Random Country Draft Poll

[Matt79]

A poll as to who's XI from the Random Country Draft is the best. People were asked to compile their XI, with each round the player being drawn from a country at random. Participants did not get advanced notification of which countries would be drawn, so had to balance selecting the best available player in each round with hedging against an unfavourable country, in terms of a weak playing pool or a country with lots of better options for a specific role, coming up in future. Once the eleven selection were made, it was open to participants to make any swaps amongst themselves that were mutually agreeable.

There were ten players - some have indicated they will post a blurb regarding their team.

Zinzan
1 Herbert Sutcliffe 4500+ runs @ 60
2 Virander Sehwag 6500+ runs @ 52
3 Zaheer Abbas 5000+ runs @ 45
4 Brian Lara 10000+ runs @ 52
5 Jacques Kallis 10000+ runs @ 55, 261 wickets @ 31
6 Tillakaratne Dilshan (WK) 3500+ runs @ 43
7 Andrew Flintoff 3500 + runs @ 31 200+ wickets @32
8 Shane Warne 3000+ runs @ 17, 708 wickets @ 25
9 Anil Kumble 2500+ runs @ 17, 619 wickets @ 29
10 Jack Cowie 45 wickets @ 21
11 Courtney Walsh 519 wickets @ 24

Himannv
Jack Hobbs (5410 @ 56.94)
Barry Richards (508 @ 72.57)
Viv Richards* (8540 @ 50.23)
Javed Miandad (8832 @ 52.57)
Inzamam-ul-Haq (8829 @ 50.16)
Bert Sutcliffe (2727 @ 40.10)
Chaminda Vaas (3089 @ 24.32 | 355 @ 29.58)
Wasim Bari+ (1366 @ 15.88 | 201 ct, 27 st)
Andy Roberts (202 @ 25.61)
Jim Laker (193 @ 21.24)
Glenn McGrath (563 @ 21.64)

Cevno
1)Sir Leonard Hutton
2)Marvan Attapatu
3)Greg Chappell
4)Sachin Tendulkar
5)Dudley Nourse
6)Jeffrey Dujon
7)Abdul Razzaq
8)Hedley Verity
9)Joel Garner
10)Shoaib Akhtar
11)Shane Bond

Matt79
Gordan Greenidge (7558 @ 44.72)
Geoff Boycott (8114 @ 47.72)
Everton Weekes (4455 @ 58.61)
Mahela Jayawardene (9120 @ 53.96)
Martin Donnelly (582 @ 52.90)
Imran Khan (3807 @ 37.69, 362w @ 22.81)
Kapil Dev (5248 @ 31.05, 434w @ 29.61)
Rashid Latif + (1381 @ 28.77, 119cts, 11 stumpings)
Allan Donald (330w @ 22.25)
Bill O'Reilly (144w @ 22.57)
SF Barnes (189w @ 16.43)

Somerset
Glenn Turner
Vijay Hazare
Graeme Pollock
Mohammad Yousuf
Sir Frank Worrell
Sir Garfield Sobers
Thilan Samaraweera
Adam Gilchrist
Wilfred Rhodes
George Lohmann
Mohammad Asif

G.I.Joe
Conrad Hunte (45.06)
Stewie Dempster (65.72)
Kumar Sangakkara (55.10)
Kevin Pietersen (49.26)
Younis Khan (50.09)
MS Dhoni (42.59, 113c, 20st) +
Aubrey Faulkner (40.79, 26.58)
Ray Lindwall (21.15, 23.03)
Michael Holding (13.78, 23.68)
Fred Trueman (13.81, 21.57)
Waqar Younis (10.2, 23.56)

99*
G. Smith (RSA) 6799 @ 49.99
H. Mohammed (PAK) 3915 @ 43.98
D. Bradman (AUS) 6996 @ 99.94
M. Azharuddin (IND) 6215 @ 45.03
H. Tillakaratne (SRI) 4545 @ 42.87
B. McCullum (NZ) 2678 @ 34.33
I. Botham (ENG) 5200 @ 33.54 / 383 @ 28.40
M. Marshall (WI) 1,810 @ 18.85 / 376 @ 20.94
S. Nawaz (PAK) 1,045 @ 17.71 / 177 @ 32.75
A. Bedser (ENG) 714 @ 12.75 / 236 @ 24.89
L. Gibbs (WI) - 488 @ 6.97 / 309 @ 29.09

