark Boucher ( + )
Shaun Pollock
Dale Steyn
Paul Adams
Allan Donald

England

Alistair Cook
Marcus Trescothick
Robin Smith
Kevin Pietersen
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Jack Russell ( + )
Graeme Swann
Darren Gough
James Anderson
Angus Fraser

Australia

Mark Taylor
Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Micheal Clarke
Steve Waugh
Allan Border ( c )
Adam Gilchrist ( + )
Shane Warne
Brett Lee
Craig McDermott
Glenn McGrath

West Indies

Desmond Haynes
Chris Gayle
Brian Lara
Richie Richardson ( c )
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Carl Hooper
Ridley Jacobs ( + )
Ian Bishop
Jarmaine Lawson
Curtley Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

New Zealand

Bryan Young
Mark Richardson
Andrew Jones
Stephen Fleming ( c )
Martin Crowe
Chris Cairns
Ian Smith ( + )
Dion Nash
Daniel Vettori
Shane Bond
Danny Morrison

Sri Lanka

Marvan Atapattu
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumara Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene ( c )
Aravinda de Silva
Hashan Tilakaratne
HP Jayawardene ( + )
Chaminda Vaas
Lasith Malinga
Muttiah Muralidharan
Rangana Herath

Zimbabwe coming in 10 mins!

Grrrrrrrrrrrr @ missus calling for Daal chaval + fish fry and fried potatoes as its Friday!

 

[Dan]

Started watching cricket, in about 2000. Have a vivid memory of Langer and Martyn batting together against the West Indies that year, despite the two not playing a match together that summer (in fairness, I was 5). May have been the year prior TBH.

So yeah. Screw the 'best', more favourites.

Australia
Greg Blewett - What could have been. Barely displaces Simon Katich at the top of the order. Also adds to the bowling strength of the side.
Michael Slater- Have an irrational love for Slats, borne out of the 1993 Ashes video I watched when I was a kid.
Ricky Ponting - How could I not?
Mark Waugh - Memories of reading the James Knight biography in 2003. Taught me how to swear aged 8 (Had an ICC save under the title of 'F***, why did you declare' at one point). Classy bat too.
Steve Waugh - Sydney 2003. Enough said. Was my childhood hero.
Michael Hussey - Tough between him and Clarke. Hussey for his ultra-professionalism and being an absolute cricket nerd.
Adam Gilchrist - He was Gilly, need I say more?
Brad Hogg - Didn't like Warne, MacGill or Hauritz. Or Krejza. Or Casson. Or Cullen. Or Cameron White as a specialist spinner. Hogg and Lyon are the only two spinners I actually like these days, so Hogg gets the gig.
Andy Bichel - Tried so hard, did everything for the side. WAG.
Damien Fleming - The original Phlegm. Just liked him, can't really understand why though.
Glenn McGrath - Automatic selection. Affinity through shared last name.

Dishonourable mentions: Scott Muller, Brad Williams, Brad Hodge.

New Zealand
Mark Richardson
Brendon McCullum
Stephen Fleming
Ross Taylor
Nathan Astle
Craig McMillan
Chris Cairns
Daniel Vettori
Dion Nash
Shane Bond
Iain O'Brien

South Africa
Gary Kirsten
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kallis
AB de Villiers
Jacques Rudolph
Jonty Rhodes
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Vernon Philander
Dale Steyn
Allan Donald

Pakistan
Saeed Anwar
Mohammad Hafeez
Younis Khan
Misbah-ul-Haq
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Umar Akmal
Wasim Akram
Moin Khan
Saqlain Mushtaq
Waqar Younis
Mushtaq Ahmed

India
Aakash Chopra
Dinesh Karthik
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Virat Kohli
Irfan Pathan
Anil Kumble
Ajit Agarkar
Murali Karthik
Pragyan Ojha

England
Marcus Trescothick
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Graeme Thorpe
Nasser Hussain
Matt Prior
Andrew Flintoff
Graeme Swann
Darren Gough
Jimmy Anderson
Matthew Hoggard

 

[Flem274*]

My thought exactly. Ntini over Donald? Blasphemy i say!

So you didnt see Allan Donald???

I don't remember watching a test involving Allan Donald, or he definitely would have made my side.

I forgot Steve Waugh. Swap him for Martyn in my team.

 

[Flem274*]

I think it is too soon to put Bracewell into any all time team. Give him 20 tests.

It was him or Mason.

 

[Hurricane]

It was him or Mason.

 

[Cabinet96]

For England, 2nd Test: England v India at Nottingham, Jul 29-Aug 1, 2011 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo is fairly obvious. Ridiculous batting depth gets them over the line against the 05 lot.

It's quite amazing depth. I reckon numbers 8 and 9 in that line up are stronger than 6 and 7 in 05.

 

[Migara]

Sri Lanka

Marvan Atapattu - easily the technically best opener we had
Sanath Jayasuriya - when this guy fires, team ends up winning
Kumar Sangakkara - best test batsman of Sri Lanka
Aravinda de Silva - probably the second best
Mahela Jayawardane - superlative player of spin and shrewd brain
Thilan Samaraweera - giving Aravinda run for his money as the second best test batsman of SL
Brendon Kuruppu (wk) - good gloveman, and a solid bat as well. did not play much, but averaged 50 with the bat.
Chaminda Vaas - easily the best SL pacer ever, and could bat too
Rumesh Ratnayake - slinging action, with pace and swing. was steady and was lethal on his day
Muttiah Muralitharan - does he need any introduction?
Lasith Malinga - the ideal third seamer of the side to bowl sharp, short incisive spells.

Guys missed out,
Ravi Ratnayake - classical English type seamer bowled with plenty of bounce and pace. Was an above average lower order batsman as well
Hashan Tillekaratne - gutsy batsman, but his **** away record puts sim down.
Prasanna Jayawardane - best of the glovemen SL had, but Brendon's batting ability puts him above
Angelo Mathews - done enough in his short career to show that will be an ATG for SL. But he has to average 50 to cut in to that middle order. May be as an opener!
Dilshan - a **** of highest order, but this guy could play swashbuckling innings


Zimbabwe XI

Neil Johnson
Grant Flower
Alistair Campbell
Murray Goodwin
Andy Flower
Dave Hougton
Tatenda Taibu (wk)
Heath Streak (c)
Eddo Brandes
Henry Olonga
Ray Price

Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Craig Wishart, Andy & Guy Whittal are unlucky.

 

[Jager]

What's wrong with Dilshan?

 

[Satguru]

Indian XI:

Sehwag
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Azharuddin (by a whisker over VVS)
Ganguly
Dhoni
Kumble
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Srinath