Which team's alltime XI is best?

[Burgey]

We don't really know the The Don could cope against Marshall, Holding, Walsh, Ambrose, Patterson and the like on fast, hard, bouncy pitches do we. He may have struggled and not scored the glut of runs that he did on the pitches he played on.

As Sanz said, nor do we know how they would have coped against him......

I heard a story related by Dean Jones (whether there's some licence here or not I dunno) where Bradman went into the Windies dressing rooms after the Adelaide test in 1988-89. Jones had made 200 and Merv Hughes 70-odd not out. The team all shook hands with him except Patrick Patterson, who was sitting down. He supposedly looked up at Bradman and said "You Don Bradman?" "Yes". "You Don Bradman?" "Yes" Patterson stands up and says "You tiny, if I bowl to you, I'd get you out, I'd kill you!". Bradman is alleged to have said "Son, you couldn't get Merv Hughes out, how do you think you'd have gone against me?"

 

[Matt79]

yeah, good batsmen did enjoy success against the windies, tho it was damned hard work no doubt. no reason to think Don wouldn't have averaged 50+ against them...

 

[silentstriker]

yeah, good batsmen did enjoy success against the windies, tho it was damned hard work no doubt. no reason to think Don wouldn't have averaged 50+ against them...

Gavaskar averaged in the 40's, so I would think the Don would average at least 60-70.

 

[Anil]

Gavaskar averaged in the 40's, so I would think the Don would average at least 60-70.

against the windies? are you sure? thought he averaged more than his career average against them?

 

[Slifer]

Bodyline IMO gives a fair indication of how the DON would have done against PACE LIKE FYAH. I wouldnt put those bodyline bowlers in the same class of pace like fire and if they can ruffle the feathers of the DON then i think that the 4 prong could probably do the same (like on a bouncy Sabina pitch or perth for example). I still expect DOn to be above average though.

 

[Slats4ever]

west indies (they're clearly better than the Australians with Bradman and if Bradman got out cheaply which is a possibility they'd romp)
Australia




Daylight




Daylight



England maybe

 

[bagapath]

dont forget the south africans

they are the no.1 all time team IMO.

g. kirsten
b. richards
a.d. nourse (c)
g.pollock
j. kallis
aubrey faulkner
s.pollock
m. boucher (wk)
p.pollock
h.j. tayfield
a.donald

- it has two excellent fast bowlers (one of them - donald - an all time great)
- two good fast medium bowlers (one - s.pollock - all time great)
- one off spinner - tayfield. again, an all time great
- one leggie. faulkner who is one of the most devastating all-rounders of all time.
- 4 batsmen - richards, g.pollock, nourse and kallis - with a 50 + average. one of them - g.pollock - is good enough for an all time XI.
- 2 more batsmen - kirsten and faulkner - with a 40+ average
- and the keeper - boucher - averages above 30.

a very versatile team. you are welcome to relace b.richards with g.smith if you think barry hasn't played enough test cricket. it is still a fantastic team.

no 2. Australia:

trumper
morris
bradman (C)
g.chappell
harvey
miller
gilchrist (WK)
warne
lillee
o'reilly
mcgrath

no. 3 England:

hobbs
hutton
barrington
hammond (c)
compton
ames (wk)
botham
rhodes
truman
barnes
laker

no 4. West Indies:

greenidge
haynes
richards (C)
headley
lara
sobers
dujon (wk)
marshall
ambrose
gibbs
garner

 

[bagapath]

As Sanz said, nor do we know how they would have coped against him......

I heard a story related by Dean Jones (whether there's some licence here or not I dunno) where Bradman went into the Windies dressing rooms after the Adelaide test in 1988-89. Jones had made 200 and Merv Hughes 70-odd not out. The team all shook hands with him except Patrick Patterson, who was sitting down. He supposedly looked up at Bradman and said "You Don Bradman?" "Yes". "You Don Bradman?" "Yes" Patterson stands up and says "You tiny, if I bowl to you, I'd get you out, I'd kill you!". Bradman is alleged to have said "Son, you couldn't get Merv Hughes out, how do you think you'd have gone against me?"

sachin asked the don at his 90th birthday party how he much he would have averaged against the west indian pace battery of the 80s. the don had said "may be around 70". sachin asked if he thought they were too good that they would have brought his average down by 30 runs?. the don is supposed to have said 'son, i would have been over 70 years old. do you expect me to do better than that?"

 

[oz_fan]

I went with Australia. They have the best batsman of all time (Bradman) and probably the most balanced bowling attack as well (with two of the best fast bowlers of all time and arguably the greatest spinner of all time). I would place the WI second for their superb middle order which includes IMO the best allrounder of all time (Sobers) and their pace attack. Third would go to either England or SA. After that I would have:
5. Pakistan
6. India
7. SL
8. NZ

 

[Slifer]

Wont get too much disagreements from me Ozfan though I would place Pakistan a little higher up (perhaps just behind the WI).

