The ATG Teams General arguing/discussing thread

[Lillian Thomson]

From the ancient footage I've seen, Wally Grout, Godfrey Evans and Alan Knott all looked clean as a whistle and matched their reputations. Grout especially made it look very easy. Fred to confirm.

How old do you think Fred is?

 

[trundler]

I don't know, you're all very old.

 

[trundler]

Ah, Grout plaited his last in 1966, which appears to be a few years too early for anyone but JBMAC to remember.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Ah, Grout plaited his last in 1966, which appears to be a few years too early for anyone but JBMAC to remember.

If memory serves JMAC rates Don Tallon and Farokh Engineer as the best. Tallon I didn’t see so can’t comment aside from his reputation. Engineer I’m baffled by, but that’s his opinion.

 

[trundler]

Pant and Bairstow are noticeably sloppy. Paine is adequate. Sarfraz is subpar to uninspiring. Mushfiq is ok. Can't say much about Watling but he looks alright. Dowrich isn't very good.

What was the golden age of wicket-keeping?

 

[Malcolm]

Pant and Bairstow are noticeably sloppy. Paine is adequate. Sarfraz is subpar to uninspiring. Mushfiq is ok. Can't say much about Watling but he looks alright. Dowrich isn't very good.

Mushi is ok? He is one of the worst keepers I have seen. A good batsman though.

I don't think Sarfaraz is subpar. IMO he is very good. It's just that he looks unfit.

 

[trundler]

Mushfiq has gotten better recently. Was terrible before. Sarfraz takes the odd good catch but yeah, he isn't very fit to keep in tests.

 

[Malcolm]

Purely in terms of keeping, Wriddhiman Saha easily is the best of this generation.

 

[a massive zebra]

How old do you think Fred is?

I have some vague recollection that Fred once said he was born on 3 June 1960.

 

[trundler]

So I'm exceptionally bored right now and decided to go through scorecards from the 60s. English cricket was at its strongest in that period and so theoretically England could field an XI very close to World XI standard. Around 1965 Barrington, Dexter, Cowdrey, Edrich and Graveney were all still playing. Boycott had recently debuted and was coming into his own even if he was a little inconsistent. Trueman played his last year in 1968, Statham in 1965. Snow debuted in 1965 but Statham was on his last legs so the 3 never overlapped. Nevertheless, allowing generously for hindsight a very strong XI consisting of:

Edrich
Boycott
Dexter
Cowdrey
Barrington
Graveney
Illingworth
Parks
Trueman
Statham
Snow

can be made. Plenty of big names.

 

[Logan]

Who is the greatest wicket-keeper batsmen?

Is it Gilchrist, Flower, ABD, Sanga or anyone else?

 

[mr_mister]

I think at some point in the 50s you could have produced something better

Hutton, Compton, May, Bailey, Evans, Laker, Tyson, Trueman, Bedser

 

[Starfighter]

I think at some point in the 50s you could have produced something better

Hutton, Compton, May, Bailey, Evans, Laker, Tyson, Trueman, Bedser

Not sure a team of only nine would do better.

 

[Flem274*]

Gonna try this one on

Hobbs
Grace
Bradman
Tendulkar
Smith
Sobers
Gilchrist
Imran
Hadlee
Marshall
Warne

 

[mr_mister]

Not sure a team of only nine would do better.

Was just naming key players ha wasn't meant to be a batting order

 

[morgieb]

Edrich, Graveney, Cowdrey all class players you missed out on. Even Dexter though I think he only started around the 60's.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Who is the greatest wicket-keeper batsmen?

Is it Gilchrist, Flower, ABD, Sanga or anyone else?

Flower was not a keeper. ABD was adequate but not really a keeper-batsman either.

I wouldn't put either of those 2 in that category at all.

 

[TheJediBrah]

For me it would be between Gilchrist and Dhoni. I know Sanga kept a lot in the first part of his career, and wasn't bad at all, but I struggle to think of him that way given how much of his career (and the best part of his career) was played as a pure batsman.

 

[Logan]

Wicket Keeper with an average of over 41+ and over 2000 runs

1. Adam Gilchrist 5570 runs @47
2. Andy Flower 4400 runs @ 53
3. Leslie Ames 2387 runs @ 43
4. ABD 2044 runs @ 57

Dhoni scored 4876 runs @ 38
Sanga scored 2966 runs @ 39

 

[TheJediBrah]

Sounds like it's between Gilchrist and Ames actually, whoever Ames is