Which Decade Saw the Best Players Debut?

[SillyCowCorner1]

Young Shaun Marsh from WA an option too.

He’s so last decade or thereabouts

 

[Aidan11]

70s.

My favourite era for cricket as that is when I began to take an interest as a young lad.

 

[Coronis]

If only Headley debuted 2 weeks earlier you could have a 20’s XI with a top order of

Sutcliffe
Ponsford
Bradman
Hammond
Headley

 

[mr_mister]

I'm trying to do mental gymnastics to make the answer the 1920s but the bowling is just too weak

 

[Pothas]

10s really won't be far off the best when we look back in a few years. Openers the only real weakness.

 

[ankitj]

Discounting the 2020s I have attempted to compile the best teams from players making their debut in each of the past 5 decades.
I have tried to maintain a reasonable balance for teams with batsmen placed in their usual spot and attacks comprising 3 or 4 pacers and 1 or 2 spinners.

I'd be interested to read your comments and any changes you might make.

The '70s
Sunil Gavaskar
Gordon Greenidge
Viv Richards
Greg Chappell
Javed Miandad
Allan Border
Imran Khan
Rod Marsh w/k
Richard Hadlee
Malcolm Marshall
Abdul Qadir

Plenty of 'unlucky' players here. Barry Richards (because of limited appearances), Kapil Dev and Ian Botham (all-rounder spots already filled) and Michael Holding and Joel Garner (tempted to go with one instead of Qadir but I needed a spinner).

The '80s
Mark Taylor
David Boon
Richie Richardson
Sachin Tendulkar
Steve Waugh
Aravinda de Silva
Jeff Dujon w/k
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

Tendulkar and Waugh picked themselves as did the 4 man pace attack. de Silva takes the all-rounder spot and provides the spin option. Martin Crowe, Mohammad Azharrudin and Ian Healy all came close to a spot.

The '90s
Matthew Hayden
Justin Langer
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Shivnarene Chanderpaul
Adam Gilchrist w/k
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath
Muttiah Muralitharan

No way was I going to split Warne and Murali but, if playing on a pacers' wicket, Allan Donald might replace one of them. VVS Laxman, Inzaman ul Haq and Mark Waugh came under consideration. Anil Kimble unlucky to come up against the two greatest.

The '00s
Virendar Sehwag
Graeme Smith
Kumar Sangakarra w/k
Younis Khan
Michael Clarke
AB de Villiers
Andrew Flintoff
Dayle Steyn
Morne Morkel
Tim Southee
Danish Kaneira

I'm not entirely happy with this line-up. Tempted to play Sanga as a specialist bat with a couple of Kiwi contenders in the wings in Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling as 'keepers. A lot of batting talent missing out in Hashim Amla, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle etc.

The '10s
Alastair Cook
Usman Khawaya
Kane Williamson
Joe Root
Steve Smith
Viral Kholi
Quentin de Kock w/k
Ravichandran Ashwin
Pat Cummins
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

This proved the hardest task. Cook or Khawaja could arguably be replaced by either Dave Warner or Andrew Strauss (or both). Fitting Williamson, Smith, Root and Kholi in their usual spots proved almost impossible, but should I leave one out? Ravindra Jadeja would be my 12th man and could easily replace Ashwin while Kevin Pietersen could replace one of the big four named. Quite a few pace bowlers (Mohammad Shami, Stuart Broad, Trent Boult, Vern Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Yasir Shah) were on the brink.

Strength of an XI can be judged from players who don't make it. On that basis it's hard to look past the 70s.

 

[AndrewB]

I'm trying to do mental gymnastics to make the answer the 1920s but the bowling is just too weak

With Gregory, Constantine, Tate, Larwood and Grimmett, it would at least be a strong tail.

 

[Jarquis]

Swann ahead of Kaneria surely?

 

[The Sean]

With Gregory, Constantine, Tate, Larwood and Grimmett, it would at least be a strong tail.

So what would we have then? Something like:

Sutcliffe
Ponsford
Bradman
Hammond
Hendren
Ames
Gregory
Constantine
Tate
Larwood
Grimmett

There may be an alternative to Hendren I've overlooked (I considered Jack Ryder but thought Hendren the better choice) and Oldfield could be chosen over Ames if we decided to go for an even better 'keeper at the expense of batting strength. Jock Cameron possibly an option as well as a middle ground between the two.

 

[Line and Length]

My opening post listed teams from 5 decades (with a few errors as I had rushed). It's good to see additional decades added. It's something I intended doing. Working back through time, here are possible line-ups for the '50s and '60s.

The '50s
Bob Simpson
Hanif Mohammad
Rohan Kanhai
Peter May
Ken Barrington
Gary Sobers
Richie Benaud
Allan Davidson
Wally Grout w/k
Fred Trueman
Brian Statham

My only real dilemma came when picking an attack. Initially I had Wes Hall included with Davidson, Trueman and Statham. This left Sobers as the spinner (though Simpson and Barrington had modest claims) but, as Sobers added to the pace attack I included Benaud as the spinner (and likely captain). Ted Dexter, Mushtaq Mohammad and Trevor Goddard were all-rounders missing out (Sobers has a mortgage on that roll) while Hall and Neil Adcock are unlucky quicks. Benaud got the nod ahead of Lance Gibbs on batting ability.

