Hayden or Anwar?

[Mister Wright]

Pura Cup final against Queensland 1998-99 had Hussey, Katich, Martyn, Moody, Gilchrist, Julian and Ryan Campbell. They won pretty easily against a quality QLD side including Hayden, Maher, Love, Law, Symonds, Kaspa & Bichel.

Sheffield Shield, 1998/99, Final
Queensland v Western Australia
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane
19,20,21,22 March 1999 (5-day match)

Actually the 97-98 West Australian side was a stronger one with Langer in it. They also blew away Tasmania pretty easily.

 

[andyc]

Pura Cup final against Queensland 1998-99 had Hussey, Katich, Martyn, Moody, Gilchrist, Julian and Ryan Campbell. They won pretty easily against a quality QLD side including Hayden, Maher, Love, Law, Symonds, Kaspa & Bichel.

Sheffield Shield, 1998/99, Final
Queensland v Western Australia
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane
19,20,21,22 March 1999 (5-day match)

Haha, that's nuts. Of the 22 players, 7 from Queensland represented/would represent Australia at some point, while WA had 8.

 

[Ikki]

Did these players all play together often enough as a to be described as Test quality? No. There's no doubting that if Western Australia were a Test side that they would have been competitive, because all of their stars would have been together. But due to international commitments, they weren't, so it was rare to see such a Test quality team actually being fielded in Pura Cup cricket.

Yeah, they did happen to play together. Not all of them at the same time. You could say that list minus 1-2 names at times.

I gave innings in the other thread of some:

http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1995-96/PAK_IN_AUS/PAK_WA_28-31OCT1995.html

http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1996-97/WI_IN_AUS/WI_WA_07NOV1996.html

That's two, and there were plenty I didn't post.

 

[Ikki]

Haha, that's nuts. Of the 22 players, 7 from Queensland represented/would represent Australia at some point, while WA had 8.

Even Tasmania and South Australia have had good teams.

It's no coincidence why Australia has an abundance of talent. As Mister Wright has also shown, some of these teams were just as strong, if not stronger, than most test sides.

 

[Ikki]

How often did that group of players get to play together though? Given that 5 of them were regulars in international cricket, plus others like MacGill and Shane Lee also having stints at the top level, I wouldn't think it would be all too often. That's the point, on full strength New South Wales would probably have beaten most Test teams, but it would have been very rarely that they all got to play together due to international commitments. They were potentially good enough to beat Test sides, but because the group of players didn't play together enough, they weren't.

Check for yourself, they were together for many many games.

 

[Ikki]

Oh, here's a gem, Hayden with a 181 v McGrath and co.

http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_LOCAL/SS/QLD_NSW_SS_15-18OCT1997.html

And here's one I came across with Warne:

http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_dat.../AUS_LOCAL/SS/VIC_QLD_SS_31OCT-03NOV1997.html