Line and Length
Cricketer Of The Year
Below you will find the final 9 teams as selected by our resident 'experts'. The teams are given together with their Test averages and, in some cases, the selectors' comments.
Participants are asked to allocate 9 points for the team you consider the best through to 2 points for the least impressive. Your own team is not included in your voting.
Non-participants are invited to vote allocating 9 points through to 1 point.
This will be a difficult task as there are 9 impressive line-ups.
ANDREW B
Sanath Jayasuriya 6973 @ 40.07 : 98 @ 34.34 78/0
Sid Barnes 1072 @ 63.05 : 4 @ 54.50 14/0
Javed Miandad 8832 @ 52.57 : 17 @ 40.11 93/1
Everton Weekes 4455 @ 58.61 : 1 @ 77.00 49/0
Martin Donnelly 582 @ 52.90 : 7/0
Tony Greig* 3599 @ 40.43 : 141 @ 32.20 87/0
Jock Cameron+ 1239 @ 30.21 : 39/12
Heath Streak 1990 @ 22.35 : 216 @ 28.14 17/0
Vernon Philander 1779 @ 24.04 : 224 @ 22.32 17/0
Shane Warne 3154 @ 17.32 : 708 @ 25.41 125/0
Tom Richardson 177 @ 11.06 : 88 @ 25.22 5/0
ATARAXIA
1.RC Fredericks / (4334 runs at 42.49)
2. FM Engineer + / (2661 runs at 31.08; 82 wk dismissals)
3. PBH May* / (4537 runs at 46.77)
4. AD Nourse / (2960 runs at 53.81)
5. M Azharuddin / (6215 runs at 45.03)
6. MJ Clarke / (8643 runs at 49.10)
7. C de Grandhomme / o (1185 runs at 37.03; 47 wickets at 31.63)
8. H Verity o (669 runs at 20.90; 144 wickets at 24.37)
9. DW Steyn o (1251 runs at 13.59; 439 wickets at 22.95)
10. ST Clarke o (172 runs at 15.63; 42 wickets at 27.85)
11. WJ O'Reilly o (410 runs at 12.81; 144 wickets at 22.59)
HONESTBHARANI - Honest Hunks
Jeff Stollmeyer - 2159 runs @ 42
Pieter Van Der Bijl – 460 runs @ 51, backup keeper
Joe Root – 7599 runs @ 48, 28 wickets @ 50
Aravinda De Silva (vc) – 6361 runs @ 43, 29 wickets @ 42
Shakib Al Hasan – 3862 runs @ 39, 210 wickets @ 31
Mushtaq Mohammed – 3643 runs @ 39, 79 wickets @ 29
Imran Khan © - 3807 runs @ 38, 362 wickets @ 23
Les Ames (wk) – 2434 runs @ 41, 74 catches and 23 stumpings
Jason Gillespie – 1218 runs @ 19, 259 wickets @ 26
Kemar Roach – 891 runs @ 12, 193 wickets @ 27
Bruce Reid – 113 wickets @ 25
Very happy with the side overall, choice of new ball pairing between Reid and either Imran/Roach depending on Imran’s batting workload, excellent 4 seamer attack for all conditions, bounce, swing, pace, reverse swing all available in plenty. Excellent allrounders for the spin attack in Shakib and Mushtaq, covering both wrist and finger spin with plenty of back up from Aravinda and Joe Root. Batting wise, batsmen who average 40 or there abouts till 8 and 9 and 10 are no mugs either, so will never be easy to run through this side, whatever be the attack facing them. Think its one of my better efforts in recent drafts.
JOJOXI
All figures are Test match figures apart from Clive Rice who due to Apartheid only played 3 ODIS at the back end of his career. I’ve posted his First-Class figures.
1. HANIF MOHAMMED (3915 runs @ 43.98)
2. WILFRIED RHODES (2325 runs @ 30.19) (127 wickets @ 26.96)
3. DAVID BOON (7422 runs @ 43.65)
4. SACHIN TENDULKAR (15921 runs @ 53.78)
]5. DARYLL CULLINAN (4554 runs @ 44.21)
6. CLIVE LLOYD (captain) (7515 runs @ 46.67)
7. CLIVE RICE (First-class) (26331 runs @ 40.95) (930 wickets @ 22.49)
8. ROD MARSH (keeper) (3633 runs @ 26.51)
9. ERAPALLI PRASSANA (735 runs @ 11.48) (189 wickets @ 30.38)
10. JAMES ANDERSON (1185 runs @ 9.63) (584 wickets @ 26.83)
11. COLIN CROFT (158 runs @ 10.53) (125 wickets @ 23.30)
Despite Wilfred Rhodes middling average he played 58 matches for England just under half of them as an opener. When opening Rhodes average increases to 36.73. Also 127 Test wickets makes him a good option as a second spinner to support Prasanna, a bit of variety with an offspinner and slow left-armer too. By all accounts Clive Rice was a very capable allrounder, Wisden question whether he is the best player ever to not play Test Cricket (https://www.wisden.com/stories/count...par-excellence) and with that bowling average hope he could step up to Test Cricket as a 3rd seamer. His batting ensures there is depth in the lower middle-order.
