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Which Decade Saw the Best Players Debut?

Line and Length

Line and Length

Cricketer Of The Year
Discounting the 2020s I have attempted to compile the best teams from players making their debut in each of the past 5 decades.
I have tried to maintain a reasonable balance for teams with batsmen placed in their usual spot and attacks comprising 3 or 4 pacers and 1 or 2 spinners.

I'd be interested to read your comments and any changes you might make.

The '70s
Sunil Gavaskar
Gordon Greenidge
Viv Richards
Greg Chappell
Javed Miandad
Allan Border
Imran Khan
Rod Marsh w/k
Richard Hadlee
Malcolm Marshall
Abdul Qadir

Plenty of 'unlucky' players here. Barry Richards (because of limited appearances), Kapil Dev and Ian Botham (all-rounder spots already filled) and Michael Holding and Joel Garner (tempted to go with one instead of Qadir but I needed a spinner).

The '80s
Mark Taylor
David Boon
Richie Richardson
Sachin Tendulkar
Steve Waugh
Aravinda de Silva
Jeff Dujon w/k
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

Tendulkar and Waugh picked themselves as did the 4 man pace attack. de Silva takes the all-rounder spot and provides the spin option. Martin Crowe, Mohammad Azharrudin and Ian Healy all came close to a spot.

The '90s
Matthew Hayden
Justin Langer
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Shivnarene Chanderpaul
Adam Gilchrist w/k
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath
Muttiah Muralitharan

No way was I going to split Warne and Murali but, if playing on a pacers' wicket, Allan Donald might replace one of them. VVS Laxman, Inzaman ul Haq and Mark Waugh came under consideration. Anil Kimble unlucky to come up against the two greatest.

The '00s
Virendar Sehwag
Graeme Smith
Kumar Sangakarra w/k
Younis Khan
Michael Clarke
AB de Villiers
Andrew Flintoff
Dayle Steyn
Morne Morkel
Tim Southee
Danish Kaneira

I'm not entirely happy with this line-up. Tempted to play Sanga as a specialist bat with a couple of Kiwi contenders in the wings in Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling as 'keepers. A lot of batting talent missing out in Hashim Amla, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle etc.

The '10s
Alastair Cook
Usman Khawaya
Kane Williamson
Joe Root
Steve Smith
Viral Kholi
Quentin de Kock w/k
Ravichandran Ashwin
Pat Cummins
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

This proved the hardest task. Cook or Khawaja could arguably be replaced by either Dave Warner or Andrew Strauss (or both). Fitting Williamson, Smith, Root and Kholi in their usual spots proved almost impossible, but should I leave one out? Ravindra Jadeja would be my 12th man and could easily replace Ashwin while Kevin Pietersen could replace one of the big four named. Quite a few pace bowlers (Mohammad Shami, Stuart Broad, Trent Boult, Vern Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Yasir Shah) were on the brink.
 
nick-o

nick-o

State 12th Man
Hate to be a pedant, but I think Flintoff, Cook and Anderson all debuted in the decade prior to the one you've assigned them to. Anderson would probably still be selected in the 00's team, the other two probably would not get picked. So Root and Anderson the only England players chosen from five decades?
 
Q

Qlder

State Vice-Captain
^ Yep, Anderson (debut 2003) and Cook (2006) are not eligible for 10's team and Flintoff (1998) not eligible for 00's team (OP's criteria was decade of debut)
 
Last edited:
Line and Length

Line and Length

Cricketer Of The Year
Thanks for picking that up. I was rushing a bit at times. Of those you've picked up, Flintoff doesn't crack the '90s line-up.
Anderson makes the '00s team but Cook misses out.

Revised teams.

The '00s
Virendar Sehwag
Graeme Smith
Kumar Sangakarra w/k
Younis Khan
Michael Clarke
AB de Villiers
Shane Watson
Dayle Steyn
Tim Southee
James Anderson
Danish Kaneira

Watson is a spur of the moment thought for the all-rounder spot incorrectly allocated to Flintoff.

The '10s
David Warner
Usman Khawaya
Kane Williamson
Joe Root
Steve Smith
Viral Kholi
Quentin de Kock w/k
Ravichandran Ashwin
Pat Cummins
Jasprit Bumrah
Kagiso Rabada

Warner replaces Cook (I mentioned Strauss earlier but he isn't eligible) and Rabada replaces Anderson) I had mentioned Broad but he too is ineligible). I seemed to have mixed up my English debutants for a couple of decades.
 
The Sean

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
nick-o said:
Hate to be a pedant, but I think Flintoff, Cook and Anderson all debuted in the decade prior to the one you've assigned them to. Anderson would probably still be selected in the 00's team, the other two probably would not get picked. So Root and Anderson the only England players chosen from five decades?
Click to expand...
Never hate that. You're doing God's work.
 
