All Time Test XI: Asia v Rest of The World

[chaminda_00]

Just thought i'll start a Asia XI vs Rest of The World XI thread up. I know there is a couple of World XI threads, but a World XI can't play anyone (well maybe they play cricket in Mars ). If u guys could pick a Asia XI and Rest of The World XI what would it be, Test players off course. These are my teams for the moment, im sure they change within a couple days, as i would have forgetten a couple players.

Asia XI
S Gavaskar
V Shewag
R Dravid
S Tendulkar
J Miandad
K Sangakkara (wk)
I Khan (c)
K Dev
W Akram
W Younis
M Muralitharan

R. World XI
J Hobbs
H Sutchiffe
D Bradman (c)
G Pollock
G Sobers
V Richards
A Gilchrist (wk)
R Hadlee
S Warne
C Ambrose
G McGarth

So what sides would you guys have??

[FaaipDeOiad]

Cool thread. I'll give it a shot.

World XI
Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Donald Bradman (c)
Brian Lara
Greg Chappell
Gary Sobers
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Richard Hadlee
Shane Warne
Michael Holding
Glenn McGrath

More rotation from the last World XI thread - Imran, Gavaskar (obviously), Hammond and Miller go out, Chappell comes back and Holding, Lara and Hutton come in, with Lara picked over Richards and Hammond to play the spin.

Asia XI
Sunil Gavaskar
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Javed Miandad
Kumar Sangakkara (k)
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Anil Kumble
Muttiah Muralitharan

Sehwag the only questionable one for me really, since he has only played for a few years. Replace with Saeed Anwar or Jayasuria at will.

I think the World XI would probably crush the Asian XI pretty badly due to the shortish batting lineup against the might of Hadlee/Holding/McGrath and the Bradman factor. Still a game I wouldn't mind seeing.

[chaminda_00]

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

Cool thread. I'll give it a shot.

World XI
Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Donald Bradman (c)
Brian Lara
Greg Chappell
Gary Sobers
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Richard Hadlee
Shane Warne
Michael Holding
Glenn McGrath

More rotation from the last World XI thread - Imran, Gavaskar (obviously), Hammond and Miller go out, Chappell comes back and Holding, Lara and Hutton come in, with Lara picked over Richards and Hammond to play the spin.

Can't fault that team too much, it alsways easier picking a Rest of The World, they have so many players

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

Asia XI
Sunil Gavaskar
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Javed Miandad
Kumar Sangakkara (k)
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Anil Kumble
Muttiah Muralitharan

Sehwag the only questionable one for me really, since he has only played for a few years. Replace with Saeed Anwar or Jayasuria at will.

I think the World XI would probably crush the Asian XI pretty badly due to the shortish batting lineup against the might of Hadlee/Holding/McGrath and the Bradman factor. Still a game I wouldn't mind seeing.

H Mahmood is proably the opener i'll go for if not Shewag, but Shewag has got such a brillant record over all other Asian opener (apart from Gavaskar). The Batting line up is a bit short that why i went for Kapil Dev, if i was going to play an extra spiner then i'll drop Waqar Younis. I'll also play Bedi over Kumble but i don't think him and Murali will get along . I guess Chandrasekhar the other option, Kumble got a better record then Abdul Qadir.

I remember a while back i put similar teams into a sim and Rest of The World won 5 nil, mainly down to Bradman. I did another sim without Bradman, G Headley can into the squad (from memory) and Asia won 3-2.

[FaaipDeOiad]

I absolutely forgot about Hanif Mohammad. Scratch Sehwag from my Asian side and put Hanif in his place.

[FaaipDeOiad]

I just had a thought about how to balance out these sides a bit better. How about Northern Hemisphere against Southern Hemisphere? The weakness of the Asian team is that only two sides have a significant period to choose from, and even then India and Pakistan weren't exactly powerful sides early on. Sri Lanka only have a decade or so of good players, and Bangladesh are rubbish.

Both the traditional powers of cricket and the other consistently strong side in the West Indies are outside of Asia, but England are the only non-Asian side in the Northern Hemisphere. Then it's one traditional power on each side, with Australia having the West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand and one rubbish side in Zimbabwe, and Asia getting the greats from England.

So, sides. I'll give it a go...

Northern Hemisphere
Jack Hobbs
Sunil Gavaskar
Rahul Dravid
Walter Hammond
Sachin Tendulkar
Ken Barrington
Imran Khan (c)
Les Ames (k)
Wasim Akram
Fred Trueman
Muttiah Muralitharan

Ames and Sangakkara is a tight one, since Ames doesn't have the greatest ever record as a batsman in tests being that a good portion of his runs came against the poor sides of his time, but he is obviously a MUCH better keeper than Kumar, so he gets the nod. Javed a bit unlucky to miss out, but Hammond and Barrington push him to 12th man duties. Awesome pace attack, and a great spinner. Quality side.


Southern Hemisphere
Gordon Greenidge
Arthur Morris
Donald Bradman (c)
Viv Richards
Greg Chappell
Gary Sobers
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Richard Hadlee
Shane Warne
Michael Holding
Glenn McGrath

Same side exactly with the openers changed due to the English monopoly on three of the top four openers of all time, and Richards in for Lara. Langer and Hayden just miss out on opening spots, as does Lawry. Richards comes in due to the increased reliance on pace in the attack.

[Zinzan]

Originally Posted by chaminda_00

Just thought i'll start a Asia XI vs Rest of The World XI thread up. I know there is a couple of World XI threads, but a World XI can't play anyone (well maybe they play cricket in Mars ). If u guys could pick a Asia XI and Rest of The World XI what would it be, Test players off course. These are my teams for the moment, im sure they change within a couple days, as i would have forgetten a couple players.

