Middle order face off! Lara AND Tendulkar Vs. Richards AND Chappell

[Ikki]

Generation game, is it? How about:

Gavaskar
Greenidge
Richards
Chappell
Miandad
Botham
Imran
Knott
Hadlee
Marshall
Lillee

Sehwag
Hayden
Ponting
Lara
Tendulkar
Waugh
Gilchrist
Wasim
Warne
Donald
McGrath

I like your 80s team but I made 2 changes for the new boys - Waugh for Kallis at 6 and Wasim for Murali. I think Waugh is clearly the best to play that low and his performances against better attacks and quality pace bowling in general makes me rate him higher. Wasim because 2 spinners are too many and he helps the tail wag. McGrath and Donald to open with Warne and Wasim to wreck havoc as the balls ages.

They're pretty level in almost every respect except one big one: Warne. The old boys don't have any proper spinner and won't have faced one near Warne's level.

 

[centurymaker]

No left-armers, no spinner, so the bowlers must have very different styles!

Gavaskar
Greenidge
Richards
Chappell
Border - tough man
Imran - variety
Knott
Hadlee - machine
Marshall - best ever
Holding - speedster
Garner - gaint

since they didn't play any atg spinners in their times, I expect murali and warne to give their team the edge.

 

[Cevno]

I'd back the 90's /2000's side there.

Equal batting due to a stronger middle order and keeper and a superior bowling unit.

Would probably pick Akram instead of Donald there for the added batting and variety though.

 

[Rush]

Ambrose >>>>> Donald?

 

[smash84]

need 5 specialist ATG bowlers against batsmen with superior techniques and who generally play on the back-foot.

Sehwag
Ponting - must open
Lara
Tendulkar
Waugh - he'll grind out more runs than anyone with the tail- plus he's an awesome captain
Gilchrist
Akram - his variety will be hard to cope with
Warne -
Donald - need a ATG with pace
Murali -
McGrath - he'll test their patience like no one else

12th man - Ambrose

This side seems all tail. Where is the batting?

 

[centurymaker]

This side seems all tail. Where is the batting?

1-6 are all tail :P

akram and warne can't hold a bat :P

"need 5 specialist ATG bowlers against batsmen with superior techniques and who generally play on the back-foot"

 

[hang on]

Kapil/Botham is an incredibly close call. I generally think Kapil had the superior career but Botham is a better cricketer for these exercises but since we're selecting specifically to play high quality opposition, It must be kept in mind that Kapil was a god against the WI team of the 70s and 80s.

how on earth do u figure that!?

 

[Teja.]

how on earth do u figure that!?

Maintained an exceptional standard for 17 years without ever getting injured and got 5000+ runs and 430 wickets. Botham at his peak was better and I'd probably consider Botham the better cricketer as he maintained his peak for a pretty long period of time(4-5 years) but I'd say Kapil had the more successful career.

 

[weldone]

haha...........fried squid.........Gavaskar would be leaving McGrath and Donald deliveries all day long and Viv will smash them all over the park. Miandad and Gavaskar will take care of the spinners and smash them to all corners of the park.

Partially agree with this part.

If I think any batsman of the last 40 years was ideal not to give McGrath his wicket, it would be Gavaskar. I personally think that in the last 20 years batsmen with best defensive techniques (and patience) have been Tendulkar, Kallis, Waugh and Dravid - and Gavaskar was quite a few notches above all of them in that regard.

And pretty much agree on the spinners' part. If Lara and Tendulkar could dominate Warne and Murali, I don't see any reason why Gavaskar and Miandad couldn't. And, many might not know this, Gavaskar was indeed an attacking batsman against spinners in general.

 

[Spark]

If there's a bowler to deconstruct a technique, though, it's McGrath.

 

[smash84]

Gavaskar's 96 on a minefield vs Pakistan in 87 is one of the greatest innings on a rank turner. Similarly Miandad was so quick on his feet that he didn't let spinners settle. He would go down the wicket or go back and cut them. He was very good against spin.

 

[Spark]

And Murali and Warne are more than very good spinners.

People often fall into this trap when discussing ATXIs or close to - yes, ___ was a phenomenal batsman who could tear apart any attack on his day, but ____ was a phenomenal bowler who could annhilate any lineup on his day.

 

[bagapath]

there is nothing to separate these pairs; absolutely nothing. perhaps, chappell and richards were slightly superior players of pace bowling. but sachin and lara were, without doubt, more dominant against the spinners.

all four were stroke makers, big match players and driven individuals who hated to lose. they loved to puncture the opposing star bowler's ego at the risk of losing their wickets. they scored tons of runs around the globe, looked great at the crease while doing it, broke several records and sold thousands of tickets everywhere. how do you separate them? i dont want to.

 

[harsh.ag]

In the new generations side, I would have

Dravid | Kallis | Ponting | Tendulkar | Lara | Gilchrist | Akram | Warne | Murali | McGrath | Donald

In the 80s generation:

Gavaskar | Greenidge | Viv | Chappell | Border | Botham | Knott | Hadlee | Marshall | Lillee | Qadir

Took out Hayden and Sehwag as I am pretty sure they would struggle against Marshall, Lillee and Hadlee/Imran. Dravid and Kallis would be fantastic as openers, I think (hope is perhaps a better word). Plus that gets in Akram. Surprised nobody came up with Ambrose's name.

Took out Imran as I couldn't find too much additional utility from him. Qadir to balance the attack.

 

[smash84]

Took out Imran as I couldn't find too much additional utility from him. Qadir to balance the attack.

You couldn't any utility from the best bowler of the 1980s?

It Figures | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[SJS]

Richards and Pollock

 

[benchmark00]

Prefer Lara and Clarkey.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Popping collars on leather jackets is waaaay too Fonzie.

& Clarke's no Arthur Fonzarelli.

 

[Briony]

The older generation bats deeper and has a better pace attack but I like the balance of the new generation team.

Warne and Murali to rip apart pretty much anyone on a turner while Imran, Hadlee, Marshall and Lillee will probably reduce the opposition to shambles on a green top. I'd guess that the conditions would be a deciding factor for me.

Waugh and Border unlucky to sit out of both teams.

Some of the older guys used their feet well against spin though. IMHO Murali and Warne were lucky to play in an era when many became anchored to the crease and succumbed. Also there's no evidence that the players in that team weren't good players of spin for there were fewer matches played on spinning surfaces. Also think that umpires have been more prone to giving LBW decisions to spinners in more recent times. They would have found it harder to get some of the front foot calls they now get back in the Richards era. Someone with Chappell's technique (Hadlee rated him the greatest he bowled to) would deal with someone like McGrath who relied a bit on batsmen playing rash shots etc. Remember the players of today raised on a diet of short-form cricket are more likely to get impatient.

 

[uvelocity]

yeah man murali and warne sucked