Your nations Under 23 team

[91Jmay]

Thought it would be nice to see who the youngsters of the future for each nation are. No idea why i picked Under 23. Just a random age:

My England test XI (age)
Alex Hales (22)
Johnny Bairstow (21)
James Taylor (21)
Ross Whiteley (22)
Luke Wells (20)
Ben Stokes (20)
Gary Ballance (22)
Scott Borthwick (21)
Chris Woakes (21)
James Harris (20)
Steven Finn (22)

Near misses:
Danny Briggs
Reece Topley
Stuart Meeker

Overall look at the youth talent pool:
Fast bowling is in a seriously strong state. Given the strength of the current test side, to have Finn, Woakes and Harris at such a young age is great for the game (not to mention established players like Onions and Bresnan). Topley looks a magnificant talent, but at 17 expectations must be tempered.

The middle order looks strong with Taylor, Stokes and Whiteley all looking huge talents. Taylor is test match ready now IMO, Stokes is one of the most natural strikers of the ball since Flintoff. Also his brisk mediums are very useful 5th bowler in this team. Gary Ballance has alot of talent and scores his runs at a very good average.

Spinner we have two fairly dependable looking players in Briggs and Borthwick (Borthwick getting the nod for his batting) but no revolutionary talents.

Openerer is slightly different IMO. Hales is a talent but hasn't really scored enough runs + struggles to convert 50s to 100s. Bairstow is a terrific middle-order player, but i see no other alternative than to open him. He does this in 40 over cricket to good effect and there is a distinct lack of options elsewhere.

[Spikey]

I'd pick a team for Aus but I reckon I'd only be giving greg chappell ideas.

[GotSpin]

Thought it was pretty obvious that GChappell doesn't listen to anyone else

[aussie tragic]

Australia < 23 XI

1. Phil Hughes (22)
2. Nic Maddison (19)
3. Michael Hill (23)
4. Chris Lynn (21)
5. Steve Smith (22)
6. Matthew Wade (23)
7. Mitchell Marsh (19)
8. Mitchell Starc (21)
9. Nathan Lyon (23)
10. James Pattinson (21)
11. Josh Hazlewood (20)

12. Patrick Cummins (18)

[flibbertyjibber]

Not a bad England side but Ballance should be playing for Zimbabwe as far as I am concerned. They are now back so he can have a long career with them rather than as a county journeyman.

[Flem274*]

New Zealand

Jeet Raval

Pretty classy left hander, but as Athlai will shout long and loud when he sees this thread, he likes the Auckland pitch.

Josh Brodie

Never seen him bat, but from what I gather from Athlai who won't shut up about him, he's a solid defensive opener and doesn't make stupid mistakes unless he's decided to take a suicide single, which he does very often.

Raval is a flat track bully. Brodie is teh bomb /Athlai

Kane Williamson (c)

Well yeah.


Michael Pollard

As sexy as Guptill, but actually scores runs.

Harry Boam (6)

Some here might remember him from the under nineteen world cup just gone. He' played some gun innings and saved Wellington from embarrassment a fair bit. Tidy medium pacer as well. In short, he's trying to put James Franklin out of a job.

Corey Anderson (5)

The guy has all the talent in the world with bat and ball, but he keeps getting injured. It's gotten so bad there's been rumours flying around for ages that he will give up bowling, which would be a shame because he's shaping up to be a thumping good one. Very clean striker of the ball and when he played regular cricket a few years back in his mid to late teens he batted with a maturity beyond his years. Kane Williamson was undoubtedly our best batsman at the 2007 U-19 world cup, but this guy was the only one close to being his equal.

Tom Latham (wk)

Don't know much about him tbh, but he broke a few club cricket records over in England and is much more fun to watch than his father.

Doug Bracewell (4)

Was selected in the thirty man world cup squad and it's not hard to see why. Doug Bracewell is a very simple player really, but it's going to take him very far. Bowls outswingers at good pace and is a brisk batsman who can take the game away from the opposition very quickly.

Tim Southee (1)

Same as Kane.


Ben Wheeler (3)

Was an excellent spearhead for Central Districts last season. He is a left arm swing bowler who has gained a bit of pace in the last couple of years.

