Test XI for The Last Quarter Century

[Mr Miyagi]

That's why we sent him back

Nah - you wanted him still for tests, he was better than the rest for you guys there in your dark period.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Ooooohhhhhhh...

Dude, he totally did.

He's on the record that he did.

It is what motivated to still open the bowling ininternationals at 39 years of age, and to retire when he did (although he had health problems soon aftter so he really was almost done anyway).

Lillee is on the record that if he had bowled like Hadlee he too would have better stats.

Hadlee was obsessed with getting results, setting targets and milestones and completing them. He gave nothing away and didn't enter mind games. It was all numbers to him.

He entered a historically weak team, and suceeded by just doing the best he could for himself with limited resources. The team suceeded as a result.

M Crowe was the same until he was captain and on the record as being such. At that point his focus was beyond his numbers and winning, but he allegedly was very very upset when he was out for 299.

Flemming is on the record as being different. He wanted the team to be greater than the sum of its parts. Crowe and Hadlee were like "set milestones Stephen"!

Kane is on the record as team first, but he must contribute best to help the team. He doesn't care about milestones but he knows that he must do his best for the team to win.

 

[Bolo]

Wow, that is a big call.

I raise, you Jeff Crowe.

Psst. Those stats as a batsman make me salivate when I think of Kepler. Sure, an average of 25 may seem poor to you. But that is because you don't understand the majesty of Kepler. I would have been overjoyed if he had averaged 25- he would have been out quicker. Playing for RSA in the 90s he managed a strike rate of about 50. This wasn't the 1970s. He had teammates striking in the 80s. Klusenar joined this team soon after Kepler left. Kepler losing his wicket was a cause for celebration. Sometimes more so than when the opposition lost one.

As for the captaincy, I can't comment on Crowe, but I can say this for Kepler: he took his scintillating approach to batting and did his best to turn it into a prescribed team strategy.

 

[Starfighter]

A strike rate of 51.76. Wow that's appalling.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Psst. Those stats as a batsman make me salivate when I think of Kepler. Sure, an average of 25 may seem poor to you. But that is because you don't understand the majesty of Kepler. I would have been overjoyed if he had averaged 25- he would have been out quicker. Playing for RSA in the 90s he managed a strike rate of about 50. This wasn't the 1970s. He had teammates striking in the 80s. Klusenar joined this team soon after Kepler left. Kepler losing his wicket was a cause for celebration. Sometimes more so than when the opposition lost one.

As for the captaincy, I can't comment on Crowe, but I can say this for Kepler: he took his scintillating approach to batting and did his best to turn it into a prescribed team strategy.

I see some factual errors, but I gave you a like anways

Well articulated, very good post. Point well made. But there is still the case of Geoff Howarth.

 

[Starfighter]

I see some factual errors, but I gave you a like anways

Well articulated, very good post. Point well made. But there is still the case of Geoff Howarth.

Geoff Howarth had strike rate 10 better than Wessels ten years earlier.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Geoff Howarth had strike rate 10 better than Wessels ten years earlier.

But Keppler opened!

Don't "Dhoni v Buttler" me at SR 50 vs 60 as against 90 vs 120 in an all star team where you are arguing for an opener

You really think NZC has Pollock at 9 or Kluesner at 8?






So top 3 for worst ODI players (extra weight for captains),

1 Keppler Wessels,

2=Jeff Crowe,

2= Geoff Howarth.

Any more contenders?

 

[jimmy101]

Not really where the thread was heading, but here's a bunch of teams featuring some of my favourite players from the past 25 years.

'STRAYA

1 Simon Katich
2 Mark Taylor*
3 David Boon
4 Damien Martyn
5 Brad Hodge
6 Michael Bevan
7 Adam Gilchrist+
8 Shane Warne
9 Jason Gillespie
10 Damien Fleming
11 Peter Siddle

12 Ian Harvey


POMMIELAND

1 Nick Knight
2 Marcus Trescothick
3 Alec Stewart
4 Kevin Pietersen
5 Nasser Hussain*
6 Andrew Flintoff
7 Craig White
8 Jack Russell+
9 Phil DeFreitas
10 Darren Gough
11 Phil Tufnell

12 Tim Bresnan


#PRESSURE XI

1 Virender Sehwag
2 Sachin Tendulkar
3 Rahul Dravid
4 Virat Kohli
5 VVS Laxman
6 Sourav Ganguly*
7 MS Dhoni+
8 Ajit Agarkar
9 Anil Kumble
10 Javagal Srinath
11 Harbhajan Singh

12th Ajinkya Rahane


UNZUD

1 Nathan Astle
2 Stephen Fleming*
3 Ross Taylor
4 Craig McMillan
5 Jesse Ryder
6 Brendon McCullum+
7 Chris Cairns
8 Chris Harris
9 Daniel Vettori
10 Dipak Patel
11 Shane Bond

