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

[smash84]

am I the only one not aware of Rumesh Ratnanayeke?

 

[Mike5181]

New Zealand

1.Mark Richardson
2.Brendon McCullum
3.Stephen Fleming
4.Ross Taylor
5.Nathan Astle
6.Christopher Cairns
7.Jacob Oram
8.Daniel Vettori
9.Adam Parore+
10.Shane Bond
11.Iain O'Brien

Williamson and Ryder easily have the talent to make the side in the next few years. Hopefully the latter grows up and reaches his potential. O'Brien in his comeback was easily a better bowler than Chris Martin and most of the other NZ guys here seem to agree.

Australia
1.Justin Langer
2.Matthew Hayden
3.Ricky Ponting
4.Damien Martyn
5.Steve Waugh
6.Michael Clarke/Hussey
7.Adam Gilchrist+
8.Shane Warne
9.Brett Lee
10.Jason Gillespie
11.Glenn McGrath

South Africa

1.Graeme Smith
2.Herschelle Gibbs
3.Garry Kirsten
4.Hashim Amla
5.Jacques Kallis
6.AB de Villiers
7.Mark Boucher+
8.Shaun Pollock
9.Vernon Philander
10.Dale Steyn
11.Allan Donald

Pakistan

1.Saeed Anwar
2.???
3.Younis Khan
4.Inzamam-ul-Haq
5.Mohammad Yousuf
6.Misbah-ul-Haq
7.Moin Khan+
8.Wasim Akram
9.Saeed Ajmal
10.Mohammad Asif
11.Shoaib Akhtar

West Indies

1.Chris Gayle
2.Wavell Hinds
3.Ramnaresh Sarwan
4.Brian Lara
5.Shivnarine Chanderpaul
6.Carl Hooper
7.Ridley Jacobs+
8.Jerome Taylor
9.Curtly Ambrose
10.Fidel Edwards
11.Courtney Walsh

 

[The Sean]

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

Fmd, I'll take that for an XI.

Would take the same XI, with Taylor replacing Simmo. I'm not quite as old as Burgey.

But I'm close enough that it depresses me.

 

[sunilreddy]

INDIA

Sehwag
Mongia(Wk)
Dravid
Tendulkar
Azhar(C)
Laxman
Ganguly
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Javagal Srinath
Zaheer Khan

 

[sunilreddy]

Australia

1.Justin Langer
2.Matthew Hayden
3.Ricky Ponting
4.Damien Martyn
5.Steve Waugh(C)
6.M Hussey
7.Adam Gilchrist+
8.Shane Warne
9.Brett Lee
10.Jason Gillespie
11.Glenn McGrath

 

[sunilreddy]

West Indies

1.Chris Gayle
2.Richie Richardson(C)
3.Ramnaresh Sarwan
4.Brian Lara
5.Shivnarine Chanderpaul
6.Carl Hooper
7.Ridley Jacobs+
8.Ian Bishop
9.Curtly Ambrose
10.Kenny Benjamin
11.Courtney Walsh

 

[The Sean]

England

Gooch
Cook
Thorpe
Pietersen
Gower
Stewart
Botham
Flintoff
Swann
Anderson
Willis


South Africa

Smith
Gibbs
Kirsten
Cullinan
Kallis
De Villiers
Pollock
Boucher
Steyn
Ntini
Donald

Fantastic pace attack, feel like I'm missing a spinner though...


West Indies

Greenidge
Haynes
Richards
Lara
Lloyd
Chanderpaul
Dujon
Marshall
Garner
Ambrose
Holding

Joke team, this.

 

[sunilreddy]

South Africa

1.Gary Kirsten
2.Herschelle Gibbs
3.Graeme Smith
4.Daryll Cullinan
5.Jacques Kallis
6.AB de Villiers
7.Mark Boucher+
8.Shaun Pollock
9.Fanie Devilliers
10.Dale Steyn
11.Allan Donald

 

[sunilreddy]

New Zealand

1.Adam Parore+
2.Brendon McCullum
3.Stephen Fleming*
4. Martin Crowe
5.Ross Taylor
6.Nathan Astle
7.Chris Cairns
8.Jacob Oram
9.Daniel Vettori
10.Shane Bond
11.Danny Morrison

 

[Flem274*]

New Zealand

1.Adam Parore+
2.Brendon McCullum
3.Stephen Fleming*
4. Martin Crowe
5.Ross Taylor
6.Nathan Astle
7.Chris Cairns
8.Jacob Oram
9.Daniel Vettori
10.Shane Bond
11.Danny Morrison

Interesting choice. Mark Richardson?

 

[wpdavid]

England

Gooch
Cook
Thorpe
Pietersen
Gower
Stewart
Botham
Flintoff
Swann
Anderson
Willis

Interesting to return to this thread after England's last 2-3 years.

Swann vs Underwood is such an interesting call. Obviously the former brings more to the side in terms of batting and fielding, but Underwood is almost an article of faith to my generation. Underwood did what he did without DRS of course, whereas Swann doesn't have the massive benefit of uncovered pitches. I really couldn't call it either way.

