Test Team of the decade (2010s)

[Mobashir]

So, as the decade is coming to an end, it's time to have the teams of the decade.

Overall my feeling is that cricket is becoming better with more and more supportive pitches. Lot of very good test match fast bowlers.
The big problem for the teams is the batting line ups these days. Not many good test batsman coming up the ranks. Good spinners are also becoming rare.

So my Test team of the decade :

Openers : We really have two options for the opening spot so they automatically select themselves : Alaistair Cook and David Warner. The third best might be Karunaratne so that tells you how bad were openers in this decade.

Number 3: When your openers are not that good that makes this number 3 position even more important. I will go Hashim Amla at 3 - Top scorer at the position with an over 50 average playing most his matches in SA where it's very hard to go past the new ball.
When you narrow the stats and look them against just the top opposition he averages 55 and is the only with a significant numbers of matches/runs to do so.
Pujara and Williamson have also been very fine number 3's. Sanga averages a staggering 65 with 17 hundreds at 3 over the 5 years he has played.His stats go a little down against the top teams but still wonderful decade for him and a special mention for an asian player retiring while begin in super from.

Number 4 :Well, just one name - Steven Smith. Best batsman of the decade, probably best player of the decade also. Been pretty good in everything he does but he averages a staggering 80 at number 4 over the decade.
Kohli has also been brilliant, scoring the most runs at number 4, 26 hundreds, averaging 60. Also a special mention to Kallis who made 12 hundreds in just 47 innings at number 4 in this decade.

Number 5 : Clarke has been brilliant in that Position but I will go for ABDV. Both were equally good as far as batting is concerned but I will also keep with ABDV. And his capacity to accelerate batting behind Amla and Smith makes it a bonus.

Number 6 and 7 : As I am making just one XI, I am putting two all rounders, one fast and one spinner. That will make the team more balanced for every condition. Stokes is the obvious one for the fast bowling role and will be playing at 6. Shakib will be selected at number 7 as the spin bowling all rounder. Jadeja could also be a contender but his batting form has just started recently. I rate his batting but unfortunately he lost too much time batting behind Ashwin and sometimes even at 9.

The spinner : Three spinners have just 350 wickets in the decade :Herath, Lyon and Ashwin. Jadeja has around 250 at a very good average. You also have Swann and Ajmal from those who retired early in the decade. All finger spinners, and we all rate leg breaks more in test cricket. Just one of them in the list, Yasir Shah. So he deserves a mention for his 200 hundred wickets at under 30.

When we look at the numbers in Europe, Africa and Australia, apart from Ajmal, all other asian bowlers stat take a big hit and all averages in the 40's/50's (Herath 35) and don't even have 50 wickets to their name.

This is the reason I am going for Nathan Lyon as my main spinner. That's good that he is an off break as we have Shakib being a left armer already.

The three quicks : Steyn and Anderson are undisputed for me. There might be some discussion over Anderson's away bowling records but I have think he has become a superb all condition bowler. Even in Asia, if he isn't a strike bowler he really knows to play the patient game now.
So for the third position we have a lot lot of candidates who have their particular strengths. Rabada and Cummins are probably the best after these two but I will go for a left armer because all the attack is right armed. Three left arm options : Boult Starc and Jhonson. They have done equally well and all three are inconsistent. Boult and Starc being more new ball bowlers I will go for Jhonson as he will complement Steyn and Anderson's new ball spell better. And really it's hard to forget what he did with the moustache on in this decade.


So my XI is :

1. Alaistair Cook
2. David Warner
3. Hashim Amla
4. Steven Smith (c)
5. AB de Villiers (wk)
6. Ben Stokes
7. Shakib al Hassan
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. Nathan Lyon
10. Dale Steyn
11. James Anderson


That team is selected to play for all conditions. If you have to select different teams for different part of the world in can change as I will not play Shakib then.
If you already know you are playing in SENA, will play a batsman in place of Shakib : Kohli or Sanga being the first in line.
In Asia : will play a second spinner in place Jhonson and again Kohli or Sanga in place of Shakib.
Very hard also to leave out Clarke as he is the one of the most brilliant captain.
But the hardest to pick was the the 3 pacers, a lot of choices.

 

[Danyaalr01]

So, as the decade is coming to an end, it's time to have the teams of the decade.

Overall my feeling is that cricket is becoming better with more and more supportive pitches. Lot of very good test match fast bowlers.
The big problem for the teams is the batting line ups these days. Not many good test batsman coming up the ranks. Good spinners are also becoming rare.

So my Test team of the decade :

Openers : We really have two options for the opening spot so they automatically select themselves : Alaistair Cook and David Warner. The third best might be Karunaratne so that tells you how bad were openers in this decade.

