[Jager]

Originally Posted by Flametree

Questions for KYear...

So was it "intellectually dishonest" of the Australian selectors in the 90s to pick David Boon at 3? or the English selectors when they picked Vaughan or Butcher to play and not open....

(Given the bowling line-ups these alltime sides will be facing in the mythical contest we're considering, I think having a 3rd opener to come in at 3 is a pretty sensible strategy myself...)

If you can't play Hutton and Sutcliffe together because you don't want them at the crease at the same time, does this mean you didn't pick Dravid in your all-time Indian xi because you wouldn't want him batting with Gavaskar? (later edit... oh I see you did?)

If players can only be picked to play in their best positions, does this mean I can only pick one of Bradman, Ponting and Harvey in an all-time Aussie xi, since they all batted at 3?

And re the McGrath/Davidson discussion, who's this "we" who picked McGrath in an all-time xi?

Bowlers I consider better than McGrath :
Marshall, Lillee, Trueman, Ambrose (plus Barnes though I'm a bit confused still if they perform similar roles)

Bowlers as good as McGrath who offer more to the whole team due to batting/fielding/variety :
Procter, Miller, Lindwall, Davidson, Hadlee, Imran, Wasim

He was a great, but he's nowhere near my all time xi. And I happily pick Davidson ahead of McGrath in an all-time Australian side, for the left-arm variety and the batting.

So many great points there.

Also kyear I don't understand how you classify Hobbs as a greater runscorer than Sutcliffe when the latter averages more and had a better conversion rate of fifties to hundreds as well.