The '60s
Geoff Boycott
Eddie Barlow
Ian Chappell
Graeme Pollock
Zaheer Abbas
Clive Lloyd
Alan Knott
John Snow
Peter Pollock
Graham McKenzie
Derek Underwood

Possibly my toughest task. Plenty of good openers missing out (Bill Lawry, Glenn Turner, Roy Fredericks, Ian Redpath, Dennis Amiss) but I needed an all-rounder to back a thin pace attack and Barlow fitted the bill. Sarfraz Nawaz was one of the pacers to miss out while B.S. Chandraswkhar and Bishen Bedi were considered for the spinners spot. As well as the openers, Majid Khan, Seymour Nurse and John Edrich were batsmen who could be considered unlucky.

 

[Boags]

I'm not entirely happy with this line-up. Tempted to play Sanga as a specialist bat with a couple of Kiwi contenders in the wings in Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling as 'keepers. A lot of batting talent missing out in Hashim Amla, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle etc.

Sangakkara was significantly better when he was free of wicket keeping and you can't really bat in a test match at #3 and be the wicket keeper without being hampered. If you're picking your WK based on batting ability, you might as well put Matt Prior in there at #7 tbh.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Sangakkara was significantly better when he was free of wicket keeping and you can't really bat in a test match at #3 and be the wicket keeper without being hampered. If you're picking your WK based on batting ability, you might as well put Matt Prior in there at #7 tbh.

Watling was MUCH better than Prior with the gloves though and slightly better with the bat although didn't have as many attacking gears.

 

[Line and Length]

Watling was MUCH better than Prior with the gloves though and slightly better with the bat although didn't have as many attacking gears.

I agree. But which player misses out if we retain Sangakarra at 3?

 

[Boags]

I agree. But which player misses out if we retain Sangakarra at 3?

I suppose it's a cop out, but you picked AB. He took the gloves after Boucher's career ending injury, batted at #5 and still averaged over 50 doing it.

Though, if this is players based on their debut decade, Flintoff shouldn't even be in the 00s team.

 

[The Sean]

My opening post listed teams from 5 decades (with a few errors as I had rushed). It's good to see additional decades added. It's something I intended doing. Working back through time, here are possible line-ups for the '50s and '60s.

The '50s
Bob Simpson
Hanif Mohammad
Rohan Kanhai
Peter May
Ken Barrington
Gary Sobers
Richie Benaud
Allan Davidson
Wally Grout w/k
Fred Trueman
Brian Statham

My only real dilemma came when picking an attack. Initially I had Wes Hall included with Davidson, Trueman and Statham. This left Sobers as the spinner (though Simpson and Barrington had modest claims) but, as Sobers added to the pace attack I included Benaud as the spinner (and likely captain). Ted Dexter, Mushtaq Mohammad and Trevor Goddard were all-rounders missing out (Sobers has a mortgage on that roll) while Hall and Neil Adcock are unlucky quicks. Benaud got the nod ahead of Lance Gibbs on batting ability.

The '60s
Geoff Boycott
Eddie Barlow
Ian Chappell
Graeme Pollock
Zaheer Abbas
Clive Lloyd
Alan Knott
John Snow
Peter Pollock
Graham McKenzie
Derek Underwood

Possibly my toughest task. Plenty of good openers missing out (Bill Lawry, Glenn Turner, Roy Fredericks, Ian Redpath, Dennis Amiss) but I needed an all-rounder to back a thin pace attack and Barlow fitted the bill. Sarfraz Nawaz was one of the pacers to miss out while B.S. Chandraswkhar and Bishen Bedi were considered for the spinners spot. As well as the openers, Majid Khan, Seymour Nurse and John Edrich were batsmen who could be considered unlucky.

I'm really enjoying these. For the 1950s, how about John Waite as 'keeper?

And for the 1960s I reckon I'd have to get Doug Walters in there in place of either Zaheer Abbas or Ian Chappell (moving Zaheer up to 3 if so) - Dougie was not only a brilliant bat but a superb fieldsman and importantly also a very useful medium-pacer.

 

[nick-o]

Which decade have you considered Lillee to belong to? (Debut in 1970: some people would say 60s, others 70s?) and who is selected above him?

 

[Prince EWS]

Which decade have you considered Lillee to belong to? (Debut in 1970: some people would say 60s, others 70s?) and who is selected above him?

Hoggard

 

[Line and Length]

I suppose it's a cop out, but you picked AB. He took the gloves after Boucher's career ending injury, batted at #5 and still averaged over 50 doing it.

Though, if this is players based on their debut decade, Flintoff shouldn't even be in the 00s team.

This was corrected.

 

[AndrewB]

So what would we have then? Something like:

Sutcliffe
Ponsford
Bradman
Hammond
Hendren
Ames
Gregory
Constantine
Tate
Larwood
Grimmett

There may be an alternative to Hendren I've overlooked (I considered Jack Ryder but thought Hendren the better choice) and Oldfield could be chosen over Ames if we decided to go for an even better 'keeper at the expense of batting strength. Jock Cameron possibly an option as well as a middle ground between the two.

Bruce Mitchell?

 

[Qlder]

Which decade have you considered Lillee to belong to? (Debut in 1970: some people would say 60s, others 70s?) and who is selected above him?

Why is this even a question. Lillee debuted in January 1971, so meets OP criteria for 70's team