Selfish mother ****ers

[honestbharani]

Not a terrible call, but doesn't change that he could have easily just declared 5/550 or 5/600 and WI very likely win the Test.

Lara cost Windies that test, not because of any selfish batting but because he dropped a sitter of Flintoff. They gave themselves plenty of time to get England out and by going for the record, it might have broken the spirit of England a little bit, as they had anyways won the test and could have entered a bit into the Lethargy Lane. His tactics as a captain were fine IMO, just that he dropped an absolute sitter and cost his team the game.

 

[honestbharani]

The "All About Me" XI

Boycott
Gavaskar
Chanderpaul
Tendulkar
Kallis
Al Hasan/ Pietersen
Dhoni
Hadlee
Warne
McDermott
Akhtar

Replace Dhoni with Border and its perfect.

 

[honestbharani]

Spinners who choose to bowl tight and hold up and end vs trying to take wickets as a default mode of operation are selfish. They know a 0/40 off 15 is less likely to be dropped than a 2/80, and realise that perception beats reality - that if you are getting tonked for runs the captain and selectors will perceive you as being **** instead of understanding how you chose to risk that in order to create wicket-taking opportunities.

Especially early in a spell. A spinner comes on and decides that he's going to dart in his first 2-3 overs so he can be kept in the attack, vs tossing the ball up right away and risk being smacked for a few and being taken off. Ultimately these dart flingers end up with economical figures but not many wickets, and even worse end up offering respite to the batsmen who are often not even troubled by their bowling. They can milk the spinner for the easy ones and twos and catch their breath, and return focused to face the real bowlers. It's actively harmful to the team. But perception beats reality, and when the selectors and coaches analyse the stats and see that their spinner was economical they continue to pick him/sign him on to a new contract, and he continues to live another day, all the while being essentially useless if not harmful to the team's cause.

Now some spinners are assigned the role of being that tight, hold up an end bowler beforehand, and that's fine. Then you're just doing the job you have been asked for. But when a new spinner rocks up at the start of the season and decides right off the bat that that's how they are going to bowl, and especially when that new spinner has the skills and tools to toss it up but chooses not too, that spinner is a selfish ****.

I don't know the pace bowling equivalent of this.

In other words, Harbhajan for the majority of his career.

 

[cnerd123]

The best thing of Burgey's XI for me is that he now knows so much about Shakib Al Hasan that he knows he's full of himself. WAG. At this rate he's going to be BD's biggest fan by 2020.

 

[mr_mister]

Was Boycott selfish or was batting slow just his style? He did it his entire career the man just put a high price on his wicket. nothing wrong with that we all love renshaw for it

 

[Burgey]

Nah I just Al Hasan there in the (sadly forlorn) hope ***** would take umbrage it it and have a wahhhhh about it.

 

[Burgey]

Boycott was plain selfish.

 

[Zinzan]

Nah I just Al Hasan there in the (sadly forlorn) hope ***** would take umbrage it it and have a wahhhhh about it.

Oh gawd, for the sake of the forum, leave it. We're had enough *****'s wahhhing in the last couple of weeks about some of the most trivial things imaginable, let alone suggesting the ATG Shakib was selfish in any way.

 

[vcs]

The opposite can also be true though. Bowling too many boundary balls and costing the team runs in a vain pursuit of wickets can be just as selfish.

That would be extremely selfish if it went against what the captain wanted.

Bowling selfishness is actually very easy to define in that regard: are you doing whatever you want as opposed to what your captain wants? If so, then that's selfish.

In other words,

 

[Zinzan]

Boycott was plain selfish.

Here's the bleacher report's selfish XI, not dissimilar to yours. with the same openers, Kallis, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Hadlee & Warne.

Picking an XI of Only Selfish Cricket Players | Bleacher Report

 

[mr_mister]

was unaware bleacher report covered cricket

 

[Zinzan]

was unaware bleacher report covered cricket

I was Surprised too, and they're generally not too shabby or off the mark either as opposed to others general 'lists' sites who list all-time greatest batsmen like Sachin, Yuvraj, Gambhir etc"

 

[cnerd123]

Nah I just Al Hasan there in the (sadly forlorn) hope ***** would take umbrage it it and have a wahhhhh about it.

Dedicating your posts to try and bait me?

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Oh gawd, for the sake of the forum, leave it. We're had enough *****'s wahhhing in the last couple of weeks about some of the most trivial things imaginable, let alone suggesting the ATG Shakib was selfish in any way.

Waaaahhh

 

[Spark]

Here's the bleacher report's selfish XI, not dissimilar to yours. with the same openers, Kallis, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Hadlee & Warne.

Picking an XI of Only Selfish Cricket Players | Bleacher Report

It's kind of a shame that they ended it with Ajmal Shazhad.

 

[Zinzan]

Waaaahhh

Let's agree not to respond to one another moving forward thanks, I'm not sure if you're a young teenager or not, but I just don't have time anymore... I won't respond to you and I expect the same. Cheers.

 

[Zinzan]

It's kind of a shame that they ended it with Ajmal Shazhad.

I didn't quite get that one.

 

[Victor Ian]

Replace Dhoni with Border and its perfect.

Why? That is just so tedious. Im giving this a 'shame'

 

[Spark]

I mean the entire XI is full of "really good but sometimes famously selfish" players and then you get to... him. Weird.

 

[Zinzan]

I mean the entire XI is full of "really good but sometimes famously selfish" players and then you get to... him. Weird.

Yeah I knew what you meant, I was agreeing it was an odd selection.

 

[jimmy101]

I guess this thread wouldn't be complete without at least one mention of Shane Watson, a real narcissist behind closed doors.

Chris Gayle also fits this bill, not for being a T20 mercenary, but for the lack of support he gives his team-mates IMO.

Shane Warne definately. Especially for that "can't bowl, can't throw" comment about Scott Muller. Obviously Muller didn't fit into the the Aussie dressing room "boys club" according to Warne.

David Gower was known for repeatedly pissing off his skipper Graham Gooch by batting carelessly during key moments in sessions.

Shahid Afridi too. Back when he was captaining Pakistan in Tests, couldn't he have, you know, not gone the tonk everytime he was at crease? Subsequently he would be out for 10 of 3 balls

SF Barnes was somewhat selfish, in that his attitude to cricket was "I'm here to do one thing only: take wickets". Rarely did Barnes ever display any ambition to become a better batsman, fielder or team man.

WG Grace, of course, perhaps the most selfish of them all, never gave a flying f-bomb about anyone else on the field.

And pretty much anyone who ever fixed a match I guess.