Target 300. Day 5 square turning pitch. All spin attack. Pick your top 6

[Dendarii]

I didnt see much of Smith outside of the tests he played in Australia, but his record against Aus, SL and Ind (who all had spinners of note during Smith's time) suggests he isn't necessarily the man for the job here.

He averages 51.96 in 4th innings, which is better than his career average of 48.25, although that obviously doesn't say anything about his ability against spin.

 

[harsh.ag]

Hobbs should be a lock too. Average of 69 in the 4th innings pre war. Those pitches were not messing around.

 

[Teja.]

Going by 4th innings records along with competence against spin:

B Mitchell (89.8 average in 4th innings!)
S Gavaskar
D Bradman
V Richards
Y Khan
J Miandad

Opener spot very rough as Hunte, Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Greenidge, Boycott and Smith all have excellent records.

 

[Burgey]

Ian Chappell and Walters

Both very good shouts if you’re picking an Aus side to take on this task

 

[Migara]

Mine:

Sehwag
Sidhu
Lara
Tendulkar
Smith
Pietersen

What's yours?

Shewag
Sidhu
Lara
Tendulkar
Jayawardane
Azharuddin

 

[AndrewB]

Sutcliffe made 135 on a day 6 square-turning (at least initially) pitch with a target of 332.

He also made 161 on a square-turning pitch in the Oval Test in 1926 (against Grimmett and Mailey), though that was on days 2 and 3.

The obvious risk of picking him is that he'd bat through the 5th day for about 90*, which wouldn't be ideal if you were hoping for a win.