ICC Best-Ever Test Championship Rating Draft - VOTING THREAD

[watson]

The Draft rules were;

ICC Best-Ever Test Championship Rating Draft

The Draft is quite simple;

1. Select XI players from the ICC all-time Test Championship Rating list. The easiest way to locate a player and their highest rating is to use the 'Compare Players' option under 'Mens Test Statistics' (second link);

http://relianceiccrankings.com/menstest.php
http://relianceiccrankings.com/playercomparison/test/

2. Your Total Budget is 7975 rating points (an average of 725 per player). I am hoping that this Total will allow people to select some of their favourite ATGs, but at the same time force the selection of some lesser known players so that the Draft creates some interesting teams.

3. The cost for each player will be whatever happens to be their highest ever rating in either the Batting, Bowling, or All-Rounder categories. Please note that there is no category specific to wicket-keeping. If a player like Clive Rice has a rating of zero for both batting and bowling, and therefore doesn't have a proper rating, then you can't select him;

Example 1: Ian Botham
Batting Rating = 811 points
Bowling Rating = 911 points
All-Rounder = 646 points

Therefore, Ian Botham will cost you 911 rating points should you select him.

Example 2: Adam Gilchrist
Batting Rating = 874 points
Bowling Rating = 0 points
All-Rounder = 0 points

Therefore, Adam Gilchrist will cost you 874 rating points should you select him.

4. NO Bradman

5. The order for Round 1 will be randomised, and then the order will be reversed for Round 2.....and so forth. The order for all 11 Rounds will be posted at the beginning of the Draft so you can plan ahead.

6. You have 12 hours to select your player. If you miss 3 consecutive Rounds then it will be assumed that you have quit the game and cannot rejoin. Feel free to PM a fellow Drafter to post your pick for you if you think that you won't be around your PC during your turn.

7. When everyone has finalised their team there will be the usual voting thread where CWers will be asked to vote for their 3 favourite and strongest teams.

The selected teams are (187 players);


1. Team DoGG
01. Mike Brearley *
02. Saeed Anwar
03. Jacques Kallis
04. Denis Compton
05. Graham Thorpe
06. Jonty Rhodes
07. Wilfred Rhodes
08. Sir Richard Hadlee
09. Wasim Bari +
10. Trent Boult
11. Patrick Patterson

Points used: 7959
Unused: 16


2. Pothas
01.Justin Langer
02.Phil Jaques
03.Dean Jones
04.Javed Miandad
05.Patsy Hendren
06.Tony Greig *
07.Shakib Al-Hasan
08.Jack Russell +
09.Malcolm Marshall
10.Sylvester Clarke
11.Glenn McGrath

Points used: 7937
Unused: 38


3. Longrangers
01. David Boon
02. Desmond Haynes
03. Mohinder Amarnath
04. Brian Lara
05. Mark Waugh
06. Hansie Cronje (5)
07. Brendon McCullum * +
08. Wasim Akram (1)
09. Damien Fleming (2)
10. Wilfred Flowers (4)
11. Lasith Malinga (3)

Points used: 7914
Unused: 61


4. Howe_zat
01. Herbert Sutcliffe
02. Charles Bannerman
03. Kumar S. Ranjitsinhji
04. Darren S. Lehmann
05. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
06. Keith R. Miller * (2)
07. Adam C. Gilchrist +
08. Mitchell R. Marsh (5)
09. Hedley Verity (4)
10. Fred S. Trueman (1)
11. Mohammad Nissar (3)

Points used: 7810
Unused: 165


5. NZT's Harvey Globetrotters
01. Archie MacLaren
02. Victor Trumper
03. Sir Clyde Walcott
04. P. Aravinda de Silva
05. Douglas Jardine*
06. John R. Reid
07. John Waite+
08. Jim Laker
09. Harold Larwood
10. Matt Henry
11. Bruce Reid

Points spent: 7919
Remaining:156


6. ZZZZ XI
01. Stewie Dempster
02. Jack Hobbs
03. Hashim Amla
04. Martin Crowe *
05. Kennith Weekes
06. Kapil Dev (4)
07. Mark Boucher +
08. Ray Illingworth * (5)
09. Mitchell Starc (3)
10. Joel Garner (2)
11. Michael Holding (1)

Points used:7910
Unused: 65


7. Prince EWS
01. Bruce Mitchell
02. Hanif Mohammad
03. George Headley
04. Eddie Paynter
05. Warwick Armstrong
06. Michael Bevan
07. Imran Khan *
08. Gary Gilmour
09. Bob Taylor +
10. Manny Martindale
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

Points used: 7943
Unused: 32


8. Watson
01. Geoff Boycott
02. Roy Fredericks
03. Tom Graveney
04. Greg Chappell (6)
05. Allan Lamb
06. Ravi Shastri (5)
07. Chris Cairns (3)
08. Richie Benaud * (4)
09. Don Tallon +
10. Dennis Lillee (1)
11. Allan Donald (2)

