Finding out the best decade for test cricket: The tournament thread! 12 ATG XIs duke it out.

[Victor Ian]

I'm not voting on this one, but I think it can't be underestimated how valuable Grace would have been. While the rest of the 1800's transferred in time might be near equal to their modern counterparts, Grace (as long as we get a youthful version) is the best batsman of his era by a long way and a top flight bowler to boot. And brilliant in the field.

 

[sunilz]

End this and start knockouts using SIMS if possible

 

[mr_mister]

someone else can sim if they want, i'm just gonna continue the voting method. I'm honestly too lazy to sim and then figure out how to get the scorecards from the game over to here. I'll be doing an ODI edition after, if anything just because I enjoy the team selecting part of this whole thing

The randomiser has spat out the draw:

1. 1950s
2. 1930s
3. 1980s
4. 1990s
5. 1960s
6. 2000s
7. 1940s
8. 1970s

So we'l speed things up.

Vote in these 2 QF matchups firstly


1950s vs 1930s

1950s:

Len Hutton *
Hanif Mohammad
Neil Harvey
Everton Weekes
Clyde Walcott
Gary Sobers 5
John Waite +
Allan Davidson 3
Jim Laker 4
Alec Bedser 2
Fred Trueman 1

1930s:

Len Hutton
Bruce Mitchell
Don Bradman *
George Headley
Wally Hammond 5
Stan McCabe 6
Les Ames +
Harold Larwood 1
Hedley Verity 4
Bill O'Reilly 3
Manny Martindale 2


and 1980s vs 1990s

1980s:

Sunil Gavaskar
Gordon Greenidge
Viv Richards
Javed Miandad
Allan Border
Imran Khan 3 *
Jeff Dujon +
Kapil Dev 5
RichardHadlee 2
Malcolm Marshall 1
Joel Garner 4

1990s:

Graham Gooch *
Saeed Anwar
Brian Lara
Sachin Tendaulker
Steve Waugh 5
Aravinda De Silva 6
Ian Healy +
Wasim Akram 2
Shane Warne 4
Curtley Ambrose 1
Allan Donald 3

 

[mr_mister]

i'm gonna go 50s and 80s. 80s are missing a spinner but they have better openers and they bat deeper


50s is a very balanced team while the 30s side is missing an ATG pacer

 

[Slifer]

50s for sure, still need to think about the other match up...

 

[Slifer]

Will go with the 80s. They bat deeper and yeah they don't have a spinner but unless the pitch is an absolute dustbowl, I don't see Warne running through that lineup. And the 80s imo, are decidedly better vs pace.

 

[ma1978]

I would go with 30s and 80s

bradman tips it for the 30s

80s doesn’t have a spinner and SRT is miles ahead of Miandad but openers are better, Viv is a good as Lara, Border is as good or better than Waugh, Dujon is good as Healy. The all rounders tip it

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

50s (much better bowling attack, though the 30s batting is stronger)

90s (because the 80s have a bowling allrounder batting at #6, a passenger at #8 (Kapil is a great player but a 5th quick adds very little value) and no spinner)

 

[The Sean]

Is the '50s a much better bowling attack overall? Definitely far superior pace attack, but not as good a spin combination (and Bill O'Reilly is IMO the best bowler of any type on either team), and for depth the '30s fifth bowling option is at least the equal of and possibly superior to the '50s.

Agree that the '50s attack is better overall but I wouldn't say they're better by the length of the Flemington straight, and certainly not by enough to make up for the Bradman factor.

 

[The Sean]

That second match up is pretty brutal, because I think that would have been a lot of people's pick for the Final.

 

[smash84]

50s and 80s

 

[honestbharani]

30s and 90s

 

[sunilz]

50, 80

 

[Victor Ian]

30s 90s

 

[harsh.ag]

50s and 90s

 

[Coronis]

30’s and 90’s

 

[srbhkshk]

30s and 80s

 

[h_hurricane]

30s and 80s

 

[ma1978]

80s and 90s is when Federer plays Djokovic in the quarters

 

[Fuller Pilch]

30s and 80s