Mystery Draft Poll

[Athlai]

Vote for the best team!!!
Every player had to choose a player from each top 8 Test nation and 1 from Zimbabwe/Bangers and also choose 3 from one of the top 8 nations randomly assigned to them. The players had to have played since 1979.

Charter 77 (Michael) - assigned England

Geoff Boycott
Sanath Jayasuriya
David Gower
Javed Miandad
Steve Waugh (c)
Andy Flower (wk)
Chris Cairns
Fannie de Villiers
Michael Holding
Bishen Bedi
Bob Willis

The Staines (Pothas) - assigned New Zealand

Tamim Iqbal
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Rahul Dravid
Kevin Pietersen
Ross Taylor
Clive Lloyd (c)
Mark Boucher (wk)
Richard Hadlee
Wasim Akram
Shane Warne
Shane Bond

Marcuss - assigned India

Virender Sehwag
Desmond Haynes
Stephen Fleming
Jacques Kallis
VVS Laxman
Alec Stewart (wk)
Mahmudullah
Kapil Dev
Muttiah Muralitharan
Shoaib Akhtar
Glenn McGrath

Cevno - assigned Sri Lanka

Murray Goodwin
Gautam Gambhir
Viv Richards
M Jayawardene
Aravinda de Silva
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Daniel Vettori
Darren Gough
Allan Donald
Waqar Younis
Ajantha Mendis

The Dishpigs (Blakus) - assigned Pakistan

Glenn Turner
Saeed Anwar
Ricky Ponting
Daryll Cullinan
Dave Houghton
Mushtaq Mohammad
Imran Khan (c)
Alan Knott (wk)
Chaminda Vaas
Joel Garner
Bhagwath Candrasekhar

The Avengers (Athlai) - assigned South Africa

Sunil Gavaskar
Graeme Smith
Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
Martin Crowe
Allan Border (c)
Zaheer Abbas
BM McMillan
Shaun Pollock
Heath Streak
Andy Roberts
Derek Underwood

Los Karapinchas (Himmanv) - assigned West Indies

Mathew Hayden
Gordon Greenidge
John F. Reid
Sachin Tendulkar (c)
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Ian Botham
Tatenda Taibu (wk)
Malcolm Marshall
Dale Steyn
Curtly Ambrose
Jayananda Warnaweera

Somerset XI (Somerset) - assigned Australia

Gary Kirsten
Brendan McCullum (wk)
Brian Lara
Greg Chappell
Mohammad Yousuf
Thilan Samaraweera
Andrew Flintoff
Shakib Al Hasan
Anil Kumble
Dennis Lillee
Jeff Thomson

[G.I.Joe]

Between Marcuss, Athlai and Somerset for me.

Went for Marcuss on the basis he doesn't have a player in there that I dislike.

[Zinzan]

Quite a tough call off the bat

[Athlai]

Out of Himmanv, Somerset and Blakus for me.

I love Himmanv's batting and pace attack. Though I think Taibu and Warnaweera are the weak links that make this an easy choice for me.
I'd probably go for Somerset if McCullum wasn't opening, would personally have got Atapattu in for Samaraweera and let Flintoff bat 6. Team has a fantastic tail anyway so I don't think it needed a specialist 6 with Flintoff in the team.
Then we have Blakus a good allround team that has Imran at 7 and Knott at 8. I think the Imran factor clinches it for me and I'm going for Blakus.

[Himannv]

Tough call I reckon.

Michael has a pretty good all round team. Boycott, Jayasuriya, Gower, Miandad, Waugh, Flower and Cairns as batsman sounds pretty good. Willis, Holding, de Villiers, Cairns and Bedi as bowlers isn't the worst. On the whole I reckon its one of the best teams.

Pothas has a fantastic bowling attack and the batting isn't bad. Its just that the openers ruin it a bit for me. Could have gotten away with having one of them opening, but not both of them IMO.

Marcuss has a pretty decent team as well. I think if he had got Greenidge instead of Haynes and played Kallis at 3, VVS at 4 and Fleming at 5 it would have looked a bit more stronger. Not really fond of Stewart in tests and having Mahmudullah when you already had Kapil seems a bit or a waste.

Cevno's batting depends a bit too heavily on Richards I reckon. Waqar and Donald sounds like an extremely lethal combination with the ball though.

