Who's the best U-25 Test Player?

[GGG]

AB De Villiers, as it's pretty hard to pick a player on one and a bit tests but Ajantha Mendis stats in all the games he has played are incredible . I am really looking forward to him playing Aussie in Australia.

 

[GGG]

Mendis, Cook, Taylor, De Villiers, Sharma and Chawla are all good players with potential, and hopefully all of them suceed. Sad to see that Australia have none under 25. We have no future in the current crop of players, except for Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson (who is dire anyway).

Bet they have players under 25 in domestic cricket who are as good if not better than some of the names on this list.

 

[GGG]

Mendis, Cook, Taylor, De Villiers, Sharma and Chawla are all good players with potential, and hopefully all of them suceed. Sad to see that Australia have none under 25. We have no future in the current crop of players, except for Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson (who is dire anyway).

Surely you have players under 25 in domestic cricket who are as good if not better than most of the names on this list, just so hard to crack the aussie test team without 1000's of first class runs with a high average.

 

[Manee]

Never even heard of, ITBT.

Tongue in cheek, of course.

I am however astounded that India agreed to a series that was being televised on Zee. Given their absolute rejection of everything ICL in other areas.

Me too, itbt.

 

[NUFAN]

It's been de Villiers, Cook, Bravo and Mendis.

Take your pick really.

I think Cook and Mendis will end up with the most impressive record out of those 4.

 

[aussie tragic]

Okay I missed a few so list updated and now it also includes 25 year olds…..

Australia – Shaun Tait (25), Beau Casson (25)
England - Stuart Broad (22), Alistair Cook (23), Ravi Bopara (23), Liam Plunkett (23), Tim Ambrose (25)
India – Piyush Chawla (19), Ishant Sharma (19), RP Singh (22), Irfan Pathan (23), Vikram Singh (23), Sreesanth (25)
New Zealand – Tim Southee (19), Daniel Flynn (23), Ross Taylor (24)
Pakistan – Salman Butt (23), Umar Gul (24), Lasith Malinga (24), Mohammad Asif (25)
South Africa – Morne Morkel (23), AB De Villiers (24), Dale Steyn (25), Hashim Amla (25)
Sri Lanka – Ajantha Mendis (23), Farveez Maharoof (23), Upul Tharanga (23)
West Indies – Xavier Marshall (22), Danesh Ramdin (23), Dwayne Bravo (24), Jerome Taylor (24), Darren Sammy (24), Amit Jaggernauth (24)

 

[Bahnz]

I reckon Broad will be a great ODI player for England, not so clear on his prospects as a test player, yet. Cook looks likely to be one of the best openers in the world over the next decade.

Not sure about any of the Indian players, as they always tend to have a habit of being picked young, flying high for a couple of games and then vanishing, never to be seen again. Pathan seems to have bucked that trend to a certain extent though, so good for him.

Taylor is good, and if he can improve his shot selection may finish with one of the best test records ever achieved by a New Zealand batsman. Which obviously isn't saying much. Southee is exciting but too young to make any serious predictions about.

I don't know if Gul is that likely to ever be a great bowler, but he certainly looks like a first class support bowler. Now if Asif can only shake off Shoiab syndrome, then Pakistan will have a good opening duo for the next decade.

South Africa has been just unfairly blessed with outstanding young talent, and given the performances of their U19 teams of late, it seems like even more are on the way. If any of the current teams surpass Australia, South Africa seem the most likely.

Sri Lanka's two bizzare bowling finds both look likely to become outstanding match winners (Malinga has been for some time in ODI's at least). From what I've seen of Mendis, I wouldn't be too surprised if he finished with an outstanding average in the low 20's, though obviously its too early to say after just 1.5 tests. Malinga will find things difficult spending 2/3rds of his career toiling away on sub-continental pitches, but one feels he can and will improve a lot in the coming years, and will serve as a sufficient replacement for Vaas.

And at last to the West Indies. Bravo is an awesome batting talent who's been slightly weighed down by the expectation that he play as a genuine allrounder. In a better time for West Indian Cricket, one would probably expect him to just focus on developing as a batsman first. Hopefully he still will, given time. Taylor is also a decent bowler with a lot of potential, I just hope again people don't put too much pressure on him, too early.

The pick of the lot: Cook, Taylor (Ross), everyone from South Africa, Mendis and Bravo.

