Cricinfo All-time series "Eleven of the best"

[Himannv]

Miandad, Inzy and Abbas I reckon. Personally will have Mustaq Mohammed at 6 as well.

Saeed Anwar
Hanif Mohammed
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Zaheer Abbas
Mustaq Mohammed

 

[andyc]

Miandad, Inzy and Abbas I reckon. Personally will have Mustaq Mohammed at 6 as well.

Saeed Anwar
Hanif Mohammed
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Zaheer Abbas
Mustaq Mohammed

Went MoYo for Abbas personally. Same openers as well. Reckon the Pakistani all time team is one of the easier ones to do, a lot of clear standouts IMO.

 

[Himannv]

Went MoYo for Abbas personally. Same openers as well. Reckon the Pakistani all time team is one of the easier ones to do, a lot of clear standouts IMO.

Yeah definitely a lot of standouts. They'll have a hell of a pace attack.

I suppose MoYo does have the better record on paper but I think in terms of quality the Asian Bradman should stand a fair chance of getting in.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Yeah definitely a lot of standouts. They'll have a hell of a pace attack.

I suppose MoYo does have the better record on paper but I think in terms of quality the Asian Bradman should stand a fair chance of getting in.

Tendulkar doesn't play for Pakistan, silly!

 

[Himannv]

Tendulkar doesn't play for Pakistan, silly!

Come on, one nickname per player here..

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Had a crack at my alltime XI for each country.

Australia Alltime XI

Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Allan Border
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Keith Miller
Shane Warne (c)
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

England Alltime XI

Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Leonard Hutton
Walter Hammond
Ken Barrington
Kevin Pietersen
Denis Compton
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
Fred Trueman
Bob Willis
Jim Laker

New Zealand Alltime XI

Glenn Turner
Mark Richardson
Andrew Jones
Martin Crowe
Stephen Fleming (c)
Brendan McCullum (wk)
Chris Cairns
Daniel Vettori
Sir Richard Hadlee
Shane Bond
Jack Cowie

Pakistan Alltime XI

Hanif Mohammad
Saeed Anwar
Younis Khan
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Mohammad Yousuf
Imran Khan (c)
Moin Khan (wk)
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Saqlain Mushtaq

South Africa Alltime XI

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith (c)
Jacques Kallis
Graeme Pollock
Dudley Nourse
Mike Procter
Mark Boucher (wk)
Shaun Pollock
Peter Pollock
Dale Steyn
Allan Donald

Sri Lanka Alltime XI

Marvan Atapattu
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumar Sangakkara (c)
Aravinda de Silva
Mahela Jayawardene
Hashan Tillakaratne
Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk)
Chaminda Vaas
Lasith Malinga
Nuwan Zoysa
Muttiah Muralitharan

India Alltime XI

Sunil Gavaskar
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
MS Dhoni (wk)
Kapil Dev
Anil Kumble (c)
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Javagal Srinath

West Indies Alltime XI

Gordon Greenidge
Everton Weekes
Sir Vivian Richards (c)
Brian Lara
George Headley
Sir Garfield Sobers
Clyde Walcott (wk)
Malcolm Marshall
Michael Holding
Curtly Ambrose
Joel Garner

 

[Himannv]

I like most of the teams that Ben put out. Minor modification to all of them though.

Wouldn't have Ponting opening for Australia though. they have regular openers who can do the job. Other than that its a good team. Waugh for captain though.

No complaints about the English team except maybe Barnes ahead of Willis for me.

For New Zealand, Sutcliffe ahead of Jones for me. Maybe Dempster might deserve a slot ahead of Richardson. Other than that, its great.

Abbas ahead of Younis Khan in the Pakistan team. Not sure if they need a spinner so maybe Fazal Mahmood instead of Saqlain. Also Bari is far better than Moin Khan.

For South Africa, Lindsay or Waite ahead of Boucher. Boucher's catching is pretty good but his stumpings aren't the best. Lindsay's a far better bat IMO. Great keeping options they have actually. Also I think Faulkner deserves a spot in there somewhere.

For Sri Lanka I think Mahes may be a better option for keeper than Kalu.

