Worst Nation of the decade?

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Not necessarily the worst performing players, but a collection of XI cringeworthy selections for your country of the decade. Now this will be more challenging the better your team is, so it may produce some interesting results.

Test
Daren Ganga - a fine leader, great guy, but terrible international opener
Xavier Marshall - oozed class against Australia, but can't score runs against anyone else or for Jamaica
Brenton Parchment - are you kidding me?
Sylvester Joseph
Dwayne Smith - the next Viv?
Carlton Baugh - picked as a batsman here because WI picked him for his batting
+ Courtney Browne - can't catch (ever), can't bat (unless it's dark)
Mahendra Nagamootoo - at least he tried
Marlon Black
Daren Powell
Adam Sanford

Rawl Lewis exempt because he bowled well more often than not in this past decade.

ODI
Xavier Marshall - just woeful
Andre Fletcher
Shawn Findlay
Ricardo Powell - like Dwayne Smith without the bowling; OK, marginally better...
Dwayne Smith - decent bowler, mind
+ Carlton Baugh
Darryl Brown - his figures flattered him
Ryan Hurley - contrary to popular belief, he tried
Rayad Emrit - never remotely close to a good OD bowler
Mahendra Nagamootoo
Marlon Black - 0/196

This was extremely difficult for me, and I support West Indies. I don't expect any Australian to attempt this by that logic extended.

 

[G.I.Joe]

SS Das 1326 runs @ 34
Akash "Analyst" Chopra 437 runs @ 23
Wasim "Greentop"Jaffer 1944 runs @ 34
Mohammad Kaif 624 runs at 33
Hemang Badani 94 @ 15
Sanjay "Freddie" Bangar 470 runs @ 29, 7 wickets @ 49
Deep Dasgupta + 13 catches in 13 innings
IR Siddiqui Who?
Ajit "Kapil" Agarkar 571 runs @ 17, 58 wickets @ 47
Tinu Yohannan 5 wickets at 51
VRV "Huff n Puff" Singh 8 wickets @ 53
_______________
12th man: Ashish "Jonty" Nehra 44 wickets @ 42

 

[King Pietersen]

Tests

Darren Maddy
Nick Knight
Ian Ward
Usman Afzaal
Ian Blackwell
Ed Smith
Geraint Jones +
Ian Salisbury
Darren Pattinson
Amjad Khan
Jimmy Ormond

ODi's

Matthew Maynard
Jim Troughton
Mike Yardy
Jamie Dalrymple
Rikki Clarke
Ronnie Irani
Alex Loudon
Tim Ambrose +
Gareth Batty
Paul Franks
Sajid Mahmood

Quality sides those.

 

[Jono]

Quite harsh on Kaif but good selections.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Quite harsh on Kaif but good selections.

Yeah, was either him or Sadagoppan Ramesh. As much as I love Kaif, I can't discredit Sadagoppan's performances against Pakistan in 99. Also didn't want 5 openers in the team, including Bangar.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

SS Das 1326 runs @ 34
Akash "Analyst" Chopra 437 runs @ 23
Wasim "Greentop"Jaffer 1944 runs @ 34
Mohammad Kaif 624 runs at 33
Hemang Badani 94 @ 15
Sanjay "Freddie" Bangar 470 runs @ 29, 7 wickets @ 49
Deep Dasgupta + 13 catches in 13 innings
IR Siddiqui Who?
Ajit "Kapil" Agarkar 571 runs @ 17, 58 wickets @ 47
Tinu Yohannan 5 wickets at 51
VRV "Huff n Puff" Singh 8 wickets @ 53
_______________
12th man: Ashish "Jonty" Nehra 44 wickets @ 42

This really illustrates how much better India is than West Indies, when 3 of the perceived worst batsmen average over 30.

Quality sides those.

Saj unlucky to miss out for Tests.

 

[Neil Pickup]

There is actually a disappointing lack of depth in England's options for their Test XI

Darren Maddy
Chris Adams
Usman Afzaal
Anthony McGrath
Ian Blackwell
Rikki Clarke (capt)
Chris Read (wkt)
Chris Schofield
James Ormond
Darren Pattinson
Amjad Khan

Richard Dawson and Kabir Ali just miss out.

In ODIs, however, a very different story:

Mal Loye
Robert Key
Matthew Maynard
Jim Troughton
Anthony McGrath
Rikki Clarke (capt)
Michael Yardy
Tim Ambrose (wkt)
Alex Loudon
Paul Franks
Chris Silverwood

Bits-and-pieces central: you could genuinely arrange those 11 in any order and still score no runs.

 

[Migara]

Sri Lanka
Jehan Mubarak (c) - brillinat fielder, brilliant captian, but woeful batsman and trash bowler
Upul "***y edges" Tharanga
Chamara "classy" Silva
Chamara "Ashraful" Kapugedara - hrows away bfore looking good, and when looking good also throws it away
Indika "Bench Warming" Seram
Gayan Wijekoon - He was, a bowler who could hit 85mph, the he could not bat. When he could bat he was 75mph
Lanka "Srinath" de Silva (wk)
Malinga "top spin" Bandara
Charitha "Akthar" Budhdhika
Chamila Gamage
Isuru "Slowball" Udana

 

[Notorious1]

quite a few interesting teams there.

 

[Neil Pickup]

No room for Eric Upashantha?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Blackwell getting altitude sickness at #5, surely? The man who defined "perenial underachiever", Mr Ramprakash, maybe?

