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From the last 50 years, who has the worst ATG XI from the big 8? SL, NZ or England?

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Australia, SA, India, Windies and Pakistan have had several ATGS since 1971, but SL, NZ and England are a bit lacking.


England have the least excuses as pre 1970 they produced ATGs all the time. But looking at all their all time teams, the first and second XI would have the majority of the outfit being old school players. The 3 Hs, Compton, May, Barrington to go with Trueman, Verity, Larwood, Bedser and Laker etc. Kinda sad


But from NZ, SL, and England, in recent history, who has the worst and best all time XI?


SL have 2 ATGs in Sanga and Murali, NZ have Hadlee and arguably KW, England have the half ATG half rubbish Botham and I guess other than that... Anderson in England?
 

ataraxia

International Coach
Eng:

Boycott
Cook*
Gower
Root
Pietersen
Botham
Knott +
Stokes/Flintoff/Snow/Willis/Anderson for 3 slots
Underwood

SL:

Jayasuriya
Atapattu/Dilshan
Sangakkara
Jayawardene*
Samaraweera
Mathews
P Jayawardene or someone +
Vaas
Herath
de Mel/Malinga/Lakmal/Ratnayake/etc.
Murali

NZ:

Turner
Richardson/Latham
Williamson*
Crowe
Taylor
Watling +
Cairns
Vettori
Hadlee
Bond
Boult/Wagner
 

srbhkshk

International Captain
Root is not really so far below Williamson that one be considered an ATG and the other not.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
24 centuries in 85 tests compared to 23 tons in 109

As wel as averaging 54 to 50

I'd say there's enough of a gap to deem KW better than Root

it's like comparing Ponting to Martyn or something
 

srbhkshk

International Captain
Root got a **** load of 50s though, I'll concede the overall average point but it's not really that massive a gap.
+Root's away record is better than Williamson, Williamson has very poor record in multiple countries.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
If it was past 50 years England would be the best of the 3 as they'd have young Botham, Underwood, Boycott, Willis, and Knott included.

Make it 40 years as Sri Lanka played their first test in 1982 it would be very close. This removes Glenn Turner from NZ XI, and the above players from England.

Cook (c)
Gooch
Gower
Root
Pietersen
Stokes
Prior (wk)
Swann
Broad
Gough
Anderson

Latham
Richardson
Williamson (c)
Crowe
Taylor
Watling (wk)
Cairns
Vettori
Hadlee
Wagner
Bond

Atapattu
Jayasuriya
Sangakkara
M Jayawardene (c)
Aravinda (much better than Samaweera despite averages)
Mathews
P Jayawardene (wk)
Vaas
Herath
Malinga
Murali

Batting openers
England 1st
NZ 2nd
SL 3rd

Middle order
SL 1st
NZ and Eng 2nd=

Tailorder batting
NZ 1st
Eng 2nd
SL 3

Pace attack
NZ 1st
Eng 2nd
SL 3rd

Spin attack
SL 1st
Eng 2nd
NZ 3rd

England is very workmanlike but lacks an ATG bowler who can take wickets in all conditions like Hadlee and Murali, so is the worst of the 3. NZ and SL are very close for the best but the lack of a decent 2nd seamer for SL is a concern as is Vettori's inability to bowl NZ to wins. If Conway and Jamieson kick on and become modern day greats NZ will be the clearly the best of the three.

England would easily have the best 2nd XI in the timeframe though.
 
Last edited:

Gob

International Coach
24 centuries in 85 tests compared to 23 tons in 109

As wel as averaging 54 to 50

I'd say there's enough of a gap to deem KW better than Root

it's like comparing Ponting to Martyn or something
haha no. They are absolutely even. Roots away record is significantly better
 

bagapath

International Captain
India XI from the last 40 years

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Kapil
Dhoni (wk)
Ashwin
Kumble
Srinath/Zaheer/ Shami
Bumrah

Batting is phenomenal. Bowling is Decent. Overall, Not significantly better than the SL/Eng/Nz teams above.
 

Flem274*

123/5
you can throw india and pakistan in here too. the more you narrow the time from now back, the better SL and NZ get and the less ancient history for England to fall back on.
Williamson's away record is sehwag level.
this the conveniently trimmed one or the real one?
 

h_hurricane

International Vice-Captain
India XI from the last 40 years

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Kapil
Dhoni (wk)
Ashwin
Kumble
Srinath/Zaheer/ Shami
Bumrah

Batting is phenomenal. Bowling is Decent. Overall, Not significantly better than the SL/Eng/Nz teams above.
That tail is a bit of a problem. In a 5 bowler/2 spinner team, I guess Jadeja/Mankad fit in far better than Kumble. As a lone spinner, Kumble does the better job of course.
 

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