• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Scorecard Draft II

Himannv

International Coach
Lineup

Matthew Hayden - 8625 runs @ 50.73
Geoffery Boycott - 8114 runs @ 47.72
Phil Mead - 1185 runs @ 49.37
Mahela Jayawardene* - 9630 runs @ 52.62
Seymour Nurse - 2523 runs @ 47.60
Aubrey Faulkner - 1754 runs @ 40.79 | 82 wkts @ 26.58
Les Ames+ - 2434 runs @ 40.56 | 74 cts, 23 st
Andy Roberts - 202 wkts @ 25.61
Curtly Ambrose - 405 wkts @ 20.99
Joel Garner - 259 wkts @ 20.97
Derek Underwood - 297 wkts @ 25.83

12th man - Bill Edrich - 2440 @ 40.00 | 41 wkts @ 41.29


The Openers
With 16739 runs between them, Hayden and Boycott are a fabulous combination of openers. Both specialist openers, they have an imperious attitude to them, but thats where their similarities end. An aggressive left hander combined with a gritty right hander, they are the antithesis of each other and give the perfect blend at the top of the batting order.

Mathew Hayden:
A brutal, dominating and dashing left hander who uses his size and strength to get the better of bowlers all around the world. A free scoring batsman who takes on fast bowlers and clobbers them around the park, Hayden is a run machine who scores runs at will and makes his starts count. His massive 380 was a good example of how dominating he can be when things are going his way.
Geoffery Boycott:
A slow, solid grinding right hander who would stubbornly occupy the crease and frustrate and annoy bowlers no end while slowly accumalating numerous important runs that often saved his team from defeat. If ever a defence appeared to be impenetrable it was that of Geoff Boycott when his mind was set on staying in. The features of his forward stroke were the distance he thrust forward behind a big left pad, how low his head was as he searched for signs of movement from the ball, and its balance and compactness. Add a sharp-edged thigh-pad protecting the top of his leg and there wasn't a chink of daylight to be seen.

The Middle Order
With a combined 13338 runs in the middle, these three players add a combination of class, classical style, modern innovative artistry in strokes and powerful fluidity. With a mixture of left handers and right handers where some handle spin exceptionally and others handle the quicks, the combination of these players covers all bases.

Phil Mead
Only Jack Hobbs, Frank Woolley and Patsy Hendren have made more FC runs than Phil Mead (55,061), and nobody has made more for one team than the 48,892 he piled up for Hampshire. Solid in defence and a crisp strokeplayer, Mead was extremely prolific for England too. He averaged 49 over 17 Tests, including an unbeaten 182 at The Oval against the rampant 1921 Australians
Mahela Jayawardena
A prolific, elegant and utterly classy batsman with a huge appetite for runs, and a calm yet authoritative captain. Blessed with excellent hand-eye coordination and a fine technique, Jayawardene scores his runs all around the wicket. Among his favourite strokes are the languid cover-drive - often with minimal footwork but precise placement and timing - and the wristy flick off his legs, but there are several others he plays with equal felicity. The most memorable are the cuts and dabs he plays behind the stumps, mostly off spinners, but also against quick bowling, when bat makes contact with ball delightfully late. For most batsmen it would be a high-risk shot, but Jayawardene pulls it off with remarkable consistency. Apart from his artistry, what stands out about his batting is his hunger for big scores as his massive 374 would indicate.
Seymour Nurse
Seymour Nurse was a powerfully-built batsman and excellent close fielder right out of the top drawer. He was a middle-order strokemaker and well known for the power and fluidity of his strokes He established himself in the eyes of the English followers as a stroke-maker fit to line up with credit beside the likes of George Headley, Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes.

The Allrounder
Faulkner adds to the key balance to the side. Not only does he provide the option of an additional batsman who averages above 40 in tests but he also provides a valuable addition to the bowling attack with his effective legbreaks and googlies.

Aubrey Faulkner
One of the greatest allrounders and one of the best players South Africa has produced over the years. He was one of the earliest exponents of the googly, he differed from other bowlers of that type because of his ability to send down quite a fast ball, almost a yorker, and when at his best, with faultless length, skill in turning the ball either way and a puzzling variation of flight he proved too much for some of the world's greatest batsmen. Very few men made runs with more assurance than Faulkner, and he was a most difficult batsman to get out.

The Wicketkeeper
With an average above 40 he adds the depth and strength to the batting order coming in at no. 7. With the experience of Bodyline behind him he should be able to cope with the nasty short stuff that the West Indian quicks bring to the table.