F

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Line and Length said:
Discounting the 2020s I have attempted to compile the best teams from players making their debut in each of the past 5 decades.
I have tried to maintain a reasonable balance for teams with batsmen placed in their usual spot and attacks comprising 3 or 4 pacers and 1 or 2 spinners.

I'd be interested to read your comments and any changes you might make.

The '70s
Sunil Gavaskar
Gordon Greenidge
Viv Richards
Greg Chappell
Javed Miandad
Allan Border
Imran Khan
Rod Marsh w/k
Richard Hadlee
Malcolm Marshall
Abdul Qadir

Plenty of 'unlucky' players here. Barry Richards (because of limited appearances), Kapil Dev and Ian Botham (all-rounder spots already filled) and Michael Holding and Joel Garner (tempted to go with one instead of Qadir but I needed a spinner).

The '80s
Mark Taylor
David Boon
Richie Richardson
Sachin Tendulkar
Steve Waugh
Aravinda de Silva
Jeff Dujon w/k
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

Tendulkar and Waugh picked themselves as did the 4 man pace attack. de Silva takes the all-rounder spot and provides the spin option. Martin Crowe, Mohammad Azharrudin and Ian Healy all came close to a spot.

The '90s
Matthew Hayden
Justin Langer
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Shivnarene Chanderpaul
Adam Gilchrist w/k
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath
Muttiah Muralitharan

No way was I going to split Warne and Murali but, if playing on a pacers' wicket, Allan Donald might replace one of them. VVS Laxman, Inzaman ul Haq and Mark Waugh came under consideration. Anil Kimble unlucky to come up against the two greatest.

The '00s
Virendar Sehwag
Graeme Smith
Kumar Sangakarra w/k
Younis Khan
Michael Clarke
AB de Villiers
Andrew Flintoff
Dayle Steyn
Morne Morkel
Tim Southee
Danish Kaneira

I'm not entirely happy with this line-up. Tempted to play Sanga as a specialist bat with a couple of Kiwi contenders in the wings in Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling as 'keepers. A lot of batting talent missing out in Hashim Amla, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle etc.

The '10s
Alastair Cook
Usman Khawaya
Kane Williamson
Joe Root
Steve Smith
Viral Kholi
Quentin de Kock w/k
Ravichandran Ashwin
Pat Cummins
Jasprit Bumrah
James Anderson

This proved the hardest task. Cook or Khawaja could arguably be replaced by either Dave Warner or Andrew Strauss (or both). Fitting Williamson, Smith, Root and Kholi in their usual spots proved almost impossible, but should I leave one out? Ravindra Jadeja would be my 12th man and could easily replace Ashwin while Kevin Pietersen could replace one of the big four named. Quite a few pace bowlers (Mohammad Shami, Stuart Broad, Trent Boult, Vern Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Yasir Shah) were on the brink.
Click to expand...
In the 80s team there is a long tail with Waqar, Ambrose, and Walsh. Bring Chris Cairns in for Walsh and improve the batting dramatically.
 
F

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Line and Length said:
Thanks for picking that up. I was rushing a bit at times. Of those you've picked up, Flintoff doesn't crack the '90s line-up.
Anderson makes the '00s team but Cook misses out.

Revised teams.

The '00s
Virendar Sehwag
Graeme Smith
Kumar Sangakarra w/k
Younis Khan
Michael Clarke
AB de Villiers
Shane Watson
Dayle Steyn
Tim Southee
James Anderson
Danish Kaneira

Watson is a spur of the moment thought for the all-rounder spot incorrectly allocated to Flintoff.

The '10s
David Warner
Usman Khawaya
Kane Williamson
Joe Root
Steve Smith
Viral Kholi
Quentin de Kock w/k
Ravichandran Ashwin
Pat Cummins
Jasprit Bumrah
Kagiso Rabada

Warner replaces Cook (I mentioned Strauss earlier but he isn't eligible) and Rabada replaces Anderson) I had mentioned Broad but he too is ineligible). I seemed to have mixed up my English debutants for a couple of decades.
Click to expand...
In the 00s Shakib instead of Watto, Swann instead of Kaneira, and Bond instead of Southee.
 
F

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
2020s so far. No doubt will change a lot in the years to come:

Abdullah Shafique
Chanders jnr (following edit)
Devon Conway
Harry Brook
Saud Shakeel
Kyle Mayers but Cameron Green will probably eclipse him
Alex Carey (wk)
Axar Patel
Kyle Jamieson
Ollie Robinson
Scott Boland
 
Last edited:
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Fuller Pilch said:
2020s so far. No doubt will change a lot in the years to come:

Abdullah Shafique
Ben Duckett
Devon Conway
Harry Brook
Saud Shakeel
Kyle Mayers but Cameron Green will probably eclipse him
Alex Carey (wk)
Axar Patel
Kyle Jamieson
Ollie Robinson
Scott Boland
Click to expand...
Duckett debuted in 2016. Tage Chanderpaul IMO.
 
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