Anderson and Croft provide a nice contrast, Croft gives the bowling attack some express pace whilst Anderson can hold an end tight if conditions aren't in his favour and can carve through a batting line up if the ball is swinging.
Hanif Mohammed provides grit at the top of the order, David Boon whilst playing mostly at 3 has opened in 63 Test innings averaging just over 45 in those innings, so a solid man to come in if one of the openers get out early. Tendulkar, Cullinan and Lloyd a very competent 4,5 and 6 and a strong captain to lead this side in Clive Lloyd.
KINGKALLIS - CricZo XI
Graeme Gooch / ( 8,900 runs @ 42.6; 103 catches )
Desmond Haynes / ( 7,487 runs @ 42.3; 65 catches )
Charles Macartney / o ( 2,131 runs @ 41.78; 45 wickets @ 27.55; 17 catches )
Martin Crowe / ( 5,444 runs @ 45.36; 71 catches )
Mahela Jayawardene / © ( 11,814 runs @ 49.84; 205 catches )
John Reid / o ( 3,428 runs @ 33.28; 85 wickets @ 33.35; 43 catches & 1 stumping )
Syed Kirmani + / ( 2,759 runs @ 27.04; 160 catches & 38 stumpings )
Alan Davidson o / ( 1,328 runs @ 24.59; 186 wickets @ 20.53; 42 catches )
Khan Mohammad o ( 54 wickets @ 23.92; 4 catches )
Lance Gibbs o ( 309 wickets @ 29.09; 52 catches )
Sydney Barnes o ( 189 wickets @ 16.43; 12 catches )
Pretty decent team overall!
Very solid openers in Gooch and Haynes. Stunningly experienced middle order in Macartney, Crowe, Jayawardene and Reid. Pretty handy gloveman Kirmani will assure that job gets done.
Multi dimensional bowling attack of Davidson, Khan, Barnes and Gibbs supported by Macartney are capable of taking 20 wickets.
LINE & LENGTH
Graeme Smith (C) / 9265 runs @ 48.3
Conrad Hunte / 3245 @ 45.1
Ken Barrington /o 6806 @ 58.7; 29 wickets @ 44.8
Steve Smith (VC) / 7227 @ 62.8
Kevin Pietersen / 8181 @ 47.3
Hashan Tillakaratne (WK) / 4545 @ 42.8
Brian McMillan /o 1968 @ 39.4; 75w @ 33.8
Kapil Dev /o 5248 @ 31.1; 434w @ 29.6
Trent Boult o 267w @ 27.6
Shane Bond o 87w @ 22.1
Bert Ironmonger 74 w @ 18.0
Two of the ATG openers followed by a trio of talented batsmen all capable of making big scores. The 'keeper is a proven batsmen and he is followed by two fine all-rounders. The top 8 have all scored multiple Test centuries with a total of 126 among them.
Dev, Boult, Bond and McMillan make up a strong pace attack with Ironmonger the front line-spinner. Barrington offers spin support while the remainder of the top 5 batsmen have all taken Test wickets.
Led by Graeme Smith, the only man to have captained in 100 Tests with Steve Smith a more than useful deputy.
TEUTON
1.Sunil Gavaskar - 10122 runs @51
2. Alastair Cook - 12472 runs @45
3. Clem Hill 3412 runs @39
4. Richie Richardson - 5949 runs @44
5. AB de Villiers - 8765 runs @50
6. Brendon McCullum - 6453 runs @38, 178 wk dismissals
7. Chris Cairns - 3320 runs @33, 218 wkts @29
8. Maurice Tate - 155 wkts @26, 1198 runs @25
9. Wes Hall - 192 wkts @26
10. Graham McKenzie - 246 wkts @29
11. Muttiah Muralitharan - 800 wkts @22
Starts with an outstanding opening pair, followed by a very good middle order and depth in batting thanks to the multi-talented NZers McCullum and Cairns. Four very good quicks to cycle through while Murali weaves his magic at the other end.
