ESPNcricinfo World XI

[Teja.]

I get the fact that Sobers was an betetr-than-horrendous, but why would anyone want to bowl such a player(Striking at 92 balls per wicket!) in an AT XI?Particularly when you can have five ATG bowlers bowling?

Oh, My revised AT XI(Non-cricinfo) would be :-

Herbert Sutcliffe
Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Donald Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Sir Garry Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Kieth Miller
Imran Khan
Shaun Pollock
Sir Richard Hadlee
George Lohmann

In this team, The openers are easily replaceable to Gavaskar and Hutton while SRT and SGS(selecting for purely non-bowling reasons btw) are replaceable with Hammond, Headley, Chappell or Border. Everyone else is not replaceable without compromising on the strength of the team. I've always been a little confused with people picking the likes of Ambrose, Lillee and Waqar while not picking Hadlee/Imran and the same is true to a lesser extent, with Miller and Pollock.

 

[smash84]

I get the fact that Sobers was an betetr-than-horrendous, but why would anyone want to bowl such a player(Striking at 92 balls per wicket!) in an AT XI?Particularly when you can have five ATG bowlers bowling?

Oh, My revised AT XI(Non-cricinfo) would be :-

Herbert Sutcliffe
Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Donald Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Sir Garry Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Kieth Miller
Imran Khan
Shaun Pollock
Sir Richard Hadlee
George Lohmann

In this team, The openers are easily replaceable to Gavaskar and Hutton while SRT and SGS(selecting for purely non-bowling reasons btw) are replaceable with Hammond, Headley, Chappell or Border. Everyone else is not replaceable without compromising on the strength of the team. I've always been a little confused with people picking the likes of Ambrose, Lillee and Waqar while not picking Hadlee/Imran and the same is true to a lesser extent, with Miller and Pollock.

Pretty good team but why Shaun Pollock??? and no Warne or Murali?

 

[Jono]

Hey, I've never had a problem with it. Though, personally, I've never bothered picking an All-time XI as I find it a somewhat futile and unrewarding exercise. Too many cricketers I like have to be left out. Prefer these "wacky" XIs.

Lol sorry I actually meant Teja but I had recently replied to a post of yours so you must have been on my mind.

That or you're always on my mind

 

[vcs]

Lol sorry I actually meant Teja but I had recently replied to a post of yours so you must have been on my mind.

That or you're always on my mind

No probs.

you e-stalker

 

[Avada Kedavra]

I get the fact that Sobers was an betetr-than-horrendous, but why would anyone want to bowl such a player(Striking at 92 balls per wicket!) in an AT XI?Particularly when you can have five ATG bowlers bowling?

Oh, My revised AT XI(Non-cricinfo) would be :-

Herbert Sutcliffe
Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Donald Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Sir Garry Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Kieth Miller
Imran Khan
Shaun Pollock
Sir Richard Hadlee
George Lohmann

In this team, The openers are easily replaceable to Gavaskar and Hutton while SRT and SGS(selecting for purely non-bowling reasons btw) are replaceable with Hammond, Headley, Chappell or Border. Everyone else is not replaceable without compromising on the strength of the team. I've always been a little confused with people picking the likes of Ambrose, Lillee and Waqar while not picking Hadlee/Imran and the same is true to a lesser extent, with Miller and Pollock.

Thats an interesting team.How about this?

1.Gavaskar
2.Hobbs
3.Bradman
4.Tendu
5.Kallis
6.Gilchrist
7.Imran
8.Miller
9.Pollock/Wasim
10.Botham
11.Hadlee

 

[smash84]

Thats an interesting team.How about this?

1.Gavaskar
2.Hobbs
3.Bradman
4.Tendu
5.Kallis
6.Gilchrist
7.Imran
8.Miller
9.Pollock/Wasim
10.Botham
11.Hadlee

Interesting. But now I don't see the role of Pollock here. You've substituted Kallis in place of Gary Sobers. Not a bad option. But then for variety you might add Wasim. What is Botham doing in there??? A specialist bowler (Botham)???? And no Warne or Murali???

 

[Avada Kedavra]

Interesting. But now I don't see the role of Pollock here. You've substituted Kallis in place of Gary Sobers. Not a bad option. But then for variety you might add Wasim. What is Botham doing in there??? A specialist bowler (Botham)???? And no Warne or Murali???

Well there was no Warne/Murali in Teja's team either.I just tried to make a team consisting of pure batsmen and bowling all rounders only.

IMO,a "proper" all time side should have 5 pure batsmen,Gilly,2 bowling all-rounders,1 left arm pacer, one leg spinner and an off spinner-that way you have loads of variety.

1.Gavaskar
2.Hobbs
3.Don
4.Tendu
5.Viv
6.Gilchrist
7.Imran
8.Hadlee
9.Wasim
10.Warne
11.Murali

that team has everything.Almost impossible to beat!

 

[Jono]

**** balls to you all, I'm doing my World XI now:

Jack Hobbs
Sunil Gavaskar
Don Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Viv Richards
Garfield Sobers
Adam Gilchrist +
Imran Khan (c)
Malcolm Marshall
Muttiah Muralitharan
Glenn McGrath

I'll also be a ***** and do my "unlucky to miss outs", which were Richard Hadlee, Shane Warne and Keith Miller... among many other players of course.

 

[Matt79]

akhthar (c)

Should sig this to be honest, but I'm trying to keep my sig shorter

 

[Matt79]

Thats an interesting team.How about this?

1.Gavaskar
2.Hobbs
3.Bradman
4.Tendu
5.Kallis
6.Gilchrist
7.Imran
8.Miller
9.Pollock/Wasim
10.Botham
11.Hadlee

Keith Miller would walk out if you made him bat at 8, below Gilchrist and particularly Imran. He saw himself definitely as a batsman who bowled. And Botham would definitely do so at being batted below Wasim or S. Pollock.