Number 3: When your openers are not that good that makes this number 3 position even more important. I will go Hashim Amla at 3 - Top scorer at the position with an over 50 average playing most his matches in SA where it's very hard to go past the new ball.
When you narrow the stats and look them against just the top opposition he averages 55 and is the only with a significant numbers of matches/runs to do so.
Pujara and Williamson have also been very fine number 3's. Sanga averages a staggering 65 with 17 hundreds at 3 over the 5 years he has played.His stats go a little down against the top teams but still wonderful decade for him and a special mention for an asian player retiring while begin in super from.

Number 4 :Well, just one name - Steven Smith. Best batsman of the decade, probably best player of the decade also. Been pretty good in everything he does but he averages a staggering 80 at number 4 over the decade.
Kohli has also been brilliant, scoring the most runs at number 4, 26 hundreds, averaging 60. Also a special mention to Kallis who made 12 hundreds in just 47 innings at number 4 in this decade.

Number 5 : Clarke has been brilliant in that Position but I will go for ABDV. Both were equally good as far as batting is concerned but I will also keep with ABDV. And his capacity to accelerate batting behind Amla and Smith makes it a bonus.

Number 6 and 7 : As I am making just one XI, I am putting two all rounders, one fast and one spinner. That will make the team more balanced for every condition. Stokes is the obvious one for the fast bowling role and will be playing at 6. Shakib will be selected at number 7 as the spin bowling all rounder. Jadeja could also be a contender but his batting form has just started recently. I rate his batting but unfortunately he lost too much time batting behind Ashwin and sometimes even at 9.

The spinner : Three spinners have just 350 wickets in the decade :Herath, Lyon and Ashwin. Jadeja has around 250 at a very good average. You also have Swann and Ajmal from those who retired early in the decade. All finger spinners, and we all rate leg breaks more in test cricket. Just one of them in the list, Yasir Shah. So he deserves a mention for his 200 hundred wickets at under 30.

When we look at the numbers in Europe, Africa and Australia, apart from Ajmal, all other asian bowlers stat take a big hit and all averages in the 40's/50's (Herath 35) and don't even have 50 wickets to their name.

This is the reason I am going for Nathan Lyon as my main spinner. That's good that he is an off break as we have Shakib being a left armer already.

The three quicks : Steyn and Anderson are undisputed for me. There might be some discussion over Anderson's away bowling records but I have think he has become a superb all condition bowler. Even in Asia, if he isn't a strike bowler he really knows to play the patient game now.
So for the third position we have a lot lot of candidates who have their particular strengths. Rabada and Cummins are probably the best after these two but I will go for a left armer because all the attack is right armed. Three left arm options : Boult Starc and Jhonson. They have done equally well and all three are inconsistent. Boult and Starc being more new ball bowlers I will go for Jhonson as he will complement Steyn and Anderson's new ball spell better. And really it's hard to forget what he did with the moustache on in this decade.


So my XI is :

1. Alaistair Cook
2. David Warner
3. Hashim Amla
4. Steven Smith (c)
5. AB de Villiers (wk)
6. Ben Stokes
7. Shakib al Hassan
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. Nathan Lyon
10. Dale Steyn
11. James Anderson


That team is selected to play for all conditions. If you have to select different teams for different part of the world in can change as I will not play Shakib then.
If you already know you are playing in SENA, will play a batsman in place of Shakib : Kohli or Sanga being the first in line.
In Asia : will play a second spinner in place Jhonson and again Kohli or Sanga in place of Shakib.
Very hard also to leave out Clarke as he is the one of the most brilliant captain.
But the hardest to pick was the the 3 pacers, a lot of choices.

Wait, so if you will replace SHakib with Kohli or Sanga in both SENA and Asia, where will Shakib play?

 

[Mobashir]

Wait, so if you will replace SHakib with Kohli or Sanga in both SENA and Asia, where will Shakib play?

That's in case I don't know where the test is played.
In Asia I will play a second spinner in place of Jhonson, so doesn't need Shakib anymore. Will probably go with Jadeja as the second spinner to have my left arm and off break combination.

 

[sindhiboy]

I think sangakara is more deserving of being in the team then Warner and even de Villiers.

I would put sanga in place of Warner and make amla open.
Otherwise the rest of the team is pretty much spot on.

For subcontinent. Would replace mitch+stokes with Ashwin +jadeja duo
Really wanted to put herath instead of jaddu, but batting would have been weak.

 

[sindhiboy]

Also like how you acknowledge Andersons performance in subcontinent, he has a better record in UAE than steyn. Not at all saying he surpasses steyn, but he is a lot better than asian fans describe him to be

 

[Ab Fan]

It was not the best of the decades in terms of quality of cricket as many names will make into the XI who although were dominant at home but couldn't make much impact away.