TRUNDLER
Jack Hobbs 5410 runs @ 56.9
Bill Brown 1592 runs @ 46.8
Kane Williamson 6476 runs @ 51.0
Younis Khan 10099 @ 52.0
Vijay Hazare 2192 runs @ 47.6
Jack Gregory 1146 runs @ 37.0 / 85 wickets @ 31.1
Alan Knott 4389 @ 32.8 / 250 catches، 19 stumpings
Learie Constantine 58 wickets @ 30.1
Fanie De Villiers 85 wickets @ 24.3
Courtney Walsh 519 wickets @ 24.4
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar 242 wickets @ 29.7
Pretty happy with the side. Knott and Constantine are both much better than their averages suggest. The Bradman effect must be taken into account when rating Constantine. De Villiers put in some spectacular performances in all conditions in a short career. Chandrasekhar and Walsh are both ATGs. A little quirk I like about this attack is that both Gregory and Constantine employed the short ball with great hostility and success. I also like how Knott is keeping to a medium-slow spinner as he kept to Underwood with distinction. The batting is superb with each batsman bringing unique strengths to the team. ATG players of swing, seam, bounce and spin are all available.
WELDONE
(without a batting order or averages provided, I have listed Weldone's selections in a possible order together with averages. The order was difficult with 3 specialist openers in the team. I put the openers in the top 3 spots in the order they were selected. The remaining batsmen were then allocated positions closest to their normal spot.)
W.G.Grace 1098 runs @ 32.3
Chris Gayle 7214 runs @ 42.2; 73 wickets @ 42.7
Herschelle Gibbs 6167 runs @ 41.9
Cheteshwar Pujara 5840 runs @ 48.7
Kumar Sangakarra w/k 12400 runs @ 57.4
Steve Waugh (Capt?) 10927 runs @ 51.1; 92 wickets @ 37,5
Shivnarine Chanderpaul 11867 runs @ 51.4
Ravindra Jadeya 1869 runs @ 35.3; 213 wickets @ 24.6
Mitchell Starc 1515 runs @ 22.3; 244 wickets @ 26.9
Kagiso Rabada 197 wickets @ 23.0
John Snow 202 wickets @ 26.7
I'll let the voting run for a couple of weeks before tallying the results.
Once again, thanks for all participants. As a novice at running a draft I learnt a lot from you all. I hope you all get on board any future draft that I might conduct.
Participants are asked to allocate 9 points for the team you consider the best through to 2 points for the least impressive. Your own team is not included in your voting.
Non-participants are invited to vote allocating 9 points through to 1 point.
This will be a difficult task as there are 9 impressive line-ups.
ANDREW B
Sanath Jayasuriya 6973 @ 40.07 : 98 @ 34.34 78/0
Sid Barnes 1072 @ 63.05 : 4 @ 54.50 14/0
Javed Miandad 8832 @ 52.57 : 17 @ 40.11 93/1
Everton Weekes 4455 @ 58.61 : 1 @ 77.00 49/0
Martin Donnelly 582 @ 52.90 : 7/0
Tony Greig* 3599 @ 40.43 : 141 @ 32.20 87/0
Jock Cameron+ 1239 @ 30.21 : 39/12
Heath Streak 1990 @ 22.35 : 216 @ 28.14 17/0
Vernon Philander 1779 @ 24.04 : 224 @ 22.32 17/0
Shane Warne 3154 @ 17.32 : 708 @ 25.41 125/0
Tom Richardson 177 @ 11.06 : 88 @ 25.22 5/0
ATARAXIA
1.RC Fredericks / (4334 runs at 42.49)
2. FM Engineer + / (2661 runs at 31.08; 82 wk dismissals)
3. PBH May* / (4537 runs at 46.77)
4. AD Nourse / (2960 runs at 53.81)
5. M Azharuddin / (6215 runs at 45.03)
6. MJ Clarke / (8643 runs at 49.10)
7. C de Grandhomme / o (1185 runs at 37.03; 47 wickets at 31.63)
8. H Verity o (669 runs at 20.90; 144 wickets at 24.37)
9. DW Steyn o (1251 runs at 13.59; 439 wickets at 22.95)
10. ST Clarke o (172 runs at 15.63; 42 wickets at 27.85)
11. WJ O'Reilly o (410 runs at 12.81; 144 wickets at 22.59)
HONESTBHARANI - Honest Hunks
Jeff Stollmeyer - 2159 runs @ 42
Pieter Van Der Bijl – 460 runs @ 51, backup keeper
Joe Root – 7599 runs @ 48, 28 wickets @ 50
Aravinda De Silva (vc) – 6361 runs @ 43, 29 wickets @ 42
Shakib Al Hasan – 3862 runs @ 39, 210 wickets @ 31
Mushtaq Mohammed – 3643 runs @ 39, 79 wickets @ 29
Imran Khan © - 3807 runs @ 38, 362 wickets @ 23
Les Ames (wk) – 2434 runs @ 41, 74 catches and 23 stumpings
Jason Gillespie – 1218 runs @ 19, 259 wickets @ 26
Kemar Roach – 891 runs @ 12, 193 wickets @ 27
Bruce Reid – 113 wickets @ 25
Very happy with the side overall, choice of new ball pairing between Reid and either Imran/Roach depending on Imran’s batting workload, excellent 4 seamer attack for all conditions, bounce, swing, pace, reverse swing all available in plenty. Excellent allrounders for the spin attack in Shakib and Mushtaq, covering both wrist and finger spin with plenty of back up from Aravinda and Joe Root. Batting wise, batsmen who average 40 or there abouts till 8 and 9 and 10 are no mugs either, so will never be easy to run through this side, whatever be the attack facing them. Think its one of my better efforts in recent drafts.
