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

[chris.hinton]

I will start with England has its easier and less to think about and the Aussies too.

1. Marcus Trescothick
2. Graham Gooch
3. Kevin Pietersen
4. Graham Thrope
5. Nasser Hussain (Capt)
6. Alec Stewart
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Graeme Swann
9. Darren Gough
10. Angus Fraser
11. James Anderson


Australia

1. Matt Hayden
2. Justin Langer
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Steve Waugh
5. Allan Border
6. Mark Waugh
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Shane Warne
9. Brett Lee
10. Jason Gillespie
11. Glenn McGrath

 

[zaremba]

The Only cönsistent number Six i knw for Rsa is Jonty. But its always been rotated.

In a racially harmonious parallel universe:

Mike Procter
Clive Rice
Basil D'Oliviera

 

[zaremba]

I'll chuck in my England, Australia and West Indies choice (since 1942):

England:
Boycott
Trescothick
Gooch (would have been a great 3)
Gower
Thorpe
Botham
Flintoff
Knott
Underwood
Anderson
Willis

If a 2nd spinner is needed Swann comes in, likely for Willis on such a pitch.

KP close n the batting front, Broad not far ff on the bowling.

Australia:
Langer
Hayden
Chappell (G)
Ponting
Border
Hussey (maybe Walters if nt playing in England)
Gilchrist
Warne
Lillee
Thompsn
McGrath

West Indies:
Greenidge
Haynes
Richards
Lara
Lloyd
Dujon
Stephenson (Franklin 'took the Rand but if he'd waited he'd have starred)
Harper (only Windies spinner I've seen worth a lick - didn;t really see Gibbs)
Marshall
Garner
Roberts

Great teams. Can't pick many holes in any of them, although Aftab Habib and Jason Gallian perhaps unlucky to miss out for England.

 

[Howe_zat]

(since 1942)

Raised an eyebrow. Pleased to see Trescothick, Flintoff and Anderson make your side.

 

[akilana]

I call bull****. 10 wins and 7 losses in their last 25 matches is a crap record. 3 series wins out of the last 9 as well (NZ, SL and WI the 3 wins so not beaten a top side in a long time).

Calm down.. how many proper test series they've played during that time? they seem to get only two tests per series. Had the series against SL was only two tests, it would have been another drawn series. They didn't lose to minnows in a long time though.

 

[NUFAN]

Raised an eyebrow. Pleased to see Trescothick, Flintoff and Anderson make your side.

It has to be 1982 doesn't it? No Bradman, Hobbs etc..

I always get annoyed that Langer is ranked above Taylor, Slater and Boon in these lists. I know he averages the most and was part of a successful partnership but it just seems too easy to pick him, similar to including Haynes whenever you pick Greenidge.

 

[Spark]

Calm down.. how many proper test series they've played during that time? they seem to get only two tests per series. Had the series against SL was only two tests, it would have been another drawn series. They didn't lose to minnows in a long time though.

Not relevant. 2 Test series or no, if they want to be the best team in the world they need to win some series. It's not like they've all been 2 Test series.

 

[MrPrez]

In a racially harmonious parallel universe:

Mike Procter
Clive Rice
Basil D'Oliviera

Faulkner would be gun if you were like 150

 

[wpdavid]

It has to be 1982 doesn't it? No Bradman, Hobbs etc..

I reckoned it was 1972 given the presence of Boycott, Knott, Underwood and Willis.

 

[Biryani Pillow]

Raised an eyebrow. Pleased to see Trescothick, Flintoff and Anderson make your side.

1972 of course - I feel old...........

Actualyl, with the possible changes of Hutton (for Boycott) and maybe Barrington somewhere I'm not sure I'd change it much even from 1942.

Great teams. Can't pick many holes in any of them, although Aftab Habib and Jason Gallian perhaps unlucky to miss out for England.

Now now.

Did think about Xavier Doherty, Murray Bennett, Simon O'Donnell,Craig Sargeant and others for Australia, and most recent West Indian players

India:

Gavaskar
Dravid (Sehwag = ultimate FTB - so would get the pick in Asia)
Tendulkar
Azharuddin
Ganguly (in for Sehwag overseas)
Kapil Dev
Farokh Engineer
Zaheer Khan
J.Srinath
Anil Kumble
Bishan Bedi


Also throw in my worst England XI:

Mark Lathwell
Geoff Cook
John Stephenson
Alan Wells
Chris Cowdrey (C)
Richard Blakey
Ronnie Irani
Mike Watkinson
Tim Munton
LesTaylor
Min Patel

I'm sure others could come in here.

