The ATG Teams General arguing/discussing thread

[honestbharani]

Film star lookalike XI

Gavaskar (Bert Reynolds)
Hobbs (Boris Karloff)
Bradman (Meryl Streep)
Richards (Will Smith)
Tendulkar (George Clooney)
Sobers (Sidney Poitier)
Knott (Roddy McDowall)
Marshall (Denzil Washington)
Warne (Marilyn Monroe)
Lillee (Groucho Marx)
Murali (Doug Spearman)

Sachin looks like Clooney?

 

[kyear2]

International XI (england gets an extra player due to having played the most tests)

Jack Hobbs
Herbert Sutcliffe
Don Bradman*
Sachin Tendulkar
Garry Sobers
Andy Flower+
Shakib Al Hasan
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Dale Steyn
Muttiah Muralitharan

You just wanted a way to get Sutcliffe in there.

 

[Coronis]

You just wanted a way to get Sutcliffe in there.

Woulda put Hutton in if I thought he was a better batsmen

 

[bagapath]

XI to play against Benaud's dream team

Hutton
Hayden
Sangakara
Lara
Kallis
Hammond
AB de Villiers
Hadlee
Akram
Murali
McGrath


*Benaud's XI: Hobbs Gavaskar Bradman Tendulkar Richards Sobers Gilchrist + Imran Warne Lillee Barnes

 

[kyear2]

How about

Hutton
Richards
Sangakkara
Chappell
Lara
Kallis
Knott
Hadley
Marshall
Murali
McGrath

 

[Red]

Woulda put Hutton in if I thought he was a better batsmen

You should do both.

 

[kyear2]

You should do both.

Agreed.

But wouldn't have that argument again.

 

[Spark]

I think this thread can end. We've finally found an XI everyone can agree on 100%. Any one of these works.

I would pay a ****load of money to watch the team on the right play (though not with Cook as captain ofc)

 

[bagapath]

1945 - 59

hutton 56
morris 46
harvey 48
weekes 58
compton 50
miller 36
lindwall 21
evans 20
bedser 13
laker 11
fazal 13

372

1960 - 74

simpson 46
boycott 47
barrington 58
g.pollock 60
dexter 47
sobers 57
knott 32
p.pollock 21
trueman 13
snow 13
underwood 11

405

1975 - 89

greenidge 44
gavaskar 51
v.richards 50
g.chappell 53
border 50
imran 37
dujon 32
hadlee 27
marshall 18
lillee 13
bedi 8

383

1990 - 2004

hayden 51
langer 46
ponting 51
tendulkar 53
lara 52
gilchrist 47
s.pollock 32
akram 22
warne 17
ambrose 12
mcgrath 7

390

2005 -

sehwag 49
smith 48
amla 52
sangakara 58
kallis 55
de villiers 52
shakib 38
johnson 21
harris 21
murali 12
steyn 14

420

 

[Coronis]

blaze it

 

[Red]

Benaud XI

Bill Lawry
Frank Worrell
Ian Chappell
Neil Harvey
Peter May
Tony Greig
Richie Benaud
Alan Davidson
Shane Warne
Wes Hall
Wally Grout

 

[bagapath]

Keith Miller?

 

[watson]

Here is 26 minutes of Barry Richards scoring his legendary triple century in a day against WA in 1970. Admittedly the quality isn't fabulous but it still gives the us a clear indication of his absolute genius. For the record Richards reaches 300 with an on-drive to the mid-wicket boundary off Garth McKenzie (12 min, 10 sec)

My favourite shot was a back-foot straight-drive off a good length ball from a moustache-less Dennis Lillee (7 min, 40 secs).

Fred, settle down

 

[fredfertang]

Great footage - don't be fooled by the fact that Lillee looks like he's bowling fast medium and Graham Mckenzie military medium - that's an illusion created by how much time Richards had to play his shots - the bloke was a genius - I wonder what Locky had to say about it - he won't have been pleased

 

[watson]

Lock did give Barry a generous shake of the hand when he reached 300. Maybe he was starting to mellow a little in his vintage years??

As far as pace goes - the left-hander down the other end was hopping around the crease to Lillee and McKenzie, so they must have been quick enough.

 

[fredfertang]

It was more what Locky might have had to say to his bowlers that I had in mind

 

[Coronis]

Players who played less than 20 tests (not including any current players) I've also tried not to include players from the 19th century as they would complete all the bowler spots, as this is more of a, what could have been side.

Barry Richards
Sid Barnes
Stewie Dempster
Duleep*
Vinod Kambli
Mike Procter
Denis Lindsay+
Fanie de Villiers
Shane Bond
Jack Cowie
Bert Ironmonger

As expected, heavily New Zealand and South African. Frank Tyson unlucky to miss out.

 

[weldone]

Wow, never realised Bond played so few tests!

 

[watson]

.

MARTIN CROWE’S XI
It was difficult to leave out Greg Chappell, who had great style, and also Ian Botham, whom I played with at Somerset and was the next best all-rounder to Garry Sobers, but I felt these players are the greatest to ever play the game.


1) Jack Hobbs
The greatest opener pre-war and his superior statistics will be difficult for any player to emulate.
2) Barry Richards
Barry was the greatest opener post-war, who always looked to attack the bowler and dominate.
3) Donald Bradman
Greatest batsman of all time. End of story.
4) Sachin Tendulkar
He is the greatest modern-day player and I’m sure he will go on to even greater things. Who would doubt that his records will never be broken?
5) Viv Richards
Had the greatest power for any batsman. Viv was simply a destroyer of bowling attacks and I witnessed this close up and on too many occasions. He was just demoralising for bowlers.
6) Garfield Sobers
The greatest all-rounder of all time, though I think Ian Botham’s heroics and ability to entertain make him a close second.
7) Alan Knott
Knotty is the greatest wicketkeeper I have ever seen, though Adam Gilchrist may be the better wicketkeeper-batsman.
8) Malcolm Marshall
Simply the greatest West Indian bowler of all time and that is saying a lot given the number of quality fast bowlers they have produced in modern times.
9) Shane Warne The greatest leg-spinner of all time. I never saw the great Bill O’Reilly, whom Bradman rated as the best bowler he saw, but he couldn’t have been any better than Shane Warne.
10) Dennis Lillee
The greatest fast bowler post-war. DK was a real whole-hearted performer.
11) Sydney Barnes
The greatest pace bowler pre-war, whose statistics are second to none (189 wickets in 27 Tests).


MARTIN CROWE played 77 Test matches for New Zealand between 1981–82 and 1995–96 and scored 5,444 runs at an average of 45.36. He was a technically correct batsman of high quality who entertained spectators with much grace and style. His highest score in Test cricket was 299 against Sri Lanka in 1990–91 at Wellington, where he linked up in a record third-wicket partnership of 467 with Andrew Jones.

From: In a League of Their Own - 100 Cricket Legends Select Their World XI,

 

[Coronis]

Interesting read that book. Remembering a passage in Sobers' foreword.

"Kenny Barrington once told me what an attractive batsman he used to be, but he once scored a quick 30 in one match and was dropped. It took him a long time to get back in the England team, so when he got another chance he scored 40 in three hours and was picked for the next Test and the next after that. Kenny wanted to play for England and that was what he had to do to play."