Everyone always says Neil Johnson, but I'd never select him because he didn't care about Zimbabwe. He never put any work in to develop cricket in Zim, unlike his fellow returnee Murray Goodwin, who moved to Harare and did loads of coaching. Dave Houghton said "Neil played for Neil, not for Zimbabwe". He probably was a better player than Guy Whittall, but Guy has a proven test record. Huckle was a good bowler but I just like Ray Price to be honest, I'd have him in every team I select- also, two leggies could be very expensive- the idea would be for Ray to block up an end and let Strang attack from the other.No Neil Johnson? I always thought he was a much better player than the stats may suggest. Shame he retired so early. I thought he was a better player than Guy Whittall anyway. Alastair Campbell is the only other decent rival for the captaincy position. Not much to choose between him and Fletcher in my opinion.
Adam Huckle could come in for Brandes on a spinning wicket - depending on whether you'd care to have two leggies in the same side. In an ODI, there's no need for Ray Price to be twelfth man when you can call on Grant Flower's non-spinning spinners, so could be that your twelfth man should be the best fielder - possibly Sean Ervine? Also in ODIs, Arnott would be out of the question... I may even be so bold as to suggest Brendan Taylor in that format... Not the most technically adept, but certainly a good clean hitter of a ball.
Rohan Kanhai was a "pretty" batsman..elegant strokemaker,moreso than Lara, and was not intimidated by any bowler where as Lara admittedly towards the end of his career became a "bunny" for some bowlers..eg McGrath. Khanhai in full flight was a joy to behold ( and I have seen both of them in full cry)
Agreed. the number of batsmen who can claim to have ever gotten the better of SF Barnes is a number not much more than zero, but Herbie Taylor is there.Quote:
Originally Posted by bagapath
All time SA XI
G.Kirsten
B.Richards
A.D.Nourse
G.Pollock
J.Kallis
G.A.Faulkner
M.Boucher +
S.Pollock
P.Pollock
H.J.Tayfield
A.A. Donald
this team is filled with greats and can give any all time XI a run for its money
Does anyone remember Taylor? I know SF Barnes rated him very highly
Wow, just realised how similar both our Australian XIs are - nice work mate!1. Arthur Morris
2. Victor Trumper
3. Don Bradman
4. Greg Chappell
5. Steve Waugh
6. Keith Miller
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Shane Warne
9. Dennis Lillee
10. Bill O'Reilly
11. Glenn McGrath
2nd XI
1. Bill Ponsford
2. Matt Hayden
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Neil Harvey
5. Allan Border
6. Stan McCabe
7. Ian Healy
8. Ray Lindwall
9. Alan Davidson
10. Clarrie Grimmett
11. Fred Spofforth
My All Time WI side would look something like...TEAM[in batting order]
Greenidge
Haynes
Richards
Kanhai
Sobers
Lloyd
Walcott[keeper]
Gibbs
Hall
Walsh
Griffiths
Worrell[12th man]
Very hard to leave out Gilchrist and Headley
For an All-time XI, one wud have to consider that they'd be playing in diff conditions, eras, lands. The AT XI must showcase variety and balance.Only thing is, I probably wouldn't have a spinner in the WI team unless he was as good as Murali/Warne (eg, was as good as a frontline pace bowler in terms of S/R, average, etc).
Phillip Derriman chose an all time Australian XI in the 1980s (in his book The Top 100 and the First XI) along the same lines as you - with 5 batsmen, 5 bowlers and a keeper. His argument being that an all rounder at no.6 weakens your bowling and makes no difference to your batting under the theory that if five batsmen can't get the necessary runs, a sixth is unlikely to make any difference.Trumper
Ponsford
Bradman (c)
Border
G.Chappell
Gilchrist (wk)
Davidson
Warne
Lillee
Thomson
McGrath
Lillee 'n Thomson arguably one of the greatest opening attacks and s/b given full consideration.
Border has to be there, Aus greatest LH batsman to complement Bradman. A fighter.
O'Reilly misses out, cuz of Warne
Miller misses out, cuz there's nothing he can do that others in team cannot.
When picking a team, one has to consider balance over better players
But thats the thing, guys like Marshall proved that they can be just as effective in the 4th innings as any spinner. He averaged 17.65 in the fourth innings of a Test match...that's good enough for me.For an All-time XI, one wud have to consider that they'd be playing in diff conditions, eras, lands. The AT XI must showcase variety and balance.
Hence Gibbs who superceded spinners of his time such as Bedi, Unders, Chandra, Pras
Wow.But thats the thing, guys like Marshall proved that they can be just as effective in the 4th innings as any spinner. He averaged 17.65 in the fourth innings of a Test match...that's good enough for me.
Bishan Singh Bedi averaged 14.46 (13.32 at home, 18 away). But he was off spin and played a lot in India so you'd expect a big jump but 14.46 is exceptional.Wow.