CW Draft League

[watson]

Why Rahul Dravid is India?s greatest Test cricketer, bar none

Agreed - you might find this interesting as well. IMO the 180 not his best but mighty close, and saying he's best suited to 6 for that reason seems wrong - I believe Bradman batted at 7 in arguably his finest innings.

3rd Test: Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 1-7, 1937 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Under closer inspection, Bradman's reversal of the batting order may not have seemed so funny to the Tiger seeing as he was out first ball to Voce

I guess this is the key quote from that article;

However, his ODI batting had one thing in common with his Test career. In both forms of the game, Dravid successfully absorbed more pressure than any batsman in the history of Indian cricket. In both forms of the game – this is utterly remarkable – no other country has had any batsman achieve this. Ultimately, this is also what defines Dravid’s legacy in Indian cricket, whatever the format. And, in Test cricket particularly, doing this from the pivotal number 3 position, changed the narrative of Indian cricket in the first part of the 2000s decade. It is a contribution that cannot be underestimated.

In the context of the Indian team I would have to agree with the author. However, KKs batting order doesn't need rescuing, saving, propping-up or defining. It is already defined as great. It's an ATG team.

The only thing that KK has to consider is balance. I think that Dravid would enjoy batting at No.6. If his side is realing at 4-50 then he would feel right at home. And if they are 4-300 then he may appreciate being able to 'open his shoulders' and attack the bowling like we know he can do if ODIs are anything to go by.

There's also the psychological effect on opposing bowlers. After working hard all day to get rid of the middle-order the last person they would probably want to see emerging from the pavilion is R. Dravid. More hard work with no easy wickets.

 

[Jager]

kyear2 with a timeout. Himannv with ten hours, then Blakus, then Marcuss.

 

[kingkallis]

Watto somehow convinced me to go with,

Hayden
Gooch
Hammond
Pietersen
Sobers
Dravid
Marsh ( + )
Benaud ( c )
Steyn
Hall
Adcock

 

[Himannv]

Bobby Peel

 

[Eds]

1. Barry Richards
2. Gordon Greenidge
3. Charlie Macartney (6)
4. Brian Lara
5. AB De Villiers
6. Frank Worrell* (5)
7. Jeff Dujon+
8. Kapil Dev (3)
9. Malcolm Marshall (1)
10. Hugh Tayfield (4)
11. Joel Garner (2)

12. Eddie Barlow

 

[watson]

Nice team.

The pace of Mashall and Garner, the swing of Kapil Dev, the off-spin of Tayfield, and then 2 left-arm spinners as the 5th bowler make for a very potent attack.

And probably the most aggressive top order of all the teams. Richards, Greenidge, Macartney and Lara batting together is just insane!

 

[kyear2]

Richie Richardson

Great slipper, team man and under rated bat.

 

[Jager]

R1
kingkallis- Garfield Sobers
Himannv- Imran Khan
Marcuss- Adam Gilchrist
Cabinet96- Keith Miller
Eds- Malcolm Marshall
Cevno- Richard Hadlee
Blakus- Vivian Richards
MrPrez- Jaques Kallis
watson- Glenn McGrath
Jager- Curtly Ambrose
AndyZaltzHair- Dennis Lillee
kyear2- Jack Hobbs

R2
kyear2- Shane Warne
AndyZaltzHair- Fred Trueman
Jager- Sachin Tendulkar
watson- Michael Holding
MrPrez- Muttiah Muralitharan
Blakus- Sydney Barnes
Cevno- Wasim Akram
Eds- Brian Lara
Cabinet96- Len Hutton
Marcuss- Bill O'Reilly
Himannv- Alan Davidson
kingkallis- Wally Hammond

R3
Jager- Waqar Younis
kyear2- Allan Donald
Himannv- George Headley
AndyZaltzHair- Ray Lindwall
Eds- Joel Garner
Marcuss- Aubrey Faulkner
kingkallis- Dale Steyn
Blakus- Graeme Pollock
Cabinet96- Clyde Walcott
Cevno- Shaun Pollock
MrPrez- Mike Procter
watson- Andy Roberts

