All time Asia Vs Rest of the World - Test

[Tom Halsey]

What? With Wasim, Imran and Kapil already there as seamers, a second spinner seemed a good move, and after Murali, Kumble is as good a choice as anyone.

Not having a go, but personally I'd have gone with Abdul Qadir - Kumble is a very good bowler though.

 

[a massive zebra]

Sachin Tendulkar and Duleepsinhji are/were better players than Inzamam.
And it is highly debatable wthere Qadir was better than Kumble, Chandrasekhar and Gupte.

Duleepsinhji played for England. If he qualifies for this Asia XI then Hick can play for Zimbabwe and Pietersen for South Africa.

 

[Pratters]

Duleepsinhji played for England. If he qualifies for this Asia XI then Hick can play for Zimbabwe and Pietersen for South Africa.

 

[social]

Duleepsinhji played for England. If he qualifies for this Asia XI then Hick can play for Zimbabwe and Pietersen for South Africa.

Hick wouldnt make the Zimbabwe side and KP couldnt make it into first class cricket consistently in SA, so there is a difference.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Except when KP was in SA he wasn't very good - he is now.

If he's so bad, how come he made 158 in the final Test?

 

[Jamee999]

Luck.

No honestly, luck.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Lucky he got dropped, but he made the most of it.

 

[Jono]

I don't think Social was denigrating KP with his comment.

 

[luckyeddie]

Except when KP was in SA he wasn't very good - he is now.

If he's so bad, how come he made 158 in the final Test?

I think Social was referring to the 'quota' system, and KP's feeling that he was being unfairly overlooked for selection.

 

[marc71178]

Hick wouldnt make the Zimbabwe side

Are you sure about that?

 

[Zinzan]

just drifting off-topic i'll have a go at possibe all-time ODI sides:

Asia

Sanath Jayasuriya
Sachin Tendulkar
Kumar Sangakkara +
Aravinda DeSilva
Inzamam Ul-Haq
Javed Miandad
Imran Khan *
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralitharan

R.O.W

Adam Gilchrist +
Mark Waugh or Desmond Haynes
Ricky Ponting or Brian Lara
Viv Richards *
Jaques Kallis
Michael Bevan
Ian Botham
Richard Hadlee
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath

Picking R.O.W ODI side is a headache not sure who to open with nor whether Ponting or Lara should bat at #3, i'm not so sure how good Marshall, Lilee were in ODI's but from what i've seen of McGrath he is definately one of the best ODI's bowlers ever so he has to play

I'd swap Anwar for Miandad in my ODI team and have him opening with Tendulkar dropping to 3.

I'd swap Hussey for Kallis and Cairns or Flintoff for Botham in ODI's

The ODI's would be more of a contest than the tests

 

[The Sean]

Cannot believe that so many people have picked Zaheer in Asian team - unless the opposition had no pace at all or the match was played on the flattest of wickets, the guy following him might as well have accompanied him to the crease.

Good call, I'm surprised you're the first person to mention that. I loved watching Zaheer Abbas in full flight - the flair of an artist, the precision of a surgeon. But his record against top quality fast bowling left a lot to be desired, and when you look at the pace attack the ROW side could put out, there's no way I could pick Zaheer over Dravid.

For what it's worth, my teams:

ASIA

Sunil Gavaskar
Hanif Mohammed
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Javed Miandad
Vinoo Mankad
Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Syed Kirmani
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralitharan

The likes of Merchant, Hazare, Fazal, Bedi, Chandra, Aravinda and Kumble were unlucky to miss out, but I truly believe that subcontinental cricket has never been stronger than in the past 20 years, hence the modern bias.

ROW

Jack Hobbs
WG Grace
Don Bradman
Vivian Richards
Garry Sobers
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist
Richard Hadlee
Malcolm Marshall
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee

I could list the players who went close and were unlucky, but they would number enough to make three more teams virtually as good as this one...

