Playing selector: Lets pick the best test XI of different eras

[bagapath]

How so Faulkner even though he played few test with this record has to be regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders so too Mankad IMO.

Some other worthy mentioned would be Hadlee, Rhodes, Pollock, Procter & Rice even though a great test careers was lost due South Africa being banned & probably even Davidson.

davidson never scored a test century. 5 fifties in 44 tests is actually not very exciting.

 

[silentstriker]

Stats don't always tell the whole truth, yea Ponting & Dravid have the best averages @ #3 over the past 20 years, but i wont bat them @ 3 ahead of Lara, Tendulkar even though he surprisingly has never batted there in test or King Viv. I personally would bat Tendulkar 3 because at his best has a superb technique & has great experience from ODI cricket opening then Lara & Richards.

I completely agree. Tendulkar has the best technique, so he should bat high up. Lara is more dominating and playes the spinners better, so he should bat at #4, and King Viv should be #5.

Pretty good line up, I would say. Ponting and Dravid maybe unlucky to miss out, but I wouldn't put either of them ahead of Tendy/Lara/Viv. Dravid has the best defensive technique, but Sachins' technique is better overall. Ponting has a great combination of defense/attack, but not as much as Lara/Tendy.

And no one, and I mean no one, attacked as well as Viv Richards (maybe Gilchrist). Plus, he also adds the intimidation factor.

 

[aussie tragic]

yeap i did from 1982 onwards until he retired whenever there was coverage on indian tv. his best was certainly before 1986. he didnt score a single test hundred after 1988 i think. a certainty in the 1965 to 1985 era. but not in this one, for me, that is.

Viv scored 5 centuries since 1986, with his last one in May 1989. He also scored 20 fifties during this time (incl 5 fifties in his last 5 tests in 1991). Again, good enough for me when combined with his fear factor.

 

[bagapath]

at no 5. i would go for waugh or border. viv is my no 3 in the prev era and no 4 in my all time XI. i am not able to accomodate him in this team ahead of those two aussies. they were specialists in late middle order. i am saying it without checking stats i must agree. may be the numbers put them in lesser light compared to richards at no 5. but i remember those two stabilizing many an innings from 5 or 6.

 

[aussie tragic]

at no 5. i would go for waugh or border. viv is my no 3 in the prev era and no 4 in my all time XI. i am not able to accomodate him in this team ahead of those two aussies. they were specialists in late middle order. i am saying it without checking stats i must agree. may be the numbers put them in lesser light compared to richards at no 5. but i remember those two stabilizing many an innings from 5 or 6.

1986-2006 #5 Stats:

Border: 1497 @ 46.78
Richards: 1820 @ 46.66

I'm pleading the 5th on stats for S Waugh though as it wouldn't look good for Viv

 

[SJS]

davidson never scored a test century. 5 fifties in 44 tests is actually not very exciting.

There has been no one like Faulkner !!

I think I would like to put in perspective the performances of Faulkner here.

1. Except when he was brought back for one game in 1924, Faulkner played all his test matches between 1906 and 1912.

2. During this period :-

- He scored more runs BY FAR than any other South African batsman 1717 runs at 41.9. Nourse, that great South African batsman was next with 1172 runs at 30.1 !!

- He scored more centuries (4) than anyone else. All the other batsmen put together scored just 7 between them !!

- He scored the ONLY double century scored by any South African batsman during this time.

- He took more wickets (82) than any other South African during this period !!

- Only one South African took more catches than Faulkner took during this time.

These are absolutely amazing figures.

There is no player in the history of the game who has dominated both the batting and the bowling of his side in the entire history of the game.

 

[aussie tragic]

There has been no one like Faulkner !!

I think I would like to put in perspective the performances of Faulkner here.

1. Except when he was brought back for one game in 1924, Faulkner played all his test matches between 1906 and 1912.

2. During this period :-

- He scored more runs BY FAR than any other South African batsman 1717 runs at 41.9. Nourse, that great South African batsman was next with 1172 runs at 30.1 !!

- He scored more centuries (4) than anyone else. All the other batsmen put together scored just 7 between them !!

- He scored the ONLY double century scored by any South African batsman during this time.

- He took more wickets (82) than any other South African during this period !!

- Only one South African took more catches than Faulkner took during this time.

These are absolutely amazing figures.