Openers- <B>Cook and Warner</B>. An easy pick it is. However, this opening pair is no match to the ones we had in the previous decades- Smith/Hayden, Kirsten/Anwar/Langer, Gavaskar/Greenidge etc.

No.3- Williamson/Sangakkara. Amla is a fantastic test player and he was great in a strong SA XI but post 2014, he looked really meek and bog average cricketer. Sangakkara has strong case but he played only till 2015, so went with Williamson. An excellent test player and a no.3 plays in a weak NZ team with no decent openers.

No.4 & 5- Steven Smith and Virat Kohli. Will go with the two best batsmen of this decade in tests. While Smith was the best test batsmen of this decade quite easily, Kohli was also the second best in this regards and will bat at 5.

No.6- AB de Villiers. An obvious pick as wicket-keeper for me. He can come to bat at 6 and take on the bowling and can change games. One of the best players of this decade when up against quality pace bowling.

No.7- Ben Stokes- Shakib was close as well but in tests I think Stokes takes it from Shakib than in LOs where Shakib's bowling outpowers Stokes bowling.

No.8- Jadeja- An era where most spinners were very good but none were special. Lyon really couldn't make any impact in Australia's wins away from home and was one of the reasons why Australia failed to win a single test series against big teams in this decade except one in SA(2014). He was good at home, particularly in 4th innings but there have been the likes of Ashwin/Herath and Yasir who have done it better than him with more impact.

No.9- Steyn- No doubts on this

No.10- Anderson/Ashwin(depending on conditions because Ashwin with almost 6 player of the series has an unbelievable impact everywhere in Asia and neither his longevity can be ignored).Same goes for Anderson. With Duke ball, he is one of the finest bowlers to have in your team. For Ashwin, his batting adds up more but again both were dependent on conditions.

No.11- Trent Boult. Between Boult and Philander it was because Johnson only played till 2015. Philander has a strong case but I don't want a stock bowler in Asian conditions while Boult already proved in his previous UAE tour that he can make a bigger impact. He is my new ball man with the Kookaburra.

 

[Danyaalr01]

It was not the best of the decades in terms of quality of cricket as many names will make into the XI who although were dominant at home but couldn't make much impact away.

Openers- <B>Cook and Warner</B>. An easy pick it is. However, this opening pair is no match to the ones we had in the previous decades- Smith/Hayden, Kirsten/Anwar/Langer, Gavaskar/Greenidge etc.

No.3- Williamson/Sangakkara. Amla is a fantastic test player and he was great in a strong SA XI but post 2014, he looked really meek and bog average cricketer. Sangakkara has strong case but he played only till 2015, so went with Williamson. An excellent test player and a no.3 plays in a weak NZ team with no decent openers.

No.4 & 5- Steven Smith and Virat Kohli. Will go with the two best batsmen of this decade in tests. While Smith was the best test batsmen of this decade quite easily, Kohli was also the second best in this regards and will bat at 5.

No.6- AB de Villiers. An obvious pick as wicket-keeper for me. He can come to bat at 6 and take on the bowling and can change games. One of the best players of this decade when up against quality pace bowling.

No.7- Ben Stokes- Shakib was close as well but in tests I think Stokes takes it from Shakib than in LOs where Shakib's bowling outpowers Stokes bowling.

No.8- Jadeja- An era where most spinners were very good but none were special. Lyon really couldn't make any impact in Australia's wins away from home and was one of the reasons why Australia failed to win a single test series against big teams in this decade except one in SA(2014). He was good at home, particularly in 4th innings but there have been the likes of Ashwin/Herath and Yasir who have done it better than him with more impact.

No.9- Steyn- No doubts on this

No.10- Anderson/Ashwin(depending on conditions because Ashwin with almost 6 player of the series has an unbelievable impact everywhere in Asia and neither his longevity can be ignored).Same goes for Anderson. With Duke ball, he is one of the finest bowlers to have in your team. For Ashwin, his batting adds up more but again both were dependent on conditions.

No.11- Trent Boult. Between Boult and Philander it was because Johnson only played till 2015. Philander has a strong case but I don't want a stock bowler in Asian conditions while Boult already proved in his previous UAE tour that he can make a bigger impact. He is my new ball man with the Kookaburra.

Strong pace attack, but who will open. Boult is the most effective with the new ball and his effectiveness decreases significantly with the older ball. Anderson is also a new ball bowler, same with Steyn. Steyn is by far the better of the 3 overall with the new ball and old ball, but what would be the strongest opening pair?