 

[Mike5181]

Worst NZ XI

1.Rob Nicol
2.Peter Ingram
3.James Marshall
4.Peter Fulton
5.Grant Elliot
6.Chris Harris
7.Robbie Hart/Hopkins+
8.Tim Southee
9.Grant Bradburn
10.Brooke Walker/Paul Wiseman
11.Brent Arnel

 

[Flem274*]

Worst NZ XI

1.Rob Nicol
2.Peter Ingram
3.James Marshall
4.Peter Fulton
5.Grant Elliot
6.Chris Harris
7.Robbie Hart/Hopkins+
8.Tim Southee
9.Grant Bradburn
10.Brooke Walker/Paul Wiseman
11.Brent Arnel

If you're old enough to see Bradburn, you are probably old enough to have seen Hartland.

Some real harsh inclusions in there all round. Only Bradburn from the mid 90s!

 

[Mike5181]

Some real harsh inclusions in there all round.

Who?

 

[morgieb]

Worst Australian XI I have had the misfortune of seeing

Hughes
Marsh
Khawaja
North
Smith
White
Wade
McKay
Cullen
Doherty
Williams

 

[Flem274*]

Who?

Pinga, Southee, Arnel, Fulton...

Understandable if you've only seen the 2000s, but it looked like you had seen the 90s so I was wondering how on earth some guys missed out.

I'll do mine. I give out extra points for being average in FC as well, and of course longevity of terribleness is taken into account.

Papps (just watched him on youtube)
Nicol
Redmond
Marshall, J
Elliott
Hart, R
Hart,M (I think I saw Matt Hart play ODIs though - not sure - defo seen him in internationals)
Bradburn
Wiseman
Walker
Butler

 

[wpdavid]

Also throw in my worst England XI:

Mark Lathwell
Geoff Cook
John Stephenson
Alan Wells
Chris Cowdrey (C)
Richard Blakey
Ronnie Irani
Mike Watkinson
Tim Munton
LesTaylor
Min Patel

I'm sure others could come in here.

Tim Curtis gets a vote from me. Maybe Chris Smith from around that era too.

Agnew was pretty damn ordinary iirc.

 

[Debris]

Worst Australian XI I have had the misfortune of seeing

Hughes
Marsh
Khawaja
North
Smith
White
Wade
McKay
Cullen
Doherty
Williams

You clearly have the great good fortune to have not seen the Australian sides of the mid-80s. Hmmm, let me see what I can come up with.

Wayne Phillips (Victorian version)
Rick Darling
Andrew Hilditch
Greg Ritchie
Michael Veletta
Simon O'Donnell
Tim Zoehrer
Chris Matthews
Peter Sleep
Greg Campbell
Simon Davis

I think your side wins by an innings.

 

[Satguru]

Worst Indian XI

Vikram Rathour
MSK Prasad
Vijay Bhardwaj
Hrishikesh Kanitkar
Devang Gandhi
Ajay Ratra (WK)... in here because he scored one of the worst hundreds ive ever seen
Ajit Agarkar (all-rounder)
Paras Mhambrey
Dodda Ganesh
Abey Kuruvilla
David Johnson

Coach: Greg Chappel

Bit unfair on a couple there, like Kanitkar and Devang Gandhi, but honestly couldnt think of anyone worse. Choosing 4 bowlers from India's pool of amazing bowling riches was so difficult... Yohannan, Mohanty, Sanjeev Sharma all very lucky to miss out.

 

[sachin200]

Worst Indian XI

Vikram Rathour
MSK Prasad
Vijay Bhardwaj
Hrishikesh Kanitkar
Devang Gandhi
Ajay Ratra (WK)... in here because he scored one of the worst hundreds ive ever seen
Ajit Agarkar (all-rounder)
Paras Mhambrey
Dodda Ganesh
Abey Kuruvilla
David Johnson

Coach: Greg Chappel


Bit unfair on a couple there, like Kanitkar and Devang Gandhi, but honestly couldnt think of anyone worse. Choosing 4 bowlers from India's pool of amazing bowling riches was so difficult... Yohannan, Mohanty, Sanjeev Sharma all very lucky to miss out.

didn't he get MOM for that ????

 

[Satguru]

didn't he get MOM for that ????

yeah he did iirc... but it was so awful to watch.. i mean in a way it was fun watching someone so bad with the bat get a test century but seriously, virtually nothing in that innings was off the middle of the bat