to break my answer down further.
1. Rahul Dravid – Simply put, he was one of the Greatest players of movement I've seen, and in New Zealand where the bounce is often and mostly consistent, I don't think Hadlee has the bowling to break through his rock solid defense and he'd eventually just outlast the conditions, Javed might've scored a bunch on Hadlee but his runs came "on another perfect pitch there, a draw was the only realistic result." or "grassless pitch would break up readily, the toss seemed to be vital." and therefore I don't think we can go by that on what would happen on a overcast greentop. Dravid is the one I have full confidence and belief in.
2. Jack Hobbs – he mastered wet and matting wickets which imo are even more threatning than a day 5 Indian fast turner, he's probably the Greatest Batman of all time among humans so I think I'll have faith in him finding the way, I considered Hutton but Hobbs is practically just a Hutton who could dominate and attack better, I also considered Denis Compton but that's mostly just wishful thinking though he was indeed very good on tough wickets as well. Herbert Sutcliffe is also a good call.
3. Steve Waugh – simply put, a proper fighter, his defense and mental strength is there to combat McGrath, he has practically faced a faster less skilled but just as competent version of McGrath in the form of Ambrose, I feel like if you're fighting for a draw with the last wicket, you need someone with exceptional mental strength and ability to play pace, you can always go for Viv Richards as he has both but I think he might give into his instinct to dominate and get out, Waugh would block away and would be disciplined enough to not throw.
4. Viv Richards – very easy choice, You have one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, on one of the fastest pitches on planet Earth, what you want is the greatest player of fast bowling, Graham Gooch is also a good shout as he was one of the greats against pace but Viv has already opened on the ultra fast Australian wickets against Lillee and Thompson, he made 30, 101, 50 and 98. Viv's counter attack against Ambrose also might just be the thing that turns the game into my favour, Really a no brainer here.
5. Viv Richards/Sunil Gavaskar – simply put, the first two Batters who figured out reverse swing, Gavaskar maintained a 50+ average against Imran, Viv averaged 58 against 80s Imran and Imran learned reverse swing around late 70s, new batsmen would probably have to be Viv as Gavaskar was the opener.
6. Viv Richards – I've my doubts on Ponting, but Viv is simply put the Greatest player of fast bowling ever, he'd actually smash apart Holding and knock him mentally out of the game, the second option would probably be someone like Sir Garfield Sobers or Steve Waugh but to me, Viv is the obvious answer, again, most of these are fast bowling, so it's just logical that the Greatest player of fast bowling in the history of the great game is mentioned more and more and should become a logical pick for a lot of this.
7. Viv Richards – Amazing player of fast bowling, amazing mental strength, Greatest player of One Days, a gifted the power hitter and so forth, once again, an obvious choice to me.
