Looks like Oval Test will end early, so could be the case at Colombo, while IND has already won the Series. Before the LO Series start, I thought to write something that can keep the folks busy. The topic of this one is from one of my old posts, but the idea is from a recent post on 12 teams.
Here, I have assembled 12 Test teams, based on players born in respective month of the year - from January to December & later tried to rank the teams. I ‘ll pick a 12 member starting team (6 batsmen, 5 bowlers & a WK. All-rounders included) listed according to batting order - 1 additional player is picked to allow Captain bowling choices according to wicket. There ‘ll be a Captain, 2 Vice Captains selected as well & in the squad at least, I ‘ll try to pick 1 Batsman who can keep on top of a regular Keeper, just in case of emergency, but not essential; because there is no point blocking a precious spot from 16, for a back-up Keeper, who might never play.
Players are picked based on their TEST stats mainly - career highlights & “Impact” in the best 5 years period of their career in TEST Cricket. The general qualifiers is at least 1,000 Test runs for batsmen, 100 wickets for bowlers, a 50-50 double for all-rounders & 100 dismissals for Keepers. However, in some cases, when the sample is too small, I did consider some players with less than qualifier, but with great First Class stats as well. Apart from stats, I have considered players relative pedigree in his era, because from almost 140 years of history, it’s not fair to measure players on same scale (standard average). (i. e. someone bowling in early 1900s ‘ll have lower bowling average, but someone batting in 1930s & ‘40s or 2000s ‘ll have much higher batting average, in general, due to the playing conditions. For example, Trumper in 1900s averaging <40 with bat or Wasim averaging >23 with ball in 1990s are statistically not that great; but arguably they were the best in their discipline of their era).
Apart from the selected 16, good numbers of close misses (or great players with too little sample) are listed as honorable mentions for the readers to have their own debate, few unfortunate players (who couldn't make the team for indifferent circumstances) are mentioned as a question mark & some current youngsters are listed, who has a great chance to make the team/squad at the end of their career.
Please vote for the strongest team playing each other a 6 Test Series in 3 different condition – AUS, ENG & IND (So, every team ‘ll play 198 Tests, not bad). In addition, I ‘ll put another 4 players in reserve to make a 16 men squad – surely only 12 can’t play 198 Tests, some injuries had to be covered.
To simplify, the idea is -
- 33 Series of 6 Tests each, against other 11 teams
- 11 Series each in IND, AUS & ENG
- 4 points for a Series win, 1 for a drawn series
- 0.25 points for every Test win
Please vote for the team that you think will accumulate highest points after 198 Tests each.
After voting from the posters, I shall post my analysis on the 12 teams and rank the months. My target is to post the final assessment before the ENG-PAK ODI Series & then I’ll post the same of ODI Team as well.
Here are the teams:
January
1. Bruce Mitchell
2. Arthur Morris
3. Rahul Dravid (Backup WK) ©
4. Richie Richardson (VC1)
5. Clyde Walcott (Backup WK)
6. Jimmy Adams (WK) (VC2)
7. Kapil Dev
8. Monty Noble
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Andy Roberts
11. Hugh Tayfield
12. Arthur Mailey
The Rest Squad: Johnny Wardle, Lawrence Rowe, Herbi Collins, Daniel Vettori
February
1. Graeme Smith ©
2. Bill Lawry (VC2)
3. Bob Simpson (VC1)
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Everton Weeks
6. Abraham de Villiers (Backup WK)
7. Matt Prior (WK)
8. Jim Laker
9. Michael Holding
10. Fred Trueman
11. Glenn McGrath
12. Stuart MacGill
The Rest Squad: Mohammad Azharuddin, Fazal Mahmood, Patsy Hendren, Bobby Peel
March
1. Andrew Strauss (VC1)
2. Hashim Amla
3. Viv Richards ©
4. Clem Hill
5. Dean Jones
6. Inzamam-ul-Haq (VC2)
7. George Giffen
8. Wally Grout (WK)
9. Graeme Swan
10. Neil Adcock
