Best vs Rest

[Lions81]

No I was thinking more of when he came out to bat at Napier for the 6th ODI versus New Zealand and was so thrown off by a few obscenities hurled by Fleming that he went on to make 9 off of 21 balls before whining and complaining about it all post-match conference. When I read the articles, I really couldn't believe it. It was almost surreal. A grown man complaining - and admitting - that a few harsh words threw him off his game completely.

 

[Lions81]

Best keeper-batsman, soley on keeping alone I think Taibu gets the nod (he can be gritty with the bat) and bond isnt fit at the moment or fit enough to be in the NZ team if the reports are correct.

Tests:
*GC Smith
ML Hayden
BC Lara
SRT
VVS Laxman
+T Taibu
HH Streak
SK Warne
JN Gillespie
Shoaib Ahktar
M Muralitharan

12th man:JH Kallis

ODIS:
GH Gayle (is a good bowler in that form of the game)
V Sehwag
*RT Ponting
BC Lara
SRT
A Flintoff
+MV Boucher
SM Pollock
JN Gillespie
Shoaib
M Muralitharan

12th man: JH Kallis.

Good teams. But what conditions are you putting on them? It's clearly not Australia versus Rest of World or Asia versus Rest of World.

 

[Craig]

ROW v Asia. Will do a ROW v Australia later and a an Asian side later tonight.

 

[Lions81]

ROW v Asia. Will do a ROW v Australia later and a an Asian side later tonight.

???

Sachin Tendulkar is on the team, wouldn't he be on the Asian team?

 

[tooextracool]

i find it quite surprising to see vaughan in everyones team...i know hes a good player but all hes had was one good year and since then has been struggling for form. i would rather put an in form player in there instead.
as far as the keeper goes...in terms of wicket keeping ability gilchrist is quite far away from the top(taibu,read,akmal etc) but as far as batting goes he is undoubtedly the best in the game today.andy flower for me was a much better batsman for me though...perhaps the best keeper-batsman ever considering he was playing for the worst side in the world and yet averaged more than 50.
my ROW team based on current form would be:

graeme smith(c)
sehwag
kallis
lara
sachin
gilchrist
flintoff
pollock
harmison
murali
bond

 

[tooextracool]

graeme smith(c)
sehwag
kallis
lara
sachin
gilchrist
flintoff
pollock
harmison
murali
bond

quickly cuts out gilchrist and replaces him with boucher

 

[Craig]

???

Sachin Tendulkar is on the team, wouldn't he be on the Asian team?

My error.

 

[gio]

Hmmm, if its in 2005, then theres a long way to go. Many players could have come or gone by then. But, if the game was next week, my side would be:

1. V Sehwag - He can destory attacks, and is on top form atm
2. G Smith - You can't have any English or WI openers in on current form; Gibbs is too similar to sehwag, so I've gone for Smith as he is capable of massive scores
3. B Lara - When he gets it right, he is amazing. He's not due a big score for a wee while now though
4. S Tendulkar - Always capable of something, not bad form.
5. *R Dravid - Captain over Smith, as he is more experienced and a better player.
6. J Kallis - you need an all-rounder, and he's batting is tip top, and is bowling is very useful
7. + M Boucher - I grudgingely play Boucher over Geraint Jones, but if Jones does well today, I'll take Boucher out immediatley as I don't rate his keeping that high, and is too flashy with the bat
8. S Pollock - A good, consistent bowler, and a good bat as well.
9. I Pathan - I love this guy, he looks like a real gem, and can bat a bit as well.
10. M Muralitharan - The best spinner in the world
11. S Harmison - In great form, and will cause problems on bouncy, fast pitches.

Now, no pakistanis. Ahktar is too big for his boots and too inconsistent, Sami is hit and miss, while Inzy would be my 12th man.

For the ODIs, I'd play England's James Anderson. He got such late swing in SA that he may repeat that form. If he can't, then I'd go for someone more reliable, like Heath Streak (he can bat a bit as well). Shane Bond, if fit, and Freddie Flintoff would also play in the ODIs.

 

[Craig]

Kallis would have to be the best no.7 in the world, same applies to Boucher at 8.

 

[Loony BoB]

G. Smith
Sehwag
Dravid (w)
Tendulkar
Fleming (c)
Kallis
Pollock
Akhtar
Muralitharan
Bond
Harmison

Not too sure on the batting order, to be honest. You guys might be able to do that end for me? I guess.

If you're wondering why I put in Fleming, it's because Fleming not only is the best captain in the world, but think about it - if he can get a team of average players by world standards and beat the giants of the game, imagine what he could do with these guys? But more importantly - so, so very much more importantly than that - Fleming, in my opinion, is at least twice as likely to lead a team to victory against Australia than any other captain. He can win a match with his mind, and that's something that I don't believe any of these other players are capable of. As always in cricket, you choose a player based on how many runs he will contribute and how many potential runs he will "remove" from the opposing teams score. Fleming can do both just as well as any allrounder.

