ESPNcricinfo World XI

[Himannv]

1. Geoffrey Boycott
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Don Bradman
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Ken Barrington
6. Allan Border
7. Jack Russell
8. Malcolm Marshall
9. Curtly Ambrose
10. Muthiah Muralitharan
11. Glenn McGrath

Team to play for my life will be more like this. Bowlers all used to long marathon spells with a good economy rate and yet remain a constant threat. Additionally some consistent run machines and traditional stonewallers among the batsmen.

 

[Prince EWS]

Lol. A thrill a minute and elegant XI receives anger but a "play for your life" XI, which makes little sense because it's unclear if the team is actually bowling or not, gets lots of discussion.

Haha yeah the last one is definitely the silliest.

 

[Avada Kedavra]

Fourth innings average, taken on its own, means **** all while evaluating how good a player is in a pressure cooker situation. FTR, I'd take Lara over both Tendulkar and Ponting in a tight fourth innings scenario but the averages wouldn't tell you that. It's more about how many defining innings the batsman produces.

Exactly...personally I'd have Laxman over anyone I've seen.

A team for my life from players I have seen would be something like this:

1.Graeme Smith
2.Justin Langer
3.VVS
4.Tendulkar
5.Miandad
6.S.Waugh
7.M.Boucher
8.Murali
9.Steyn
10.Mcgrath
11.Ambrose

 

[weldone]

5.Miandad

This guy is a must in a 'play for your life XI', surely. Those who've seen him play in pressure cooker situations would know.

 

[honestbharani]

This guy is a must in a 'play for your life XI', surely. Those who've seen him play in pressure cooker situations would know.

He is a underrated batsman too.. His ODI average was amazing for his era and he had a great test record as well..

 

[smash84]

This guy is a must in a 'play for your life XI', surely. Those who've seen him play in pressure cooker situations would know.

Agreed. Pakistan's greatest ever batsman.

He is a underrated batsman too.. His ODI average was amazing for his era and he had a great test record as well..

Yeah. He is one of the few batsmen whose career test batting average never fell below 50/

Exactly...personally I'd have Laxman over anyone I've seen.

A team for my life from players I have seen would be something like this:

1.Graeme Smith
2.Justin Langer
3.VVS
4.Tendulkar
5.Miandad
6.S.Waugh
7.M.Boucher
8.Murali
9.Steyn
10.Mcgrath
11.Ambrose

That's an interesting one. But the one who does stand out for me here and who people might not recall too often is Justin Langer. He was one of those players who I associate with 'Austalianism' as called by John Arlott (I think it was him who coined that term not sure though). He would always try to put a high price on his wicket. Sometimes he would be like glue to the crease. So difficult to dislodge.

 

[Teja.]

Haha yeah the last one is definitely the silliest.

Actually, I'd disagree. The previous two were based on qualities that provided a subjective psychological thrill while this one is based on a skill which is actually useful in test match cricket.

 

[Jono]

Umm, but assessing that skill is just as subjective, as we're seeing. Hence the arguments over Sachin.

And surely the fact that the other two are subjective is why individual authors are doing it, and not a panel. To have readers see who the author believes were elegant or exciting.

I mean FFS, we have a "most exciting bowler" thread on thos forum. Why can't we have a most exciting XI?

Pedantic stuff really.

 

[Ikki]

Fourth innings average, taken on its own, means **** all while evaluating how good a player is in a pressure cooker situation. FTR, I'd take Lara over both Tendulkar and Ponting in a tight fourth innings scenario but the averages wouldn't tell you that. It's more about how many defining innings the batsman produces.

I agree with that to an extent. However, there is no doubting it is harder to score runs in the 4th innings than the 1st. When people argue over flat pitches, equipment and sport science when evaluating the toughness of an era; surely the 4th innings are relevant.

 

[Jono]

It's often not harder to score runs on some English or Australian pitches on Day 5. Depends on what ground.

Obviously on the whole it's harder to bat last, but seriously no 4th innings statistic is going to convince me that Steve Waugh wasn't a batsman I would love batting for me in either:
a) a pressure situation.
b) reasonably difficult batting conditions.

