best Australian lineup

[mr_mister]

Oh forgot we were limiting it to just aus

 

[Chrish]

Aussie side relied heavily on McGrath.. I mean it’s understandable as he is a strong contender for the title of GOAT bowler but when he was missing, team left wanting (Indian tour of 2003-4 comes to mind).

WI on the other hand had deeper bowling resources. Absence of Holding or Marshall wouldn’t have affected the final series outcome. Fact remains no team has dominated the game to a degree WI did. I mean not loosing a test series for 15 years; how is that even possible?

 

[stephen]

Aussie side relied heavily on McGrath.. I mean it’s understandable as he is a strong contender for the title of GOAT bowler but when he was missing, team left wanting (Indian tour of 2003-4 comes to mind).

WI on the other hand had deeper bowling resources. Absence of Holding or Marshall wouldn’t have affected the final series outcome. Fact remains no team has dominated the game to a degree WI did. I mean not loosing a test series for 15 years; how is that even possible?

Were the West Indies ever without Marshall for a big series in the 80s? His record, even by Windies quicks' records is insane.

 

[stephen]

Answering my own question:

WI with Marshall in the 80s: 37 wins, 4 losses, 22 draws.

WI without Marshall in the 80s: 6 wins, 4 losses, 9 draws.

Crazy difference there.

 

[Chrish]

Answering my own question:

WI with Marshall in the 80s: 37 wins, 4 losses, 22 draws.

WI without Marshall in the 80s: 6 wins, 4 losses, 9 draws.

Crazy difference there.

Those numbers are revealing. When they had Holding, Garner and Andy Roberts after 1975, they kept rotating bowlers and same attack rarely played together because they had too many pacemen.

Colin Croft, Sylvester Clarke, Wayne Daniel etc.

 

[stephen]

By contrast, Australia in the decade between 1997 and 2007:

With McGrath: 70 wins, 14 losses, 16 draws

Without McGrath: 15 wins, 6 losses, 4 draws

 

[TheJediBrah]

Aussie side relied heavily on McGrath.

Any player of that standard being missing from a team will make a huge difference, as stephen pointed out with Marshall.

Funnily enough though I don't think Australia missed Warne when he was out nearly as much as they missed McGrath. They had MacGill and, briefly, Miller who both came in and did close enough to the same job. Even in ODIs they had Hogg who came in and was possible even better than Warne, such that Warne never played an ODI after 2002.

 

[stephen]

Any player of that standard being missing from a team will make a huge difference, as stephen pointed out with Marshall.

Funnily enough though I don't think Australia missed Warne when he was out nearly as much as they missed McGrath. They had MacGill and, briefly, Miller who both came in and did close enough to the same job. Even in ODIs they had Hogg who came in and was possible even better than Warne, such that Warne never played an ODI after 2002.

It's a real shame MacGill's career overlapped with Warne's by so much. I'd love to have been able to transition from a 35 year old Warne to a 25 year old MacGill.

 

[sunilz]

Any player of that standard being missing from a team will make a huge difference, as stephen pointed out with Marshall.

Funnily enough though I don't think Australia missed Warne when he was out nearly as much as they missed McGrath. They had MacGill and, briefly, Miller who both came in and did close enough to the same job. Even in ODIs they had Hogg who came in and was possible even better than Warne, such that Warne never played an ODI after 2002.

Aus white washed SL in SL (2004) and SA in SA 3-0(2006) without McGrath.
Warne was more important than McGrath against SA who were the 2nd best side during most of Australia's dominance period.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Just saying MacGill was a much better replacement for Warne than Bichel/Kasprowicz/Tait/Bracken/Williams was for McGrath

 

[StephenZA]

Aus white washed SL in SL (2004) and SA in SA 3-0(2006) without McGrath.
Warne was more important than McGrath against SA who were the 2nd best side during most of Australia's dominance period.

Any moderately decent spinner is more important than fast bowlers against SA.