 

[Last Monetarist]

Cook
Warner
Williamson
Kohli
Smith
de Villiers (wk)
Stokes
Ashwin
Steyn
Anderson
Boult

 

[barah_admi]

So, as the decade is coming to an end, it's time to have the teams of the decade.

Overall my feeling is that cricket is becoming better with more and more supportive pitches. Lot of very good test match fast bowlers.
The big problem for the teams is the batting line ups these days. Not many good test batsman coming up the ranks. Good spinners are also becoming rare.

So my Test team of the decade :

Openers : We really have two options for the opening spot so they automatically select themselves : Alaistair Cook and David Warner. The third best might be Karunaratne so that tells you how bad were openers in this decade.

Number 3: When your openers are not that good that makes this number 3 position even more important. I will go Hashim Amla at 3 - Top scorer at the position with an over 50 average playing most his matches in SA where it's very hard to go past the new ball.
When you narrow the stats and look them against just the top opposition he averages 55 and is the only with a significant numbers of matches/runs to do so.
Pujara and Williamson have also been very fine number 3's. Sanga averages a staggering 65 with 17 hundreds at 3 over the 5 years he has played.His stats go a little down against the top teams but still wonderful decade for him and a special mention for an asian player retiring while begin in super from.

Number 4 :Well, just one name - Steven Smith. Best batsman of the decade, probably best player of the decade also. Been pretty good in everything he does but he averages a staggering 80 at number 4 over the decade.
Kohli has also been brilliant, scoring the most runs at number 4, 26 hundreds, averaging 60. Also a special mention to Kallis who made 12 hundreds in just 47 innings at number 4 in this decade.

Number 5 : Clarke has been brilliant in that Position but I will go for ABDV. Both were equally good as far as batting is concerned but I will also keep with ABDV. And his capacity to accelerate batting behind Amla and Smith makes it a bonus.

Number 6 and 7 : As I am making just one XI, I am putting two all rounders, one fast and one spinner. That will make the team more balanced for every condition. Stokes is the obvious one for the fast bowling role and will be playing at 6. Shakib will be selected at number 7 as the spin bowling all rounder. Jadeja could also be a contender but his batting form has just started recently. I rate his batting but unfortunately he lost too much time batting behind Ashwin and sometimes even at 9.

The spinner : Three spinners have just 350 wickets in the decade :Herath, Lyon and Ashwin. Jadeja has around 250 at a very good average. You also have Swann and Ajmal from those who retired early in the decade. All finger spinners, and we all rate leg breaks more in test cricket. Just one of them in the list, Yasir Shah. So he deserves a mention for his 200 hundred wickets at under 30.

When we look at the numbers in Europe, Africa and Australia, apart from Ajmal, all other asian bowlers stat take a big hit and all averages in the 40's/50's (Herath 35) and don't even have 50 wickets to their name.

This is the reason I am going for Nathan Lyon as my main spinner. That's good that he is an off break as we have Shakib being a left armer already.

The three quicks : Steyn and Anderson are undisputed for me. There might be some discussion over Anderson's away bowling records but I have think he has become a superb all condition bowler. Even in Asia, if he isn't a strike bowler he really knows to play the patient game now.
So for the third position we have a lot lot of candidates who have their particular strengths. Rabada and Cummins are probably the best after these two but I will go for a left armer because all the attack is right armed. Three left arm options : Boult Starc and Jhonson. They have done equally well and all three are inconsistent. Boult and Starc being more new ball bowlers I will go for Jhonson as he will complement Steyn and Anderson's new ball spell better. And really it's hard to forget what he did with the moustache on in this decade.


So my XI is :

1. Alaistair Cook
2. David Warner
3. Hashim Amla
4. Steven Smith (c)
5. AB de Villiers (wk)
6. Ben Stokes
7. Shakib al Hassan
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. Nathan Lyon
10. Dale Steyn
11. James Anderson


That team is selected to play for all conditions. If you have to select different teams for different part of the world in can change as I will not play Shakib then.
If you already know you are playing in SENA, will play a batsman in place of Shakib : Kohli or Sanga being the first in line.
In Asia : will play a second spinner in place Jhonson and again Kohli or Sanga in place of Shakib.
Very hard also to leave out Clarke as he is the one of the most brilliant captain.
But the hardest to pick was the the 3 pacers, a lot of choices.

This is a very good team and I think I'd go for something similar. But Khan has to be in the side, Amla probably should slot in as opener alongside Cook.

I would also take Broad ahead of the very inconsistent Johnson.
For a while I would have been reticent to Stokes and Smith being in the side too but they have been giants this summer and elevated themselves to a higher level.

It sucks that Williamson will likely be left out of most sides because he is most deserving of those being left out.