BoyBrumby
1) SM Gavaskar RHB (10122 runs @ 51.12)
2) EJ Barlow RHB; RMF (2516 runs @ 45.74; 40 wickets @ 34.05)
3) WR Hammond RHB; RMF (7249 runs @ 58.45; 83 wickets @ 37.80)
4) Saleem Malik RHB (5758 runs @ 43.69)
5) CH Lloyd* RHB; RM (7515 runs @ 46.68; 10 wickets @ 62.20)
6) LEG Ames+ RHB (2434 runs @ 40.56; 76 catches, 23 stumpings)
7) CL Cairns RHB; RFM (3320 runs @ 33.53; 218 wickets @ 29.40)
8) AK Davidson LFM; LHB (186 wickets @ 20.53; 1328 runs @ 24.59)
9) Fazal Mahmood RFM; RHB (139 wickets @ 24.70; 620 runs @ 14.09)
10) CEL Ambrose RF; LHB (405 wickets @ 20.99; 1439 runs @ 12.40)
11) M Muralitharan OS; RHB (792 wickets @ 22.71; 1256 runs @ 11.62)

Blakus
1.W.G.Grace 1098 @ 32.29, 9 @ 26.22
2.Saeed Anwar 4052 @ 45.52
3.George Headley 2190 @ 60.83
4.Rahul Dravid 11395 @ 53.75
5.Aravinda De Silva 6361 @ 42.97, 29 @ 41.65
6.Kieth Miller 2958 @ 36.97, 170 @ 22.97
7.Alan Knott 4389 @ 32.75, 250 catches 19 stumpings
8.Mike Procter 226 @ 25.11, 41 @ 15.02
9.Richard Hadlee 3124 @ 27.16, 431 @ 22.29
10.Wasim Akram 2898 @ 22.64, 414 @ 23.62
11.Sonny Ramadhin 361 @ 8.20, 158 @ 28.98

Honestbharani
Sanath Jayasuriya
Mudassar Nazar
Martin Crowe*
Mushtaq Mohammed
Ken Barrington
Clyde Walcott +
Tony Greig
Shaun Pollock
Ian Bishop
Dennis Lillee
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar

 

[Matt79]

As I mentioned, some people are going to add blurbs about their team, so people might want to give them some time to do so before casting their votes.

For my team, the strength is the bowling IMO. Barnes and O'Reilly are two of the most destructive bowlers ever, in terms of wickets per match/innings (Barnes being the most destructive). Imran and Donald are genuine all time great fast bowlers with complete bags of tricks. Kapil Dev is a great workhorse who will provide admirable and steadfast back up to the big four. Four bowlers who average under 23, with the fifth averaging under 30. 1459 wickets between them @ 23.8 apiece.

For the batting, I've got a classic irresistable force-immovable object combination in Greenidge and Boycott, two run gluttons in Weekes and Jayawardena in the middle order, the tantalising Donnelly and then allrounders batting down to 8.

 

[Himannv]

The Openers:
With Jack Hobbs and Barry Richards, the team has two of the best all time openers to have every played the game. Hobbs is arguably the greatest English batsman of all time and is an abolute run machine. Barry Richards was dominant against the best bowling attacks the world over. These two are probably the biggest strength the side possesses.

The Middle Order:
With one of the most devastating batsmen of all time, the best and second best batsmen from Pakistan and a legendary New Zealand matchwinner, the team bats more than efficiently all the way down to six.

Viv with his swagger, theatrics and calculated menace is arguably the most devastating batsmen of all time with relentless agression, specially through midwicket. Coming in at three gives the team an undeniable edge to dominate any attack. His aggressive approach also reflects in his captaincy and he has been given the armband to lead this side to victories.

Javed Miandad is the greatest batsman that Pakistan have ever produced with an uncanny ability to score runs in almost all situations. He is their most experienced player and also their most prolific run getter which takes his value to their team to unprecedented levels. Scintilating and consistent to a level that is outstanding, Miandad has never averaged below 50 in his career, which is a testament to his consistency and performance levels.

"Inzamam-ul-Haq is a symbiosis of strength and subtlety. Power is no surprise, but sublime touch is remarkable for a man of his bulk" is what Cricinfo has to say about him. Easily Pakistan's second best batsman of all time, Inzamam is Pakistan's leading century maker and is both destructive and brilliant with the bat in his hand. His ability to dominate attacks and score runs all around the pitch is a huge asset to the team. Also, Imran Khan rated him as the best batsman in the world against pace.

"Dashing and correct, Sutcliffe was one of New Zealand's best batsmen ever. His affable personality made him hugely popular. Rivalled only by Neil Harvey, Sutcliffe was the finest left-hand batsman of his era." Cricinfo.

The Keeper:
Wasim Bari stands out by a distance as the best wicketkeeper that Pakistan has ever produced. A pure and safe keeper with loads of quality, Bari is a shoo-in to the team. His grit and determination reflects in his batting as well as his keeping with strong and solid performances when his team had their back to the wall.

The Bowlers:
Glenn McGrath is the greatest fast bowler that Australia have ever produced. His accuracy and consistency is second to none in world cricket. Along with Warne, he dominated his era and had over 500 scalps at an impressive average and strikerate. Easily one of the best fast bowlers in the world.

