Expeditious Draft- Voting Thread

[Red]

The criteria for the Expeditious Draft were...

Criteria 1- You must select at least one player from each of the following nations:

- Australia
- England
- West Indies
- Pakistan
- India
- South Africa
- New Zealand

Criteria 2- You must select at least one player from each of the following eras (meaning player played at least one test in the era)

- From the beginning until 1914
- 1915 - 1945
- 1945 - 1965
- 1965 - 1985
- 1985- now

There was a 3 hour time limit to pick. Please (without knowing who's who) select which three of the following teams you think are the strongest....


Team 1

1. Vijay Merchant.
2. Matthew Hayden.
3. Greg Chappell.
4. Sachin Tendulkar.
5. Jacques Kallis. [5]
6. Allan Border. [C]
7. Keith Miller. [2]
8. Brendon McCullum. [+]
9. Wilfred Rhodes. [4]
10. Wasim Akram. [1]
11. Joel Garner. [3]

Team 2

1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Geoff Boycott
3. Viv Richards
4. Javed Miandad
5. Clive Lloyd*
6. Aubrey Faulkner
7. Les Ames+
8. Richard Hadlee
9. Alan Davidson
10. Michael Holding
11. Bishan Bedi

Team 3

1. WG Grace
2. Graham Gooch
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Martin Crowe
5. Frank Worrell
6. Imran Khan (c)
7. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
8. Kapil Dev
9. Shaun Pollock
10. Allan Donald
11, Hedley Verity

Team 4

1. Len Hutton
2. Bruce Mitchell
3. Brian Lara
4. VVS Laxman
5. Steve Waugh *
6. AB DeVilliers +
7. Chris Cairns
8. Ray Lindwall
9. Hugh Trumble
10. Waqar Younis
11. Glenn McGrath

Team 5

1. Barry Richards
2. Victor Trumper
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Wally Hammond
5. Clyde Walcott (+)
6. Mohammad Azharuddin
7. Ian Botham
8. Shane Warne
9. Jack Cowie
10. Curtly Ambrose
11. Shoaib Akhtar

Team 6

1. Jack Hobbs
2. Saeed Anwar
3. George Headley*
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Everton Weekes
6. Andy Flower+
7. Mike Procter
8. Dale Steyn
9. Shane Bond
10. Clarrie Grimmett
11. CTB Turner

Team 7

1. Sunil Gavaskar^
2. Glenn Turner
3. Ricky Ponting+^
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Inzamam ul-Haq^
6. Charles Macartney5
7. John Waite*
8. Malcolm Marshall1
9. Fred Trueman2
10. Sir Anderson Roberts3
11. William O'Reilly4

Team 8

1. Herbert Sutcliffe
2. Stewie Dempster
3, Hashim Amla
4. Garfield Sobers
5. Vijay Hazare
6. Mohammed Yousuf
7. Alan Knott
8. Harold Larwood
9. SF Barnes
10. Denis Lillee
11.Muttiah Muralitharan

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Going to use a few criteria to judge the teams, in an effort to be less bias in terms of certain players or team makeups.

Teams must have a proper keeper.
Presence of "gold tier" bats, and quality of the support
Presence of "gold tier" bowlers, and quality of the support.



Team 1: Batting is the strongest in the draft, two gold tier bats even if Chappell is batting out of postition, two bats i consider silver tier following that and solid openers. Bowlers are all greats and the lack of a Hadlee/McGrath type bowler who can deliver day in day out is somewhat made up for by Kallis. Always love me some Rhodes, so credit for that pick. Also with such a strong batting line up, i feel picking an Ian Smith instead of McCullum would have been a good idea.

Team 2: Really like this team, Hadlee and Miandad were astute choices first up and as always, plenty of smart choices throughout. Gold tier bat in Viv, and the rest of the top is really solid as well. Not a big fan of Faulkners batting, who like Ames made his runs against weak teams, but the batting down to 9 more than makes up for that. Bowling attack fits all the boxes, great supporting quicks to go with Hadlee, and two quality quicks.

Team 3: Lots of class in the batting line up, but lacks top tier bats. But then there's the gilly factor so meh. Love the bowling as well, two greats with quality support. Problem is i don't see Imran as a number 6, unless you want to play him as someone who's past his best as a bowler.

Team 4: Two gold tier bats, solid support so competes with Team 1 in the batting stakes, and bowling is up there too, but ffs AB is not a test quality keeper!

Team 5: Two gold tier bats and bowlers, good support. Walcotts batting peaked after he gave up the gloves, which lets the batting down somewhat.

Team 6. Two gold tier bats yet again, and plenty of quality in the bowling attack. But once again, Andy Flower is not a test keeper, so yet another team that looses my vote.

Team 7: Superb batting, makes the top 3 in the batting stakes with Teams 1 and 4. Classy keeper without sacrificing batting or bowling (take notes guys). Has the greatest quick ever, the 3rd greatest spinner, another gold tier bowler in Trueman and Roberts is a great as well.

Team 8: 2nd greatest bat ever in Sobers, and a top 5 opener in Sutcliffe. Other batters are all high quality, and some like Dempster and Amla severely underrated, but they don't match up to what 1,4 or 7 offers. Only other team to have three gold tier bowlers as well, and Larwood makes for a gun third seamer.

