I'd probably bat Botham at 6, which strengthens your middle order and drops Dhoni to a more traditional number 7 position. But if still probably bat Noble ahead of Dhoni too, so maybe Dhoni should drop to 8.1 Glenn Turner (nz)
2 Sanath Jayasuriya (sl)
3 *Ricky Ponting (aus)
4 Sachin Tendulkar (ind)
5 Denis Compton (eng)
6 +MS Dhoni (ind)
7 Monty Noble (aus)
8 Ian Botham (eng)
9 Malcolm Marshall (wi)
10 Rashid Khan (afg)
11 Shoaib Akhtar (pak)
Solid middle order (up there with Pothas and Red Hill), two excellent fast bowlers and one who is allowed to roam free, couple of spin options and deep batting.
That's a pretty decent side but you can tell the drop in quality due to the missing picks. Having to pick Ashwin for his batting is a bit gross (was Jadeja available? He'd have been better). One of the reasons I took Verity over Underwood was his batting. He and Warne are the only top 10 spinners who could bat.Vijay Merchant
Arthur Morris
Don Bradman*
Zaheer Abbas
Clyde Walcott+
Clive Rice
Shakib Al Hasan
Ravi Ashwin
Chaminda Vaas
Jack Cowie
Ian Bishop
9 of your players are really good. Hanif and Mominul letting the side down a bit but overall this side is excellent.The XI:-
01. Jack Hobbs.
02. Hanif Mohammad.
03. Rahul Dravid.
04. Wally Hammond. © (5)
05. Steve Waugh. (6)
06. AB De Villiers. (+)
07. Mominul Haque.
08. Shane Bond. (2)
09. Muttiah Muralitharan. (4)
10. Glenn McGrath. (1)
11. Courtney Walsh. (3)
Benaud is arguably a top 10 spinner; Laker, Grimmett, and O'Reilly are decent bats as well.That's a pretty decent side but you can tell the drop in quality due to the missing picks. Having to pick Ashwin for his batting is a bit gross (was Jadeja available? He'd have been better). One of the reasons I took Verity over Underwood was his batting. He and Warne are the only top 10 spinners who could bat.
That's true. Verity was the only one available when I got to picking a spinner. But yeah Benaud is probably the best atg spinner with the bat. Combined with his captaincy he's an excellent draft pick.Benaud is arguably a top 10 spinner; Laker, Grimmett, and O'Reilly are decent bats as well.
He mostly opened in Tests (152 innings out of 188).Did Jayasuriya ever open in tests?
For some reason I had it in my head that he tended to bat in the middle order in tests. He did bat in the middle order in tests but nowhere near as often as he opened.He mostly opened in Tests (152 innings out of 188).
Dhoni would be wasted at 8. I reckon he is a better bat than the others so I would leave him at 6I'd probably bat Botham at 6, which strengthens your middle order and drops Dhoni to a more traditional number 7 position. But if still probably bat Noble ahead of Dhoni too, so maybe Dhoni should drop to 8.
Did Jayasuriya ever open in tests?
In tests? Nah. Botham was way better with the bat and Noble probably was too. I wouldn't bat Dhoni higher than 7 ever in tests.Dhoni would be wasted at 8. I reckon he is a better bat than the others so I would leave him at 6
IMO, Hanif is still fine. He was a very good batsman and is usually considered amongst the Top-5 batsmen Pakistan have produced.9 of your players are really good. Hanif and Mominul letting the side down a bit but overall this side is excellent.
Thanks for conducting the draft, mate.If anyone want to post a voting thread, feel free. I wont get to it for a day or two, and tbh I dont really care about voting threads for drafts as I just enjoy the drafting process, but if anyone has time and wants to post one, feel free.
Thanks for participating, I enjoyed it!