Wouldn't change anything with that Indian lineup. Pretty much exactly what I'd have. Maybe Bedi or Chandra ahead of Harbhajan.

No change to WI except the opening slot. Haynes or Hunte to partner Greenidge.

 

[Teja.]

Akthar ahead of Mushtaq in the Pakistan Line-up. Other than that, like all of Ben's teams.

 

[Spark]

Wouldn't have Ponting opening for Australia though. they have regular openers who can do the job. Other than that its a good team. Waugh for captain though.

Thing is, if Ponting is going to be in the Aus ATXI then he won't be in his natural position anyway in any circumstances, so it's a question of where you can slot him in where the difference between the replaced player's performance and Ponting's performance at the spot. I would say that Ponting could do very well as an opener - apart from 3, opening and if not opening a number 4 slot would suit him the best.

 

[Himannv]

Thing is, if Ponting is going to be in the Aus ATXI then he won't be in his natural position anyway in any circumstances, so it's a question of where you can slot him in where the difference between the replaced player's performance and Ponting's performance at the spot. I would say that Ponting could do very well as an opener - apart from 3, opening and if not opening a number 4 slot would suit him the best.

I rather dislike makeshift openers. Australia have plenty who are more than capable of holding down that slot. At least Trumper or Morris should have a fair shot at it. I have no problem with playing him at 4 except that I think Chappell and Border were simply better players on the whole. Perhaps he could displace Waugh, but why play anyone out of position? Just a matter of picking one for each slot and Australia have very good options.

 

[Blakus]

I'll post a few of mine. Already posted my SA XI earlier

Aus
Hayden
Trumper
Bradman
Chappell
Ponting
Miller
Gilchrist
Lindwall/Oreilly
Warne
Lillee
Mcgrath

Eng
Hobbs
Hutton
Grace
Hammond
Compton
Botham
Knott
Rhodes
Trueman
Barnes
Bedser/Laker

WI
Greenidge
Hunte
Headley
Lara
Richards
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Garner
Holding
Ambrose

Ind
Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Hazare
Mankad
Dev
Kirmani
Kumble
Srinath
Prasanna/Bedi/Chandra/Gupte (Really don't know)

That'll do for starters

 

[wfdu_ben91]

I like most of the teams that Ben put out. Minor modification to all of them though.

Wouldn't have Ponting opening for Australia though. they have regular openers who can do the job. Other than that its a good team. Waugh for captain though.

No complaints about the English team except maybe Barnes ahead of Willis for me.

For New Zealand, Sutcliffe ahead of Jones for me. Maybe Dempster might deserve a slot ahead of Richardson. Other than that, its great.

Abbas ahead of Younis Khan in the Pakistan team. Not sure if they need a spinner so maybe Fazal Mahmood instead of Saqlain. Also Bari is far better than Moin Khan.

For South Africa, Lindsay or Waite ahead of Boucher. Boucher's catching is pretty good but his stumpings aren't the best. Lindsay's a far better bat IMO. Great keeping options they have actually. Also I think Faulkner deserves a spot in there somewhere.

For Sri Lanka I think Mahes may be a better option for keeper than Kalu.

Wouldn't change anything with that Indian lineup. Pretty much exactly what I'd have. Maybe Bedi or Chandra ahead of Harbhajan.

No change to WI except the opening slot. Haynes or Hunte to partner Greenidge.

Ponting deserves to be in the side moreso then Australia's 2nd best Opening Batsman. Hayden has done enough and is comfortably Australia's greatest Opener, that the barrier between him and Australia's second best Opening Batsman is so great that you can afford to have a non-specialist Opener like Ponting open, given how great he is. Having Trumper, Ponsford or Morris in the side over Ponting lessens the quality of the side, IMO. Basically the 11 that I selected were probably the greatest 11 cricketers that Australia has produced, IMO.

Younis Khan is better then Zaheer Abbas. I was going to go for Abbas until I saw that he averaged 18 against the Windies and 17 against New Zealand whilst Younis Khan performed well in Australia against McGrath and Warne. Abbas also averaged under 40 in the number 3 slot and was moreso a lower-order batsman.

I don't really see the point in not picking Boucher cause he hasn't had much experienced against the spinners. None of the specialist bowlers in SA's XI are spinners and Boucher is probably the best keeper since Healy. I've never really heard of any other great South African wicketkeepers so Boucher is the obvious pick for mine.

 

[Ikki]

Had a crack at my alltime XI for each country.

Australia Alltime XI

Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Allan Border
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Keith Miller
Shane Warne (c)
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

Personally, I think having Border and Waugh in the side is overkill with Bradman in there. Gilchrist is also a head and shoulder above any other wicketkeeper/batsman. I would rather have Lindwall or Davidson and have a 4+1 bowling attack.

 

[L Trumper]

Ponting deserves to be in the side moreso then Australia's 2nd best Opening Batsman. Hayden has done enough and is comfortably Australia's greatest Opener, that the barrier between him and Australia's second best Opening Batsman is so great that you can afford to have a non-specialist Opener like Ponting open, given how great he is. Having Trumper, Ponsford or Morris in the side over Ponting lessens the quality of the side, IMO. Basically the 11 that I selected were probably the greatest 11 cricketers that Australia has produced, IMO.

You like matt hayden so much and you are simply putting aside all other Australians as if they are rubbish. Your statement is one of the most preposterous i've seen in a long time. Is he that much better than every other australian opener for the last 100+ years?

Its beyond ridiculous.

 

[Himannv]

Ponting deserves to be in the side moreso then Australia's 2nd best Opening Batsman. Hayden has done enough and is comfortably Australia's greatest Opener, that the barrier between him and Australia's second best Opening Batsman is so great that you can afford to have a non-specialist Opener like Ponting open, given how great he is. Having Trumper, Ponsford or Morris in the side over Ponting lessens the quality of the side, IMO. Basically the 11 that I selected were probably the greatest 11 cricketers that Australia has produced, IMO.

Younis Khan is better then Zaheer Abbas. I was going to go for Abbas until I saw that he averaged 18 against the Windies and 17 against New Zealand whilst Younis Khan performed well in Australia against McGrath and Warne. Abbas also averaged under 40 in the number 3 slot and was moreso a lower-order batsman.

I don't really see the point in not picking Boucher cause he hasn't had much experienced against the spinners. None of the specialist bowlers in SA's XI are spinners and Boucher is probably the best keeper since Healy. I've never really heard of any other great South African wicketkeepers so Boucher is the obvious pick for mine.

I personally think Trumper in particular would probably be a better choice than Ponting for an opening slot. Some of the pitches he played on were extremely hard to get runs on and some of today's cricketers wouldn't even consider playing on them let alone score runs on them. By all accounts of that era, he was one of the best batsman of all time. Having said that, I think its fair to say that its hard to compare players from different era's so we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Ponting for you, Trumper for me.

Will agree with you that the stats dont back up Abbas much. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that he is a better batsman than Younis Khan. I said that based on memory of what I watched and I admit I had not looked up the stats on it and you bring in some interesting and somewhat intriguing numbers. I've watched Abbas play on very seam friendly turfs and despite his high backlift, his technique was more than sound and he dominated the bowlers with an ease that I've never seen from Younis Khan. I dont know if you watched him, but if you haven't, ask anyone who watched him bat and when they describe his technique, you'll find it sounds like a mix between Inzy and Lara as that was what it was. The sort of high backlift, the powerful yet artistic flicks of the wrist, all awesome to watch. One of those rare batting gems I reckon. He averaged pretty low against WI and NZ, but what about against the others?

Good point about Boucher not having many spinners in his side to keep for. I think Faulkner and Tayfield may be fair inclusions into the SA all time side so I dont think there should be any boxes left unchecked. I think Waite was probably the best with the gloves for SA on the whole but Lindsay wasn't too bad and was quite exceptional with the bat as well. Nothing against Boucher, he's pretty good as well.

 

[zaremba]

Had a crack at my alltime XI for each country.

Australia Alltime XI

Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Allan Border
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Keith Miller
Shane Warne (c)
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

Crammed full of all-time greats, obviously, but a bit unbalanced.

1 opener, 7 middle order batsmen, 2 quicks, a 3rd quick who mightn't be too keen to do too much bowling, 1 spinner.

When you're picking an All-Time Aussie XI surely you'd pick 2 openers? It's not as though there's a shortage of candidates. Ponsford, Trumper, Morris for example. Whereas Ponting has opened the batting for Australia in Tests as many times as I have.

I'd also want another quick. Davidson maybe.

 

[andyc]

Yeah, that's why I quite like the all time Aussie XI that the Cricinfo jury picked. Wasn't a fan at the start, but I've come around.

Victor Trumper
Arthur Morris
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Allan Border
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shane Warne
Bill O'Reilly
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

Wouldn't mind seeing Hayden in there for Morris, but it'll do. Plus the bowling is very balanced with two spinners, two quicks and Miller.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

You like matt hayden so much and you are simply putting aside all other Australians as if they are rubbish. Your statement is one of the most preposterous i've seen in a long time. Is he that much better than every other australian opener for the last 100+ years?

Its beyond ridiculous.

Trumper averaged 33 as an Opening Batsman. He wasn't as far ahead of everyone of his time like everyone makes because Clem Hill had a higher batting average, scored more runs and a higher strike rate. Many other batsman averaged 40+ aswell. I don't pick Trumper in my XI for the same reason why many don't pick WG Grace in England's alltime XI - there is no difference, IMO.

Sydney Barnes, the greatest bowler of Trumper's era was a medium pacer. I've played on some pretty sticky wicket training wickets against bowlers between 110-120kph and it's not absolutely impossible to bat on. I'd imagine any current International batsman wouldn't be wavered in those sort've conditions against medium pace bowling; perhaps against express, but not medium pace, which I'm pretty sure Trumper faced at best. Given how much I've studied Hayden's batting, I don't think he'd be fazed by playing in Trumper's era.

Arthur Morris averaged under 40 after Bradman retired and before that he scored his runs in probably one of the weakest stages in International cricket after the war. Of course playing along Bradman will help any batsman look better then what they really are but I think Morris was brought back down to earth following the retirement of Bradman. Take his stats away from playing with Bradman and his no better then Michael Atherton. The same goes for Bill Ponsford, who's performance was IMO greatly influenced by Bradman, much like anyone else who played with him; although I'd rate Ponsford higher then Morris.

I'd probably go for Langer as Australia's next best Opening Batsman. Not a big fan of Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry's batting was apparently like watching paint dry. Ponting is a much better batsman then any other Opener that Australia have had and there isn't much difference between Opening and batting at 3.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Personally, I think having Border and Waugh in the side is overkill with Bradman in there. Gilchrist is also a head and shoulder above any other wicketkeeper/batsman. I would rather have Lindwall or Davidson and have a 4+1 bowling attack.

Australia's Greatest 11 Cricketers (approx but not exact order)

Sir Donald Bradman
Shane Warne
Keith Miller
Glenn McGrath
Ricky Ponting
Adam Gilchrist
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Allan Border
Dennis Lillee
Matthew Hayden

Australia's XI if you were fielding a side

Justin Langer
Matthew Hayden
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Ricky Ponting
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shane Warne (c)
Alan Davidson
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

Australia's XI if you were selecting an XI based on merit

Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Allan Border
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Keith Miller
Shane Warne (c)
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

Australia's best-ever assembled side at one time (Eng 2001)

Justin Langer
Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh (c)
Damien Martyn
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shane Warne
Brett Lee
Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath

 

[Sir Alex]

Yeah, that's why I quite like the all time Aussie XI that the Cricinfo jury picked. Wasn't a fan at the start, but I've come around.

Victor Trumper
Arthur Morris
Sir Donald Bradman
Greg Chappell
Allan Border
Keith Miller
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shane Warne
Bill O'Reilly
Dennis Lillee

Wouldn't mind seeing Hayden in there for Morris, but it'll do. Plus the bowling is very balanced with two spinners, two quicks and Miller.

I hope the person whom you missed out inadvertently is GD Mcgrath