12 Jacob Oram


GREEN DRAGONS

1 Saeed Anwar
2 Aamer Sohail
3 Inzamam-ul-haq
4 Mohammad Yousuf
5 Misbah-ul-haq*
6 Shahid Afridi
7 Moin Khan+
8 Wasim Akram
9 Saqlain Mushtaq
10 Shoaib Akhtar
11 Waqar Younis

12 Wahab Riaz


SAFFAS

1 Graeme Smith*
2 Herschelle Gibbs
3 Hansie Cronje
4 AB de Villiers
5 Jonty Rhodes
6 Brian McMillan
7 Lance Klusener
8 Mark Boucher+
9 Pat Symcox
10 Dale Steyn
11 Allan Donald

12 Fanie De Villiers


LITTLE LANKANS

1 Sanath Jayasuriya
2 Tillakaratne Dilshan
3 Kumar Sangakkara
4 Aravinda de Silva
5 Mahela Jayawardene
6 Arjuna Ranatunga
7 Romesh Kaluwitharana+
8 Chaminda Vaas
9 Rangana Herath (His Roundness)
10 Muttiah Muralitharan
11 Indika Gallage

12 Avishka Gunawardene


WINDIES

1 Chris Gayle
2 Ramnaresh Sarwan
3 Brian Lara
4 Shiv Chanderpaul
5 Jimmy Adams*
6 Carl Hooper
7 Dinesh Ramdin+
8 Roger Harper
9 Ian Bishop
10 Curtly Ambrose
11 Courtney Walsh

12 Fidel Edwards


REST OF THE WORLD

1 Brendan Taylor
2 Grant Flower
3 Murray Goodwin
4 Andy Flower+
5 Steve Tikolo
6 Shakib Al Hasan
7 Heath Streak*
8 Andy Blignaut
9 Eddo Brandes
10 Mashrafe Mortaza
11 Rashid Khan

12 Trent Johnston

 

[TheJediBrah]

Ooooohhhhhhh...

he really cared about his wpm stat

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Not really where the thread was heading, but here's a bunch of teams featuring some of my favourite players from the past 25 years.




UNZUD

1 Nathan Astle
2 Stephen Fleming*
3 Ross Taylor
4 Craig McMillan
5 Jesse Ryder
6 Brendon McCullum+
7 Chris Cairns
8 Chris Harris
9 Daniel Vettori
10 Dipak Patel
11 Shane Bond

Did Martin Guptill run over your dog and Kane Williamson shag your missus respectively or something? :P

Dipak Patel over Boult in 1993 to 1998? Big call. Very big call. If Dipak makes it - where's Martin Crowe?

I'm joking of course.

Pick your teams you feel free.
I like your teams and the global flavour. Well done.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

he really cared about his wpm stat

Hadlee cared about every stat. Including batting.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh, reverse burn.


:P

Lets talk about the 6 great allrounders of the 1980's Hadlee, Dev, Rice, Botham, Khan, and Lillee

# conversations noone ever had :P

 

[jimmy101]

Did Martin Guptill run over your dog and Kane Williamson shag your missus respectively or something? :P

Dipak Patel over Boult in 1993 to 1998? Big call. Very big call. If Dipak makes it - where's Martin Crowe?

I'm joking of course.

Pick your teams you feel free.

Guptill is okay. And I am indeed a big KW fan, but I just enjoyed watching those other guys better.

And I love Martin Crowe, he was a wonderful soul. If I picked an NZ team of favourites from the previous 25 years he'd be in for sure.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Guptill is okay. And I am indeed a big KW fan, but I just enjoyed watching those other guys better.

And I love Martin Crowe, he was a wonderful soul. If I picked an NZ team of favourites from the previous 25 years he'd be in for sure.

All good. Unfortunately too many in NZC did not appreciate him until he was retired, let alone gone.

NZC may suck historically, but M Crowe was ahead of his time as a analyst, and a damn good player too. His body was too fragile in both career and life. But those that saw him or read his work, will cheerish him as cricket fans.

Even this whole fab 4 thing (Root, Smith, KW and Kohli) was his prediction first. (only 1 averaged over 41 in tests at the time of writing).

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/774705.html

Put yourself in August 2014, it is impressive to go on the record and be so right.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Hadlee cared about every stat. Including batting.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh, reverse burn.


:P

Lets talk about the 6 great allrounders of the 1980's Hadlee, Dev, Rice, Botham, Khan, and Lillee

# conversations noone ever had :P

Gonna need a translator

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Gonna need a translator

A 'great all-rounder' is something is like "ATG allrounder" Aussie used to have in Keith MIller and Benaud. Almost seen in Shane Watson, but not quite.

It is like a bowler like McGRath or Lilleee who takes 10w, but scores centuries. Like Hadlee or better yet Khan.

Like Mitch Marsh - but better.

It is a philosophy that bowlers may bowl, but they also bat.

