All-Time Tour of England Team

[Matt79]

Inspired from a comment in Manee's stability vs. rotation thread. If you could pick a team of non-English players to participate in a tour of England based solely on their achievements IN England, what would your team look like?

We could do a series of these actually, Tour of Australia, Tour of India, etc

I'd tentatively suggest Bradman and Warne as possibles

 

[Richard]

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Bradman
IVA Richards
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Warne
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Murali
Alderman

A few names to start with.

 

[Matt79]

Morris as one of the openers?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Morris as one of the openers?

Gordon Greenidge would be a candidate.

 

[NUFAN]

Morris as one of the openers?

And/Or Graeme Smith?

 

[Richard]

Smith needs to play more than 2 innings first (and this is from one of his biggest fans).

 

[Matt79]

If were only at Lords, you'd have McGrath and Miller in the team in a heartbeat...

 

[Richard]

McGrath must surely be a serious consideration anyway hactually. Anyone think of some seamers who've done better?

 

[The Sean]

DK Lillee to get a run, surely.

Sobers wasn't too shabby either, his 1966 series was something else.

 

[The Sean]

Malcolm Marshall too, though now the XI is starting to resemble a generic all time XI!

 

[Matt79]

If we're having Murali and Warne, we'll need an allrounder who bowls pace. Candidates off the top of my head including Miller, Sobers, Khan, Kapil, and since its a batting allrounder we're really after, Kallis.

Sobers 21 matches, 1820 runs at 53.52 (5 centuries), and 62 wickets at 31.58 (3 five-fers)
Miller 15 matches, 610 runs at 24.4 (1 century) and 44 wickets at 24.34 (2 five-fers)
Khan 12 matches, 500 runs at 35.71 (1 century), and 47 wickets at 24.63 (4 five-fers)
Dev 13 matches, 638 runs at 35.44 (1 century), and 43 wiclets at 39.18 (2 five-fers)
Kallis 8 matches, 482 runs at 37.07 (1 century) and 25 at 26.72 (1 five-fer)

Sober's the clear winner there IMO. Surprised at how poor Miller's record as a batsman in England was - probably reflected the bowling load he carried there, and the fact that his best batting performances in England occurred before the resumption of Test cricket.

 

[Matt79]

George Headley. Only six matches, but 611 runs, incl. 3 centuries.

 

[NUFAN]

Steve Waugh has to play!!

22 Tests 1633 runs average of 77.85. 7 100s.

I would drop Murali - go with 3 pace bowlers and Warne.

 

[pasag]

Macartney.

Including tour matches btw?

 

[The Sean]

Steve Waugh has to play!!

22 Tests 1633 runs average of 77.85. 7 100s.

I would drop Murali - go with 3 pace bowlers and Warne.

Wow, good call - didn't realise his record was quite so stupendous in England. I was going to suggest AB but he averaged a mere 65!

 

[The Sean]

Macartney.

Including tour matches btw?

Well if it's a full tour we could always play others in the Tests and unleash the G-G on Nottingham.

 

[pasag]

Up to a certain point I think it should be taken into account. Back in the day Tests were obviously the most important thing but as far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, but a true test of how good a player was, was if he could conquer all conditions in England over a long tour there. And Matt does say tour in the title.

 

[Richard]

Basically, failure in tour-games and success in Tests has always been rare. But success in tour-games and failure in Tests, which would these days be considered very poor form indeed, was then merely "how odd" sort of thing.

I'd only ever bring tour-game form into the reckoning if tie-breaks were needed on Tests.

 

[NUFAN]

What keeper would you pick?

Gilchrist averages 40.07. Most of the other top batsmen/keepers average around the 30 mark in England.

Don't know if picking Gilly or someone more famous for his keeping would be better.

 

[Richard]

If we're having Murali and Warne, we'll need an allrounder who bowls pace. Candidates off the top of my head including Miller, Sobers, Khan, Kapil, and since its a batting allrounder we're really after, Kallis.

Sobers 21 matches, 1820 runs at 53.52 (5 centuries), and 62 wickets at 31.58 (3 five-fers)
Miller 15 matches, 610 runs at 24.4 (1 century) and 44 wickets at 24.34 (2 five-fers)
Khan 12 matches, 500 runs at 35.71 (1 century), and 47 wickets at 24.63 (4 five-fers)
Dev 13 matches, 638 runs at 35.44 (1 century), and 43 wiclets at 39.18 (2 five-fers)
Kallis 8 matches, 482 runs at 37.07 (1 century) and 25 at 26.72 (1 five-fer)

Sober's the clear winner there IMO. Surprised at how poor Miller's record as a batsman in England was - probably reflected the bowling load he carried there, and the fact that his best batting performances in England occurred before the resumption of Test cricket.

Sobers should play as a batsman for mine, he's better than most batsmen anyway. Then have Imran in as an all-rounder.

Kallis' record in England is no more than respectible. He should not be in.