Blakus has a pretty strong bowling lineup and they bat very deep but I think the batting would have to revolve too much around Ponting.

Love Athlai's batting lineup but not too fond of the bowling lineup. Probably one of the best batting lineups among those lists.

Somerset has a host of big names in the team but somehow the batting balance seems a bit off. Perhaps Marvan instead of Samaraweera might have been a better investment and having McCullum at 6 might have been wiser.

On the whole, will vote for Michael.

[Athlai]

Originally Posted by Himannv

Tough call I reckon.

Michael has a pretty good all round team. Boycott, Jayasuriya, Gower, Miandad, Waugh, Flower and Cairns as batsman sounds pretty good. Willis, Holding, de Villiers, Cairns and Bedi as bowlers isn't the worst. On the whole I reckon its one of the best teams.

Pothas has a fantastic bowling attack and the batting isn't bad. Its just that the openers ruin it a bit for me. Could have gotten away with having one of them opening, but not both of them IMO.

Marcuss has a pretty decent team as well. I think if he had got Greenidge instead of Haynes and played Kallis at 3, VVS at 4 and Fleming at 5 it would have looked a bit more stronger. Not really fond of Stewart in tests and having Mahmudullah when you already had Kapil seems a bit or a waste.

Cevno's batting depends a bit too heavily on Richards I reckon. Waqar and Donald sounds like an extremely lethal combination with the ball though.

Blakus has a pretty strong bowling lineup and they bat very deep but I think the batting would have to revolve too much around Ponting.

Love Athlai's batting lineup but not too fond of the bowling lineup. Probably one of the best batting lineups among those lists.

Somerset has a host of big names in the team but somehow the batting balance seems a bit off. Perhaps Marvan instead of Samaraweera might have been a better investment and having McCullum at 6 might have been wiser.

On the whole, will vote for Michael.

Yeah I really missed out on getting a great bowler in my team. As soon as I missed out on Kallis and Donald I think I was always going to struggle a bit. Was a bit disappointed to see South Africa lack a bit of depth over this period.

[G.I.Joe]

Athlai with the strongest batting lineup, imo. However Underwood on todays pitches, plus McMillan really weaken the bowling attack.

[Athlai]

Originally Posted by G.I.Joe

Athlai with the strongest batting lineup, imo. However Underwood on todays pitches, plus McMillan really weaken the bowling attack.

Underwood = gun

[Himannv]

Originally Posted by Athlai

Yeah I really missed out on getting a great bowler in my team. As soon as I missed out on Kallis and Donald I think I was always going to struggle a bit. Was a bit disappointed to see South Africa lack a bit of depth over this period.

Yep. I think if you had managed to get Donald instead of McMillan you would have been a hands down favourite.

Having Sanga at 3 seems to have given you the option of having the likes of Abbas at 6 which is fantastic by any standards.

[Athlai]

Originally Posted by Himannv

Yep. I think if you had managed to get Donald instead of McMillan you would have been a hands down favourite.

Having Sanga at 3 seems to have given you the option of having the likes of Abbas at 6 which is fantastic by any standards.

Yeah I love my batting lineup, some of my alltime favorite bats in there.

[Zinzan]

Tough call between Himannv & Pothas, have gone for Himannv's team based on the bowling threesome of Marshall, Ambrose & Steyn

Edit: On second thoughts, maybe the attack of Hadlee, Akram, Bond & Warne is better overall

[honestbharani]

Marcuss, coz I think he has the best rounded attack. Somerset came close too...

[Cevno]

Between Pothas,Michael and Somerset for me.

Tough choice.

Gone for Pothas considering the fact he was assigned Newzealand .

[Blakus]

Voted for Athlai. Has the best batting and it would be unwise to underestimate his bowling. That being said could of picked anyone really. There's no clear cut best or worst side.

[Marcuss]

Yeah, regretted not piling on for Greenidge when I ended up bhaving $4m in the last round.
Went for Mahmudullah through sheer lack of alternatives. Arguably the best associate batsman left when I picked him and his offspin offers a second spin option on turning decks.
Think my bowling is awesome tbh. McGrath and Akhtar would be one hell of an opening combination. Dev is a great bowler in his own right. Murali, nuff said. Then Kallis as the 5th option.
Batting could possibly do with one more standout (Greenidge ) but Sehwag and Kallis are are fantastic and the rest of the lineup isn't that shoddy either.