Big, fast, dangerous and extremely intelligent are the characteristics that defined Andy Roberts. One of the main cogs in the great West Indian fearsome four, Roberts was a killer. Wicket or boundary, not a flicker of emotion would be evident save a gunslinger's narrowing of the eyes. When his pace, bounce or yorkers didn't fetch him wickets, he could outthink batsmen and change things up to swing things his way.

Chaminda Vaas is the best fast bowler that Sri Lanka has ever produced. Bowling mostly on flat turning wickets, Vass still managed to torment batsmen and often took early scalps so that the Sri Lankan spinners could work on a more depleted opposition. With an ability to swing the ball both ways, bowl incutters and offcutters and even get some reverse swing in, there was nothing that he couldn't do with the ball. Towards the end of his career, his batting improved leaps and bounds and could be more than handy at hanging around in the crease and scoring some well made runs.

Jim Laker is one of the best spinners that England have ever produced. He dominated the Australians and was the first bowler to get 10 wickets in an innings (19 for the match). He formed one of the best spin partnerships ever with Lock at the other end.

 

[weldone]

I was confused between Himanv's team and Matt79's team:

Himanv's opening combination > Matt79's opening combination
Himanv's upper middle order > Matt79's upper middle order
Himanv's lower order batting < Matt79's lower order batting
Himanv's wicketkeeper-batsman = Matt79's wicketkeeper-batsman
Himanv's spinner < Matt79's spinner
Himanv's pace attack < Matt79's pace attack
Himanv's bowling attack as a whole << Matt79's bowling attack as a whole

Overall, Himanv's batting is better, but Matt79 bats deeper, and has an excellent five-pronged bowling attack full of variety. I'll back that team to win more matches for me in spiteof a relatively weak (albeit very good) no. 4 and no. 5.

Matt79 snatches it for me, by just a whisker.

 

[Himannv]

Going to vote for Brumby. I dont think its the strongest side, but its a very interesting combination of players. Has a sort of eccentric touch to it and a strange lineup which makes it intruiging somehow. Would love to watch that side play.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Think I'm maybe a touch light on batting (although Cairns and Davidson at #s 7&8 is fair depth), but love my bowling. Ambi & Davidson to open, Fazal 1st change, Cairns 2nd, Murali to wheel away from one end when the shine's gone and Barlow and Hammond as partnership breakers.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, I votes for Brumby. Ambrose, Davo as the leftie, Murali to pwn. Batting very strong.

 

[Pothas]

Brumby for me as well.

 

[Somerset]

Blakus gets my vote; any batting line-up with Grace and Headley gets extra approval from me, and a bowling mix including Miller, Akram, Hadlee and Procter looks extremely dangerous. Also highly rated Matt, G.I.Joe and Brumby's sides, although all teams have their strong points.

With my side, I focused on ensuring depth with plenty of batting resources; at number eight some bloke called Gilchrist walks out and Wilfred Rhodes is a more than handy batsman at number nine. The only problem is my lack of back-up bowling options, with just the four specialists.

 

[Blakus]

Voted for Boybrumby. Matt and and GI Joe the other contenders for me.

With regards to my own side, the obvious highlight is the horde of allrounders that permeate the lower order. Miller, Procter, Hadlee and Akram make an exciting and diverse pace attack and all of them bring counter-attacking batting to the table. Ramadhin provides admirable spin support and Grace is a more than useful 6th option. The top order trio of Grace, Headley and Dravid are as good as any and are well backed up by the stylish Anwar and De Silva. Knott ensures that my keeping is the best in the draft. All in all I'd back my side to compete very well with any of the others.

 

[Zinzan]

Only just realised how good Blakus' bowling attack is. Voted his side marginally over Brums

 

[G.I.Joe]

Voted Extended Warranty.

 

[NUFAN]

I voted for GI Joe's team. I think it helped that I worked from bottom team to top team, as if you look at Joe's team from number 11, his bowlers are awesome. I was thinking his batting looked slightly weak, but I LOVE the 4 quicks he's selected.

I nearly went for Himanv's team cause of the awesome batsman's, I just wasn't sold on his 4 man attack taking enough wickets with Vaas in the team.

Matt, Blakus both have good teams and I honestbharani's bowling combination is very good too.

