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All-rounder XI vs Specialist XI

TheJediBrah

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I reckon at the ATG level the all-rounders would win, but if you picked a team from any country at any point in time the specialists would win
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
I reckon at the ATG level the all-rounders would win, but if you picked a team from any country at any point in time the specialists would win
South Africa early 70s (I know some would be old) - Barlow, Goddard, Rice, Procter, Tiger Lance, Dassie Biggs (what a name!), Peter de Vaal, get D'Olivera (not that he'd be picked under apartheid) and Greig back from England, Peter Pollock at a pinch, and Lee Irvine or Denis Lindsay as keeper would easily beat a specialist XI even though it would contain B Richards and G Pollock.
 
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Prince EWS

Global Moderator
South Africa early 70s (I know some would be old) - Barlow, Goddard, Rice, Procter, Tiger Lance, get D'Olivera (not that he'd be picked under apartheid) and Greig back from England, Peter Pollock at a pinch, plus Currie Cup allrounders and Lee Irvine or Denis Lindsay as keeper would beat a specialist XI even though it would contain B Richards and G Pollock.
Zimbabwe's allrounders would have probably beaten their specialists a fair bit across their history too.
 

TheJediBrah

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South Africa early 70s (I know some would be old) - Barlow, Goddard, Rice, Procter, Tiger Lance, Dassie Biggs (what a name!), Peter de Vaal, get D'Olivera (not that he'd be picked under apartheid) and Greig back from England, Peter Pollock at a pinch, and Lee Irvine or Denis Lindsay as keeper would easily beat a specialist XI even though it would contain B Richards and G Pollock.
Ok there are exceptions but for the most part. If you picked a team of purely all rounders from a random country at a random point in time chances are at least half the team would be awful players that shouldn't be close to international cricket
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Maybe NZ c 2010/11 when we were terrible:

Vettori, Oram, Ryder, Franklin, CDG, Styris (still playing ODIs), Elliott, Todd Astle, young Neesham and Anderson plus Harry Boam, bring Stokes home

Would be a decent ODI side at least.
 
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Prince EWS

Global Moderator
South Africa around 2004:

1 Hall
2 de Bruyn
3 Duminy
4 Kallis
5 Klusener
6 Boucher
7 A Morkel
8 Pollock
9 Kemp
10 Boje
11 van der Wath

1 Smith
2 Gibbs
3 Dippenaar
4 Rudolph
5 Prince
6 van Jaarsveld
7 Tsolekile
8 Adams
9 Hayward
10 Ntini
11 Langeveldt

Hard to see who wins that one IMO. Specialists with much better openers but Kallis and Pollock are obviously big factors.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
South Africa around 2004:

1 Hall
2 de Bruyn
3 Duminy
4 Kallis
5 Klusener
6 Boucher
7 A Morkel
8 Pollock
9 Kemp
10 Boje
11 van der Wath

1 Smith
2 Gibbs
3 Dippenaar
4 Rudolph
5 Prince
6 van Jaarsveld
7 Tsolekile
8 Adams
9 Hayward
10 Ntini
11 Langeveldt

Hard to see who wins that one IMO. Specialists with much better openers but Kallis and Pollock are obviously big factors.
Kirsten finished in 2004, and AB debuted later that year. With those two the specialists' batting would be stacked. Also RTD didn't play for the Dutch until 2006 so could bat 5 for the allrounders with Klusener and Boucher dropping down one.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Kirsten finished in 2004, and AB debuted later that year.
Yeah I deliberately picked that little period between their careers because the specialists would be comfortably stronger with either of them playing. I was thinking mostly of Klusener's last Test against SL in 2004 and who was around at the time.
 

TheJediBrah

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Maybe NZ c 2010/11 when we were terrible:

Vettori, Oram, Ryder, Franklin, CDG, Styris (still playing ODIs), Elliott, Todd Astle, young Neesham and Anderson plus Harry Boam, bring Stokes home

Would be a decent ODI side at least.
Not really, even if you took them all at their peaks, which you shouldn't because they weren't all that good at the same time

Although without those players the NZ specialist side might well be worse
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I'd be interested in the best XI South Africa could come up with in the late 90s

Klusener, Pollock, Symcox, Macmillan, Cronje, Kallis all featured in a test once together iirc
 

Dendarii

International Debutant
Klusener, Pollock, Symcox, Macmillan, Cronje, Kallis all featured in a test once together iirc
It happened at least twice.


 

CricAddict

Cricketer Of The Year
It happened at least twice.


5 all-rounders as bowlers in that third test.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Not really, even if you took them all at their peaks, which you shouldn't because they weren't all that good at the same time

Although without those players the NZ specialist side might well be worse
We still made the 2011 WC semis (only non-Asian side) with Ryder, Styris, Oram, Vettori, and Nathan McCullum as allrounders. KDub had taken Franklin's place in the side earlier in the tournament, so he didn't play. Kyle Mills (an allrounder at 1st class level) was also in the squad and was one of the world's best ODI bowlers of that era. Elliot wasn't selected.
 

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