Ashes XI

Wondering what side people would put together by combining the England and Aussie sides. Mine would be:

Trescothick
Langer
Ponting
Strauss
Martyn
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Warne
Kasprowicz
Harmison
McGrath

I have no idea who would captain the side as I'm not that great a fan of Ponting's captaincy. If Gilly would keep and skip at the same time then he'd get the job no question. Tresco has captained England before with good results, so maybe I'd give the nod to him.

I suppose you can read into the fact that I made a 7/4 split as thinking the Aussies will win, but I think it will be very close. Australia are clearly the favourites though.

Strauss
Langer
Ponting (c)
Thorpe
Martyn
Flintoff
Gilchrist (wk)
Warne
Gillespie
Kasprowicz
McGrath

1 Michael Vaughan
2 Justin Langer
3 Ricky Ponting
4 Damien Martyn
5 Graeme Thorpe
6 Adam Gilchrist
7 Andrew Flintoff
8 Jason Gillespie
9 Shane Warne
10 Matthew Hoggard
11 Glenn McGrath

Hayden
Langer
Ponting (c)
Struass
Martyn
Gilchrist (wk)
Flintoff
Warne
Gillespie
Kasprowicz
McGrath

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Strauss
Thorpe
Martyn
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Warne
Gillespie
McGrath

Justin Langer
Andrew Strauss
Ricky Ponting (c)
Damien Martyn
Graham Thorpe
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Andrew Flintoff
Shane Warne
Jason Gillespie
Steve Harmison
Glenn McGrath

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Martyn
Thorpe
Gilchrist
Flintoff
Warne
Gillespie
Kasprowicz
McGrath

The two Aussies who missed the cut were Katich and Clarke. Katich could be substituted for either Thorpe or Martyn as he is quite a decent player in his own right and Clarke would have a chance of displacing Flintoff because it would basically come down to who is batting better as Australia don't need another bowler and Clarke can roll the arm over but Flintoff deserves his spot as he has been playing great cricket.

It will be interesting to see what these teams will look like at the end of the ashes

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Martyn
Katich
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Warne
Gillespie
Kasprowics
McGrath

Clarke 12th

FaaipDeOiad said:

Justin Langer
Andrew Strauss
Ricky Ponting (c)
Damien Martyn
Graham Thorpe
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Andrew Flintoff
Shane Warne
Jason Gillespie
Steve Harmison
Glenn McGrath

Click to expand...

Seconded, top side that one.

Hayden
Strauss
Ponting
Martn
Thorpe
Gilchrist
Flintoff
Warne
Gillespie
Harmison
McGrath

1.Langer
2.Hayden
3.Ponting
4.Strauss
5.Pietersen
6.Clarke
7.Gilchrist
8.Warne
9.Hoggard
10.Gillespie/Harmison
11.McGrath

12th Man Gillespie/Harmison

12th Man said:

1.Langer
2.Hayden
3.Ponting
4.Strauss
5.Pietersen
6.Clarke
7.Gilchrist
8.Warne
9.Hoggard
10.Gillespie/Harmison
11.McGrath

12th Man Gillespie/Harmison

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obviously picking pieterson on the strength of his performance for england in his last test series...

age_master said:

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Martyn
Katich
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Warne
Gillespie
Kasprowics
McGrath

Clarke 12th

Click to expand...

Spot on.

What he said

FaaipDeOiad said:

Justin Langer
Andrew Strauss
Ricky Ponting (c)
Damien Martyn
Graham Thorpe
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Andrew Flintoff
Shane Warne
Jason Gillespie
Steve Harmison
Glenn McGrath

Click to expand...

yep that would be my side too, with a huge question mark on steve harmison.

tooextracool said:

yep that would be my side too, with a huge question mark on steve harmison.

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Yeah. There's a question mark on Gillespie if he has a poor series too, and maybe Thorpe since he has Katich or even Clarke competing for his spot. Then there's Hayden and Strauss as well.

As has been said, it will be interesting to see how the general perception of what the combined XI should be changes after the series.

For the sake of argument, a combined ODI XI for the NWS:

Adam Gilchrist (k)
Michael Clarke
Ricky Ponting (c)
Damien Martyn
Kevin Pietersen
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Symonds
Ashley Giles
Brett Lee
Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath

Only three englishmen of course, but England really only has one proven world class ODI player in Flintoff, and another who certainly looks the goods in Pietersen. Giles just gets in ahead of Hogg. If Clarke isn't opening, I guess drop Martyn for either Hayden or Trescothick and put Clarke down at 6.

Interesting so far pietersen has gotten into two sides, for me thats a low average

FaaipDeOiad said:

Yeah. There's a question mark on Gillespie if he has a poor series too, and maybe Thorpe since he has Katich or even Clarke competing for his spot. Then there's Hayden and Strauss as well.

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well if any player has a poor series, you'd be tempted to drop him from the side for someone else. for me i think we'll know after the 1st test of the series whether harmison is going to deserve that spot or not.

Link said:

Interesting so far pietersen has gotten into two sides, for me thats a low average

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How could he make the test combined side? He's never even played a test!

Test....

Strauss (just pips Hayden on recent form)
Langer
Ponting (c)
Martyn
Thorpe
Gilchrist (k)
Flintoff
Warne
Gillespie/Harmison (totally dependant on form)
Mcgrath

12 man Clarke (for his fielding)

ODI.....

Gilchrist (k)
M Clarke
Ponting (c)
Martyn
Strauss
Pietersen
Flintoff
Hogg
Lee
Gillespie
Mcgrath

12 man Collinwood - for his Fielding