Like all 11 players have a bat in their kit bags made of willow (not aluminium), even if they don't bowl.

It is a weird and unusual concept followed in India (Ashwin and Jadeja, Dev, Pandya) England (Stokes, Woakes, Ali, Botham, Flintoff) SA (Procheter, Rice, Pollock, McMillan, Boje) NZ (Cairns, Hadlee) Pakistan (Khan) Bangladesh (Shakib) WI (Sobers, Holder maybe, Braithwaite) et al.

The best Aussie example in modern times is M Marsh and S "review" Watson. There seems to be a cultural barrier in definition to Australians.

It basically means more the tail don't typically start at 8 even if you have a wk at 7. but may mean the number 6 is a handy bowler.

Hafeez, Mudasser Nasar, Jayasuriya are of course many exceptions.

There was a time Probhakar opened the batting and bowling, he did both poorly, but it was impressive that he did both - 'kind of'.


I personally like Mushtaq Muhammed myself

 

[jimmy101]

Apologies to anyone if any of your personal favourites are featured here, but here is an Aussie team from the past 25 years featuring players I was never the biggest fan of. Plus my reasons why I selected them.

1. David Warner. I remember watching him in his debut T20i and thinking to myself that I wasn't going to like him for some reason. Must have been his face. Grade A numbskull, terrible sledger, ****y, & over-the-top dramatist. There's hardly anything to like about Warner's approach to cricket. I do however geniunely feel for him & his family during this tough time & look forward to seeing him return.
2. Matthew Hayden. I thought Haydos was a jerk, & overrated as a batsman. I was overjoyed when The Prince took his record back from him.
3. Dean Jones. Probably belongs in the era previous but I think his arrogance & casual racism should land him a spot in this team. From what I've heard, he'll spend 10 minutes telling a room full of people about how awesome he is, & then give everyone else in the room a chance to tell him about how awesome he is.
4. Michael Clarke. Not really that bad of a dude, but always striked me as a pretty-boy stooge. In fact Simon Katich makes my good guys XI almost soley based on not putting up with Clarkey's ****. It was a sad day when "Pup" became the Australian captain.
5. Michael Slater. I didn't mind Slats back in the day, I just really dislike his commentary. Too much of a larrakin & is oh so guilty of venturing into the "boys club" diatribe whilst in the box.
6. Shane Watson. Really self-centered guy who you can tell has massive tickets on himself. I don't like watching him bat or bowl, however I will give him praise for standing up to Wahab Riaz during the 2015 CWC semi. Although he did get lucky.
7. Brad Haddin. Ugh, didn't like his face, didn't like hearing him talk. He was a really nasty & mouthy 'keeper too. Couldn't stand the guy.
8. Brett Lee. That ****ing chainsaw celebration. And he was doing at against the Bangladeshis in Cairns. I mean, come on.
9. Nathan Hauritz. Total hack who never deserved the run he got. Really pretentious from what I've heard too.
10. Shaun Tait. Soooo overrated, overflowing with FIGJAM.
11. Glenn McGrath. Yeah, yeah he's an ATG. I know, and I respect McGrath the bowler. I'm probably going to cop a lot of hate for this one. I just feel that in order for the guy to get his competitive juices flowing he needed to play his cricket in a very mean-spirited manner. Would often hurl relentless personal abuse at his opponents (see Graeme Smith or Ramnaresh Sarwan). Plus I'm not really all that fond of somebody who hunts animals as a hobby.

Notable omissions: Darren Lehmann (racist), James Faulkner (tosser), Brad Hogg (does that annoying tongue thing).

 

[bagapath]

Underrated Test XI from the Last 25 years

Justin Langer
Gary Kirsten
Mahela Jayawardene *
Andy Flower +
Graham Thorpe
Shiv Chanderpal
Shaun Pollock
Ryan Harris
Saqlain Mushtaq
Shane Bond
Courtney Walsh

IMO, this is good enough to compete against any ATG XI including the one featuring Bradman and Sobers

 

[Burgey]

Rhino. Wafg he was.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Underrated Test XI from the Last 25 years

Justin Langer
Gary Kirsten
Mahela Jayawardene *
Andy Flower +
Graham Thorpe
Shiv Chanderpal
Shaun Pollock
Ryan Harris
Saqlain Mushtaq
Shane Bond
Courtney Walsh

IMO, this is good enough to compete against any ATG XI including the one featuring Bradman and Sobers

Are any of those guys underrated? They are all rated pretty damn highly, except maybe Graham Thorpe

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Are any of those guys underrated? They are all rated pretty damn highly, except maybe Graham Thorpe

Well for one, Andy Flower seems to be treated like he was allergic to wicket keeping gloves round here...

I want better batting myself ,maybe have Shakib as 5th bowler.bowler. Drop Walsh.

Good team, though.

#WaqargetslillovetypicallyvsAkram