Balanced Averages Budget draft

[JOJOXI]

Ian Bishop

Trumper
Stewart
I Chappell (c)
Crowe
F Worrell (6)
Stokes (5)
Waite (wk)
Benaud (4)
Philander (1)
Larwood (2)
Bishop (3)

Perhaps lacking a Malcolm Marshall level bowler but happy with a solid pace attack and good leggie in Benaud. Hopefully the bowlers can give us lower order runs too with Benaud at 8 and Philander at 9 extremely capable with the bat, even Larwood too. Stokes a genuine wicket-taking 5th bowler rather than a holding bowler too gives the bowling attack flexibility whilst Worrell gives us a 2nd spin option if needed as well. The batting the strength - it may not have a Lara/Tendulkar but all the top 5 class batsman in their own right. Trumper a top opener along with Stewart with a great record when he opened. I Chappell averaging 50 as captain, Crowe and Worrell class players too whilst Stokes strikes me as the sort of batsman whose record wouldn't deteriorate too much against better quality bowling.

 

[Teuton]

@Fuller Pilch ,@honestbharani and @Michaelf7777777 are up

@Magrat Garlick can pick if taking someone with a batting average of 52+, @StephenZA can pick if taking someone with a batting average of 49-51

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Finish with Neil Harvey

 

[Line and Length]

I believe @honesrbharani is timed out.

Tossing up between Farokh Engineeer (31) and Mark Boucher (30) as my 'keeper. Engineer mainly opened the batting so I'll take Mark Boucher to add steel to the middle/lower order.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Final team (finish with a balance of zero)

1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Bob Simpson co-captain
3. Neil Harvey
4. Colin Cowdrey
5. Michael Bevan
6. Mushfiqur Rahim wk
7. Imran Khan co-captain
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Chaminda Vaas
10. Andy Roberts
11. Muttiah Muralitharan


Pretty happy with this side - with quality in both batting and bowling. The top 4 speaks for itself with Bevan clearly better than his average and Mushfiqur is the only keeper in history with 3 test double hundreds, and then the side bats very deep with Vaas down at 9. There is a nicely balanced 4-man pace attack supported by Murali and more than useful part-time spinners if needed (Simpson, Bevan, and Harvey). Simpson and Imran can share the captaincy.

 

[Line and Length]

1. Hanif Mohammad (-43)
2. Andrew Strauss (-40)
3. Majid Khan (-38)
4. JP Duminy (-32)
5. Mike Gatting (-35)
6. Garfield Sobers (-57; +34)
7. Shaun Pollock (-32; +23)
8. Mark Boucher (w/k)
9. Anil Kumble (+29)
10. Pat Cummins (+21)
11. Joel Garner (+20)

Balance = 0

This side has century makers right down to #9 and has no real tail. Cummins, Garner and Pollock are a potent pace trio backed by the guile of spinner Kumble and the variety provided by Sobers.

 

[Pothas]

"Who needs 5 bowlers?"

The brief requested 5 bowlers, to only pick 4 and to add a batsman with a huge bowling average is a clever manipulation of the rules. I admire your strategy but when it comes to voting I'll probably look for a more traditionally balanced side.

Because no team in history has ever gone with 4 bowlers....oh hang on loads of the best ones have.

There are some really fun teams here that have done it 'properly' but oh well. It basically comes down to my aversion to picking teams with loads of all rounders, the England team of a few years ago is entirely to blame for this.

 

[Teuton]

@StephenZA and @AndrewB are up, as well as hb & Michael

 

[StephenZA]

Hashim Amla... just because I still love the man.

 

[StephenZA]

1 Arthur Shrewsbury
2 Barry Richards
3 Hashim Amla
4 Sachin Tendulkar
5 Zaheer Abbas
6 Tom Moody (c)
7 Shakib Al Hasan
8 Alan Knott+
9 Wasim Akram
10 Malcolm Marshall
11 Bishan Bedi

 

[Pothas]

1. Hanif Mohammad (-43)
2. Andrew Strauss (-40)
3. Majid Khan (-38)
4. JP Duminy (-32)
5. Mike Gatting (-35)
6. Garfield Sobers (-57; +34)
7. Shaun Pollock (-32; +23)
8. Mark Boucher (w/k)
9. Anil Kumble (+29)
10. Pat Cummins (+21)
11. Joel Garner (+20)

Balance = 0

This side has century makers right down to #9 and has no real tail. Cummins, Garner and Pollock are a potent pace trio backed by the guile of spinner Kumble and the variety provided by Sobers.

Yeah but JP Duminy is batting at 4. Should just put Sobers there.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Hashim Amla... just because I still love the man.

Solid pick, was thinking of him.

Sadly I can't pick Kurtis Patterson (average 144), so I'll go for Rohan Kanhai

 

[Magrat Garlick]

1. Sunil Gavaskar (51)
2. Herbert Sutcliffe (60)
3. Rahul Dravid (52)
4. George Headley (60)
5. Virat Kohli (53)
6. Rohan Kanhai (47)
+7. Ian Healy (27)
8. Jim Laker (14/21/OB)
9. Dale Steyn (13/22/RF)
10. James Anderson (9/26/RFM)
11. Neil Adcock (5/21/RF)

@trundler

 

[Line and Length]

Yeah but JP Duminy is batting at 4. Should just put Sobers there.

I agree that Sobers should be batting higher - after all he's the best bat in the side. My order is purely where players have batted most frequently.

 

[Line and Length]

Because no team in history has ever gone with 4 bowlers....oh hang on loads of the best ones have.

There are some really fun teams here that have done it 'properly' but oh well. It basically comes down to my aversion to picking teams with loads of all rounders, the England team of a few years ago is entirely to blame for this.

I'm not knocking your strategy - it was well thought out. If the rules had stated 5 bowlers with a minimum of x wickets then we all would have had to pick 'properly'. As it is you have done well.

 

[AndrewB]

Godfrey Evans.

Final XI:
Graham Gooch
Arthur Morris
Viv Richards*
Ranjitsinhji
David Gower
Clyde Walcott
Mike Procter
Godfrey Evans+
Maurice Tate
Abdul Qadir
Dennis Lillee

 

[Himannv]

I think everyone else has picked a keeper, so is it my turn?

 

[JOJOXI]

I think everyone else has picked a keeper, so is it my turn?

With Hb timed out and Ataraxia picking a keeper in Round 10 from the helpful list before (thanks Teuton) I believe so

 

[Himannv]

Bert Oldfield then.

 

[Himannv]

No.	Player	Batting Average	Bowling Average
1	Trevor Goddard /o	34	26
2	Vinoo Mankad /o	31	32
3	Don Bradman* /	99
4	Rob Key /	31
5	C. B. Fry /	32
6	Syd Gregory /	24
7	Andrew Flintoff o/	31	32 (doesn't count)
8	Bert Oldfield+ /	23 (doesn't count)
9	Stuart Macgill o		29
10	Michael Holding o		22
11	Allan Donald o		23
	Total	281	132
	Balance		1