Try:
1.Gavaskar
2.Hobbs
3.Bradman
4.Tendu
5.Kallis
6.Miller
7.Gilchrist
8.Botham
9.Imran
10.Hadlee
11.Pollock/Wasim

 

[Engle]

International Panel

Since this XI is being selected by an international panel, I'd wager that strong cases would be made for at least 1 superb player from various countries.

So, one from India is a certainty Gavaskar/Tendulkar.
S.Lanka another cert in Murali.
Pakistan probably in Imran.
S.Africa a tough sell on Kallis/G.Pollock.
N.Zealand, who knows, with Hadlee.
Zimbabwe and B'Desh, not a chance.

 

[Teja.]

Pretty good team but why Shaun Pollock??? and no Warne or Murali?

Shaun Pollock is one of the greatest pacers of all-time, as good a bowler(or negligibly worse) as Akram, Holding, Waqar et al, while being a more-than-handy batsman. My reasoning is, I need only five bowlers while all my batsmen have to bat, so I don't really see the point in picking bowlers of the same quality as Pollock/Miller/Imran/Hadlee if they cannot bat to a reasonable level. Lohmann, ofc, is a freakishly good bowler and can exploit pitches with spin like no other.

 

[Slifer]

One point Id like to make though, the two greatest teams in test history (Aust 95 to 06 and Wi 76 to 95) never needed great allrounders to be dominant. And Oz in particular had to deal with RSA likes of Kallis, Pollock, Klusener, Mcmillan etc and invaribly still came out on top.

 

[bagapath]

One point Id like to make though, the two greatest teams in test history (Aust 95 to 06 and Wi 76 to 95) never needed great allrounders to be dominant. And Oz in particular had to deal with RSA likes of Kallis, Pollock, Klusener, Mcmillan etc and invaribly still came out on top.

adam gilchrist was an all rounder. make no mistake about that.

the great west indies teams always carried one journeyman with them; they would have happily traded the logies, harpers and baptistes for a handy all-rounder if one was available.

 

[Slifer]

Prior to Gilchrist, Oz had Healey and he certainly wasnt an allrounder and they still got the better of most everybody else.

As for the WI of the 80s well the journeymen u mentioned hardly played so imo they were never an integral part of the team ne way.

 

[smash84]

Shaun Pollock is one of the greatest pacers of all-time, as good a bowler(or negligibly worse) as Akram, Holding, Waqar et al, while being a more-than-handy batsman. My reasoning is, I need only five bowlers while all my batsmen have to bat, so I don't really see the point in picking bowlers of the same quality as Pollock/Miller/Imran/Hadlee if they cannot bat to a reasonable level. Lohmann, ofc, is a freakishly good bowler and can exploit pitches with spin like no other.

Hmmm fair enough.

I must admit my ignorance of Lohmann. Was he as good as Murali or Warne???

 

[Teja.]

Hmmm fair enough.

I must admit my ignorance of Lohmann. Was he as good as Murali or Warne???

Very hard to compare. Lohmann played in an era of extremely bowling friendly conditions, but even if averages are standardized, He remains the most statistically impressive bowler of all-time.

He had 112 test wickets @ 10.75 and 1841 FC wickets @ 13.73.

 

[Prince EWS]

Very hard to compare. Lohmann played in an era of extremely bowling friendly conditions, but even if averages are standardized, He remains the most statistically impressive bowler of all-time.

He had 112 test wickets @ 10.75 and 1841 FC wickets @ 13.73.

He still has the best average when you standardise them FTR; just not quite as comfortably.

 

[Teja.]

Even if averages are standardized, He remains the most statistically impressive bowler of all-time.

He still has the best average when you standardise them FTR; just not quite as comfortably.

.

 

[Prince EWS]

.

Yeah I know, I just thought I'd pay you back for all the times you repeated something I said.

Minimum: 100 Test wickets

[B]Bowler		Wkts	S.Avg[/B]

GA Lohmann	112	16.97
SF Barnes	189	18.62
WJ O'Reilly	144	19.65
JC Laker	193	19.92
CTB Turner	101	20.09
CEL Ambrose	405	20.44
MD Marshall	376	20.49
AK Davidson	186	20.58
J Garner	259	20.74
Mohammad Asif	106	21.01
GD McGrath	560	21.42
Sir RJ Hadlee	431	21.63
DW Steyn	211	21.67
FS Trueman	307	21.68
AA Donald	330	22.09
M Muralitharan	800	22.28
SM Pollock	421	22.31
JH Wardle	102	22.46
Imran Khan	362	22.56
CV Grimmett	216	22.58
CEH Croft	125	22.86
KR Miller	170	22.94
DK Lillee	355	23.07
C Blythe	100	23.17
R Peel		101	23.20
RR Lindwall	228	23.22
AV Bedser	236	23.52
CA Walsh	519	23.69
PM Pollock	116	23.72
J Briggs	118	23.76
MA Holding	249	23.78
NAT Adcock	104	23.84
IR Bishop	161	24.17
Waqar Younis	373	24.27
Wasim Akram	414	24.33
RGD Willis	325	24.40
Shoaib Akhtar	178	24.47
WA Johnston	160	24.69
Fazal Mahmood	139	24.76
H Verity	144	24.84
SK Warne	702	24.95
AME Roberts	202	24.98
BA Reid		113	25.03
WW Hall		192	25.11
DL Underwood	297	25.20
GP Swann	113	25.27
JN Gillespie	259	25.37
BR Taylor	111	25.40
TL Goddard	123	25.41