 

[C_C]

Subcontinent XI

S.Gavaskar
H.Mohammed
R.Dravid
S.Tendulkar
J.Miandad
I.Khan*
K.Dev
S.Kirmani +
W.Akram
W.Younis(if fast track)/A.Kumble(if in India)/S.Gupte(all other scenarios)
M.Muralitharan


R.O.W. XI :

B.Simpson *
J.Hobbs
D.Bradman
IVA Richards
G.Chappell
G.Sobers
A.Knott+
K.Miller
R.Hadlee
M.Marshall
S.Warne



On another point- i dont see how its only two/at best 3 folks from Asia-XI who go into world XI. Gavaskar is a lock for one of the two opening positions, Imran Khan gets picked by 90% people, Murali is in definite contention and make it to atleast 50% of the people here's alltime XI, Tendulkar gets in majority of the alltime XIs and Akram comes up fairly often amongst fans- especially those who prefer the left armer into the equation. Four maybe 5 would be a better guage, as this team has only three certainties :Gavaskar, Bradman and Sobers.

Even Gillchrist is not a certainty because i've heard good arguments made for Knott or Kirmani or Bob Taylor : in the 5+1+1+4 format (bat+allrounder+keeper+bowlers), the 5 best batsmen along with the allrounder makes the wicketkeeper's batting abilities a bonus rather than a necessity. Presence of Bradman- who is alone worth two batsmen from the same alltime team, makes wicketkeeper's batting abilities less important.A decent wicketkeeper with the bat- such as Kirmani/Knott will not compromise the team's batting hugely. However, with the cream of the bowling crop assembled, the wicketkeeper's catching and stumping ability must be at the top level. This is where Gillchrist falls short- his keeping is good and consistent but it is not at the alltime level that scores of wicketkeepers before him have had. I read an article recently by wicketkeepers and interestingly, almost all wicketkeepers thought their keeping skills to be way more important than their batting skills, unless they were really pathetic with the bat.
As such, my alltime XI wont see Gillchrist in it, though i can accept others having him in their lineups.

 

[Ikki]

ROW quite easily, I don't think it's necessary to add more.

 

[Saurav Ganguly]

Asia:

Saeed Anwar
Sunil Gavaskar
+Kumar Sangakkara
Rahul Dravid
Inzamam-Ul-Haq
Javed Miandad
*Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Anil Kumble
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralitharan

ROW:

Jack Hobbs
Geoffrey Boycott
*Don Bradman
Brian Lara
+Andy Flower
Viv Richards
Ian Botham
Keith Miller
R.Hadlee
Shane Warne
Curtley Ambrose

 

[Matt79]

Asia:

Saeed Anwar
Sunil Gavaskar
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Javed Miandad
Imran Khan
Kapil Dev
Sayed Kirmani
Wasim Akram
Muttiah Muralitharan
Waqar Younis

ROW:
Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Don Bradman
Wally Hammond
Viv Richards
Gary Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Malcolm Marshall
Curtley Ambrose
Glenn McGrath

Normally Lillee would be in my team ahead of McGrath, but as has been highlighted ad nauseum by some, his record in the subcontinent is not as good as the rest of his record, and presumably at least half the matches between a subcontinent XI and the ROW XI would be played in the subcontinent - thus although I rate him the better bowler overall, I've gone for McGrath and Ambrose to partner Marshall.

I think it would genuinely be a toss up as to who would win. Two very strong squads. The ROW battingis probably stronger than the Asian - Tendulkar and Gavaskar can match it with anyone in history, but Anwar, Dravid, and Miandad aren't quite in Hutton, Bradman and Richards' league, and as a batsman neither Imran or Kapil are nearly as good as Sobers and Gilchrist. But the bowling line ups are very close, if not slightly in favour of the Asian team (Dev being a better bowler than Sobers).

 

[silentstriker]

If its played in the subcontinent, I tip the Asian team to win, especially considering Warne's record and a lot of others in India.
Anywhere else, and it would clearly be the ROW. Better bowling and batting lineup, so it might go into the 4th or 5th days, but the ROW would quite clearly come out ahead every time.

2-1-0-2 in favor of subcontinent in subcontinent. 4-0-0-1 outside R.O.W.