# 1 opener between 1986-2006

[honestbharani]

Gooch for me. But I am not really aware how he did with the whole home/away split. But going by whatever I have seen and know, I would pick Goochy as the best of that list.

 

[adharcric]

Taking away performances into account, it boils down to four men: Hayden, Sehwag, Kirsten and Anwar.

 

[Beleg]

Either Anwar or Kirsten - I can't really decide.

 

[R_D]

As if India in India wasn't a good attack.

Hahaha.. you're kidding right ?
obviously you're talking about 2001 series. Harbhjan had a once in a life time series and can't forget Laxman and Dravid.
But india's bowling was probaly one of their worst attack at home, no Kumble and rookie Hrabhjan obviosuly. Fact that Harbhjan was the only bowler who played all 3 macthes tells you somthing about india's bowling attack in that series.

Funny how Hayden found his form back soon as he left England.

AS for India he didn't fair too well in next series in india when india had better attack although india lost.

 

[benchmark00]

Hahaha.. you're kidding right ?
obviously you're talking about 2001 series. Harbhjan had a once in a life time series and can't forget Laxman and Dravid.
But india's bowling was probaly one of their worst attack at home, no Kumble and rookie Hrabhjan obviosuly. Fact that Harbhjan was the only bowler who played all 3 macthes tells you somthing about india's bowling attack in that series.

Funny how Hayden found his form back soon as he left England.

AS for India he didn't fair too well in next series in india when india had better attack although india lost.

Yep, so when most of the team struggled considerably and Hayden prospered it was just a fluke... or??

Good to see you've blindly ignored variables such as batting conditions.

 

[luffy]

Boony!!!

 

[bagapath]

Also, may I say that strike rate of <70 is asking too much of a spinner.

I mean I am sure we all know what the ultimate choice is going to come down to - but in terms of spinners as a whole a strike rate of under 70 is very unusual.

If you want to present a real choice, with range, for spinners (apart from Murali, Kumble and Warne) than maybe the strike rate requirement should be lifted to 75?

And yeah, an all-rounders batting average of over 20 is too low - perhaps a batting average of >25 would be more ideal for a genuine all-rounder?

Just a couple of suggestions.

I agree with you on your point about spinners. we shall get to it when we post the list of probables in a few weeks' time. we can consider increasing it to 13 overs (78 balls) or something like that. that may allow you to bring in qadir i guess. have to check though. but lets get to it later. you still have warne, murali, kumble, saqlain, mcgill and bhaji for selection. thats not too bad i think. funny thing is, these guys also average under 30!!!

similarly for the allrounders if the list becomes too big we will try to trim it down later. as of now, though i agree with you, and with goughie on the other thread, lets leave it as it is. its not going to spoil the fun

now, if hayden gets the nod for the first slot i seriously will consider gooch for the other opener's place. solidity to match the aggro. left and right as well. that would be a deadly opening combo.

on an another note, i have saved up christopher martin jenkins' essays on his dream teams he selected in summer of 2002 consisting of post 1953 players from england and rest of the world. i thought i could post his selection methods he applied for each slot we are going to poll. can someone (may be archie mac!!!) tell me if it would amount to copyright violation? if not it will be great reading his methodology for position. but our player pool is different from his. so it will add to the fun without influencing it directly.

 

[Matteh]

+

=

 

[R_D]

Yep, so when most of the team struggled considerably and Hayden prospered it was just a fluke... or??

Good to see you've blindly ignored variables such as batting conditions.

Did i ever call it a fluke ? I'll give that Hayden played exceptionally well in that series but seriously attack he faced was pretty ordinary to say the least. Harbhjan took 32 wickets, guess who was next on the list for india, Tendulkar and Z Khan both 3 wickets each.

 

[k_sanga]

i voted for jayasuriya

 

[JBH001]

I agree with you on your point about spinners. we shall get to it when we post the list of probables in a few weeks' time. we can consider increasing it to 13 overs (78 balls) or something like that. that may allow you to bring in qadir i guess. have to check though. but lets get to it later. you still have warne, murali, kumble, saqlain, mcgill and bhaji for selection. thats not too bad i think. funny thing is, these guys also average under 30!!!

similarly for the allrounders if the list becomes too big we will try to trim it down later. as of now, though i agree with you, and with goughie on the other thread, lets leave it as it is. its not going to spoil the fun

now, if hayden gets the nod for the first slot i seriously will consider gooch for the other opener's place. solidity to match the aggro. left and right as well. that would be a deadly opening combo.

on an another note, i have saved up christopher martin jenkins' essays on his dream teams he selected in summer of 2002 consisting of post 1953 players from england and rest of the world. i thought i could post his selection methods he applied for each slot we are going to poll. can someone (may be archie mac!!!) tell me if it would amount to copyright violation? if not it will be great reading his methodology for position. but our player pool is different from his. so it will add to the fun without influencing it directly.

Fair enough. Btw you are right about the spinners you mentioned. The modern day spinners have exceptional strike rates (McGill's is 53!) compared to other great spinners in history. The finger spinners article on cricinfo at the moment is a real eye opener regarding that. I guess one reason for that is that batsmen have been more attacking - therefore higher strike rates for modern spinners balanced out by comparatively higher economy rates.

Btw, could you post CMJ's post 1953 XI please?
I have never seen it and would like to see the side he chose - cheers!

 

[AussieDominance]

haydos go you good thing

 

[andyc]

Went Hayden myself.

 

[AussieDominance]

yeah logical option in terms of longvety and performance

 

[bagapath]

"Btw, could you post CMJ's post 1953 XI please?
I have never seen it and would like to see the side he chose - cheers"

Hi JBH. The essays come to about 50+ pages. I dont think this forum can accept such huge files. Was actually thinking of posting them according to each slot, but dont know if I'll have the time after the last week of this month. You can email me at bagapath@gmail.com if you, or anyoneelse, want it. I'll mail the whole thing.

 

[bagapath]

yeah logical option in terms of longvety and performance

well, I went for hayden myself. but it surprising haynes has not got a single vote. would have beena different scenario if we were choosing pairs. greenidge - haynes would be running neck to neck with haynes - langer. minus greenidge haynes seems to be forgotten. a bit like thommo minus lillee. in each case one is great. the other is just good.

 

[shaka]

Kirsten gets my vote.

 

[Anil]

gooch for me...

 

[aussie tragic]

Just a reminder that once the #1 Opener is selected, the 10 players with the next highest number of votes will go into the poll for Opener #2.

btw, if anyone feels that a player should have been in the first poll (Note: he must have > 20 tests since '86 and av > 40.00), please make a case to Bagapath, the thread chairman of selectors, and maybe he'll issue a wild card for the next vote

 

[JBH001]

yer, isn't it time we wrapped up selection for no. 1 opener and got onto the fellow at the other end?