Who is the worst player of all time that would be selected in every XI in history?

[Athlai]

So Michael Bracewell is a better test player than 1950s Gary Sobers?

Yessszz

 

[Shady Slim]

So Michael Bracewell is a better test player than 1950s Gary Sobers?

ok maybe not every cricketer other than bradman, and you have raised a good point in that offspinners prove me wrong as my point is hedged on modern fitness and training regiments and the job of the offspinner requires neither fitness nor training to be good at

but like you do get my general point right?

 

[Shady Slim]

but like you do get my general point right?

the point is simply that i think the exercise should be done in a way where the argument of "x cricketer could make any side from 1930, because there is at least one amateur pud in the side who he'd beat out simply by being a modern man rather than a hunchbacked cryptid from the great depression" is not actually used, because it's quite lazy and doesn't make for good discussion

 

[Athlai]

the point is simply that i think the exercise should be done in a way where the argument of "x cricketer could make any side from 1930, because there is at least one amateur pud in the side who he'd beat out simply by being a modern man rather than a hunchbacked cryptid from the great depression" is not actually used, because it's quite lazy and doesn't make for good discussion

**Tags @bagapath back in**

 

[Shady Slim]

**Tags @bagapath back in**

i'm speaking against the use of that argument!!

 

[ataraxia]

In AT discussions the best way is simply to ignore era differences (and not acknowledge that because it is boring); judge players on their performance relative to contemporaries.

Dhananjaya bowling more than Jadeja is surely no. It's not like he (Jadeja) won't contribute to an attack of Sandakan / Pradeep / Herath / Dilruwan!

also: I now have more posts than bagapath -- scary

 

[TheJediBrah]

Why do you think Herath is better than Jadeja though? Even if you pretend that Jadeja can't bat or field he's still been a better bowler in a wider variety of conditions. When you take batting into account they're not even close to the same league as players.

 

[Shady Slim]

In AT discussions the best way is simply to ignore era differences (and not acknowledge that because it is boring); judge players on their performance relative to contemporaries.

110% agree i should say, this is what i was trying to get at. huge agree!

Dhananjaya bowling more than Jadeja is surely no. It's not like he (Jadeja) won't contribute to an attack of Sandakan / Pradeep / Herath / Dilruwan!

also: I now have more posts than bagapath -- scary

sandakan is the mystery spinner, pradeep is the obligatory pacer, herath's herath, dilruwan's there to turn it the other way to rangana. i personally would not have the obligatory meme pacer in pradeep but we all know that's not the selection they would make, they feel they needed a pace bowler in that slot - so i don't think you can put jadeja there unless he's keen to bowl seamup

 

[Shady Slim]

Why do you think Herath is better than Jadeja though? Even if you pretend that Jadeja can't bat or field he's still been a better bowler in a wider variety of conditions. When you take batting into account they're not even close to the same league as players.

to play a series against australia in sri lanka there is no cricketer on earth this side of murali you would pick before rangana lol - now if that side were playing australia in australia you'd probably take jaddu but they didn't so you don't imho

 

[ataraxia]

Oh I thought Sandakan was a pacer. Well, get him out for Jadeja! He has 37 wickets at 35, this is silly. Like saying Davo wouldn't make 2020 NZ over Wagner - if Davo were a better batter, fielder, and Wagner wasn't good.

 

[srbhkshk]

jadeja does not crack this lineup lol, he is a better bat than kaushal silva but if you're twisting the bounds to make jadeja open for the purposes of the exercise then you're not doing it rightView attachment 33193

I'd literally drop anyone in this lineup for Jadeja bar the keeper. A better case for Jadeja not making every team in the history is that he actually does not always make the actual team he is a part of.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I'd literally drop anyone in this lineup for Jadeja bar the keeper. A better case for Jadeja not making every team in the history is that he actually does not always make the actual team he is a part of.

Lol yes

Jadeja doesn't make a lot of teams throughout history, but 2016 Sri Lanka is not one of them

 

[Athlai]

Michael Bracewell makes Sri Lanka 2016. Come on

 

[Shady Slim]

Oh I thought Sandakan was a pacer. Well, get him out for Jadeja! He has 37 wickets at 35, this is silly. Like saying Davo wouldn't make 2020 NZ over Wagner - if Davo were a better batter, fielder, and Wagner wasn't good.

i think, though i could be wrong, sandakan is a mystery spinner type from around the same time... er... what is the bloke's name, i think that he threw it? either way the time when SLC really had a hard on for finding a mystery spinner as their third man

anyway though you know who does make 2016 sri lanka and in multiple spots? shane watson does just as he does with every other xi

 

[TheJediBrah]

anyway though you know who does make 2016 sri lanka and in multiple spots? shane watson does just as he does with every other xi

Of course he does, most players do. It was a poor-to-average team that had a good series in ideally prepared conditions against another average team in the worst conditons they could possibly encounter.

The opposition beaing a team that had Moises Henriques in it (who, incidentally, probably doesn't make the 2016 Sri Lankan team)

 

[ataraxia]

Wasn't Watson dropped from his own team at times? Even if we take more of a near-peak view of his career it's pretty doubtful he'd be selected over Langer/Martyn a decade earlier, by the Aus selectors.

 

[TheJediBrah]

i think, though i could be wrong, sandakan is a mystery spinner type from around the same time... er... what is the bloke's name, i think that he threw it? either way the time when SLC really had a hard on for finding a mystery spinner as their third man

Coincidentally, Sandakan was an SLC (Slow Left-arm Chinaman). Wouldn't call him a mystery spinner though he probably bowled a wrong-un

 

[Shady Slim]

Wasn't Watson dropped from his own team at times? Even if we take more of a near-peak view of his career it's pretty doubtful he'd be selected over Langer/Martyn a decade earlier, by the Aus selectors.

think in a team with no pace allrounders you can make a fair argument for watto over martyn especially given the sort of bowler watto was

Of course he does, most players do. It was a poor-to-average team that had a good series in ideally prepared conditions against another average team in the worst conditons they could possibly encounter.

The opposition beaing a team that had Moises Henriques in it (who, incidentally, probably doesn't make the 2016 Sri Lankan team)

don't disagree with any of the above i just think due to the very peculiar makeup of that team there's no one cricketer except arguably kusal p that you can say jadeja comes in for

 

[ataraxia]

Karunaratne
Watson
Mendis
Chandimal +
Mathews*
Henriques
Jadeja
Dhananjaya
Bracewell
Dilruwan
Herath

Does Kallis make this team?

 

[TheJediBrah]

Wasn't Watson dropped from his own team at times? Even if we take more of a near-peak view of his career it's pretty doubtful he'd be selected over Langer/Martyn a decade earlier, by the Aus selectors.

Ok, so, firstly he wasn't really dropped once he was established around 2009 IIRC. He got injured constantly though and had to ease his way back in to playing.

Secondly he probably does get picked by the Aus selectors in the 00s (which would be a mistake) because they were obsessed with finding an all-rounder, especially after 2005. Which is ironic because they didn't need an all-rounder with the side they had and picking Watson over Langer or Martyn would not have made the team stronger