I'm still not completely convinced by Cook. Take out his 766 in Australia, and he's OK rather than a world beater. Maybe it's easier for me to say that as I'm old enough to include Boycott. Mind you, I thought you nere too.

Number 3's a problem, isn't it. I put Vaughan there when we did this back in 2007. I suspect that in a couple of years we'll all be picking Trott and there won't be any discussion. Obviously Thorpe never batted at 3, although I'd have him in the side lower down the order. Which probably means that Gower & KP are fighting over one place in my side.

Was Stewart's batting as a keeper good enough to justify selection? I reckon not, although I was tempted to play him solely as an opening batsman. If we're picking Botham at his absolute peak, then he'd move up to 6 and Knott comes in at 7. Or even Prior, if people are too young to remember Knott.

Agreed about Willis and Anderson. Snow was slightly past his best when I saw him. Maybe Flintoff, if we're basing selections on players' absolute peak for a smallish number of years. Obviously his batting is a huge bonus at 8.

 

[The Sean]

Interesting to return to this thread after England's last 2-3 years.

Swann vs Underwood is such an interesting call. Obviously the former brings more to the side in terms of batting and fielding, but Underwood is almost an article of faith to my generation. Underwood did what he did without DRS of course, whereas Swann doesn't have the massive benefit of uncovered pitches. I really couldn't call it either way.

I'm still not completely convinced by Cook. Take out his 766 in Australia, and he's OK rather than a world beater. Maybe it's easier for me to say that as I'm old enough to include Boycott. Mind you, I thought you nere too.

Number 3's a problem, isn't it. I put Vaughan there when we did this back in 2007. I suspect that in a couple of years we'll all be picking Trott and there won't be any discussion. Obviously Thorpe never batted at 3, although I'd have him in the side lower down the order. Which probably means that Gower & KP are fighting over one place in my side.

Was Stewart's batting as a keeper good enough to justify selection? I reckon not, although I was tempted to play him solely as an opening batsman. If we're picking Botham at his absolute peak, then he'd move up to 6 and Knott comes in at 7. Or even Prior, if people are too young to remember Knott.

Agreed about Willis and Anderson. Snow was slightly past his best when I saw him. Maybe Flintoff, if we're basing selections on players' absolute peak for a smallish number of years. Obviously his batting is a huge bonus at 8.

All fair points, but none of Underwood, Knott or Boycott were considerations for me because I'm too young to remember seeing them in Test cricket. Only just, mind.

Number three was indeed a toughie - I went with Thorpe because I figured, in the absence of a genuine number three who I thought was good enough, that he'd have the technique and temperament to do the job.

I was tempted to go with Prior over Stewart too, and either Stewart or Atherton over Cook - and on another day might well have.

 

[sunilreddy]

Interesting choice. Mark Richardson?

Parore is my first choice wicket keeper. Not much a fan of Mark Richardson.

 

[sunilreddy]

Zimbabwe

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

 

[Flem274*]

Parore is my first choice wicket keeper. Not much a fan of Mark Richardson.

Rigor is the best New Zealand opener since John Wright tbh, and a superior batsman to Parore.

Not sure how a test opener who averaged mid-forties loses out to a keeper batting seven spots too high.

 

[Howe_zat]

I'm surprised to see people picking Cook over Gooch, considering that Gooch had his best years in the early 90s when more people would have seen him.

 

[wpdavid]

I'm surprised to see people picking Cook over Gooch, considering that Gooch had his best years in the early 90s when more people would have seen him.

I'm going to guess that rvd never saw Gooch. Ditto Flem. Maybe KingKallis too, or perhaps he only saw a year or so of Gooch and thought it wasn't enough to include him. That's it, isn't it?

 

[_Ed_]

Rigor is the best New Zealand opener since John Wright tbh, and a superior batsman to Parore.

Not sure how a test opener who averaged mid-forties loses out to a keeper batting seven spots too high.

Yeah, strongly agree.

Bryan Young

Interesting choice - one magnificent knock aside, I see him as a bit of an underachiever at Test level.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Pakistan:

Saeed Anwar
Azhar Ali
Younis Khan
Inzamam ul Haq
Mohammad Yousuf
Misbah ul Haq (c)
Moin Khan (wk)
Wasim Akram
Saqlain Mushtaq
Waqar Younis
Shoaib Akhtar/Mohammad Asif (really tough to decide)

 

[unam]

Pakistan:

Saeed Anwar
Azhar Ali
Younis Khan
Inzamam ul Haq
Mohammad Yousuf
Misbah ul Haq (c)
Moin Khan (wk)
Wasim Akram
Saqlain Mushtaq
Waqar Younis
Shoaib Akhtar/Mohammad Asif (really tough to decide)

Pakistan

Saeed Anwar
Amir Sohail
Ijaz Ahmad
Younis Khan
Inzamam ul Haq
Mohammad Yousuf
Moin Khan (wk)
Wasim Akram (c)
Saqlain Mushtaq/Saeed Ajmal
Waqar Younis
Shoaib Akhtar/Mohammad Asif