R4
watson- Greg Chappell
MrPrez- Victor Trumper
Cevno- Andrew Flower
Cabinet96- Jim Laker
Blakus- Sunil Gavaskar
kingkallis- Richie Benaud
Marcuss- Ian Botham
Eds- Barry Richards
AndyZaltzHair- Clarrie Grimmett
Himannv- Frank Tyson
kyear2- Ricky Ponting
Jager- Harold Larwood

R5
AndyZaltzHair- Les Ames
kyear2- Everton Weekes
Blakus- Herbert Sutcliffe
Jager- Neil Harvey
Cabinet96- Courtney Walsh
Marcuss- Steve Waugh
Cevno- WG Grace
MrPrez- Allan Border
watson- Alan Knott
kingkallis- Rahul Dravid
Himannv- Ken Barrington
Eds- Kapil Dev

R6
Eds- Frank Worrell
Himannv- Denis Compton
kingkallis- Matthew Hayden
watson- Hedley Verity
MrPrez- Ian Healy
Cevno- Anil Kumble
Marcuss- Javed Miandad
Cabinet96- Fazal Mahmood
Jager- Wilfred Rhodes
Blakus- Kumar Sangakkara
kyear2- Denis Lindsay
AndyZaltzHair- Arthur Morris

R7
watson- Bob Simpson
Jager- Dudley Nourse
AndyZaltzHair- Clive Lloyd
Eds- Gordon Greenidge
kingkallis- Graham Gooch
Marcuss- Geoff Boycott
kyear2- Colin Croft
Himannv- Hanif Mohammad
MrPrez- Saqlain Mushtaq
Blakus- Frederick Spofforth
Cevno- Virender Sehwag
Cabinet96- Bruce Mitchell

R8
Cabinet96- Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Cevno- Shane Bond
Blakus- Peter Pollock
MrPrez- Bob Willis
Himannv- Bill Lawry
kyear2- Ted Dexter
Marcuss- Ian Bishop
kingkallis- Wes Hall
Eds- Charles Macartney
AndyZaltzHair- Bill Ponsford
Jager- Alec Stewart
watson- Rohan Kanhai

R9
Cabinet96- David Gower
Cevno- Inzamam-ul-Haq
Eds- Hugh Tayfield
AndyZaltzHair- Frank Woolley
Marcuss- Stan McCabe
Jager- Doug Walters
MrPrez- Bill Woodfull
kingkallis- Kevin Pietersen
watson- Mushtaq Mohammad
Blakus- Kumar Ranjitsinhji
Himannv- Peter May
kyear2- Vijay Merchant

R10
kyear2- John Snow
Himannv- Derek Underwood
Blakus- Hugh Trumble
watson- Lindsay Hassett
kingkallis- Rod Marsh
MrPrez- Brian Statham
Jager- Douglas Jardine
Marcuss- Graeme Smith
AndyZaltzHair- Eddie Paynter
Eds- AB de Villers
Cevno- Mohammad Yousuf
Cabinet96- Alec Bedser

R11
AndyZaltzHair- Ian Chappell
Jager- Matt Prior
MrPrez- Younis Khan
Marcuss- Charlie Turner
Blakus- John Waite
Himannv- Godfrey Evans
kyear2- Martin Crowe
Eds- Eddie Barlow
kingkallis- Neil Adcock
watson- Mark Taylor
Cevno- Mahela Jayawardene
Cabinet96- Michael Hussey

R12
Cabinet96- Damien Martyn
Cevno-
watson- Tony Greig
kingkallis- George Lohmann
Eds- Jeffrey Dujon
kyear2- Richie Richardson
Himannv- Bobby Peel
Blakus- Warwick Armstrong
Marcuss-
MrPrez-
Jager-
AndyZaltzHair-

 

[kyear2]

Jack Hobbs
Vijay Merchant
Ricky Ponting (c)
Everton Weekes (s)
Ted Dexter (5)
Martin Crowe
Dennis Lindsay (w/k)
Shane Warne (4) (s)
John Snow (3)
Colin Croft (2)
Allan Donald (1)

Richie Richardson

Pretty decent effort, the Master and Merchant should do wonders on covered pitches, Ponting is master first drop and Weekes was the best batsman of his era (between Hutton and Sobers) and an attacking genius. Donald, Croft and Warne spear heads the attack. The weakness of my last team was the batting weakness of the 7-9, think I addressed that with Lindsay, Warne and Snow. Warne and Dexter are the All Rounders and as usual there is an excellent cordon of Lindsay, Weekes, Ponting and Warne.