JOJOXI
All figures are Test match figures apart from Clive Rice who due to Apartheid only played 3 ODIS at the back end of his career. I’ve posted his First-Class figures.
1. HANIF MOHAMMED (3915 runs @ 43.98)
2. WILFRIED RHODES (2325 runs @ 30.19) (127 wickets @ 26.96)
3. DAVID BOON (7422 runs @ 43.65)
4. SACHIN TENDULKAR (15921 runs @ 53.78)
]5. DARYLL CULLINAN (4554 runs @ 44.21)
6. CLIVE LLOYD (captain) (7515 runs @ 46.67)
7. CLIVE RICE (First-class) (26331 runs @ 40.95) (930 wickets @ 22.49)
8. ROD MARSH (keeper) (3633 runs @ 26.51)
9. ERAPALLI PRASSANA (735 runs @ 11.48) (189 wickets @ 30.38)
10. JAMES ANDERSON (1185 runs @ 9.63) (584 wickets @ 26.83)
11. COLIN CROFT (158 runs @ 10.53) (125 wickets @ 23.30)
Despite Wilfred Rhodes middling average he played 58 matches for England just under half of them as an opener. When opening Rhodes average increases to 36.73. Also 127 Test wickets makes him a good option as a second spinner to support Prasanna, a bit of variety with an offspinner and slow left-armer too. By all accounts Clive Rice was a very capable allrounder, Wisden question whether he is the best player ever to not play Test Cricket (https://www.wisden.com/stories/count...par-excellence) and with that bowling average hope he could step up to Test Cricket as a 3rd seamer. His batting ensures there is depth in the lower middle-order.
Anderson and Croft provide a nice contrast, Croft gives the bowling attack some express pace whilst Anderson can hold an end tight if conditions aren't in his favour and can carve through a batting line up if the ball is swinging.
Hanif Mohammed provides grit at the top of the order, David Boon whilst playing mostly at 3 has opened in 63 Test innings averaging just over 45 in those innings, so a solid man to come in if one of the openers get out early. Tendulkar, Cullinan and Lloyd a very competent 4,5 and 6 and a strong captain to lead this side in Clive Lloyd.
KINGKALLIS - CricZo XI
Graeme Gooch / ( 8,900 runs @ 42.6; 103 catches )
Desmond Haynes / ( 7,487 runs @ 42.3; 65 catches )
Charles Macartney / o ( 2,131 runs @ 41.78; 45 wickets @ 27.55; 17 catches )
Martin Crowe / ( 5,444 runs @ 45.36; 71 catches )
Mahela Jayawardene / © ( 11,814 runs @ 49.84; 205 catches )
John Reid / o ( 3,428 runs @ 33.28; 85 wickets @ 33.35; 43 catches & 1 stumping )
Syed Kirmani + / ( 2,759 runs @ 27.04; 160 catches & 38 stumpings )
Alan Davidson o / ( 1,328 runs @ 24.59; 186 wickets @ 20.53; 42 catches )
Khan Mohammad o ( 54 wickets @ 23.92; 4 catches )
Lance Gibbs o ( 309 wickets @ 29.09; 52 catches )
Sydney Barnes o ( 189 wickets @ 16.43; 12 catches )
Pretty decent team overall!
Very solid openers in Gooch and Haynes. Stunningly experienced middle order in Macartney, Crowe, Jayawardene and Reid. Pretty handy gloveman Kirmani will assure that job gets done.