 

[smash84]

It's often not harder to score runs on some English or Australian pitches on Day 5. Depends on what ground.

Obviously on the whole it's harder to bat last, but seriously no 4th innings statistic is going to convince me that Steve Waugh wasn't a batsman I would love batting for me in either:
a) a pressure situation.
b) reasonably difficult batting conditions.

I am with you on this.

 

[Ikki]

It's often not harder to score runs on some English or Australian pitches on Day 5. Depends on what ground.

Obviously on the whole it's harder to bat last, but seriously no 4th innings statistic is going to convince me that Steve Waugh wasn't a batsman I would love batting for me in either:
a) a pressure situation.
b) reasonably difficult batting conditions.

You might even have a great average but it won't tell a great picture of the pressure-situations because you may have played in many 4th innings chases where it wasn't a huge amount of pressure. If your batting line up has collapsed and you hold the tide in the 1st innings, that is still a pressure situation.

However, I was talking about in terms of rating players. People ignore 4th innings averages when they shouldn't. It IS harder to score in the 4th innings and you just have to look at the all-time 4th innings averages to see how few batsmen average 50+ to appreciate those that do.

 

[vcs]

You might even have a great average but it won't tell a great picture of the pressure-situations because you may have played in many 4th innings chases where it wasn't a huge amount of pressure. If your batting line up has collapsed and you hold the tide in the 1st innings, that is still a pressure situation.

However, I was talking about in terms of rating players. People ignore 4th innings averages when they shouldn't. It IS harder to score in the 4th innings and you just have to look at the all-time 4th innings averages to see how few batsmen average 50+ to appreciate those that do.

I think we are largely in agreement here, a great fourth innings average is good to have but it's not a must-have to be considered a good batsman under pressure. Basically, a stat that requires a large amount of contextualization.

 

[Slifer]

Batsmen to bat for my life (apart from the Don obviously):

S Waugh
A Border
Viv

 

[vic_orthdox]

It's often not harder to score runs on some English or Australian pitches on Day 5. Depends on what ground.

Obviously on the whole it's harder to bat last, but seriously no 4th innings statistic is going to convince me that Steve Waugh wasn't a batsman I would love batting for me in either:
a) a pressure situation.
b) reasonably difficult batting conditions.

Nah, there's no ground where batting on Day 5 is easier than previous days. The closest that you could come up with was the SA vs Australia Test in Sydney in 05/06 (or around that), where the pitch was juicy to start, and the rain meant that Ponting and co. were batting on what was effectively a third/fourth day pitch to chase down the runs.

 

[Jono]

There are plenty of occasions where a morning on Lords facing the new ball under cloud cover is more difficult than a 4th or 5th day on Lords playing an old ball with no cloud cover.

Not related directly to the pitch, but the conditions are more difficult, and hence a 4th innings average doesn't mena it was harder to bat.

 

[smash84]

When is cricinfo going to come up with its all Time XI???? They are coming with all the fancy pants eleven except for the real one.

The way they are coming up with all sorts of different XIs I think tomorrow they will have Ijaz Butt's "kiss my ***" XI....

 

[Engle]

Best Dressed XI

When is cricinfo going to come up with its all Time XI???? They are coming with all the fancy pants eleven except for the real one.

Hey, that's a good one, lets have an XI comprising those cricketers who seem to be the best dressed

01. G. Boycott
02. B. Richards
03. D. Gower
......

 

[smash84]

Hey, that's a good one, lets have an XI comprising those cricketers who seem to be the best dressed

01. G. Boycott
02. B. Richards
03. D. Gower
......

LOL..........

ok.......

I think the best dressed ones are

01 David Gower
02 Richie Benaud
03 Imran Khan

 

[vcs]

How about an "Awesome Facial Hair XI"?

Grace
Gooch
Richards
Lloyd
Border
Miandad
Russell
Kapil
Botham
Hadlee
Lillee

12th man : Hughes