 

[kyear2]

Nice team.

The pace of Mashall and Garner, the swing of Kapil Dev, the off-spin of Tayfield, and then 2 left-arm spinners as the 5th bowler make for a very potent attack.

And probably the most aggressive top order of all the teams. Richards, Greenidge, Macartney and Lara batting together is just insane!

Yes a great team, Worrell was a better pacer than spinner though and I think he is a better option at three than Macartney. Just think that Dev is a realative weak link as the third seamer, but that's probably just me.

 

[Jager]

Yes a great team, Worrell was a better pacer than spinner though and I think he is a better option at three than Macartney. Just think that Dev is a realative weak link as the third seamer, but that's probably just me.

Agreed on Kapil.

 

[Blakus]

this may be the final pick, but it's been my toughest selection. Was torn between 3 fantastic allrounders but I've eventually gone for Warwick Armstrong.

1.Sunil Gavaskar
2.Herbert Sutcliffe
3.Viv Richards
4.Graeme Pollock
5.Kumar Ranitsinhji
6.Kumar Sangakkara+
7.Warwick Armstrong*
8.Peter Pollock
9.Hugh Trumble
10.Frederick Spofforth
11.Sydney Barnes

12.John Waite

 

[watson]

Yes a great team, Worrell was a better pacer than spinner though and I think he is a better option at three than Macartney. Just think that Dev is a realative weak link as the third seamer, but that's probably just me.

Kapil Dev's Strike Rate is 63.9 which isn't bad for a swing bowler.

In comparison, Maurice Tate was 80.7 and Alec Bedser was 67.4.

Kapil also has the advantage of being a capable batsman. Although Maurice Tate was pretty handy with the bat in his time.

Personally, I prefer sub-60 fast bowlers, but who am I to say that having a slower swing bowler in your team isn't an excellent contrast to extreme pace.

I think that some batsman like Hayden and Gooch prefer straight up-and-down fast bowling to the ball moving around. So, if I were Ed's captain I may even open the attack with Marshall and Kapil Dev when playing KKs team. Especially if it's overcast.

BTW kyear, really strong side as well. I really must pick John Snow in my next draft.

 

[Himannv]

Good team Blakus!!

 

[kyear2]

Thanks Watson.

 

[Jager]

Really looking forward to season two of the League now. This draft has been an excellent way to kick things off, relatively fast-paced and very even.

 

[Himannv]

Watto somehow convinced me to go with,

Hayden
Gooch
Hammond
Pietersen
Sobers
Dravid
Marsh ( + )
Benaud ( c )
Steyn
Hall
Adcock

Would have Dravid at 3 and Hammond at 4 if it were up to me, but that's a fascinating middle order.

 

[Jager]

Would have Dravid at 3 and Hammond at 4 if it were up to me, but that's a fascinating middle order.

Agreed - Dravid in his optimum position, Hammond suited to 4, Pietersen to 5 and Sobers in his preferred slot too

 

[Red]

Yes a great team, Worrell was a better pacer than spinner though and I think he is a better option at three than Macartney. Just think that Dev is a realative weak link as the third seamer, but that's probably just me.

Kapil was a better bowler than his stats suggest. Definitely a good choice as third seam option, especially considering you have Marshall and Garner to partner with him, and a few good spin options. Balances your team nicely.

 

[watson]

Would have Dravid at 3 and Hammond at 4 if it were up to me, but that's a fascinating middle order.

I suppose this is what we call a win-win.

2nd Test: England v Australia at Lord's, Jun 24-28, 1938 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

1st Test: New Zealand v England at Christchurch, Mar 24-27, 1933 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo