honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
Ground - The Gabba, Brisbane
Honest Hunks:
Vijay Merchant - 859 runs @ 48
Shane Watson - 1247 runs @ 37, 38 wickets @ 27
Bob Cowper - 2061 runs @ 47, 36 wickets @ 32 (HS of 307!!! )
Wally Hammond - 7249 runs @ 58, 83 wickets @ 38
Graeme Pollock - 2256 runs @ 61
Doug Walters - 5357 runs @ 48, 49 wickets @ 29
MS Dhoni - 2556 @ 42 @ 61 SR, 119 Catches, 21 Stumpings (c)
Richard Hadlee - 3124 runs @ 27, 431 wickets @ 22
Billy Barnes - 725 runs @ 23 (with a test hundred), 51 wickets @ 16
Johnny Briggs - 815 runs @ 19 (with a test hundred), 118 wickets @ 18
Shoaib Akhtar - 544 runs @ 11, 178 wickets @ 25 @ SR of 45
12TH Man:
Jeffrey Stollmeyer - 2159 runs @ 43, 13 wickets @ 39
Top Order:
Gonna have one of the better top orders in this draft. Merchant is an all time great who never got the chances and the time to shine as he deserved. Easily one of the greatest openers India have produced. Shane Watson is a rising star in world cricket with bounds of natural talent as an all rounder. As a batsman, he is technically correct, pleasing to the eye in stroke making and with no real obvious weaknesses and the temperament to bat for long hours. Cowper had the highest score in Australia till Hayden came along and has been one of the greatest openers in the game's history even though he never got to play as much as he should have. And his offspin cannot be underrated as a bowling average of 32 shows.
Middle Order:
Two ATGs and one almost ATG line up as my middle order. If you don't know about Hammond and Pollock, you have not watched enough cricket to be on this forum. And Walters, with his attacking batting and bustly medium pace is the perfect #6 in this team as we already have the specialist allrounder in Watto. The speed of scoring of Pollock and Walters and Watson will be a big factor in terms of forcing results too. Hammond's bowling was fearsomely fast when in the mood and as Bradman put it "He was too busy scoring runs to concentrate on his bowling". And yet he managed 83 test wickets. And Pollock is arguably the greatest left hand batsman of all time.
Wicket keeper & Captain:
MS Dhoni has already shown himself to be one of India's best keepers and captains and he will be doing the double duty in this team too. His attacking and yet intelligent batting will work out in almost all conditions and his keeping will not be severely tested in the pace dominated bowling side. And as captain, he has the right amount of intuition and luck.
Spin Bowling:
Briggs is perhaps one of the greatest finger spinners ever and a definite ATG, even though he did play and do well in a bowler dominated era. And with Cowper providing the support, there is enough spin in this team for most conditions.
Fast Bowling:
Barnes is a supreme allround talent who did not get as many games as he should have due to World Wars and the amount of international cricket played in those days. And Hadlee and Akhtar will be leading the attack with the new ball. Hadlee is perhaps the world's greatest seam and swing operator who will do well anywhere as indicated by the bowling average of 22. And Akhtar will provide the pace and menace, esp. at the home track of Gabba, the bounce and pace of which should suit him down to a T.
All Rounders:
This team is bristling with multi taskers. There are genuine all roundes here in Barnes and Hadlee and Watson. Barnes averaging 23 with the bat in THAT era should never be taken lightly and he is batting 9 in my side. Hammond was so good with the bat that he never achieved the status with the ball as he did in FC cricket. And he will probably the next quickest to Akhtar in this side, that is how good he was. Briggs can more than hold his own with the bat at 10 as indicated by his having a test hundred in that era of noteriety for batsmen. And Walters and Cowper can more than hold their own as bowlers while the main guys take a break.
12th Man:
Stollmeyer is one of the greatest top order batsmen from the Windies and he will take his due place in case of injuries to any of the batsmen. And his partnership breaking leg spin cannot be underrated either and will provide a nice foil to one or both the offies in the team.
All in all, I am perfectly satisfied with this side as it has the right balance for almost all conditions and the workload in both areas of batting and bowling will be shared around nicely.
PS: Think Marcuss and Blakus have got the best sides, so far... Not considering my own as I hate having to rank sides with obvious bias.
Honest Hunks:
Vijay Merchant - 859 runs @ 48
Shane Watson - 1247 runs @ 37, 38 wickets @ 27
Bob Cowper - 2061 runs @ 47, 36 wickets @ 32 (HS of 307!!! )
Wally Hammond - 7249 runs @ 58, 83 wickets @ 38
Graeme Pollock - 2256 runs @ 61
Doug Walters - 5357 runs @ 48, 49 wickets @ 29
MS Dhoni - 2556 @ 42 @ 61 SR, 119 Catches, 21 Stumpings (c)
Richard Hadlee - 3124 runs @ 27, 431 wickets @ 22
Billy Barnes - 725 runs @ 23 (with a test hundred), 51 wickets @ 16
Johnny Briggs - 815 runs @ 19 (with a test hundred), 118 wickets @ 18
Shoaib Akhtar - 544 runs @ 11, 178 wickets @ 25 @ SR of 45
12TH Man:
Jeffrey Stollmeyer - 2159 runs @ 43, 13 wickets @ 39
Top Order:
Gonna have one of the better top orders in this draft. Merchant is an all time great who never got the chances and the time to shine as he deserved. Easily one of the greatest openers India have produced. Shane Watson is a rising star in world cricket with bounds of natural talent as an all rounder. As a batsman, he is technically correct, pleasing to the eye in stroke making and with no real obvious weaknesses and the temperament to bat for long hours. Cowper had the highest score in Australia till Hayden came along and has been one of the greatest openers in the game's history even though he never got to play as much as he should have. And his offspin cannot be underrated as a bowling average of 32 shows.
Middle Order:
Two ATGs and one almost ATG line up as my middle order. If you don't know about Hammond and Pollock, you have not watched enough cricket to be on this forum. And Walters, with his attacking batting and bustly medium pace is the perfect #6 in this team as we already have the specialist allrounder in Watto. The speed of scoring of Pollock and Walters and Watson will be a big factor in terms of forcing results too. Hammond's bowling was fearsomely fast when in the mood and as Bradman put it "He was too busy scoring runs to concentrate on his bowling". And yet he managed 83 test wickets. And Pollock is arguably the greatest left hand batsman of all time.
Wicket keeper & Captain:
MS Dhoni has already shown himself to be one of India's best keepers and captains and he will be doing the double duty in this team too. His attacking and yet intelligent batting will work out in almost all conditions and his keeping will not be severely tested in the pace dominated bowling side. And as captain, he has the right amount of intuition and luck.
Spin Bowling:
Briggs is perhaps one of the greatest finger spinners ever and a definite ATG, even though he did play and do well in a bowler dominated era. And with Cowper providing the support, there is enough spin in this team for most conditions.
Fast Bowling:
Barnes is a supreme allround talent who did not get as many games as he should have due to World Wars and the amount of international cricket played in those days. And Hadlee and Akhtar will be leading the attack with the new ball. Hadlee is perhaps the world's greatest seam and swing operator who will do well anywhere as indicated by the bowling average of 22. And Akhtar will provide the pace and menace, esp. at the home track of Gabba, the bounce and pace of which should suit him down to a T.
All Rounders:
This team is bristling with multi taskers. There are genuine all roundes here in Barnes and Hadlee and Watson. Barnes averaging 23 with the bat in THAT era should never be taken lightly and he is batting 9 in my side. Hammond was so good with the bat that he never achieved the status with the ball as he did in FC cricket. And he will probably the next quickest to Akhtar in this side, that is how good he was. Briggs can more than hold his own with the bat at 10 as indicated by his having a test hundred in that era of noteriety for batsmen. And Walters and Cowper can more than hold their own as bowlers while the main guys take a break.
12th Man:
Stollmeyer is one of the greatest top order batsmen from the Windies and he will take his due place in case of injuries to any of the batsmen. And his partnership breaking leg spin cannot be underrated either and will provide a nice foil to one or both the offies in the team.
All in all, I am perfectly satisfied with this side as it has the right balance for almost all conditions and the workload in both areas of batting and bowling will be shared around nicely.
PS: Think Marcuss and Blakus have got the best sides, so far... Not considering my own as I hate having to rank sides with obvious bias.
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