The 'A' team

[AndrewB]

I expect this has been done before, but (as with the Fast Bowler Survival thread) people's answers can change with time:

If you were picking a team of players whose names begin with A (using the "Cricinfo rules" where Pakistani, Bangladeshi and a few other players are listed by first name, others by second name), who would you pick?

Some options (underlined players are listed by their primary skill but could be regarded as all-rounders):

Openers: Aamer Sohail, Bobby Abel, Mayank Agarwal, Dennis Amiss, Madhav Apte, Marvin Atapattu, Michael Atherton

Middle-order: Jimmy Adams, Mohinder Amarnath, Hashim Amla, Warwick Armstrong, Asad Shafiq, Asif Iqbal, Nathan Astle, Mohammad Azharuddin, Azhar Ali

Wicket keeper: Gerry Alexander, Les Ames

Fast bowlers: Aaqib Javed, Kyle Abbott, Neil Adcock, Terry Alderman, Gubby Allen, Amar Singh, Curtly Ambrose, Jimmy Anderson, Ron Archer, Jofra Archer, Dennis Atkinson, Eric Atkinson

Spinners: Abdul Qadir, Abdur Rehman, Paul Adams, Moeen Ali, David Allen, Bob Appleyard, Ravi Ashwin

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Bobby Abel
Dennis Amiss
Hashim Amla
Lala Amarnath
Mohammad Azharuddin
Warwick Armstrong (*)
Les Ames (+)
Abdul Qadir
Curtley Ambrose
James Anderson
Neil Adcock

 

[stephen]

The B team has:

Boycott
Boon
Bradman
Barrington
Border *
Botham
Boucher
Benaud
Broad
Boult
Bedi

Pretty sure this side is going to trounce all others. The M side is pretty decent too (though I couldn't think of any decent openers):

G Marsh
S Marsh
Miandad
McCabe
Misbah-ul-Haq
Matthews
McCullum
Marshall
McDermott
Muralitharan
McGrath

 

[Howe_zat]

The B team has:

Boycott
Boon
Bradman
Barrington
Border *
Botham
Boucher
Benaud
Broad
Boult
Bedi

Pretty sure this side is going to trounce all others. The M side is pretty decent too (though I couldn't think of any decent openers):

G Marsh
S Marsh
Miandad
McCabe
Misbah-ul-Haq
Matthews
McCullum
Marshall
McDermott
Muralitharan
McGrath

Bs should probably find room for Sydney Barnes and/or Alec Bedser

Ms should have Arthur Morris and Bruce Mitchell opening, and probably Peter May somewhere in the middle order

 

[stephen]

Bs should probably find room for Sydney Barnes and/or Alec Bedser

Ms should have Arthur Morris and Bruce Mitchell opening, and probably Peter May somewhere in the middle order

Given their bowling attack I'd probably bring in May over Matthews. The Bs should probably replace Broad with Barnes and Bedi with Bedser.

 

[stephen]

Honestly the B team formed in my head with Bradman, Barrington and Border, the rest just feel into place around it. Likewise the M side started with Murali, Marshall and McGrath.

 

[honestbharani]

How the hell do you form a M team without Miller? Shame on all of you.

 

[jimmy101]

Yeah come on lads Colin Miller is clearly the first picked in that team.

 

[honestbharani]

u know I was talking about David "in the arc, out of the park" Miller...

 

[trundler]

There was a draft like this. I managed to get

Hobbs
Hutton
Headley
Hammond
Harvey
Hazare
Healy
Hadlee
Holding
Wes Hall
Herarh

 

[AndrewB]

Not that I'm complaining about these other letter teams (he lied), but I was actually hoping to get more views on who would be in the 'A's team...

 

[trundler]

Amiss
Abel
Amla
Azharuddin
Adams
Armstrong
Ames
Ashwin
Adcock
Ambrose
Anderson

Wanted to get Appleyard in there because I'm a bit of a fan but Ashwin for batting depth. Qadir is probably the only notable spinner who's worse away than Ash.

 

[honestbharani]

Why not play two spinners and 5 bowlers? And Azhar Ali can get in there, I feel. And Abdul Razzaq for allrounder, perhaps?

 

[jimmy101]

Amiss
Abel
Amla
Azharuddin
Adams
Armstrong
Ames
Ashwin
Adcock
Ambrose
Anderson

Wanted to get Appleyard in there because I'm a bit of a fan but Ashwin for batting depth. Qadir is probably the only notable spinner who's worse away than Ash.

I agree with everything here except for Adams > Amarnath. Amarnath to this day remains one of India's finest players of pace bowling.

 

[Gob]

Amiss
Abel
Amla
Azharuddin
Adams
Armstrong
Ames
Ashwin
Adcock
Ambrose
Anderson

Wanted to get Appleyard in there because I'm a bit of a fan but Ashwin for batting depth. Qadir is probably the only notable spinner who's worse away than Ash.

Akram

 

[ataraxia]

Akram

He's Wasim in Cricinfo, and in general Pakistani name order.

 

[AndrewB]

He's Wasim in Cricinfo, and in general Pakistani name order.

Yeah, he'd be a shoo-in for the A team if eligible.

Incidentally, I have seen someone try to explain how Pakistani/Bangladeshi should really be sorted, and it certainly wasn't as simple as "go by first name" or "go by last name" - but most sites (e.g. Cricinfo) seem to use the simple approach.

 

[morgieb]

Amiss
Atherton
Azhar Ali
Amla
Azharuddin
Armstrong *
Ames +
Ashwin (though should he really count given the way Tamili names work?)
Ambrose
Adcock
Ambrose

 

[AndrewB]

Amiss
Atherton
Azhar Ali
Amla
Azharuddin
Armstrong *
Ames +
Ashwin (though should he really count given the way Tamili names work?)
Ambrose
Adcock
Ambrose

Two Ambroses?

 

[honestbharani]

Can u include Aravinda De Silva?