Asia XI
S Gavaskar
V Shewag
R Dravid
S Tendulkar
J Miandad
K Sangakkara (wk)
I Khan (c)
K Dev
W Akram
W Younis
M Muralitharan

R. World XI
J Hobbs
H Sutchiffe
D Bradman (c)
G Pollock
G Sobers
V Richards
A Gilchrist (wk)
R Hadlee
S Warne
C Ambrose
G McGarth

So what sides would you guys have??

Like both your sides. Glad you picked Pollock, i feel too many people don't consider him for world xi teams because he only played 23 tests, but He was an all-time great.

Only 2 changes i'd make would be Hanif Mohammad for Sehwag and I'd take Marshall ahead of Ambrose.

I'd predict a fairly easy victory for the rest of the world

[Zinzan]

Whoops. It was Chimanda that picked Pollock.

[chaminda_00]

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

I just had a thought about how to balance out these sides a bit better. How about Northern Hemisphere against Southern Hemisphere? The weakness of the Asian team is that only two sides have a significant period to choose from, and even then India and Pakistan weren't exactly powerful sides early on. Sri Lanka only have a decade or so of good players, and Bangladesh are rubbish.

Both the traditional powers of cricket and the other consistently strong side in the West Indies are outside of Asia, but England are the only non-Asian side in the Northern Hemisphere. Then it's one traditional power on each side, with Australia having the West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand and one rubbish side in Zimbabwe, and Asia getting the greats from England.

Yeah North and South sides would be more even. Also the Windies are part of the Northern Hemisphere, apart from the Guyana players i think, the rest of the countires are in the Northern Hemposhere These would my sides:

North XI
J Hobbs
S Gavaskar
W Hammond
S Tendulkar
G Sobers
K Barrington
C Walcott (wk)
I Khan (c)
W Akram
M Marshall
M Muralitharan

There are two really hard calls there Ken Barrington the last batting spot. Guys like Hutton, Richards, Lara and Dravid all have strong cases but i just want for Barrington cus of his record. The other was the keeper but i would always go for guy like Walcott or Sangakkara with Gilly in the other team. If Healy was picked then i might go for Knott, i would prefer him over Ames.

South XI
M Hayden
J Langer
D Bradman
G Chappell
G Pollock
R Ponting (c)
A Gilchrist
R Haddlee
A Davison
S Warne
G McGarth

I went for Hayden over Morris cus of his combination with Langer. The other guy in contention was Barry Richards, but he didn't enough International cricket. The bowlers were also a hard call, i went for Haddlee and Davison cus of their batting over other guys like Donald, Lillee and Lindwall.

[FaaipDeOiad]

Originally Posted by chaminda_00

Yeah North and South sides would be more even. Also the Windies are part of the Northern Hemisphere, apart from the Guyana players i think, the rest of the countires are in the Northern Hemposhere These would my sides:

Haha, I didn't even think about that. For some bizarre reason I just thought of them as being southern hemisphere.

I wouldn't pick Walcott as the keeper, since he really wasn't one most of the time. Knott or Ames is a better pick - they can both bat very well, well enough in a team which has Akram coming in at number 9. I'd probably also pick Lara or Richards over Tendulkar, but that's a fair enough call.

In the second team, I'd pick Waugh over Ponting at 6, and also have him as captain.

So...

Northern Hemisphere
Jack Hobbs
Sunil Gavaskar
Viv Richards
Walter Hammond
Gary Sobers (c)
Ken Barrington
Imran Khan
Les Ames (k)
Wasim Akram
Michael Holding
Muttiah Muralitharan
12th Man: Sachin Tendulkar

Southern Hemisphere
Arthur Morris
Justin Langer
Donald Bradman
Graeme Pollock
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh (c)
Adam Gilchrist (k)
Richard Hadlee
Alan Davidson
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath
12th Man: Dennis Lillee

Now, THAT would be a match.

[lord_of_darkness]

was Miandad better than Ranatunga?

[chaminda_00]

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

Haha, I didn't even think about that. For some bizarre reason I just thought of them as being southern hemisphere.

I wouldn't pick Walcott as the keeper, since he really wasn't one most of the time. Knott or Ames is a better pick - they can both bat very well, well enough in a team which has Akram coming in at number 9. I'd probably also pick Lara or Richards over Tendulkar, but that's a fair enough call.

In the second team, I'd pick Waugh over Ponting at 6, and also have him as captain.

On the keeping front i would have either Walcott or Sangakkara, from all reports Sangakkara is a slightly better kepper but Walcott allot better batsmen. I think u need the extra batting considering the South side also bat down to 9 (Allan Davison). You have to pick a side to counter the other team.

I would also still have Ponting over Steve, he does have the 2nd best average in Australia outside Bradman.

[FaaipDeOiad]

Originally Posted by lord_of_darkness

was Miandad better than Ranatunga?

I'd say so. Ranatunga was a great ODI player, but was never anything particularly special in tests. Miandad is the only Pakistani to ever average over 50, and did it in the face of some quality opposition.

[chaminda_00]

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

I'd say so. Ranatunga was a great ODI player, but was never anything particularly special in tests. Miandad is the only Pakistani to ever average over 50, and did it in the face of some quality opposition.

Ranatunga was nothing compared to Miandad, their not even in the same league. Ranatunga was a great captain and a decent bat, but thats about it. BTW Inzi averages over 50 ATM.

[FaaipDeOiad]

Originally Posted by chaminda_00

Ranatunga was nothing compared to Miandad, their not even in the same league. Ranatunga was a great captain and a decent bat, but thats about it. BTW Inzi averages over 50 ATM.

Apologies. This is because he scored a century in his last test.

[chaminda_00]

Originally Posted by FaaipDeOiad

Apologies. This is because he scored a century in his last test.

It would be interesting to see how long he can keep it above 50