Points used: 7958
Unused: 17


9. WalkingWicket's Walking Wickets
01. Stephen Fleming *
02. Neil McKenzie
03. Rahul Dravid
04. Faf du Plessis
05. Brad Hodge
06. Andrew Flintoff (3)
07. Daniel Vettori (5)
08. Alan Knott +
09. Shane Warne (4)
10. Tim Southee (1)
11. Simon Jones (2)

Points used: 7963
Unused: 12


10. Reliance Robin's XI
01. WG Grace*
02. Colin Milburn
03. Neil Harvey
04. Everton Weekes
05. Martin Donnelly
06. Ian Botham [4]
07. Godfrey Evans +
08. Chaminda Vaas [2]
09. Alec Bedser [1]
10. Sydney Barnes [3]
11. Jack Iverson [5]

Points used: 7975
Unused: 0


11. Coronis
01. Bill Ponsford
02. Bill Woodfull*
03. Charles Macartney
04. Sachin Tendulkar
05. Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji
06. Jack Gregory
07. Alan Fairfax
08. Bert Oldfield+
09. Clarrie Grimmett
10. Shane Bond
11. Courtney Walsh

Points used: 7961
Remaining:14


12. The OS XI
01. Sir Len Hutton
02. Billy Murdoch
03. Sir Wally Hammond [5]
04. Kumar Sangakkara
05. Allan Border *
06. VVS Laxman
07. BJ Watling +
08. Mike Procter [1]
09. Brett Schultz [2]
10. Wayne Daniel [3]
11. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar [4]

Points used: 7943
Remaining : 32


13. Red Hill CC
01. Archie Jackson
02. Sid Barnes
03. Rohan Kanhai *
04. Peter May
05. Basil D’Oliveira (5)
06. Martin Love
07. Ian Healy +
08. Shaun Pollock (3)
09. Ray Lindwall (1)
10. Andy Roberts (2)
11. Stuart MacGill (4)

Points used: 7943
Unused: 32


14. Andy ZaltzHair
01. Vijay Merchant
02. Sunil Gavaskar
03. Joe Hardstaff jr.
04. Graeme Pollock
05. AB de Villiers *
06. Aubrey Faulkner [4]
07. Frank Woolley [5]
08. Learie Constantine [3]
09. Herbert Strudwick +
10. Jack Cowie [1]
11. Curtly Ambrose [2]

Points used: 7969
Unused: 6


15. Weldone
01. Farokh Engineer +
02. Barry Richards
03. Ricky Ponting
04. Frank Worrell *
05. Steve Waugh
06. Ajinkya Rahane
07. Moeen Ali [5]
08. Abdul Qadir [4]
09. Josh Hazlewood [3]
10. Dale Steyn [1]
11. James Anderson [2]

Points used: 7966
Unused: 9


16. Honest Hunks
01. Allan Rae
02. Mudassar Nazar
03. Herbie Collins
04. Phil Mead
05. Dave Houghton
06. Gary Sobers *
07. Les Ames +
08. Alan Davidson
09. Jeff Thomson
10. Jerome Taylor
11. Yasir Shah

Points used: 7959
Unused: 16


17. Side of Ice & Cake
01. Gordon Greenidge
02. Virender Sehwag
03. Ken Barrington
04. Sir Viv Richards *
05. Stan McCabe
06. Stuart Law
07. Graham Manou +
08. Amar Singh
09. Bill O'Reilly
10. Sir Wes Hall
11. Waqar Younis

Points used: 7939
Unused: 36


PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR 3 FAVOURITE AND STRONGEST TEST TEAMS.

Please note that voting will last exactly one week and then the winner will be declared. May the best team win!

 

[watson]

Voting should be difficult because the net strength of each team is theoretically about equal. That is, close to a total of 7975 ICC player rating points.

Therefore votes will probably highlight the relative and subjective merits of;

1. Stronger Batting V Stronger Bowling
2. Batting Depth
3. Bowling Depth
4. Pace V Spin V Variety
5. Captaincy style
6. Wicket-Keeping ability
7. Fielding ability
8. Attacking players V Defensive players
9. Mercurial players V Consistent players
10. Youth V Longevity
11. Individual decades and eras


And so forth.......

So this thread should be interesting as the personal taste and preference of each voter will be more obvious than usual.

 

[NZTailender]

Epic fail in that I voted for 1 and not 3. ugh

 

[Red]

Tough choice and came down to Pothas and Side of Ice and Cake.

Pothas has a great bowling attack, it's really hard to see someone beating a team containing Marshall and McGrath, plus Clarke, Shakib and Greig. But his batting is a bit weak because of the strength oh his attack. Great batsmen, but not great-greats.

Side of Ice and Cake just has an insane batting line up. Can see them batting first and making 500-600, plus Hall, Waqar and O'Reilly to finish the job.

Side of Ice, just.

