Pick a team to beat Bradman's weird XI

[Red]

From another thread that was maybe going off topic…

Bradman's team had some odd selections, including Tallon at 6 and Lindwall at 7 (and therefore Lillee at *8)….


Barry Richards
Arthur Morris
Don Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Garry Sobers
Don Tallon
Ray Lindwall
Dennis Lillee
Alec Bedser
Bill O'Reilly
Clarrie Grimmett


I'm pretty confident my XI following would beat his in a 5 test series


Len Hutton
Sunil Gavaskar
Viv Richards
Graeme Pollock
Jaques Kallis
Brian Lara
Adam Gilchrist
Wasim Akram
Malcolm Marshall
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath


Who would you have to beat Bradman?

 

[weeman27bob]

Geoffrey Boycott
Gordon Greenidge
Ricky Ponting
Wally Hammond
Keith Miller
Steve Waugh
Imran Khan
Alan Knott
Kapil Dev
Derek Underwod
Muttiah Muralitharan

 

[Teja.]

Off the top of my head,

1. Jack Hobbs
2. Len Hutton
3. George Headley
4. Walter Hammond
5. Brian Lara
6. Jacques Kallis
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Imran Khan
9. Richard Hadlee
10. Malcolm Marshall
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

 

[kyear2]

Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Viv Richards
Brian Lara
Greg Chappell
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist
Imran Khan
Malcolm Marshall
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath

Would probably soundly defeat them as well.

 

[weeman27bob]

1. Matthew Hayden
2. Graeme Smith
3. Kumar Sangakkarra
4. Michael Clarke
5. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
6. VVS Laxman
7. Mark Boucher
8. Shaun Pollock
9. Brett Lee
10. Shane Bond
11. Saeed Ajmal

 

[NUFAN]

Barry Richards
Arthur Morris
Don Bradman
Brian Lara
Garry Sobers
Don Tallon
Ray Lindwall
Dennis Lillee
Alec Bedser
Bill O'Reilly
Clarrie Grimmett

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Oh god, another name your atg side thread.

 

[Red]

Oh god, another name your atg side thread.

It's ok. Haven't seen Burgey in a while...

 

[GotSpin]

Bedser is a strange choice, and theres clearly preference towards previous generations. But I kind of imagine that Bradman was backing the top 5 to score most of the runs and that he might have needed more bowling options.

If the oposing team runs through that middle order im not really counting on Lilee to smash a lower order ton

 

[GotSpin]

Looking at the other XIs posted , the bowling may be strengthened but I still dont think its enough to win over a 5 test match series considering the might of Bradmans batting.

His XI definitely isnt a pure list of the best 11 test cricketers, but I can see the logic behind almost all of the decisions.

 

[Spikey]

doesn't seem very fair to pick Gilchrist and the like

 

[a massive zebra]

I'm not necessarily confident they would actually win, but I think both these teams might give (Roland Perry's alleged) Bradman XI a good run for their money:

Jamie Siddons
John Langridge
David Hussey
Mahadevan Sathasivam
Bhausaheb Nimbalkar
Clive Rice*
Frank Tarrant
Darren Berry+
Bart King
Vincent Van Der Bijl
Rajinder Goel

Jamie Cox
Sam Trimble
Brian Davison
Ken McEwan
Shantanu Sugwekar
Alan Kourie
Franklyn Stephenson
Garth Le Roux
Henry Martyn+
Charles Kortwright
Don Shepherd

 

[kyear2]

Looking at the other XIs posted , the bowling may be strengthened but I still dont think its enough to win over a 5 test match series considering the might of Bradmans batting.

His XI definitely isnt a pure list of the best 11 test cricketers, but I can see the logic behind almost all of the decisions.

Don't agree, Marshall, Warne, McGrath and Imran/ Akram would be a match for the great man. Batting of Hobbs, Hutton/ Gavaskar, Richards, Lara, Chappell/ Hammond, Kallis, Gilchrist would also help the cause. Additionally it's not like Bradman never lost a match or series and he, Tendulkar Sobers, Lillee, O'Reilly and probably Richards would have to bear the brunt of the responsibility of an otherwise comparatively weak team.