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All Batsmen v All Bowlers

All Batsmen v All Bowlers

  • Batsmen

    Votes: 9 64.3%
  • Bowlers

    Votes: 5 35.7%

  • Total voters
    14

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Na, I still can't see 5 down averaging more than 35 against the batsman attack. Whereas you'd say against an attack this good the batsman would average somewhere closer to 40 almost all the way down.

The Test batting XI is definitely a batsman who can bowl short though. If they had one more I don't think the bowlers would ever take a game off them.
Fine the lower order of the bowlers may only average 30 tops I will grant you that. However the batsman will not average 40. Right now in a test you have to last about 12 overs before the 3rd bowler comes on. There is no 3rd bowler to relax against. And definitely no 5th bowler to take a mental holiday against.
All the seamers should be top notch bowlers. The pressure will be relentless.
The other issue I want to raise is something I read in a cricket captaincy manual once. All bowlers have different release points and as such in order to bowl a ball that will hit the top of off stump they have land the ball on slightly different areas of the pitch. The book I read claimed that different parts of a pitch have different moisture in them and therefore some bowlers will be more suited to some pitches than other bowlers.
The other issue is that bowling is a fickle business and sometimes a bowler just has his day. With eleven bowlers 2-3 of them will be on fire every game and be bowling well enough to take a five for.
Apologies if there are grammar errors in this but I am on my phone so it is what it is.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Fine the lower order of the bowlers may only average 30 tops I will grant you that. However the batsman will not average 40. Right now in a test you have to last about 12 overs before the 3rd bowler comes on. There is no 3rd bowler to relax against. And definitely no 5th bowler to take a mental holiday against.
All the seamers should be top notch bowlers. The pressure will be relentless.
The other issue I want to raise is something I read in a cricket captaincy manual once. All bowlers have different release points and as such in order to bowl a ball that will hit the top of off stump they have land the ball on slightly different areas of the pitch. The book I read claimed that different parts of a pitch have different moisture in them and therefore some bowlers will be more suited to some pitches than other bowlers.
The other issue is that bowling is a fickle business and sometimes a bowler just has his day. With eleven bowlers 2-3 of them will be on fire every game and be bowling well enough to take a five for.
Apologies if there are grammar errors in this but I am on my phone so it is what it is.
You are entirely downplaying rhythm, bowling partnerships, pitch conditions and the state of the ball when looking at how that bowling XI would go. XI bowlers would not be a massive boon, it would be similar to having 6 top class bowlers. 2-3 may be on fire but how are you going to know who? By rotating through everyone? These are the best batsman in the world, they'd manage to adapt.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
You make good points. I concede not everyone will get a bowl until the score is like 300.
But it will still be tougher to bat than a normal test match. I note you have recognised that to a degree by saying these batsman will average 40 instead of 50. My only beef is whether a 10 run discount is sufficient.
 

cnerd123

likes this
You are entirely downplaying rhythm, bowling partnerships, pitch conditions and the state of the ball when looking at how that bowling XI would go. XI bowlers would not be a massive boon, it would be similar to having 6 top class bowlers. 2-3 may be on fire but how are you going to know who? By rotating through everyone? These are the best batsman in the world, they'd manage to adapt.
You'd need a pretty good captain, one whom can get a feel of the conditions and can tell when a bowler is struggling or in rhythm. Don't think the bowler's XI has anyone like that, which means they'd probably just rotate through bowlers based on what they do well - best new ball bowlers up first, best short ball bowlers for when they need that, best spinners when the ball looses shine, best reverse swingers for the old ball.

An advantage to the bowler side is the ability for the quicks to bowl flat-out each spell, as they will be bowling in short bursts and have a lot more rest in between.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
Okay, in reference to your post that I quoted, please name those all truly inept bowlers who have stuck it out with batsmen? Should be easy to do so since you claim it's so common.
Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose bat out the win in that famous 153 win the first one that comes to my mind. Didn't contribute that much hung around to ensure the win.

Besides my point still stands that your comparison wasn't apt. Ponting was a decent medium pacer.
 

indiaholic

International Captain
Most international innings without a fifty, top 12:

Waqar Younis (Pak)
CA Walsh (WI)
M Ntini (SA)
AA Donald (SA)
Shoaib Akhtar (Pak)
CJ McDermott (Aus)
CRD Fernando (Asia/SL)
M Morkel (Afr/SA)
BKV Prasad (India)
Aaqib Javed (Pak)
EJ Chatfield (NZ)
RGD Willis (Eng)
 

indiaholic

International Captain
Batting 12 mostly full of wicketkeepers:

KC Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL)
AC Gilchrist (Aus/ICC)
HH Gibbs (SA)
AJ Stewart (Eng)
JN Rhodes (SA)
DC Boon (Aus)
Moin Khan (Pak)
IA Healy (Aus)
A Flower (Zim)
ML Hayden (Aus/ICC)
RS Mahanama (SL)
Kamran Akmal (Pak)
 

Shady Slim

International Coach
please don't have amla as one of the batters i would honestly rather watch alastair cook play competitive darts matches than watch him chuck, it is that bad
 

watson

Banned
I reckon that a contest would be easier to comprehend if you narrow the teams down to a couple of hypotheticals. For example;

10 x Brett Lee V 10 x Michael Clarke (fair enough?)

In a 50 over game I would place a $500 be on Brett Lee to win provided that the pitch isn't completely dead.

The reason being that it would be easier for Lee to thrash the bowling about and score repeated 50s than Clarke.
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I reckon that a contest would be easier to comprehend if you narrow the teams down to a couple of hypotheticals. For example;

10 x Brett Lee V 10 x Michael Clarke (fair enough?)

In a 50 over game I would place a $500 be on Brett Lee to win provided that the pitch isn't completely dead.

The reason being that it would be easier for Lee to thrash the bowling about and score repeated 50s than Clarke.
Funny, I would have my money on Clarke in 90% of conditions.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Simming ridiculous ODIs on this is fun (kiwiviktor's sim, iirc):
ODI CricSim

11 Waqar Younis's just chased down 346 against 11 Don Bradmans.
 

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