The strongest club side in the world on paper!

[The Sean]

They were, Sean. I am guilty of just looking for the team packed with the most star names without regard for where they were in their careers, and the mid-50s team was very similar but lacked Edrich, which is why I went for the slightly later team. There are one or two Surrey folk on CW, perhaps they might suggest the strongest XI from that era.

Yeah I would do the same Mr Z - these kind of hypothetical matchups are invariably judged on paper anyway!

It's difficult, if not impossible, to find instances where the full suite of Barbados legends of the '50s overlapped in the same match but I've come up with the best I could. In February 1953, they put this side out against the touring Indians:

RE Marshall
CC Hunte
CL Walcott
ED Weekes
CB Williams
DS Atkinson
*JDC Goddard
+CC Depeiaza
GS Sobers
HA King
HW Barker

The bowling was just decent but that batting lineup is freakish. Obviously the 16yo Sobers who played in that game wasn't yet the cricketer who would go on to be one of the top 2-3 of all time, but that's still a very strong side.

In January 1958 against the touring Pakistanis they unleashed this side:

CC Hunte
MR Bynoe
GS Sobers
ED Weekes
ES Atkinson
*DS Atkinson
PD Lashley
AH Holder
JDC Goddard
WW Hall
+DW Allan

Finally, against the touring MCC over the 1958/59 new year, they sent out this team:

CC Hunte
MR Bynoe
SM Nurse
GS Sobers
PD Lashley
CW Smith
AW White
*ED Weekes
DS Atkinson
CC Griffith
+DW Allan

That last side probably the weakest of the three as Hall wasn't playing and Weekes and Atkinson were well past their best, but it's still a hell of a team.

 

[fredfertang]

Both doubtless cursing Paul Gibb for taking up two places in the team

well I don't know how that happened!

 

[stephen]

Cricket Archive

This QLD team would have to have been one of the strongest batting teams on paper:

RB Kerr
KC Wessels
AR Border
*GS Chappell
GM Ritchie
TV Hohns
+RB Phillips
H Frei
AB Henschell
JR Thomson
JN Maguire

 

[aussie]

Yeah I would do the same Mr Z - these kind of hypothetical matchups are invariably judged on paper anyway!

It's difficult, if not impossible, to find instances where the full suite of Barbados legends of the '50s overlapped in the same match but I've come up with the best I could. In February 1953, they put this side out against the touring Indians:

RE Marshall
CC Hunte
CL Walcott
ED Weekes
CB Williams
DS Atkinson
*JDC Goddard
+CC Depeiaza
GS Sobers
HA King
HW Barker

The bowling was just decent but that batting lineup is freakish. Obviously the 16yo Sobers who played in that game wasn't yet the cricketer who would go on to be one of the top 2-3 of all time, but that's still a very strong side.

In January 1958 against the touring Pakistanis they unleashed this side:

CC Hunte
MR Bynoe
GS Sobers
ED Weekes
ES Atkinson
*DS Atkinson
PD Lashley
AH Holder
JDC Goddard
WW Hall
+DW Allan

Finally, against the touring MCC over the 1958/59 new year, they sent out this team:

CC Hunte
MR Bynoe
SM Nurse
GS Sobers
PD Lashley
CW Smith
AW White
*ED Weekes
DS Atkinson
CC Griffith
+DW Allan

That last side probably the weakest of the three as Hall wasn't playing and Weekes and Atkinson were well past their best, but it's still a hell of a team.

This Barbados team vs ROW in this 1967 exhibiton match,looks fairly strong as well.

Hunte
Bynoe
Lashley
Nurse
Brancker
Sobers*
Bethell
Taylor+
Griffith
Hall
Holford

 

[stephen]

This Barbados team vs ROW in this 1967 exhibiton match,looks fairly strong as well.

Hunte
Bynoe
Lashley
Nurse
Brancker
Sobers*
Bethell
Taylor+
Griffith
Hall
Holford

Heh, amusing for the same reasons as the QLD side I posted.

 

[Goughy]

Talking about 'club' sides rather than state/province as the title suggests.

The last season I played cricket seriously my team had 7 (that I can recall) FC cricketers in it and 2 (currently) that have played International.

Im not saying it was the best 'club' team in the world but it would certainly have given a bad County team a lot to handle (even with me bowling from one end)

Ive just found out that another one of the guys that was in the team has played FC cricket (since I left SA). Im absolutely thrilled to bits for him. That takes it to 8 FC cricketers in the team and since that post another has played top level International cricket so that takes it to 3. And another captaining his team in the Intercontinental Cup (though I dont count that on the International total)

 

[bryce]

Don't think anyone would leave Bollinger out of the one-day XI.
The Canterbury side from 05/06 was epic, if only we could have sent a team like this to the world club challenge lol

1.Brendon McCullum
2.Michael Papps
3.Nathan Astle
4.Peter Fulton
5.Craig McMillan
6.Chris Cairns
7.Chris Harris
8.Paul Wiseman
9.Nixon McLean
10.Shane Bond
11.Stephen Cunis

Gary Stead
Shannan Stewart
Leighton Burtt
Carl Anderson

 

[Flem274*]

Don't think anyone would leave Bollinger out of the one-day XI.
The Canterbury side from 05/06 was epic, if only we could have sent a team like this to the world club challenge lol

1.Brendon McCullum
2.Michael Papps
3.Nathan Astle
4.Peter Fulton
5.Craig McMillan
6.Chris Cairns
7.Chris Harris
8.Paul Wiseman
9.Nixon McLean
10.Shane Bond
11.Stephen Cunis

Gary Stead
Shannan Stewart
Leighton Burtt
Carl Anderson

Pretty sure Chris Martin played for them sometime in 05 as well.

 

[bryce]

Hmmm think 2004/05 was his last season. 2005/06 was his first season for Auckland if i'm correct

 

[Sir Alex]

Mumbai looks formidable.

W Jaffer
S Kukreja
A Rahane
S Tendulkar
R Sharma
A Nayar
V Samant
A Agarkar
R Powar
Z Khan
A Salvi

 

[alvarez]

WA late 90's/early 200's would've gone alright with a batting lineup looking something like this

Michael Hussey
Ryan Campbell
Justin Langer
Damien Martyn
Marcus North
Adam Gilchrist

And Brad Hogg, Brendan Julian and Jo Angel amongst the bowlers.

 

[morgieb]

Going by 'clubs' rather than domestic sides, Lashings always has internationals/ex-internationals, apparently.

 

[James90]

Cricket in the 90s

New South Wales
Michael Slater
Mark Taylor
Michael Bevan
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh
Greg Matthews
Phil Emery
Brad McNamara
Stuart MacGill
Anthony Stuart
Glenn McGrath

Shane Lee (12th Man)

Queensland
Matthew Hayden
Jimmy Maher
Martin Love
Stuart Law
Andrew Symonds
Lee Carseldine
Wade Seccombe
Andrew Bichel
Michael Kasprowicz
Adam Dale
Joe Dawes

Nathan Hauritz (12th Man)

Western Australia
Justin Langer
Michael Hussey
Simon Katich
Damien Martyn
Murray Goodwin
Tom Moody
Adam Gilchrist
Brendan Julian
Brad Hogg
Brad Oldroyd
Jo Angel

Marcus North (12th Man)

 

[morgieb]

****, that is strong. Did Murray Goodwin still play for WA in the 90's though?

 

[James90]

Played for WA between 1994 and 2007

 

[Migara]

****, that is strong. Did Murray Goodwin still play for WA in the 90's though?

Played tests for Zim and was good enough to average 40

 

[gwo]

Queensland 05/06

had the follow players play throughout the season

Jimmy Maher
Shane Watson
Martin Love
Brendan Nash
Andrew Symonds
James Hopes
Chris Hartley
Andy Bichel
Mitchel Johnson
Ashley Noffke
Nathan Hauritz

All internationals of some sort throughout their career.