 

[Jakester1288]

I change to Amla and Mendis. To be perfectly honest with you, I thought Amla would be in early 30's.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Bravo.

 

[aussie]

Never even heard of, ITBT.

I am however astounded that India agreed to a series that was being televised on Zee. Given their absolute rejection of everything ICL in other areas.

Every series from the sub-continent that i have seen that ENG have not been involved in since AUS tour to IND in 98 was on ZeeTV, the only ones i remember Skysportsextra bringing of late was SA in IND 08, Aus in IND odi-series late last year & the first IND/PAK series in 04.

 

[tooextracool]

Tim Ambrose (25)

Wow, didnt realise how young Ambrose is.

 

[Richard]

Every series from the sub-continent that i have seen that ENG have not been involved in since AUS tour to IND in 98 was on ZeeTV, the only ones i remember Skysportsextra bringing of late was SA in IND 08, Aus in IND odi-series late last year & the first IND/PAK series in 04.

I'm not so surprised about it in the past, but since the ICL (which is organised by Zee, for those who don't know) I'm as I say truly astonished that the BCCI have continued to do a thing that has endorsed the corporation. I'd have thought they'd have threatened to pull-out of a series if Zee had any form of broadcasting rights.

 

[PhoenixFire]

de Villiers looks the real deal, as does Mendis, looking forward to watching more of him bowl. I am still to be convinced about Cook's technique which looks to have some pretty big flaws in it, but there is still time obv.

 

[tooextracool]

de Villiers looks the real deal, as does Mendis, looking forward to watching more of him bowl. I am still to be convinced about Cook's technique which looks to have some pretty big flaws in it, but there is still time obv.

hopefully the man in your avatar can do something about it. Im surprised that he is still showing the same technical flaws that he had during the Ashes series down under. Someone in the management has some serious questions to answer regarding that IMO.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Indeed, head falling away to the offside when playing on the leg-side, playing away from is body when the ball is angled across him are but a few of them.

 

[brockley]

Most of the under 25 aussie players are playing in the cricket australia cup of 2nd division cricket,where their is a rule 8 of the xl players playing have to be under 25.
Its a case of plethora of talent,players playing on longer etc etc.Not many under 25 players playing in oz comp,they have to be real good,or either they are given 1 or 2 games and dropped.Mark cameron is a case he is 27 or 28,and he now is just showing his potnetial in first class cricket,and now looks a smokey for the aussie team.
Its like the super 14 debate with rugby players,we need more teams with the talent we have.
We could afford a 7th side with the talent we have,if a 7th side sprang up whoever,then players would move interstate to that team and it would be competitive in no time.
Look at tasmania has imports in the side,now with the talent coming through but the vast majority of their 2nd xl is interstate players,and i see south australia going the same way with the lack of depth in that squad.
A 7th side whoever would allow more depth and younger players to come through,and more talent to look at for selectors.
That said canbera is creating a player base for the other states has lost 5/6 players for next season and cannot be competitive and may drop out of the 2nd xl compettion because all their good players are being recruited interstate.

 

[Napier16]

Ravi Bopara (23), )

Definately him.

What is it like four consecutive golden ducks and 0-412 or something so far?

If you're going to do something like this at least be sensible.

 

[GIMH]

I'm not so surprised about it in the past, but since the ICL (which is organised by Zee, for those who don't know) I'm as I say truly astonished that the BCCI have continued to do a thing that has endorsed the corporation. I'd have thought they'd have threatened to pull-out of a series if Zee had any form of broadcasting rights.

Yeah, surprised that any player who appears on the channel isn't banned from India for life

 

[aussie tragic]

Definately him.

What is it like four consecutive golden ducks and 0-412 or something so far?

If you're going to do something like this at least be sensible.

If you have a closer look you'll see I've listed every current U-25 Test cricketer that I could find as this is an achievement in itself....if I wanted to restrict people's comments to just 2-3 players then I'd have opened yet another "Cook vs de Villiars" style thread......

 

[Uppercut]

I'm not so surprised about it in the past, but since the ICL (which is organised by Zee, for those who don't know) I'm as I say truly astonished that the BCCI have continued to do a thing that has endorsed the corporation. I'd have thought they'd have threatened to pull-out of a series if Zee had any form of broadcasting rights.

Did you just say the word "ICL"? Expect a call from the BCCI any time soon. Your days of playing club cricket could well be over.