 

[Cevno]

Cevno
1)Sir Leonard Hutton(6971 runs @ 56.67)
2)Marvan Attapatu(5502 runs @ 39.02)
3)Greg Chappell(7110 runs @ 53.86,47 wkts @40.32)
4)Sachin Tendulkar(13447 runs @ 55.56,44 wkts @ 52.25)
5)Dudley Nourse(2960 runs @ 53.81)
6)Jeffrey Dujon(3322 runs @ 31.94)
7)Abdul Razzaq(1946 runs @ 28.61 , 100 wickets @36)
8)Hedley Verity (144 wkts @ 24.37 , 669 runs @ 20.90)
9)Joel Garner (259 wkts @20.97 strike rate-50.8))
10)Shoaib Akhtar (178 wkts @ 25.69 strike rate-45.7)
11)Shane Bond(87 wkts @ 22.09 strike rate - 38.7)


My team's biggest quality is balance.i have got four top quality bowlers,a top quality keeper and possibly the best Top order/middle order in the draft.

Batting

Marvan attapatu ,opens the batting with Len Hutton. Hutton is without doubt one of the greatest opening batsmen ever and Attapatu though pale in comparison ,is a sound batsmen who when on top of his game scored double centuries like they were taking candy of a baby. Though his average might not be great he would still be opening most probably in a srilankan all-time 11.

Then comes the main strength of my team the 3, 4,5 of my team are GreIg Chappell,Sachin Tendulkar,Dudley Nourse.
Greig Chappell for me is the second best batsmen australia have ever produced,after the don.
Sachin Tendulkar the greatest India has ever produced.
And Dudley Nourse is up among the top two batsmen South Africa have produced.
Try getting past that bowler.

And if you do then comes the duo of Jeff Dujon and Abdur Razzaq complemented by a decent bat in Hedly Verity. Both Dujon and Razzaq may average in the early 30's which is decent for number 6 and 7 ,but they have played crucial innings for their teams on many occasions.
Dujon has never lost a test series too and provides good keeping.
Verity with a average of 21 is a good number 8.


Bowling.

Shane Bond opens the bowling with swing bowling accurately at a good pace. He is one of the best of his generation.And can trouble the best when on full swing.
Shoaib Akthar opens the bowling with him .He gives the atttack sheer pace with varations and also reverse swin later on.

Joel garner is the first change bowler -Who has one of the best averages in history and with his almost 7 foot frame and awkward bounce trouble the best.His extremely accurate yorkers would certainly break some toes.

Hedley Verity -The bowler who troubled Don Bradman the most.I guess that says it all.With his left arm spin variation and tight lines he gives me a option to complement the otherr bowlers and attack on both ends.Arguably the best english spinner ever.

Abdur Razzaq- A good bowler who would be my fifth bowler. Got the bowl to swin early on and even seam and reverse later on. Good complementing player for my other bowlers.Troubled Even PLAYERS LIKE Tendulkar when he gets it right.

Greig Chappell- A very decent number 6 if required.Medium pace bowler who averaged 40 in his test career.He was a ODI all rounder.

Sachin Temdulkar-Partnership breaker for my team.Can bowl off spin,leg spin,googlies,medium pace. Decent for a 7th bowler .

There are teams that have better bowling and perhaps better batting ,but i think my balance is just about right in terms of both.

 

[Cevno]

The three teams who haven't got averages listed against their players so far have got zero votes.
(Somerset ,Honestbharani ,Cevno)

Interesting.Very Interesting.

Can mine be updated from the above post ,Matt.?
Thanks.

 

[Matt79]

Certainly - post it and I'll edit it in. I didn't see them collated anywhere in the other thread (I actually used the set pulled together by HB) so it wasn't a cunning conspiracy!

 

[Himannv]

He posted it in the previous page. This was it:

1)Sir Leonard Hutton(6971 runs @ 56.67)
2)Marvan Attapatu(5502 runs @ 39.02)
3)Greg Chappell(7110 runs @ 53.86,47 wkts @40.32)
4)Sachin Tendulkar(13447 runs @ 55.56,44 wkts @ 52.25)
5)Dudley Nourse(2960 runs @ 53.81)
6)Jeffrey Dujon(3322 runs @ 31.94)
7)Abdul Razzaq(1946 runs @ 28.61 , 100 wickets @36)
8)Hedley Verity (144 wkts @ 24.37 , 669 runs @ 20.90)
9)Joel Garner (259 wkts @20.97 strike rate-50.8))
10)Shoaib Akhtar (178 wkts @ 25.69 strike rate-45.7)
11)Shane Bond(87 wkts @ 22.09 strike rate - 38.7)

 

[Matt79]

Bugger, the 24 hrs to edit that post has expired, so I can't edit it either. Maybe a mod could do it for us?

 

[Athlai]

Report it and ask.

 

[Somerset]

The three teams who haven't got averages listed against their players so far have got zero votes.
(Somerset ,Honestbharani ,Cevno)

Interesting.Very Interesting.

I'm not too worried as I doubt statistics would have an effect on my side's collection of votes - with only four bowlers I didn't expect to get too many votes, particularly when my bowling line-up isn't considered as exceptionally as others. In a simulation, we'd be unbeatable though.