So

Team 7's the stand out best for me here, with Team 2 close behind and Team 1 getting the last vote.

 

[watson]

First team that I picked was Team 4. I'm not normally a fan of picking batsman who can keep, but ABs keeping skills aren't too bad, and so I think that an exception can be made in his case. Lindwall was a competent batsman but I still believe that the tail is a bit weak of itself. However, the presence of Steve Waugh at No.5 solves that problem as his skill of batting with the tail is well known. If Waugh is the foundation of the middle order then Hutton is the foundation of the top order. Add the mercurial genius of Lara and Laxman, and the whole batting order becomes a nice blend of attack and defence.

While the batting is excellent it is the bowling attack that gets Team 8 over the line. The combination of McGrath and Lindwall with the new ball is exceedingly strong, and then there is Waqar to clean up the tail. Trumble and Cairns give more than adequate support, and add variety at the same time. In short, a great team of bowlers capable of bowling out the greatest of batting lineups.

 

[watson]

For some reason Team 8 is easy to miss at first glance. But once you have a close look at the lineup it really is outstanding. For example, it contains the;

1. Highest averaging opener
2. Best contemporary South African batsman
3. Second best batsman of all time
4. Greatest Indian batsman till Tendulkar and Dravid came along
5. Best wicketkeeper of all time
6. Greatest English fast bowler of all time
7. Greatest bowler of all time
8. Best fast bowler of all time
9. Greatest spinner of all time

These are subjective opinions of course, but they still take some argueing against. All in all a cracking team.

 

[watson]

The last Ashes series prior to WWI was played in 1912. In this year Macartney started to bat more regularly at No.3 for Australia and managed to score 99 in that position at Lords against an attack that featured Barnes, Foster, and Rhodes. His batting average for 1912 was 31.25 and his bowling average was 28.00 after 7 Tests. Since Macartney was picked in this draft as the preWWI player these stats do just enough to justify his No.6 position in the batting order.

Macartney aside, the rest of the batting is very solid. Gavaskar and Turner lay the foundation at the top of the order, Pollock is the master batsman in the middle order, and Waite buffers the tail. Ponting was brilliant everywhere bar India, but Inzamam makes up for this by averaging in the mid-50s all over the subcontinent.

However, it is the bowling attack of Team 7 that brings it to the fore. There is no other way of putting it - Marshall-Trueman-Roberts-O'Reilly-Macartney is a superb attack; especially if we view Macartney as a near specialist bowler. It is Marshall and Trueman opening the attack on Days 1-2 with Roberts turning the screws, followed by the threat of O'Reilly and Macartney bowling on a worn 5th day wicket that makes Team 7 irresistible.

 

[morgieb]

Voted Team 1, Team 5 and Team 8.

Team 7 very unlucky. All of these look pretty solid though.

 

[viriya]

For some reason Team 8 is easy to miss at first glance. But once you have a close look at the lineup it really is outstanding. For example, it contains the;

1. Highest averaging opener
2. Best contemporary South African batsman
3. Second best batsman of all time
4. Greatest Indian batsman till Tendulkar and Dravid came along
5. Best wicketkeeper of all time
6. Greatest English fast bowler of all time
7. Greatest bowler of all time
8. Best fast bowler of all time
9. Greatest spinner of all time

These are subjective opinions of course, but they still take some argueing against. All in all a cracking team.

Murali and Sydney Barnes on the same team - need I say more?

In terms of winnings Test matches this team is unrivalled.

 

[kyear2]

Ended up voting for team 2, 4 and 5.

Love team 2, checks off everything I look for in great teams. Great opening partnership, Gold tier No.3, solid middle order support, Two (and in this case 3) Gold tier bowlers and superb keeper and cordon. My top team.

Don't understand the lack of votes.

 

[watson]

Congratulations Monk on your first ever Draft win!

 

[kyear2]

Genuine question. What were the shortfalls of team 7.
A team with an attack of Marshall, Trueman, Roberts and O'Reilly allied with a 3-4 combo of Ponting and Pollock with Gavaskar opening would be a tough win for any XI.

 

[kyear2]

Congrats Monk.

Great team

 

[Red]

Congratulations Monk on your first ever Draft win!

Yes! Although with the voting format, does that mean everyone hates me normally?!!

LIGAF!!!!

 

[watson]

Yes! Although with the voting format, does that mean everyone hates me normally?!!

LIGAF!!!!

Good team, good Draft, voting format as it should be. We'll pay that one.

 

[watson]

Also, this is one of the few drafts where the winning team has the wicketkeeper batting at No.6. Apart from that, it seems to follow the usual formula: - A gun bowling attack with plenty of depth and variety supported by a batting lineup that is both reliable and aggressive. A suitable blend of iconic heros.

 

[AldoRaine18]

Congrats, Monk!

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Well done Monk, thanks to Monk and Watson for making this run smoothly and to all the other participants for stealing my picks at each and every turn. As i imagine this will be our last draft in a while, been good wasting time fantasing about players i've never seen and barely read about with you lot