Trent Boult (2)

Tim Southee's opening partner in 2007 youth cricket, he's slipped under the media radar. Kiwis will remember his random selection for the Chappell Hadlee series a couple of years ago. Another pacy left arm swing bowler, he's had success with Northern Districts and scored a New Zealand contract for this coming season.

Bowlers unlucky to miss out; Adam Milne, Bevan Small, Anurag Verma, Andrew Mathieson, Matt Henry, Nick Beard.

[benchmark00]

Pretty sure NZ's whole team already do average under 23. Oh you mean age??

/Trollin' for mall ass.

[Flem274*]

You know I only put out on weekends Benchy.

[SamSawnoff]

Originally Posted by aussie tragic

Australia < 23 XI

1. Phil Hughes (22)
2. Nic Maddison (19)
3. Michael Hill (23)
4. Chris Lynn (21)
5. Steve Smith (22)
6. Matthew Wade (23)
7. Mitchell Marsh (19)
8. Mitchell Starc (21)
9. Nathan Lyon (23)
10. James Pattinson (21)
11. Josh Hazlewood (20)

12. Patrick Cummins (18)

How about Coulter-Nile instead of Pattinson? About as much experience but better stats, handier with the bat and he's properly quick if that is what you are looking for.

And James Faulkner could get in ahead of Mitch Marsh (much as I hate writing that ) nice to have a leftie, no make that ahead of Mitchell Starc.

[Cevno]

1)Abhinav Mukund (21)
2)Sreevats Goswami(wk) (22)/Tanmay Srivastava(21)
3)Cheteshwar Pujara(23)
4)Virat Kohli(22)
5)Ajinkya Rahane(23)
6)Manish Pandey(21)
7)Ravindra Jadeja(22)/Uday Kaul(wk)(23)/Mandeep Singh(19)/Ashok Menaria(20)
8)Piyush Chawla(22?)/Iqbal Abdullah(21)/Bhargav bhatt(21)/Mohnish Parmar(23)
9)Ishant Sharma(21)
10)Jaidev Unadkat/Varun Aanon/Umesh Yadav...
11)Deepak Chahar(18)


Not sure about some places at all,so listed the options. Lots of 24 year olds who miss out making the job tougher.

[Anku31]

Originally Posted by Cevno

8)Piyush Chawla(22?)

[Agent Nationaux]

I would do the same for Pakistan, but I don't know their correct ages. I mean would Afridi be in this team?

[roseboy64]

West Indies

Adrian Barath
Kraigg Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Kyle Corbin

Devon Thomas
Nkruma Bonner
Jason Holder

That's all I have at present. Would need to include players who are 23 to get a respectable XI.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by 91Jmay

Thought it would be nice to see who the youngsters of the future for each nation are. No idea why i picked Under 23. Just a random age:

My England test XI (age)
Alex Hales (22)
Johnny Bairstow (21)
James Taylor (21)
Ross Whiteley (22)
Luke Wells (20)
Ben Stokes (20)
Gary Ballance (22)
Scott Borthwick (21)
Chris Woakes (21)
James Harris (20)
Steven Finn (22)

Near misses:
Danny Briggs
Reece Topley
Stuart Meeker

Jos Buttler a shout too? And I think Craig Meschede could be a decent back-up player by the time he's 22-23.

Australia (excluding current Australian representatives)
Nic Maddinson
Ryan Carters
Chris Lynn
Alex Keath
Matthew Wade
Glenn Maxwell
James Faulkner
Nathan Coulter-Nile
Patrick Cummins
Nathan Lyon

Extras: Jason Floros, Ali McDermott, Mitch Marsh.

[adub]

Would go with something like:

Phil Hughes
Nick Maddinson
Marcus Harris
Chris Lynn
Glenn Maxwell
Steve Smith
Ryan Carters
James Faulkner
James Pattinson
Josh Hazelwood
Michael Neser

Didn't pick Coulter-Nile, Wade, or Lyon as they are all almost 24 now, but they'd all make the 12. Carters I'd be happy to swap with Triffet or anyone else who stuck their hand up, and relying heavily on Smith and Maxwell for spin, but that is a pretty strong top 4 and a strong pace attack with variety including left arm and swing. So many good young quicks to choose from. Starc, McDermott, Walker, Cummins and maybe even Bills wouldn't look out of place. Hill, Keath and Beaton provide batting depth.