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Bowling attack for timeless tests

Migara

Migara

International Coach
Assume we are playing timeless tests. For convenience we'll assume it will be six to nine days of play. What would be the bowling attack?

How many bowlers?
How many pacemen, how many spinners?
Do you consider fitness as a factor other than performances?
Do you consider hyper - aggressive explosive type of bowlers?

Discuss.
 
Coronis

Coronis

Hall of Fame Member
Assuming the test will last that long these stats may be relevant.

Overs per match for some top bowlers

Pacers
Barnes 48.4
Lillee 44.0
Davidson 43.5
Hadlee 42.3
McGrath 39.2
Walsh 38.0
Garner 37.5
Trueman 37.5
Marshall 36.1
Ambrose 37.4
Pollock 37.3
Lindwall 37.2
Imran 36.5
Wasim 36.2
Donald 36.0
Anderson 35.3
Holding 35.1
Cummins 33.5
Steyn 33.1
Bumrah 32.0
Waqar 31.0
Rabada 30.4

Spinners
Grimmett 65.2
O’Reilly 61.5
Tayfield 61.1
Gibbs 57.1
Muralitharan 55.1
Verity 46.3
Warne 46.0
Laker 43.3
Ashwin 42.5
Underwood 42.2
Lyon 41.5
 
F

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Migara said:
Assume we are playing timeless tests. For convenience we'll assume it will be six to nine days of play. What would be the bowling attack?

How many bowlers?
How many pacemen, how many spinners?
Do you consider fitness as a factor other than performances?
Do you consider hyper - aggressive explosive type of bowlers?

Discuss.
Click to expand...
Attack:

Marshall
Hadlee
Kallis
Sobers
Murali
O'Reilly

Side:
Hutton
Hobbs
Bradman
Lara (can play monster knocks)
Kallis (extra bowling)
Sobers
Gilchrist
Hadlee
Marshall
O'Reilly
Murali
 
Coronis

Coronis

Hall of Fame Member
kevinw said:
Surprised by Rabada's relatively low workload. He never seems to miss a game. Maybe this is why.
Click to expand...
Just shows how pampered the modern day players are.


Ali TT said:
Got to have Fazal Mahmood and Sonny Ramadhin, no? Those guys could bowl for days
Click to expand...
I mean I limited the players in that post to greater ones but I’m sure they’re up there in workload. Lemme see.

Fazal 48.1
Ramadhin 54.0
 
Migara

Migara

International Coach
Coronis said:
Assuming the test will last that long these stats may be relevant.

Overs per match for some top bowlers

Pacers
Barnes 48.4
Lillee 44.0
Davidson 43.5
Hadlee 42.3
McGrath 39.2
Walsh 38.0
Garner 37.5
Trueman 37.5
Marshall 36.1
Ambrose 37.4
Pollock 37.3
Lindwall 37.2
Imran 36.5
Wasim 36.2
Donald 36.0
Anderson 35.3
Holding 35.1
Cummins 33.5
Steyn 33.1
Bumrah 32.0
Waqar 31.0
Rabada 30.4

Spinners
Grimmett 65.2
O’Reilly 61.5
Tayfield 61.1
Gibbs 57.1
Muralitharan 55.1
Verity 46.3
Warne 46.0
Laker 43.3
Ashwin 42.5
Underwood 42.2
Lyon 41.5
Click to expand...
Does this make the confusion over 6 ball vs 8 ball overs and god knows what number of balls per over issues?
 
Coronis

Coronis

Hall of Fame Member
I believe Grimmett is the spinner that bowled the most per match.

Bedser I believe is the most for a pacer at 52.0

I know some people don’t consider him a proper pacer, in that case it would be Garth McKenzie with 49.0


Migara said:
Does this make the confusion over 6 ball vs 8 ball overs and god knows what number of balls per over issues?
Click to expand...
I’ve just standardised it to 6 ball overs. I could just post their balls per test but its not as easy for people to visualise in those terms.
 
A

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Tate bowled about 53.3 overs per match - Statsguru probably has him as "mixture" but I think he basically bowled pace in Tests. Richardson (who for his day was regarded as "fast") also bowled about 53.3 overs per match (but only played 14 Tests).

Valentine (60.0) and Mankad (55.3) also bowled a lot.
 
P

peterhrt

State 12th Man
The reality of timeless Tests was that selectors stuffed their teams with batting. Taking the last 29 such matches between England and Australia from 1920 to 1938, England picked 82 specialist bowlers (2.8 per match) and Australia 72 (2.5). All-rounders were a common feature but there was no compromise on the wicket-keeping, where the best keeper was always chosen, with the arguable exception of Ames on eleven occasions.

Australia picked four specialist bowlers in five matches and lost four of them. England did so four times, winning three, all in 1928-29. Some of the all-rounders would have been chosen for their bowling anyway, like Jack Gregory, but most would not have been. In five matches Australia picked only one non-batting bowler, winning four. England did so once and lost by nine wickets.
 
Coronis

Coronis

Hall of Fame Member
AndrewB said:
Tate bowled about 53.3 overs per match - Statsguru probably has him as "mixture" but I think he basically bowled pace in Tests. Richardson (who for his day was regarded as "fast") also bowled about 53.3 overs per match (but only played 14 Tests).

Valentine (60.0) and Mankad (55.3) also bowled a lot.
Click to expand...
Yeah didn’t get down to players who played so few matches - I did have the filters for pace and spin when I was checking so rip Tate lol.
 
Coronis

Coronis

Hall of Fame Member
peterhrt said:
The reality of timeless Tests was that selectors stuffed their teams with batting. Taking the last 29 such matches between England and Australia from 1920 to 1938, England picked 82 specialist bowlers (2.8 per match) and Australia 72 (2.5). All-rounders were a common feature but there was no compromise on the wicket-keeping, where the best keeper was always chosen, with the arguable exception of Ames on eleven occasions.

Australia picked four specialist bowlers in five matches and lost four of them. England did so four times, winning three, all in 1928-29. Some of the all-rounders would have been chosen for their bowling anyway, like Jack Gregory, but most would not have been. In five matches Australia picked only one non-batting bowler, winning four. England did so once and lost by nine wickets.
Click to expand...
Curious, was this much of a significant departure from selections in other tests, or more the style of selection at the time?
 
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