ATG team from each nation- consensus thread- Aus, Eng, WI
 

So, the other ATG thread is focussing heavily on each nation's greatest test combo.

The idea of this thread is to get a decent consensus on the best teams. We'll kick it off with Australia, England and the West Indies. Feel free to converse, nicely, on other teams!

Post your best line up here, with a 12th man, for each of the 3 nations. After we've hashed this out, we'll do another one on SA, India and Pakistan....

Here are mine ( I think I've almost settled on these! )....


Australia

1. Bob Simpson
2. Arthur Morris
3. Don Bradman
4. Greg Chappell
5. Victor Trumper
6. Neil Harvey
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Ray Lindwall
9. Shane Warne
10. Dennis Lillee
11. Glenn McGrath
12th- Keith Miller

England

1. Jack Hobbs
2. WG Grace
3. Kumar Ranjitsinhji
4. Wally Hammond
5. Denis Compton
6. Frank Woolley
7. Ian Botham
8. Allan Knott
9. Fred Trueman
10. George Lohmann
11. SF Barnes
12th- Len Hutton

WI

1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Desmond Haynes
3. George Headley
4. Brian Lara
5. Viv Richards
6. Garry Sobers
7. Clyde Walcott
8. Malcolm Marshall
9. Michael Holding
10. Curtly Ambrose
11. Lance Gibbs
12th- Frank Worrell

Australia
1. Victor Trumper
2. Arthur Morris
3. Don Bradman*
4. Greg Chappell
5. Keith Miller
6. Ricky Ponting
7. Adam Gilchrist+
8. Ray Lindwall
9. Shane Warne
10. Dennis Lillee
11. Glenn McGrath

England
1. Jack Hobbs
2. Herbert Sutcliffe
3. Len Hutton
4. Wally Hammond
5. WG Grace
6. Douglas Jardine*
7. Ian Botham
8. Allan Knott+
9. Fred Trueman
10. Jim Laker
11. Sydney Barnes

West Indies
1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Frank Worrell*
3. George Headley
4. Brian Lara
5. Viv Richards
6. Garry Sobers
7. Clyde Walcott+
8. Malcolm Marshall
9. Michael Holding
10. Curtly Ambrose
11. Joel Garner

I love Ponting at no 6 when you consider he average 50 compare to Steve Waugh who avg 51.04 at the same position. Even Allen Border avg more than him at 6.

Ian Botham at 7 avg 40 where he avg 29 batting one down the order.

Positional averages are rubbish for the most part.

Also Monk, reckon we can just come to an agreement in the other thread. Don't wannt clog up CC with too many threads aiming to do the same thing.

Sure


Australia

Sid Barnes
Matthew Hayden
Don Bradman
Greg Chappell
Michael Clarke
Steve Waugh
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Glen McGrath
Dennis Lillee
Jeff Thomson

England

Sutcliffe
Hutton
Hammond
Barrington
Thorpe
Bell
Knott+
Botham
Gough
Underwood
Trueman

West Indies

Greenidge
Gayle
Lara
Weekes
Chanderpaul
Richards
Sobers
Dujon+
Marshall
Garner
Ambrose

Gough?

Wow, not the way I'd have gone, to put it politely.

Thorpey and Ding Dong stretches too, much as I love the former.

Or is this a "positional average" XI dealy?

Barnes and Hayden being the openers suggests it is. Although Thomson being the 3rd seamer suggests that it isn't

CWB to arrive shortly

wow.

Doesn't look like it seeing as there's no Barnes, Blythe etc, and Beefy is worked in at #8.

Anyway,

Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Hutton
Hammond
Compton
Ames
Botham
Verity
Trueman
Larwood
Barnes

Toyed for a bit with leaving out Beefy, and despite him having a big claim to being the greatest ever England cricketer, I think you can justify leaving him out for a more reliable batsman like Woolley. In the end I kept him in but sacrificed Knott for Ames to help out the top six, otherwise I reckon the Windies effort would have something over us in the batting.

Consensus :D :D We are not too big on that here, now, are we? If we were, we might as well close down the whole forum :blink:

Aussie XI: Simpson | Lawry | Bradman | Chappell | Ponting | Miller* | Gilly +| Warne | O'Reilly| Lillee | McGrath |

Pommie XI: Hobbs | Sutcliffe | Hutton* | Hammond | Barrington | Compton | Knott +| Trueman | Snow | Larwood | Barnes |

Caribbean XI: Greenidge | Headley | Viv | Lara | Worrell* | Sobers | Dujon +| Marshall | Roberts | Garner | Ambrose |

W.I

Gordon Greenidge
Sir Conrad Hunte
George Headley *
Sir I.V.A. Richards ^
Brian Lara ^
Sir Garfield Sobers ^
Sir Clyde Walcott +
Malcolm Marshall
Curtly Ambrose
Michael Holding
Lance Gibbs

Australia

Arthur Morris
Robert Simpson ^
Sir Donald Bradman *
Greg Chappell ^
Allan Border
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist +
Shane Warne ^
Bill O'Reilly
Dennis Lillee
Glenn Mcgrath

England

Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Leonard Hutton *
Sir Walter Hammond ^
Kevin Pietersen
Denis Compton ^
Sir Ian Botham ^
Allan Knott +
Fred Trueman
Jim Laker
John Snow
Sydney Barnes

George Headley never opened a test innings. When we start forcing people in positions they didn't play regularly or at all (Hutton) to cover other perceived weaknesses and forces as many stars into the team as possible and become too stat driven, this is a team one ends up with. Though Sobers and Worrell actually opened (and together).

Garry Sobers
Frank Worrell
George Headley
Viv Richards
Brian Lara
Everton Weekes
Clyde Walcott
Malcolm Marshall
Curtly Ambrose
Michael Holding
Joel Garner

Unbeatable, but is it right?