Strongest Xl that actually played together...

[Slifer]

Another WI XI from early 1960:

Hunte
McMorris
Kanhai
Sobers
Walcott
Worrell
Alexander +*
Ramadhin
Hall
Griffith
Watson

 

[mr_mister]

Adams probably one of their best spinners after readmission though. And with Cronje and Jonty value to the team not being really centred around their batting, Klusener is good to strengthen the tail.

But yeah definitely was a fan of Fanie too. I just think pace bowling is already the teams strongest suit so he's not as needed

 

[Dendarii]

Surely a team with Fanie de Villiers would be better than Klusener (tests) or Adams? Must have been a team with that.

Fanie didn't play in a match with both Kallis and Cullinan, so the batting was never as good.

A different line-up from that 1998 tour was the following:

Kirsten
Liebenberg
Kallis
Cullinan
Cronje
Rhodes
McMillan
Pollock
Boucher
Donald
Ntini

Still an issue at opener, but McMillan and Ntini over Klusener and Adams improves the bowling, although at the cost of no spinner.

 

[Dendarii]

Adams probably one of their best spinners after readmission though.

He's the best after Maharaj, although that's not a particularly high bar.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Fanie didn't play in a match with both Kallis and Cullinan, so the batting was never as good.

Huh, interesting! SA batting was definitely a strange beast around that time period.

 

[Dendarii]

Huh, interesting! SA batting was definitely a strange beast around that time period.

In this instance I think it's more a result of Fanie not playing that many test matches. He played 18 in total, and only four of those were after Kallis's debut, so it's possible that injuries prevented Kallis and Cullinan playing together in any of those..

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Zimbabwe

Ali Shah
Grant Paterson
Jack Heron
Andy Pycroft
Dave Houghton
Duncan Fletcher
Kevin Curran
Iain Butchart
Peter Rawson
John Traicos
Vince Hogg

Not their best batting line-up by a long chalk (Pycroft-Houghton-Fletcher-Curran is decent, mind), but that bowling attack - Rawson & Hogg to open up with Traicos and Fletcher behind and Curran and Butchart to fill in the gaps.

Granted I've nabbed this from an ODI line-up, but chances are the line-up was pretty similar for any FC played under the Zimbabwe banner at the time.

 

[Immenso]

NZ's would be now probably, IMO, except for the imbalance of no spinner.

The rival test XIs on paper would be 3rd test v Australia 1985. Or the home Pakistan series of 84/85.

Or, if can cheat a bit by it not being a test, was in an ODI at the 1983 world cup with Turner, Hadlee and Crowe in same lineup (e.g. group game v Pakistan had this lineup):

Turner
Edgar
Wright
M Crowe
Howarth
Coney
Hadlee
Lees
Bracewell
L Cairns
Chatfield

 

[akilana]

Huh, interesting! SA batting was definitely a strange beast around that time period.

Most of the batsmen were averaging mid 30s at the time, including Kallis. Kirsten and Cullinan were above 40 but that wasn’t a great batting line up.

 

[Migara]

Zimbabwe

Ali Shah
Grant Paterson
Jack Heron
Andy Pycroft
Dave Houghton
Duncan Fletcher
Kevin Curran
Iain Butchart
Peter Rawson
John Traicos
Vince Hogg

Not their best batting line-up by a long chalk (Pycroft-Houghton-Fletcher-Curran is decent, mind), but that bowling attack - Rawson & Hogg to open up with Traicos and Fletcher behind and Curran and Butchart to fill in the gaps.

Granted I've nabbed this from an ODI line-up, but chances are the line-up was pretty similar for any FC played under the Zimbabwe banner at the time.

Gripper
G. Flower
Goodwin
A. Flower
Johnson
Campbell
G. Whitall
Brent
B. Strang
Olonga
Matambanadzo

this is one.

There was another one with Paul Strang and Streak in.

ZIM never had the chance of Houghton, A. Flower, Johnson and Goodwin playing together, forming a core barring group for an extended time.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Gripper
G. Flower
Goodwin
A. Flower
Johnson
Campbell
G. Whitall
Brent
B. Strang
Olonga
Matambanadzo

this is one.

There was another one with Paul Strang and Streak in.

ZIM never had the chance of Houghton, A. Flower, Johnson and Goodwin playing together, forming a core barring group for an extended time.