There is no player in the history of the game who has dominated both the batting and the bowling of his side in the entire history of the game.

I'm confused, what has that got to do with the best XI of 1986-2006?

 

[SJS]

I'm confused, what has that got to do with the best XI of 1986-2006?

Nothing

We just exchanged a few posts on how good really was Faulkner on this thread.

 

[SJS]

Oh well, at least you got me to look up a Player I've never heard of, impressive except for the fact that he "died tragically by his own hand".

You may have never heard of him but the fact is that Faulkner was one of the greatest cricketers produced by South Africa, ever.

 

[aussie tragic]

You may have never heard of him but the fact is that Faulkner was one of the greatest cricketers produced by South Africa, ever.

That's why I said impressive and I wasn't just talking about his cricket. His war record and the fact that he set up the first cricket school in England were part of it.

Now look what you've done, now I'm also changing the topic of the thread

 

[SJS]

That's why I said impressive and I wasn't just talking about his cricket. His war record and the fact that he set up the first cricket school in England were part of it.

Now look what you've done, now I'm also changing the topic of the thread

You know, in India we were never exposed to South African cricket never having played them or ever seen them play.

Then when I first read of Faulkner about 30 years ago, I found it difficult to believe that there was ever such a fantastic cricketer and one had never heard of him. Then I read quite a bit of him and I am always amazed at how little is known of him ion our country.

 

[aussie]

davidson never scored a test century. 5 fifties in 44 tests is actually not very exciting.

True, but he still is considered as an all-rounder.

 

[aussie tragic]

With the #2 Opener Poll being extremely close (between Anwar, Langer & Sehwag), I’ve further reviewed all the stats for the Middle Order batsmen and I have separated them into the position in which the stats show they had the most impact during their 1986-2006 careers.

# 3 Batsman

David Boon
Rahul Dravid
Stephen Fleming*
Andrew Jones
Dean Jones
Younis Khan
Brian Lara
VVS Laxman
Ricky Ponting
Richie Richardson
Kumar Sangakkara

*Fleming has been added since the original list

# 4 Batsman

Allan Border
Martin Crowe
Daryll Cullinan
Aravinda De Silva
Mahela Jayawardene
Jacques Kallis
Damien Martyn
Javed Miandad
Sachin Tendulkar
Inzamam Ul-Haq
Dilip Vengsarker
Mark Waugh

# 5 Batsman

Mohammad Azharuddin
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Andy Flower
Surav Ganguly
David Gower
Saleem Malik
Viv Richards
Graham Thorpe
Steve Waugh
Mohammad Yousuf

I also propose that the two batsmen that receive the next highest number of votes in the # 3 and # 4 Poll will automatically go through to the next Batting Poll as for all we know they are the next two best batsmen overall (e.g. Lara may come 2nd as # 3, however he may then rightly be selected as # 4 or # 5).

Any tweaking required as 4-days to go 'till # 3 Poll?

 

[Salamuddin]

Best Test X1 from last 20 years

1. Haynes
2. Sunny G
3. Richie Richardson
4. Brian Lara
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Steve Waugh
7. Andrew Flower
8. Wasim Akram
9. Waqar Younis
10. Murali
11. Curtley Ambrose

 

[AussieDominance]

wouldnt agree with Waqar

 

[aussie tragic]

Best Test X1 from last 20 years

1. Haynes

Can we assume that you haven't voted on the Opener Polls then as Haynes has not received any votes?

 

[Alysum]

Here's mine

1. Hayden
2. Langer
3. Ponting
4. Lara
5. Tendulkar
6. Botham
7. Healy
8. Warne
9. Hadlee
10. McGrath
11. Ambrose

 

[aussie tragic]

The # 2 Opener Poll closed with Anwar and Sehwag with equal votes, therefore another Poll will be run to determine which one of these two will partner Hayden.

Please note that this Poll will only run for 3-days.

 

[aussie tragic]

Due to comments that there are too many options, for all future positions, I propose we first have a 5-day preliminary Poll, whereby the 3 highest vote getters will then go into a 3-day selection Poll.

Comments??

 

[Fusion]

Due to comments that there are too many options, for all future positions, I propose we first have a 5-day preliminary Poll, whereby the 3 highest vote getters will then go into a 3-day selection Poll.

Comments??

Excellent idea.