Multi dimensional bowling attack of Davidson, Khan, Barnes and Gibbs supported by Macartney are capable of taking 20 wickets.
LINE & LENGTH
Graeme Smith (C) / 9265 runs @ 48.3
Conrad Hunte / 3245 @ 45.1
Ken Barrington /o 6806 @ 58.7; 29 wickets @ 44.8
Steve Smith (VC) / 7227 @ 62.8
Kevin Pietersen / 8181 @ 47.3
Hashan Tillakaratne (WK) / 4545 @ 42.8
Brian McMillan /o 1968 @ 39.4; 75w @ 33.8
Kapil Dev /o 5248 @ 31.1; 434w @ 29.6
Trent Boult o 267w @ 27.6
Shane Bond o 87w @ 22.1
Bert Ironmonger 74 w @ 18.0
Two of the ATG openers followed by a trio of talented batsmen all capable of making big scores. The 'keeper is a proven batsmen and he is followed by two fine all-rounders. The top 8 have all scored multiple Test centuries with a total of 126 among them.
Dev, Boult, Bond and McMillan make up a strong pace attack with Ironmonger the front line-spinner. Barrington offers spin support while the remainder of the top 5 batsmen have all taken Test wickets.
Led by Graeme Smith, the only man to have captained in 100 Tests with Steve Smith a more than useful deputy.
TEUTON
1.Sunil Gavaskar - 10122 runs @51
2. Alastair Cook - 12472 runs @45
3. Clem Hill 3412 runs @39
4. Richie Richardson - 5949 runs @44
5. AB de Villiers - 8765 runs @50
6. Brendon McCullum - 6453 runs @38, 178 wk dismissals
7. Chris Cairns - 3320 runs @33, 218 wkts @29
8. Maurice Tate - 155 wkts @26, 1198 runs @25
9. Wes Hall - 192 wkts @26
10. Graham McKenzie - 246 wkts @29
11. Muttiah Muralitharan - 800 wkts @22
Starts with an outstanding opening pair, followed by a very good middle order and depth in batting thanks to the multi-talented NZers McCullum and Cairns. Four very good quicks to cycle through while Murali weaves his magic at the other end.
TRUNDLER
Jack Hobbs 5410 runs @ 56.9
Bill Brown 1592 runs @ 46.8
Kane Williamson 6476 runs @ 51.0
Younis Khan 10099 @ 52.0
Vijay Hazare 2192 runs @ 47.6
Jack Gregory 1146 runs @ 37.0 / 85 wickets @ 31.1
Alan Knott 4389 @ 32.8 / 250 catches، 19 stumpings
Learie Constantine 58 wickets @ 30.1
Fanie De Villiers 85 wickets @ 24.3
Courtney Walsh 519 wickets @ 24.4
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar 242 wickets @ 29.7
Pretty happy with the side. Knott and Constantine are both much better than their averages suggest. The Bradman effect must be taken into account when rating Constantine. De Villiers put in some spectacular performances in all conditions in a short career. Chandrasekhar and Walsh are both ATGs. A little quirk I like about this attack is that both Gregory and Constantine employed the short ball with great hostility and success. I also like how Knott is keeping to a medium-slow spinner as he kept to Underwood with distinction. The batting is superb with each batsman bringing unique strengths to the team. ATG players of swing, seam, bounce and spin are all available.
WELDONE
(without a batting order or averages provided, I have listed Weldone's selections in a possible order together with averages. The order was difficult with 3 specialist openers in the team. I put the openers in the top 3 spots in the order they were selected. The remaining batsmen were then allocated positions closest to their normal spot.)
W.G.Grace 1098 runs @ 32.3
Chris Gayle 7214 runs @ 42.2; 73 wickets @ 42.7
Herschelle Gibbs 6167 runs @ 41.9
Cheteshwar Pujara 5840 runs @ 48.7
Kumar Sangakarra w/k 12400 runs @ 57.4
Steve Waugh (Capt?) 10927 runs @ 51.1; 92 wickets @ 37,5
Shivnarine Chanderpaul 11867 runs @ 51.4
Ravindra Jadeya 1869 runs @ 35.3; 213 wickets @ 24.6
Mitchell Starc 1515 runs @ 22.3; 244 wickets @ 26.9
Kagiso Rabada 197 wickets @ 23.0
John Snow 202 wickets @ 26.7
I'll let the voting run for a couple of weeks before tallying the results.
Once again, thanks for all participants. As a novice at running a draft I learnt a lot from you all. I hope you all get on board any future draft that I might conduct.