And that's a vastly better batting line up, with a vastly inferior bowling line-up. And didn't that batting line-up fail pretty badly in the Test that this comes from?

It's really hard to find a line-up where the ingredients of the mid-90s all came together for Zimbabwe at the time. A line-up with Flowers-Goodwin-Johnson-Campbell, but with Streak and maybe Mbangwa or Huckle.

But if you could combine that 80s bowling line-up with the 90s batting line up, you'd be laughing. You need to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, and I don't think you're doing that with Olonga and Brent as your dynamic strike duo.

EDIT: @Prince EWS would be bound to choose a line-up with Vusi Sibanda in, but he'd be wrong.

 

[mr_mister]

Houghton retired before Goodwin and Johnson debuted I think.

Eddo Brandes would have been another good option though. I think this is the best XI they put out on a park internationally, at the '99 WC. Brandes played.

Scorecard - 1999 ICC World Cup - 19/05/1999

One Day Internationals - Scorecard: 1999 ICC World Cup - 8th Match - India v Zimbabwe - 19th May, 1999 - Grace Road

www.howstat.com

Strang batting at 3 is strange, but there's good batting and bowling depth there

 

[tony p]

This England Team that played together in 1902 was regarded for many years as the greatest team they had, even if one or two of them never had great Test career's. They only played ONCE together at Edgbaston in a rain affected match,

England, 376-9 Dec, Tyldesley 138, Jackson 53, Lockwood 52no, Hirst 48, Rhodes 38no. Australia, 36, Rhodes 7-17, Hirst 3-15, & 46-2

MacLaren,
Fry,
Ranjitsinhji,
Jackson,
J Tyldesley,
Lilley (wk)
Hirst,
Jessop,
Braund,
Lockwood,
Rhodes.

Six quality all-rounders & four legendary Batsmen. Not sure if England have ever had a better team than this one.

 

[mr_mister]

Scorecard - 2002 England v Sri Lanka - 2nd Test - 30/05/2002 - Edgbaston, Birmingham - Test No. #1605

Test Cricket - Scorecard: 2002 England v Sri Lanka - 2nd Test - 30th May, 2002 - Edgbaston

www.howstat.com

Sri Lanka fielded this XI

Attapattu
Jayasuriya
Sanga +
Mahela
Aravinda
Hashan Tillakaratne
Russell Arnold
Vaas
Zoysa
C Fernando
Murali

Surely close to their best right?

 

[TheJediBrah]

MM bringing the goods. 2 for 2 so far.

edit:
Atapattu
Jayasuriya
Sanga +
Mahela
Dilshan
Hashan Tillakaratne
Samaraweera
Chandana
Vaas
Dharmasena
Murali

this one might be a challenger, v Aus in 2004

 

[Migara]

MM bringing the goods. 2 for 2 so far.

edit:
Atapattu
Jayasuriya
Sanga +
Mahela
Dilshan
Hashan Tillakaratne
Samaraweera
Chandana
Vaas
Dharmasena
Murali

this one might be a challenger, v Aus in 2004

Herath for Dharmasena. Basically this, but was beaten 3-0 by Aussies at home. Vastly inferior side to this white washed Aussies about a decade later.

The team that beat Aussies in 1999, or drew 0-0 in India was pretty strong too, at least batting wise.

 

[mr_mister]

For me the idea of Sanga, Mahela and Aravinda together in the middle order is too juicy to look past

 

[TheJediBrah]

For me the idea of Sanga, Mahela and Aravinda together in the middle order is too juicy to look past

Comes down to de Silva + Arnold vs Dilshan + Samaraweera

 

[Migara]

Comes down to de Silva + Arnold vs Dilshan + Samaraweera

Sangakkara, Mahela, Sam and Dilshan is one of the gun middle orders of the era. PJ averaging 30 was the keeper to add to that.

 

[a massive zebra]

It's really hard to find a line-up where the ingredients of the mid-90s all came together for Zimbabwe at the time. A line-up with Flowers-Goodwin-Johnson-Campbell, but with Streak and maybe Mbangwa or Huckle.

All those players played together in this match:

Full Scorecard of Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 2nd Test 1998/99 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com

Complete Scorecard of Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 2nd Test 1998/99, Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan only on ESPNcricinfo.com. Find the complete scorecard of Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 2nd Test Online

www.espncricinfo.com