 

[zaremba]

There is actually a disappointing lack of depth in England's options for their Test XI

Darren Maddy
Chris Adams
Usman Afzaal
Anthony McGrath
Ian Blackwell
Rikki Clarke (capt)
Chris Read (wkt)
Chris Schofield
James Ormond
Darren Pattinson
Amjad Khan

Ugly stuff. Speaking of which, I like your decision to make Rikki Clarke skipper.

Based purely on performances once called up, Anthony McGrath might feel a bit peeved though. He averaged 40 with the bat and 14 with the ballm which any reasonable observer would conclude makes him the finest allrounder ever to play the game.

 

[slowfinger]

Tests

Darren Maddy
Nick Knight
Ian Ward
Usman Afzaal
Ian Blackwell
Ed Smith
Geraint Jones +
Ian Salisbury
Darren Pattinson
Amjad Khan
Jimmy Ormond

ODi's

Matthew Maynard
Jim Troughton
Mike Yardy
Jamie Dalrymple
Rikki Clarke
Ronnie Irani
Alex Loudon
Tim Ambrose +
Gareth Batty
Paul Franks
Sajid Mahmood

Quality sides those.

Is that the worst that you can think of?

 

[aussie]

SS Das 1326 runs @ 34
Akash "Analyst" Chopra 437 runs @ 23
Wasim "Greentop"Jaffer 1944 runs @ 34
Mohammad Kaif 624 runs at 33
Hemang Badani 94 @ 15
Sanjay "Freddie" Bangar 470 runs @ 29, 7 wickets @ 49
Deep Dasgupta + 13 catches in 13 innings
IR Siddiqui Who?
Ajit "Kapil" Agarkar 571 runs @ 17, 58 wickets @ 47
Tinu Yohannan 5 wickets at 51
VRV "Huff n Puff" Singh 8 wickets @ 53
_______________
12th man: Ashish "Jonty" Nehra 44 wickets @ 42

I remember Bhardwaj & Kanitkar playing in 1st test of 2000s era vs AUS. You could probably get them in somewhere.

Plus i think Ramesh was worse than Chopra..

 

[Shri]

I remember Bhardwaj & Kanitkar playing in 1st test of 2000s era vs AUS. You could probably get them in somewhere.

Plus i think Ramesh was worse than Chopra..

No way was Chopra better than Ramesh. Ramesh was very very good in test matches that he played against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain and Mushtaq Mohd. Chopra failed against mediocre bowlers. I don't know how good he would have fared against said bowlers.

It has to be mentioned that Ramesh played his last test match when he was 26 years old. He was discarded much too soon imo. Should have been given more chances. Another thing to note is neither of them were exceptional openers. They were both above average at best. I personally just think that Ramesh was better.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I remember Bhardwaj & Kanitkar playing in 1st test of 2000s era vs AUS. You could probably get them in somewhere.

Plus i think Ramesh was worse than Chopra..

Good God. Just went through the '99-00 series archive. You're right. Turns out Bharadwaj, Kanitkar and MSK Prasad did play the test series. For some reason I always thought they played just the ODI series. Its no wonder the team were thrashed 0-3. Wouldn't want them in the side on a technicality though. They'll always be 90's discards for me.

re Ramesh, there's no way he was worse than Chopra. Like metallics2006 said, Ramesh held his own against the combined might of Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib and Saqlain. Chopra ground his way to a 23 average in a far stronger batting lineup. Ramesh was discarded way too early.

 

[Flem274*]

haha here we go. I'll only pick two openers so I'm not cheating

New Zealand (test)

Michael Papps
Richard Jones
James Marshall
Peter Fulton
Daniel Flynn
Grant Elliott
Robbie Hart
Grant Bradburn
Brooke Walker
Kerry Walmsley
Mark Gillespie

 

[bryce]

TESTS
1.Michael Papps - 8 Tests average almost touching 17, more suited to 50 over cricket
2.Richard Jones - Not the worst longer form batsman but was only there due to Glen Turner saying he was the best opener in the country
3.Peter Fulton - Failed to score against quality Test attacks
4.James Marshall - Not Test match quality
5.Chris Harris - Maybe he could have scored well in Tests, fact is he couldn't
6.Grant Elliott - ODI specialist
7.Grant Bradburn - A domestic bits-and-pieces player should not play Test cricket
8.Brooke Walker - New Zealand's best leg-spinner when Warne fever was prevalent
9.Robbie Hart+ - The novelty of having a keeper who can't bat only lasts so long
10.Kerry Walmsley - Decent paceman, just scrapes in this decade
11.Micheal Mason - Good line & length bowler, cannon fodder against Test class batsman on flat tracks

More Test openers who failed alot more often than not this -
Matthew Horne, Craig Spearman, Matthew Bell, Craig Cumming

 

[aussie]

re Ramesh, there's no way he was worse than Chopra. Like metallics2006 said, Ramesh held his own against the combined might of Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib and Saqlain. Chopra ground his way to a 23 average in a far stronger batting lineup. Ramesh was discarded way too early.

No way was Chopra better than Ramesh. Ramesh was very very good in test matches that he played against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain and Mushtaq Mohd. Chopra failed against mediocre bowlers. I don't know how good he would have fared against said bowlers.

It has to be mentioned that Ramesh played his last test match when he was 26 years old. He was discarded much too soon imo. Should have been given more chances. Another thing to note is neither of them were exceptional openers. They were both above average at best. I personally just think that Ramesh was better.

Well yea on second thought maybe Ramesh was slightly better than Chopra although both where nothing special.

 

[Dissector]

Nilesh Kulkarni probably deserves a mention for India. OK, he has a decent first-class record and played only 3 tests but a bowling average of 166 is still rather staggering.