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The ATG Teams General arguing/discussing thread

watson

Banned
AB in everyone's team now right?
Still haven't jumped aboard the AB bandwagon just yet. At the back of my mind I can't help feel that he has accumilated a lot of runs against weaker bowling attacks. For example, he missed out on the McGrath/Warne era and only in recent years has he had to contend with an inform Johnson/Harris. Runs made against Gregory/McDonald, Lindwall/Miller, Trueman/Statham, Davidson/Benaud, Snow/Underwood, Lillee/Thomo, Roberts/Holding, Marshall/Holding, Waqar/Wasim, McGrath/Warne, Donald/Pollock, etc always have more intrinsic value IMO, and therefore indicate a truly great batsman.

However, only a few more good series against some quality inform attacks, and that will be the clincher for me. If AB is not quite an ATG batsman yet, then it's very likely that he will be sooner or later.
 

watson

Banned
Would put Viv ahead of Tendulkar for the destructiveness. I suppose we are talking about ODIs here. In tests, it has to be Tendulkar ahead of Viv. Far more consistent for far longer.
Depends on the criteria that you prefer and use I guess. But I can't help think that Viv Richards at the height of his powers (1980 to 1981) would be a preferable top order batsman to Tendulkar, even if Tendulkar was also in peak form (2001 to 2002) - with the possible exception of a Sub-Continent venue.
 
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Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
You could replace Faulkner with AB as the an attack of Donald-Pollock-Procter-Tayfield-Kallis is already very strong without Faulkner's legspin.
I'd reckon making him keeper and replacing Pollock/Procter with Steyn would make this team almost unbeatable.

Richards
Smith
Kallis
G.Pollock
Nourse
AB DeVilliers +
Faulkner
Procter/Pollock
Tayfield
Steyn
Donald
 

Flem274*

123/5
Viv could go to another level that very few batsman could. There's that famous quote about him from Imran.

Re. the openers question above, I'd say...

Hutton
Gavaskar
Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Greenidge
B.Richards
Lawry
Sehwag
Gooch
Boycott

Hard to split them really. Hutton, from what I've read and seen was the most complete opener of all time, perfect technique and all the shots,and played some pretty decent bowling. Gavaskar pretty much the same, plus Gavaskar played in an era of truly great pace bowlers. Hobbs and Sutcliffe are hard to judge, being from the distant past, but many say what a great batsman Hobbs was, with an outstanding technique. Sutcliffe is remembered as a little more dour, but both him and his partner had outstanding records. Greenidge was always a favourite of mine as a kid, a really punchy and aggressive opener who always looked to dominate. Part of a great partnership with Haynes also. Richards will court controversy, but I can't ignore what so many good judges said about him. I've no doubt that if he'd had a full career he'd probably be seen as the greatest of all time. Perfect technique, and a fast scorer. Lawry and Sehwag couldn't contrast more but both did their jobs in their own way very effectively. Rounding it out with two Englishmen (meaning five out of ten are Poms) who are sometimes forgotten. Gooch had a great record and was a great player against everyone, bar Aust, while Boycott was the true definition of an old school opener, making the job of the middle order much easier most of the time. Hon mentions to Langer, Hayden, Taylor, Slater, Haynes, Boon etc.
Graeme Smith is better than several names in your top ten.
When last did you watch AB bat, Watson?
Bowled him!
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Graeme Smith is better than several names in your top ten.
Won't disagree because tbh I kind of forgot him.

Which ones do you think he's better than and where would you put him?

I'd probably only have him over Gooch out of my lot.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Limited runs against India and Sri Lanka, and no centuries.
spot who doesn't watch modern cricket
Won't disagree because tbh I kind of forgot him.

Which ones do you think he's better than and where would you put him?

I'd probably only have him over Gooch out of my lot.
gooch, sehwag and richards at least imo.

the king of leading his team to victory in the 4th innings.
 

bagapath

International Captain
India ODI XI

Tendulkar
Sehwag
Ganguly
Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
Dhoni (C) (WK)
Shastri
Kapil
Kumble
Srinath
Zaheer

Aus ODI XI

Gilchrist (WK)
Watson
Ponting (C)
Jones
Bevan
Hussey
Symonds
Lee
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

SA ODI XI

Smith (C)
Gibbs
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers (WK)
Rhodes
Klusener
McMillan
S. Pollock
Steyn
Donald

West Indies ODI XI

Gayle
Greenidge
Richards
Lara
Lloyd (c)
Dujon (wk)
Marshall
Holding
Ambrose
Garner
Roberts
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Aus ODI XI

Gilchrist (WK)
Watson
Ponting (C)
Jones
Bevan
Hussey
Symonds
Lee
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

To play Australia A

M.Waugh
M.Hayden
D.Boon
G.Chappell
M.Clarke
S.Waugh
I.Healy
S.O'Donnell
B.Hogg
M.Johnson
C.McDermott
 

bagapath

International Captain
A XI for both Tests and ODIs
without changing the natural batting positions of top order batsmen
with one player from each test playing country + one associate nation

Hayden (Australia)
Sehwag (India)
Viv Richards (West Indies)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
A.Flower (Zimbabwe) (wk)
Ryan TD (Netherlands)
Shakib al Hasan (Bangladesh)
Ian Botham (England)
Richard Hadlee (New Zealand)
Wasim Akram (Pakistan)
Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
 

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