Wisden's Dream Test XI 2008

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Not many candidates, between Amla and Ponting, Sarwan probably not got enough weight of runs

Due to his terrible NZ series, as I suspected. He was top drawer against Sri Lanka and Australia in the first half of the year.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Hashim Amla with over 1100 runs at 55 plus is the only player with over a 1000 and has the highest average and yet is not in the side. He has mostly batted at number three. Why should he not have been there before Ponting?

Well, if you had to pick a side to play Mars on 1 January 2009, would you have Amla or Ponting at three?

Ntini should have been in over Zaheer though.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

O'Brilliant to be disappointed.....

 

[Evermind]

Bowling stats without minnows for 2008

A case could be made for Harbhajan to be included, but definitely not Zaheer. At least 10 bowlers did better than him in 2008.

Steyn is so far superior to all other bowlers it's pretty scary. In year that was generally awful for bowlers (tracks getting flatter every day), he really stands out.

 

[bagapath]

shastri had opted for murali and ian smith for bhaji. ian bishop wanted mendis. the convener, dont know who it was, cast his vote to break the tie and bhajji got in. similarly one pace bowling slot was a three way tie between ishanth, zaheer and sidebottom. again the convener had to step in and he chose zaheer. mendis and sidebottom replacing these two indian bowlers would make the side much stronger, IMO.

The Hindu : Sport : Wisden honour for Sehwag

 

[Burgey]

Convener to be identified as Sunny Gavaskar, imo.

 

[honestbharani]

Convener to be identified as Sunny Gavaskar, imo.

lol... Sunny is the last guy to do that... He hits out at foreign players and coaches but he doesn't exactly praise our guys to the moon, unless it happens to be Sachin Tendulkar...



The Channel 9 guys, on the other hand.............................

 

[Jakester1288]

Amla seems a very forgotten man.

Ponting made the 3rd most runs in Tests in 2008, 1182 @ 47.28 with 4 100's and 5 50's. Everyone seems to remember him by his recent performances in 2009. He performed well in 2008 and deserves his position in the side. Bowling attack is poor, Harbhajan and Kahn wouldn't be there if I was selecting the side. Also, Gambhir would be very close to the side, as with Amla and Clarke.

Most runs between 1st January 2008 and 31st December 2008:




Full list here.

 

[bagapath]

Amla seems a very forgotten man.

could it be because he is kind of boring to watch?
clarification: i know this is not supposed to be a team of eleven most attractive players. my point is, could he be a forgotten man because his game is so unexciting that no one wants to remember him, a bit like kallis or dravid compared to sachin or pietersen?

 

[biased indian]

could it be because he is kind of boring to watch?
clarification: i know this is not supposed to be a team of eleven most attractive players. my point is, could he be a forgotten man because his game is so unexciting that no one wants to remember him, a bit like kallis or dravid compared to sachin or pietersen?

one other problem is they would have said whom to select from south africa and would have only thoguht about smith kallis and AB and might have forgotten him

 

[Migara]

Bowling stats without minnows for 2008

A case could be made for Harbhajan to be included, but definitely not Zaheer. At least 10 bowlers did better than him in 2008.

Steyn is so far superior to all other bowlers it's pretty scary. In year that was generally awful for bowlers (tracks getting flatter every day), he really stands out.

Even with that Murali > Harbhajan.

 

[SJS]

Well, if you had to pick a side to play Mars on 1 January 2009, would you have Amla or Ponting at three?

Ntini should have been in over Zaheer though.

You have a point there. I do not rate Amla a better player. I just said This makes no sense. I dont think the criteria could be just 2008 figures.. Because the figures of 2008 were linked I presume that was the major criteria. Otherwise I agree with you completely. Even on current form I would pick Ponting without batting an eye lid. Not just Ponting I could name a couple of other batsmen not in that list too before Amls but letsnot go there

I think you are right about Ntini too but why just him , even in the case of Murali versus Harbhajan.

Tell you waht these guys (whoever were on the jury/panel) were told "We are to look at 2008 records but do not forget last months performances are vital"

 

[oitoitoi]

You have a point there. I do not rate Amla a better player. I just said This makes no sense. I dont think the criteria could be just 2008 figures.. Because the figures of 2008 were linked I presume that was the major criteria. Otherwise I agree with you completely. Even on current form I would pick Ponting without batting an eye lid. Not just Ponting I could name a couple of other batsmen not in that list too before Amls but letsnot go there

I think you are right about Ntini too but why just him , even in the case of Murali versus Harbhajan.

Tell you waht these guys (whoever were on the jury/panel) were told "We are to look at 2008 records but do not forget last months performances are vital"

I think it's sort of a mix of who deserves it and who should get it if you know what I mean.

 

[garage flower]

A case could be made for Harbhajan to be included, but definitely not Zaheer. At least 10 bowlers did better than him in 2008.

Ok, I haven't watched as much cricket as I'd have liked this year, but based on what I have seen, and particularly India's home series against Australia and England in late 2008, this strikes me as a ludicrous assertion. Zaheer bowled superbly in nearly every spell I saw.

 

[garage flower]

could it be because he is kind of boring to watch?
clarification: i know this is not supposed to be a team of eleven most attractive players. my point is, could he be a forgotten man because his game is so unexciting that no one wants to remember him, a bit like kallis or dravid compared to sachin or pietersen?

Looks like I'm picking on you, which I'm not, but another suggestion I'd take issue with. I think Amla's batting is very easy on the eye.

 

[Krishna_j]

Wisden, named Virender Sehwag as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2008 and
Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain of its first ever Dream Test XI which has five Indians in the ranks.

The Wisden Test XI of 2008:

Virender Sehwag (India),
Graeme Smith (South Africa),
Ricky Ponting (Australia),
Sachin Tendulkar (India),
Kevin Pietersen (England),
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies),
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India),
Harbhajan Singh (India),
Mitchell Johnson (Australia),
Dale Steyn (South Africa)
Zaheer Khan (India).

LINK

Hmm -looks like there a definite correlation between names and current test standings

- no tears or surprises that not a single Kiwi or B'deshi comes even remotely close -but a bit strange that no Paku OR Lankan figures - surely Younis Khan and Murali should be in there somewhere

 

[Evermind]

Ok, I haven't watched as much cricket as I'd have liked this year, but based on what I have seen, and particularly India's home series against Australia and England in late 2008, this strikes me as a ludicrous assertion. Zaheer bowled superbly in nearly every spell I saw.

Check the stats. Zaheer did pretty poorly.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Yes, stats...

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Hmm -looks like there a definite correlation between names and current test standings

- no tears or surprises that not a single Kiwi or B'deshi comes even remotely close -but a bit strange that no Paku OR Lankan figures - surely Younis Khan and Murali should be in there somewhere

Give it up!!

 

[oitoitoi]

Hmm -looks like there a definite correlation between names and current test standings

- no tears or surprises that not a single Kiwi or B'deshi comes even remotely close -but a bit strange that no Paku OR Lankan figures - surely Younis Khan and Murali should be in there somewhere

Not really suprising at all. Pakistan played almost no test cricket, and when they did it was on joke pitches. The only Sri Lankan to really have a good year was Samaraweera and again he scored on very flat decks. There were some good performances but none to challenge that list.