Bond is only in should he be as fit as he was before he was injured. If he wasn't there, I don't know who I'd put in his place. Maybe Gillespie or Ntini.

I'd rather have Dravid or even Fleming doing the wicket keeping than a mediocre batsman. Obviously Dravid gets the job, though.

The rest should be relatively self explanatory. And Pollock, no matter how fast he bowls, is a brilliant bowler. I don't give half a crap if he's bowling 50kph if he keeps it all up.

 

[Adamc]

G. Smith
Sehwag
Dravid (w)
Tendulkar
Fleming (c)
Kallis
Pollock
Akhtar
Muralitharan
Bond
Harmison

Riiiight... and I suppose the Test batting record is 380?

 

[Mr. P]

My rest of world

1. GC Smith
2. HH Gibbs
3. JH Kallis
4. BC Lara
5. I Ul Haq
6. R Dravid (cpt) (wk)
7. SM Pollock
8. S Akhtar
9. D Tuffey
10. M Ntini
11. M Muralitharan

Great ROW team. 1st of all however, cut out Gibbs, replace with Sachin. Other than that, excellent

IMO if you have a World XI, the auto inclusions are Hayden, Lara, Ponting and SRT. The automatic bowlers are Murali and Warne. These guys play in every team they are legible to play in. (Following all the rules set out in this thread)

 

[Loony BoB]

Riiiight... and I suppose the Test batting record is 380?

Oh, crap. Right. I was still thinking about that and I guess I counted up before I realised I hadn't concluded I was set. But yeah, it's a tough call and I'm still thinking about it. Thing is, it's hard to drop another batsman. I'm thinking about dropping Sehwag and just moving someone like Tendulkar or Kallis up to open, because I know they're able... possibly even Fleming. If I don't drop Sehwag, it'd probably end up being Tendulkar, as Dravid has him edged for form in the last few years. The reason I didn't include Lara is due to his relative inconsistency. I just think it would be more likely for Tendulkar to perform over a series rather than just one match in an entire series. The team should play well every game, not just one game. Lara is a wonderful batsman and has my absoloute respect in all other areas, though.

But yeah. I guess I could drop Sehwag... move another batsman up the order and put Lara in the mix. I'm just not very good with batting orders, that's my problem.

EDIT: I had no idea Tuffey was rated so highly by a couple of you. O_o I must be missing the good matches.

EDIT: I just wonder how many of these teams would have Lara in them had he not made that one good innings from the eight he was given in the current series, and had stayed on his scores of 23, 0, 0, 8, 36 and 33 - averaging less than 15.

 

[Mr. P]

Bah! Why the overrating of Sehwag!??!

 

[Loony BoB]

Bah! Why the overrating of Sehwag!??!

Innings: 36
100's: 6
50's: 6
NO: 0 (just keep it in mind - he's not spreading the runs on his average)
Average: 54.19
S/R: 73.15 (not bad for test matches)

Scores against Australia in Australia: 45, 0, 47, 47, 195, 11, 72, 47 - averaging 58.
Scores since then: 309, 39, 90 (all against Pakistan).

It's too impressive to pass by, mate. You can't say he's doing worse than the other openers in the world with that kind of record.

 

[Adamc]

EDIT: I just wonder how many of these teams would have Lara in them had he not made that one good innings from the eight he was given in the current series, and had stayed on his scores of 23, 0, 0, 8, 36 and 33 - averaging less than 15.

I think you would find a lot of people would. Sure he is inconsistent, but he is still one of, if not the, best batsmen in the world, certainly in the top 6. Even taking into account his pre-400 poor form, he has scored 6 centuries in his last 12 tests before the England series, including 2 double-centuries. That's consistent enough for me.

 

[marc71178]

Then, there's the wicketkeeping. Purists would argue that this is the only merits on which a wicketkeeper should be assessed

It is - we're talking about wicket-keepers here, not keeper-batsmen.

And perhaps even more shocking is that you take Fleming out of the mix because his batting is not up to snuff, but you put Boucher in? It doesn't compute for me.

Seeing as it's a ROW side, I can't pick Gilchrist even if I wanted to (which I possibly would have done on batting)

 

[marc71178]

ROW v Asia. Will do a ROW v Australia later and a an Asian side later tonight.

Erm, 4 from each 11 were Asian!

 

[marc71178]

i find it quite surprising to see vaughan in everyones team...i know hes a good player but all hes had was one good year and since then has been struggling for form.

No, he's struggling for runs, and decisions like yesterday, on a flat pitch against an in theory less-than-great attack, can really hurt.

Who's to say he wouldn't have gone on to a big one yesterday, and suddenly he'd be "back in form"

It's a simlilar case to SRT in Australia, he wasn't out of form, he was just out.

 

[marc71178]

I think you would find a lot of people would.

Definitely from me he would've been.

Form is temporary, class isn't.