CW Decides The XI of the Decade

[Fuller Pilch]

Sanga kept enough in his career and he's a far better batsman than other options even when he keeps.

No, he's not. He averaged 39.55 as keeper and that wasn't even this decade. Watling averages 42.94, while AB averaged 57.42 when he did the job.

Wicket Keeping Records and Statistics - Batting - Test Cricket
Most Runs Playing as Wicket Keeper
Player Country Career Mat Inns NO Runs HS 100s 50s Avg
1 Gilchrist, A C Australia 1999-2008 96 137 20 5570 204* 17 26 47.61
2 Boucher, M V South Africa 1997-2012 147 206 24 5515 125 5 35 30.30
3 Dhoni, M S* India 2005-2014 90 144 16 4876 224 6 33 38.09
4 Stewart, A J England 1990-2003 82 145 15 4540 173 6 23 34.92
5 Flower, A Zimbabwe 1992-2002 55 100 18 4404 232* 12 23 53.71
6 Knott, A P E England 1967-1981 95 149 15 4389 135 5 30 32.75
7 Healy, I A Australia 1988-1999 119 182 23 4356 161* 4 22 27.40
8 Prior, M J England 2007-2014 79 123 21 4099 131* 7 28 40.19
9 Marsh, R W Australia 1970-1984 96 150 13 3633 132 3 16 26.52
10 Mushfiqur Rahim* Bangladesh 2005- 55 104 9 3566 219* 6 17 37.54
11 Haddin, B J Australia 2008-2015 66 112 13 3266 169 4 18 32.99
12 Dujon, P J L West Indies 1981-1991 79 111 11 3146 139 5 16 31.46
13 Watling, B J* New Zealand 2009- 56 85 13 3092 205 7 16 42.94
14 Bairstow, J M* England 2012- 48 85 5 3028 167* 5 15 37.85
15 Sangakkara, K C Sri Lanka 2000-2015 47 79 4 2966 230 6 11 39.55
16 Ramdin, D* West Indies 2005-2016 74 126 14 2898 166 4 15 25.88
17 McCullum, B B New Zealand 2004-2016 52 87 5 2803 185 5 15 34.18
18 Kirmani, S M H India 1976-1986 88 124 22 2759 102 2 12 27.05
19 Sarfaraz Ahmed* Pakistan 2010- 49 86 13 2657 112 3 18 36.40
20 Kamran Akmal Pakistan 2002-2010 53 92 6 2648 158* 6 12 30.79
21 Engineer, F M India 1961-1975 46 87 3 2611 121 2 16 31.08
22 Moin Khan Pakistan 1990-2004 66 98 8 2581 137 4 14 28.68
23 Jacobs, R D West Indies 1998-2004 65 112 21 2577 118 3 14 28.32
24 de Kock, Q* South Africa 2014- 41 68 5 2504 129* 5 17 39.75
25 Parore, A C New Zealand 1990-2002 67 109 17 2479 110 2 11 26.95
26 Evans, T G England 1946-1959 91 133 14 2439 104 2 8 20.50
27 Ames, L E G England 1929-1939 44 67 12 2387 149 8 7 43.40
28 Waite, J H B South Africa 1951-1965 49 84 7 2336 134 4 16 30.34
29 Jayawardene, H A P W Sri Lanka 2000-2015 58 83 11 2124 154* 4 5 29.50
30 de Villiers, A B South Africa 2004-2018 24 39 3 2067 169 7 7 57.42

Wicket Keeping Records and Statistics Menu
Batting Records and Statistics Menu

HowSTAT! Test Cricket - Most Runs as Wicket Keeper

 

[OverratedSanity]

He probably would've averaged close to what ab did if he had been asked to keep imo.

 

[harsh.ag]

ABdV

 

[Coronis]

Watling takes the win.

Cook
Warner
Williamson
Smith
Kohli

Watling+
Philander
Herath
Steyn
Anderson

Just one spot left, whoever you think will be complete this side, batting order can be rearranged if appropriate.

 

[Days of Grace]

Ben Stokes

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'd have picked Sangakkara/Younis/AB and Shakib but with the other selections, they both probably wouldn't fit all that well. Sanga/Younis/AB would be wasted as specialist bats at 6 and leaves the team without a 5th bowler and on a flat deck where anderson and philander have questionable value, the attack would suffer. And the team already has a SLA so shakib is a tad redundant.

So Stokes, I guess.

 

[stephen]

I'll go for AB de Villiers. He batted quite a lot in the middle order and could both accelerate and take a game away from an opposition or bat out an excruciating bore draw if necessary.

 

[harsh.ag]

ABdV

Philander is a bad selection

 

[marc71178]

No. This is a very dumb post.

Selecting a wicket keeper, surely the person needs to have, you know, kept wicket?

 

[jimmy101]

ABdV

 

[Coronis]

Selecting a wicket keeper, surely the person needs to have, you know, kept wicket?

I believe he was referring to you strawmanning with Sobers as the reason why the post was “dumb”.

 

[srbhkshk]

Selecting a wicket keeper, surely the person needs to have, you know, kept wicket?

Yeah cos clearly we are picking a real team which is gonna play real matches, not a hypothetical strongest one.

 

[ankitj]

AB de Villiers

 

[honestbharani]

Kohli's favorite two words according to the internet - Ben Stokes.

 

[Red]

Selecting a wicket keeper, surely the person needs to have, you know, kept wicket?

Yeah cos clearly we are picking a real team which is gonna play real matches, not a hypothetical strongest one.

Marc is right though, the guy who is selected in a team of the decade should surely have kept wicket in that decade. Sanga wasn't selected as the designated keeper even once in the decade.

 

[ataraxia]

Stokes (at 7). This XI will need something special to compete with the other teams.

 

[Burgey]

Steyn aside, you'd like to face that attack for a living ,wouldn't you? Certainly one of the poorer "Team of" bowling line ups I've seen, which is kind of odd, as I think bowling overall is better now than it has been at any time since the late 90s.

 

[NZTailender]

Steyn aside, you'd like to face that attack for a living ,wouldn't you? Certainly one of the poorer "Team of" bowling line ups I've seen, which is kind of odd, as I think bowling overall is better now than it has been at any time since the late 90s.

I think we have better bowling teams now, whereas a lot of countries (Australia excluded) tended to have one star plus 2-3 also rans making up the XI in the previous decade.

 

[aussie tragic]

Aussie attack of Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc and Lyon appears stronger overall than the decade attack.

I think this is what happens when you to try to pick a specialist first change bowler rather than just your best 3 quicks

 

[Burgey]

I think we have better bowling teams now, whereas a lot of countries (Australia excluded) tended to have one star plus 2-3 also rans making up the XI in the previous decade.

Yeah I think thats right tbh. A 2000s attack might be easier to work out, with the usual Warne/ Murali argument. But overall bowling is better now imo. 2000s had better opening bats in contention as well, and a comparable middle order except for Smith.exe.