The Best Short XI of all Time

[The Googly]

You don't have to be a giant to be a top cricketer! The following team is all under 5Ft 6. Malinga may claim to be taller, but his hair is a foot tall - so remove that and he's a tich. I admit I had to google Tich Freeman. He was a profilic short bowler in the 1920s

Hanif
Gavaskar
Vishwanath
Tendulkar
Kalicharran
David Boon
Mushfiqur Rahim
Lasith Malinga
Herath
Tich Freeeman
Fidel Edwards


I challenge anyone to find a team of giants (over 6ft 4) to beat my shorties team.

 

[Protea Fan]

6ft 4 is some serous height.....u can't easily find great players of such height let alone legendary players

 

[The Googly]

Greig, Ambrose, Walsh, Garner, Patterson, Croft, Irfan.

Tallies would have an amazing bowling attack. Struggling for a keeper and batters.

 

[Amirforpresident]

Zulqarnain Haider

 

[Slog]

6ft 4 is some serous height.....u can't easily find great players of such height let alone legendary players

You can have a fearsome pace attack

But keeper will be impossible

 

[fareedymohammad]

SHORTEST 11 vs TALLEST 11 should be a treat to watch.

 

[ExpressPacer]

I don't think there's been great fast bowlers shorter than 5'8 in the last 50 years.

As for the Giants XI, Chris Gayle and KP could be the main batsmen while Irfan and great WI bowlers could make the bowling.

 

[hassammasood]

How can you have a short eleven without Bradman, he was only 5'6. David Warner stands at 5'6 as well. Perhaps he would be a good inclusion. Brian Lara was fairly short as well around 5'7, but that would put him just above the cut off at 5'6.

 

[The Googly]

Bradman was a giant at 5ft 6!

The above team is 5ft 4 and below in batting.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

can't really pick the short 11 but there should be a rudimentary clause for the 'short of quality' eleven to use all of the akmal brothers as main batters and bilawal bhatti as the pace spearhead.

epic viewing for the spectators it would be .....

 

[majiz]

i would have said the 6' 4'' team would win considering the vastly superior bowling but then i realised that KP isn't in fact 6'4''. options for batsmen are limited. even so you could maybe put something together with the likes of peter fulton, will jefferson, keiron pollard, tony greig, michael vandort etc that would still win because the shorties bowling is so crud

 

[hassammasood]

The short xi can actually form a very good spin bowling attack. Murali, Herath, Qadir, Saqlain all 5'6 or less

 

[majiz]

The short xi can actually form a very good spin bowling attack. Murali, Herath, Qadir, Saqlain all 5'6 or less

yeah thats true 2bh, short xi would probably win more i think about it

 

[majiz]

not sure how tall KP is 2bh, he's listed online as 193cm and 6' 4'', but 193cm is more like 6'3''

 

[Suleiman]

6'4" is insane requirement for a tall-man xi, not that many batsmen of such height exist. 6'0 and above would be better as most batsmen are usually shorter.

In that case I choose:

Big-man XI

1) Cook
2) Hayden
3) G Pollock
4) K Pietersen
5) C Lloyd
6) Gilchrist +
7) Imran Khan*
8) R Ashwin
9) W Akram
19) McGrath
11) Garner

Shortest guys are 6'1" both Gilly and Imran. I know there are better test bowlers than Joel Garner but to keep with the theme of the team chose him.

Think this team would win because the pace attack is fierce.

 

[The Googly]

Im replacing Tich Freeman with Mushy and Herath with Saqlain.

My bowling is now solid.

Saqy
Mushy
Fidel
Malinga

The previous posters tall side is phenomenal though.

Im not sure Gilly and Imran qualify so ul have to remove them im afraid,

 

[Suleiman]

Im replacing Tich Freeman with Mushy and Herath with Saqlain.

My bowling is now solid.

Saqy
Mushy
Fidel
Malinga

The previous posters tall side is phenomenal though.

Im not sure Gilly and Imran qualify so ul have to remove them im afraid,

Gilly is probably the tallest keeper ever, so can't really replace him.

If I had to replace imran it would be with Botham who was taller.

 

[The Googly]

You can have walcott as your keeper.
Botham was fat not tall

I didnt include 5:10 steyn or waqar or Marshall.

6ft 3 and over please.

Moody can be your all rounder?

 

[majiz]

6'4" is insane requirement for a tall-man xi, not that many batsmen of such height exist. 6'0 and above would be better as most batsmen are usually shorter.

In that case I choose:

Big-man XI

1) Cook
2) Hayden
3) G Pollock
4) K Pietersen
5) C Lloyd
6) Gilchrist +
7) Imran Khan*
8) R Ashwin
9) W Akram
19) McGrath
11) Garner

Shortest guys are 6'1" both Gilly and Imran. I know there are better test bowlers than Joel Garner but to keep with the theme of the team chose him.

Think this team would win because the pace attack is fierce.

yeah and hardly any quick bowlers who are 5' 6'' exist. if kp is 6' 4'' then the 6' 4'' side wins outside the subcontinent 2bh

 

[The Googly]

Short side will have to bamboozle witt spin. I might go for all spin attack,

 

[hassammasood]

I'll keep the short xi requirement at 5'7 or less since 5'4 is too short and in real life 5'7 and less is generally used to describe short.

1) Hanif Muhammad/ David Warner
2) Sunil Gawaskar (Jayasuria could be a replacement in ODIs)
3) Don Bradman
4) Tendulkar
5) Lara
6) Kalicharran/ Mahela Jayawardene
7) Musfiqur Rahim
8) Murali
9) Mushi/ Herath
10) Malinga
11) Ajit Agarkar
Still a weak pace attack but with an all time great middle order and a mighty spin attack they can do fairly well. Murali himself in his peak will be able to take out most batting orders as long as there is some purchase in the pitch. Even in the Sri Lankan team he played for the bowling attack was fairly weak and he was only complemented by vaas, something Agarkar can do here.

 

[Suleiman]

You can have walcott as your keeper.
Botham was fat not tall ��

I didnt include 5:10 steyn or waqar or Marshall.

6ft 3 and over please.

Moody can be your all rounder?

Botham was 6'2". But okay, if not him then I choose Tony Greig.

6'3" or above is a harsh cut off.

In real life anyone above 6'1" is considered tall. Anyone taller than 6'1" is taller than 90% of the world's population.

 

[The Googly]

Greigs a good choice. Good player. Thats a top tall side.

Far superior bowling. BUT. The shorties would play you on bunsen burners in India where they would unleash the spin magicians : saqy, mushy and co.
90 degrees heat. The tall guys would wilt.

 

[Suleiman]

Greigs a good choice. Good player. Thats a top tall side.

Far superior bowling. BUT. The shorties would play you on bunsen burners in India where they would unleash the spin magicians : saqy, mushy and co.
90 degrees heat. The tall guys would wilt.

Don't think so. Cook, Hayden, Pietersen, and Pollock who is widely regarded as one of the best batsmen ever would all hold their own. Former 3 have proven themselves vs spin in the past in India already.

Wasim, Imran, McGrath have all done their time in Asia too, first 2 had to make do with the sun baked phattas of Karachi and Lahore where they were just as threatening, so am sure they'll do fine. Ashwin is heading towards ATGness at home as well.

Being tall actually helps when playing spin, you can get to the pitch of the ball easily.

However if we were playing on some green mamba in England, the short XI wouldn't stand a chance.

 

[The Googly]

True.The shorties would be toast at headingley.
The shorties would score tons of runs though. Only problem is the pace bowling