Les Ames
Probably the first "wicketkeeper batsman" ever produced in the game, Les Ames has the best FC record of all time as a keeper. Starting his career as a specialist batsmen, he soon added wicketkeeping to his list of skills and over the years developed into a fine keeper without taking away much from his batting. Ames was a correct player with a fluent classical style; a magnificent driver, especially when moving out to the pitch. When set, he employed the lofted drive over the inner ring of fielders with rare judgement and skill, and he could turn good-length balls into half-volleys on lightning feet. Woe betide any bowler who started dropping short: he would be hammered to the cover boundary, or despatched to leg with powerful hooks or pulls. Behind the stumps he maintained a consistently high standard. On the Bodyline tour he took the thunderbolts of Larwood and Voce with quiet efficiency. His style was unobtrusive; there were no flamboyant gestures. He saw the ball so early that he was invariably in the right position without having to throw himself about. His glovework was neat and economical, his stumpings almost apologetic.

The Pace Attack
An all West Indian pace attack including the Raging Bull, Big Bird and the Gunslinger who have collected 866 wickets between them at a ridiculously low average. With Ambrose and Garner opening the bowling expect no respite from two of the most difficult bowlers to handle. Both relentless and delivering the ball from extreme heights with a burst of pace when needed, these two giants dominate everyone that stands before them. Replacing them as first change is Andy Roberts who is both wily and dangerous. Expect some aggression from this trio whose domination has spanned a period of three decades.

Curtly Ambrose
The Raging Bull stood 6ft 7ins and released the ball from almost 10ft high, but there was more to Ambrose's game than bounce. When his extreme pace deserted him, he fell back on subtle seam movement and an immaculately grooved action. Curtly Ambrose was the most lethal pace bowler of his generation. Like his predecessor Andy Roberts, Ambrose didn't say much, refusing countless interview requests with the motto "Curtly talk to no man". Yet his silence seemed only to magnify his achievements - and his menace.
Joel Garner
Batsmen would say that the overriding feeling when first confronted by the Big Bird was that he would trample on them such was the foreshortening effect of his 6ft 8 inches. Delivered from the clouds it seemed, and at a lively pace that when the mood took could be cranked up to the brisk side of rapid, the ball would rear alarmingly from barely short of a length. Allied to that was the most devastating toe crunching yorker the game had seen since that of Charlie Griffith. Of the top wicket-takers, few have a lower average than his parsimonious 20.98.
Andy Roberts
Deadpan and deadly. Wicket or boundary, not a flicker of emotion would be evident save a gunslinger's narrowing of the eyes. Andy Roberts kept his emotions in check. But under the veneer was an intelligent cricketer with a fertile brain, plotting and planning the downfall of batsmen as if it were a military campaign. The modern West Indian game based on the heavy artillery of fast bowlers, that served so well for a quarter of a century, began with him. Here was a bowler whose pace came from timing, with power from a huge pair of shoulders. His bouncer was regarded as one of the most dangerous. He varied its pace, often setting batsmen up with a slower one and then poleaxing them when they were late on the quick one.

The Spinner
Combined with Faulkner, Deadly adds to the attack with his left armers which are delivered with pace and variety. With two spinners in the attack this side is capable of being dangerous in almost all conditions. He's pretty much unplayable when the wicket has some dampness in it.

Derek Underwood
No nickname was better earned that the "Deadly" which Derek Underwood's Kent team-mates conferred on him for the havoc he caused on rain-affected pitches. Such was his accuracy and, for a left-arm spinner, pace - either side of medium when the ball was really biting - that when conditions favoured him an avalanche of wickets was almost guaranteed. Underwood's accuracy, intelligence and patience meant he was always a blessing to his captains and he had an uncanny ability to adopt to the different conditions that faced him.

The 12th Man
A top fielder with an attitude that can change a game, Bill Edrich can do a bit of everything although his main skill is with the bat. If needed he can step into the side to add to the batting and his fielding is top notch as well.

Bill Edrich
Endlessly cheerful, always optimistic and physically courageous, he was a splendid hitter of short-pitched fast bowling and took the blows he received as a part of the game. When he made 16 in an hour and three-quarters on a hideous wicket at Brisbane in the first innings of the first Test in 1946-47, an innings which Wisden's correspondent described as one of the most skilful batting displays I have ever seen. Moreover, his cricket did not end with his batting. Though he stood only 5ft 6in tall, and had a low, slinging action, he could off a run of eleven strides bowl genuinely fast for a few overs. Like many natural athletes, he originally made a reputation as a tireless outfielder, but he was soon found to be too valuable in the slips to spend much time elsewhere. One way and another he was always in the game, always trying his hardest.
 

Top