WG Grace - 19th centuryWould be keen to see what the best XI would be if you had to go ascending order in terms of decade (i.e. player in 4th spot can't have played a decade earlier than player in 3rd).
Yea that's the other change I was thinking - Waqar had a 40.8 S/R for the 90s though and an average of 21.71 (only Reid with 9 games, Ambrose, Pollock, and Akram had better averages in the 90s, and all with considerably 'worse' strike rates of 48+, not including Reid who played too few games). All that with a shitty fielding unit. Pretty epic.Imran at 8, Waqar out, Border in
Dujon's another option for the 1980-99 keeper although Healy keeping to Warne does make sense.Double the decade
2000-2019
1. Sehwag
2. Graeme Smith
3. Ponting
4. Steve Smith
5. Sangakkara
6. Kallis
7. Gilchrist (WK)
8. Murali
9. Rabada
10. Steyn
11. McGrath
1980-1999
1. Gavaskar
2. Greenidge
3. Viv Richards
4. Sachin
5. Lara
6. Imran
7. Keeper - Healy? Any other options?
8. Marshall
9. Warne
10. Ambrose
11. Waqar
Think the 80s-90s win this quite comfortably, but mostly because Sehwag at the top for the 00s is unreliable so chances are you'll either be 1 down very, very quickly or he'll slap you around a bit but #3 is coming in early anyway.. Could go with Cook (more reliable and having to bowl to Cook and Smith might just bore the team to death) or Hayden (still some holes, especially against an attack stacked like that) I suppose.
Hadlee should be there imo. From 1980 till end of his career, he has taken 324 wickets in just 60 tests at 19.70. That is insane. Also averages 31 with the bat.Double the decade
2000-2019
1. Sehwag
2. Graeme Smith
3. Ponting (C)
4. Steve Smith
5. Sangakkara
6. Kallis
7. Gilchrist (WK)
8. Murali
9. Rabada
10. Steyn
11. McGrath
1980-1999
1. Gavaskar
2. Greenidge
3. Viv Richards
4. Sachin
5. Lara
6. Imran (C)
7. (WK) - Healy? Any other options? Was hoping for a stronger bat without compromising on keeping, so no Andy Flower.
8. Marshall
9. Warne
10. Ambrose
11. Waqar
Think the 80s-90s win this quite comfortably, but mostly because Sehwag at the top for the 00s is unreliable so chances are you'll either be 1 down very, very quickly or he'll slap you around a bit but #3 is coming in early anyway.. Could go with Cook (more reliable and having to bowl to Cook and Smith might just bore the team to death) or Hayden (still some holes, especially against an attack stacked like that) I suppose.
Feel free to submit more contenders. I don't really know much cricket pre 60s beyond what I've read on here/few articles here and there (and Bradman).
The 60s-80s side should quite tasty too I imagine.
TBF to him though, it should be no surprise given that is ALL he did in his teens, which is usually when you are usually trying to learn something that you can then do in life as a career.It's a good thing he became a cricket player, because he would be genuinely useless at everything else.
Waqar at his best is just like the peak of fast bowling, for me. It was too bad it was so short lived. He actually had such a good cricket brain to go with all that natural talent too. Injuries definitely robbed the game in his case.Waqar had a 40.8 S/R for the 90s though and an average of 21.71
Yeah bit rich to say he would be no good at anything else when he never really tried to be any good at anything else. If he was 10% as talented at anything else as he was at cricket then he would have succeeded at it.TBF to him though, it should be no surprise given that is ALL he did in his teens, which is usually when you are usually trying to learn something that you can then do in life as a career.
Hadlee was the best bowler in the world when the world was full of champion bowlers. Please bring him in.Double the decade
2000-2019
1. Sehwag
2. Graeme Smith
3. Ponting (C)
4. Steve Smith
5. Sangakkara
6. Kallis
7. Gilchrist (WK)
8. Murali
9. Rabada
10. Steyn
11. McGrath
1980-1999
1. Gavaskar
2. Greenidge
3. Viv Richards
4. Sachin
5. Lara
6. Imran (C)
7. (WK) - Healy? Any other options? Was hoping for a stronger bat without compromising on keeping, so no Andy Flower.
8. Marshall
9. Warne
10. Ambrose
11. Waqar
Think the 80s-90s win this quite comfortably, but mostly because Sehwag at the top for the 00s is unreliable so chances are you'll either be 1 down very, very quickly or he'll slap you around a bit but #3 is coming in early anyway.. Could go with Cook (more reliable and having to bowl to Cook and Smith might just bore the team to death) or Hayden (still some holes, especially against an attack stacked like that) I suppose.
Feel free to submit more contenders. I don't really know much cricket pre 60s beyond what I've read on here/few articles here and there (and Bradman).
The 60s-80s side should quite tasty too I imagine.
Hayden easily as first picked opener in the 00s. He had the same strengths as Sehwag but less weaknesses. There was a long period he was averaging 60.Double the decade
2000-2019
1. Sehwag
2. Graeme Smith
3. Ponting (C)
4. Steve Smith
5. Sangakkara
6. Kallis
7. Gilchrist (WK)
8. Murali
9. Rabada
10. Steyn
11. McGrath
1980-1999
1. Gavaskar
2. Greenidge
3. Viv Richards
4. Sachin
5. Lara
6. Imran (C)
7. (WK) - Healy? Any other options? Was hoping for a stronger bat without compromising on keeping, so no Andy Flower.
8. Marshall
9. Warne
10. Ambrose
11. Waqar
Think the 80s-90s win this quite comfortably, but mostly because Sehwag at the top for the 00s is unreliable so chances are you'll either be 1 down very, very quickly or he'll slap you around a bit but #3 is coming in early anyway.. Could go with Cook (more reliable and having to bowl to Cook and Smith might just bore the team to death) or Hayden (still some holes, especially against an attack stacked like that) I suppose.
Feel free to submit more contenders. I don't really know much cricket pre 60s beyond what I've read on here/few articles here and there (and Bradman).
The 60s-80s side should quite tasty too I imagine.
Remove Hayden's stat-padding against Zimbabwe and his average probably drops below Sehwag's.Hayden easily as first picked opener in the 00s. He had the same strengths as Sehwag but less weaknesses. There was a long period he was averaging 60.
In fact there is only one opener in the timeframe that scored more hundreds than Hayden and it took him almost 60 more tests to do so.
Nah Curtly had a few too many miles in the legs by then. Had a reasonably quiet tour of England by his own lofty standards, not sure he would have done that much better if at all had he came out to AustraliaHayden was like a deer caught in the headlights against Ambrose.
If king Curtly had delayed his retirement by a series ....
This is actually correct. Sehwag's average sans Zimbabwe and Bangladesh is 49.60, Hayden's is 48.24. Surprised but then I didn't follow Sehwag's career with the same kind of eagle eyeness compared to Hayden's.Remove Hayden's stat-padding against Zimbabwe and his average probably drops below Sehwag's.
He was a carefree guy and prone to taking the minnows lightly. (Actually called Bangladesh that in a press conference *in* Bangladesh)This is actually correct. Sehwag's average sans Zimbabwe and Bangladesh is 49.60, Hayden's is 48.24. Surprised but then I didn't follow Sehwag's career with the same kind of eagle eyeness compared to Hayden's.
Interesting that Sehwag's average goes up without the minmows.