 

[watson]

Epic fail in that I voted for 1 and not 3. ugh

Just vote for your additional 2 teams in the thread itself if you want to. I'm sure that we won't forget to add them at the end of the week.

 

[mr_mister]

I think Side of Ice and Cake's is the best but voted for 3

 

[harsh.ag]

Went for RedHill, OS, and weldone. RH and weldone have a pleasing combination of bat and ball. In OS's case, the batting is absolutely superb, and the eclectic bowling attack can be a very dangerous unit. Pothas just missing out on account of batting. Tough vote.

 

[NZTailender]

Just vote for your additional 2 teams in the thread itself if you want to. I'm sure that we won't forget to add them at the end of the week.

Okey Dokey.

In terms of overall teams my next two choices would be:
2. Howe_zat
3. ZZZZ XI

 

[Howe_zat]

Okey Dokey.

In terms of overall teams my next two choices would be:
2. Howe_zat
3. ZZZZ XI

These two were different from my choices so I added them to the poll along with my own votes

 

[watson]

These two were different from my choices so I added them to the poll along with my own votes

Does that mean that the board is currently as it should be?

 

[Howe_zat]

Does that mean that the board is currently as it should be?

Yeah exactly

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

felt like toughest job in the world. in the end, Side of ice & cake, Coronis and Howe_zat

 

[watson]

ZinZan
Jack Hobbs is the star batsman with strong support from Dempster, Amla, and Crowe. The tail seems long but it's ably protected by Ilingworth, Kapil Dev, and Boucher. Illingworth should bat at No.6 where his fighting qualities would be better suited. This would allow Kapil Dev to attack more without the usual middle-order responsibilities.

Holding and Garner make an awesome spearhead, and are well backed up by the swing of Kapil Dev, and the left-arm variety of Starc. Illingworth is not the greatest off spinner in the world but he was an absolute miser with an Economy Rate of just 1.91, and therefore more than capable of locking-up one end when needed, or knocking over good batsman on a turner.


Andy ZaltzHair
The batting line-up is stella, and with Pollock, De Villiers, and Woolley in the middle-order it can counter-attack effortlessly. Gavaskar and Faulkner provide the back-bone.

The bowling attack has plenty of pace in Ambrose and Constantine, plus the nagging accuracy, cut and lift of Cowie. Faulkner's fast leg-spinners were highly rated by none other than Jack Hobbs, and consequently shouldn't be under-rated. Woolley modelled himself on that other Kent great Charlie Blythe, and his bowling is obviously not in the same class. However, Faulkner and Woolley still make a potent weapon, especially given the right conditions.


Red Hill
The most aesthetic Top 5 batsman on show with Peter May giving it that necessary touch of pragmatism. Such a shame that the budget didn't allow for someone with more experience at No.6, but you can't have everything. Even so, with Healy and Pollock following immediately after there is no desperate reliance on Love anyway.

However, it's the bowling that I really like. Lindwall, Roberts, and Pollock have everything a pace attack needs, and all with a brilliant leg-break googly bowler in the wings. The preferred type of spinner.


There were also some inspiring combinations in all of the other teams. For example: Barnes-Bedser, Rhodes-Hadlee, Marshall-McGrath, Lara-M.Waugh, Trueman-Miller-Verity, Trumper-Aravinda, Imran-Murali, Knott-Warne, Woodfull-Ponsford, B.Richards-Ponting, Davidson-Thomson, and V.Richards-McCabe.

However, I can't vote for everyone as much as I would like to.

 

[kingkallis]

2. Pothas
15. Weldone
12. The OS X ( please add the vote )

 

[smash84]

Pothas the best team probably. Not very easy to pick others

 

[Pothas]

Howe
Watson

Then struggled with the third, between Red Hill, PEWS and Side of Ice & Cake, the latter has two players that basically had no Test career but the rest of the side is so good that I still voted for it in the end.

 

[OverratedSanity]

One vote for my team is a ****ing travesty and you guys know it, so I'm going to vote for myself as usual

The best 2 teams imo are clearly Side of Ice and cake (even though he's a cheating **** because he got double picks ), and Watson (whose team has everything... awesome bowling, great batting, top class leg spinner)

 

[harsh.ag]

Jeez. Let's have a Elon Musk vs OS poll and enjoy the spectacle of the **** still voting for himself

 

[longranger]

Thanks for the couple of votes, this draft has some good teams ! Just feel like I should have got another ATG paceman to pair up with Akram. But I do believe I have some of the best part timers in Cronje, Amarnath and Mark Waugh.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Jeez. Let's have a Elon Musk vs OS poll and enjoy the spectacle of the **** still voting for himself

The only difference between me and ****s like Howezat is that I actually admit that I've voted for myself instead of sneaking in a self-vote without telling anyone. Atleast I'm frank.

Also, if I go full heel here, Pothas' team is overrated. 6 votes??!!! Pshhh... clear shenanigans. Zinzan and Watson's teams better in every way