 

[Dravid]

Aust:

Hayden
Langer\
Bradman
G CHapell
S Waugh
Border
Gilchrist
K Miller
S Warne
D Lillee
G Mcgrath

vs

WI

Hunte
Greenidge
Richards
Lara
Walcott/Weekes
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Holding
Ambrose
Garner

Hmm i think the Aussies edge it!!!

Where the hell is Bush? The best batsman for Australia atm and their captain, and you didn't select him?

 

[Slifer]

dont forget the south africans

they are the no.1 all time team IMO.

g. kirsten
b. richards
a.d. nourse (c)
g.pollock
j. kallis
aubrey faulkner
s.pollock
m. boucher (wk)
p.pollock
h.j. tayfield
a.donald

- it has two excellent fast bowlers (one of them - donald - an all time great)
- two good fast medium bowlers (one - s.pollock - all time great)
- one off spinner - tayfield. again, an all time great
- one leggie. faulkner who is one of the most devastating all-rounders of all time.
- 4 batsmen - richards, g.pollock, nourse and kallis - with a 50 + average. one of them - g.pollock - is good enough for an all time XI.
- 2 more batsmen - kirsten and faulkner - with a 40+ average
- and the keeper - boucher - averages above 30.

a very versatile team. you are welcome to relace b.richards with g.smith if you think barry hasn't played enough test cricket. it is still a fantastic team.

no 2. Australia:

trumper
morris
bradman (C)
g.chappell
harvey
miller
gilchrist (WK)
warne
lillee
o'reilly
mcgrath

no. 3 England:

hobbs
hutton
barrington
hammond (c)
compton
ames (wk)
botham
rhodes
truman
barnes
laker

no 4. West Indies:

greenidge
haynes
richards (C)
headley
lara
sobers
marshall
ambrose
gibbs
garner

Dont know y u wood place WI that low. Maybe it has sumthing to do with the fact that u have 10 men playing against teams of eleven. Ne way WI too far down IMO. Many of those South Africans were mostly unproven against 'certain' teams so an asterix remains against such players (G Pollock, B Richards, etc). Not their fault just the nature of politics.

 

[bagapath]

sorry buddy. missed jeff dujon as wk. dont know how to justify why i placed them so low. i apllied the desperate method of adding up the batting averages and wickets per test ratios. ended up with this order. will stick to it.

agree barry can be replaced. thats why i've said smith is there as an option. but g.pollock played enough to deserve his place i think.

 

[adharcric]

West Indies, easily. Next is Australia. A fair distance behind you get Pakistan. Then South Africa, India and England.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I went with other. Their all-time test squad looks the good, IMO.

 

[aussie]

1st: West Indies

Hunte
Greenidge
Lara
Richards
Sobers
Worrell*
Walcott
Marshall
Garner
Ambrose
Gibbs

2nd: AUSTRALIA

Trumper
Hayden
Bradman*
G Chappell
S Waugh
Miller
Gilchrist+
Davidson
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

3rd: England

Hutton*
Hobbs
Hammond
Compton
Barrington
Ames+
Botham
Rhodes
Snow
Trueman
Barnes

4th: South Africa

Mitchell
Richards
G Pollock
Nourse
Kallis
Procter*
Faulkner
Cameron+
Tayfield
Donald
Adcock

5th: Pakistan

Anwar
H Mohammad
Abbas
Miandad
Inzamam
Asif Iqbal
Imran Khan*
Wasim Akram
Wasim Bari+
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younis

6th India, 7th New Zealand, 8th Sril Lanka

 

[tooextracool]

Gotta love Hayden making the all time XI for Australia. Guess they've never managed to produce an opener that could play swing bowling for more than a tenth of his career.

 

[andmark]

I love the Barmy Army but it has to be Windies or the Aussies Im still thing who any suggestions

 

[andmark]

1st: West Indies

Hunte
Greenidge
Lara
Richards
Sobers
Worrell*
Walcott
Marshall
Garner
Ambrose
Gibbs

2nd: AUSTRALIA

Trumper
Hayden
Bradman*
G Chappell
S Waugh
Miller
Gilchrist+
Davidson
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

3rd: England

Hutton*
Hobbs
Hammond
Compton
Barrington
Ames+
Botham
Rhodes
Snow
Trueman
Barnes

4th: South Africa

Mitchell
Richards
G Pollock
Nourse
Kallis
Procter*
Faulkner
Cameron+
Tayfield
Donald
Adcock

5th: Pakistan

Anwar
H Mohammad
Abbas
Miandad
Inzamam
Asif Iqbal
Imran Khan*
Wasim Akram
Wasim Bari+
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younis

6th India, 7th New Zealand, 8th Sril Lanka

Good Australia team

 

[aussie]

Gotta love Hayden making the all time XI for Australia. Guess they've never managed to produce an opener that could play swing bowling for more than a tenth of his career.

i dunno, but he has clearly improved in that area, added to the fact that he is probably the most dominant opener Australia have produced is a fair claim to be amongst the top 2 openers for Australia IMO.