11. Colin Croft
12. Rangana Herath
The Rest Squad: Heath Streak, Michael Atherton, Vijay Hazare, Rodney Hogg
April
1. Dennis Amiss (VC2)
2. Vinno Mankad
3. David Gower
4. Sachin Tendulkar (VC1)
5. Michael Clarke ©
6. Andy Flower (Backup WK)
7. Alan Knott (WK)
8. Malcolm Marshall
9. Sydney Barnes
90. Muttiah Muralitharan
91. Jason Gillespie
92. Alec Stewart (Backup WK)
The Rest Squad: Ian Bell, Craig McDermott, Arthur Shrewsbury, Colin Bland
May
1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Michael Hussey
3. Brian Lara (VC1)
4. George Headley
5. Denis Compton
6. Ted Dexter ©
7. Jeffrey Dujon (WK)
8. Bob Willis
9. Hedley Verity
10. Erapalli Prasanna
11. Bhagwath Chandrasekhar
12. Maurice Tate
The Rest Squad: Mahela Jayawardene, Warwick Armstrong (VC2), Conrad Hunte, Colin Blythe
June
1. Len Hutton
2. John Edrich
3. Walter Hammond (VC1)
4. Javed Miandad
5. Kevin Petersen
6. Steve Waugh (VC2)
7. Dave Houghton (WK)
8. Alan Davidson
9. Wasim Akram ©
10. Dale Steyn
11. Derek Underwood
12. Mushtaq Ahmed
The Rest Squad: Steve Smith, Mark Waugh, George Lohmann, Frank Tyson
July
1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Graham Gooch (VC1)
3. Barry Richards
4. Allen Border ©
5. Stan McCabe
6. Garry Sobers
7. MS Dhoni (WK) (VC2)
8. Sir Richard Hadlee
9. Dennis Lillee
10. Alec Bedser
11. Harbhajan Singh
12. Shaun Pollock
The Rest Squad: Jimmy Anderson, Morris Leyland, Tony Lock, Wasim Raja
August
1. Frank Worrell (VC2)
2. Eddie Barlow
3. Donald Bradman
4. Greg Chappell (VC1)
5. Mohammad Yousuf
6. Clive Lloyd ©
7. Jack Gregory
8. Godfrey Evans (WK)
9. Shoaib Akhtar
10. Tom Richardson
11. Iqbal Qasim
12. Jeff Thompson
The Rest Squad: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Angus Fraser, John Embury, Trevor Goddard
September
1. Saeed Anwar
2. Majid Khan
3. Ian Chappell ©
4. Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji
5. Martin Crowe (VC2)
6. Mike Proctor
7. Denis Lindsay (WK)
8. Shane Warne (VC1)
9. Abdul Qadir
10. Curtly Ambrose
11. Wes Hall
12. Lance Gibbs
The Rest Squad: Bishan Bedi, Chris Gayle, Robin Smith, Frederick Spofforth
October
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Geoffrey Boycott
3. Neil Harvey
4. Jaques Kallis
5. Kumar Sangakkara (Back up WK) (VC2)
6. Virender Sehwag
7. Tony Greig (VC1)
8. Richie Benaud ©
9. Ray Lindwall
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Allan Donald
12. Anil Kumble
The Rest Squad: Wilfred Rhodes, Brad Haddin (WK), Bill Ponsford, John Snow
November
1. Herbert Sutcliffe
2. Victor Trumper (VC1)
3. VVS Laxman
4. Ken Barrington
5. Younis Khan
6. Adam Gilchrist (WK)
7. Imran Khan ©
8. Keith Miller (VC2)
9. Ian Botham
10. Waqar Younis
11. Fred Titmus
12. Mitchell Johnson
The Rest Squad: Dudley Nourse, Gary Kristen, Justin Langer (Backup WK), Charlie Turner
December
1. Sir Jack Hobbs
2. Hanif Mohammad
3. Rohan Kanhai (VC2)
4. Ricky Ponting ©
5. Peter May (VC1)
6. Doug Walters
7. Les Ames (Backup WK)
8. Andrew Flintoff
9. William (Bill) O'Reilly
10. Joel Garner
11. Clarrie Grimmett
12. Mohammad Asif
The Rest Squad: Saqlain Mushtaq, Mark Boucher (WK), Geoff Lawson, Alastair Cook
There are few near misses, for which I have the list of players. We can discuss that later, once the voting is done. Also, I haven't added recent players like Smith or Root or Will or Virat yet, unless they already make the team like Strac; who'll be discussed in future prospect section.
[MENTION=133760]Abdullah719[/MENTION]; [MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]; [MENTION=138379]#GreenRoars[/MENTION]; [MENTION=134551]Muhammad10[/MENTION]
Please arrange to add a poll.
Here, I have assembled 12 Test teams, based on players born in respective month of the year - from January to December & later tried to rank the teams. I ‘ll pick a 12 member starting team (6 batsmen, 5 bowlers & a WK. All-rounders included) listed according to batting order - 1 additional player is picked to allow Captain bowling choices according to wicket. There ‘ll be a Captain, 2 Vice Captains selected as well & in the squad at least, I ‘ll try to pick 1 Batsman who can keep on top of a regular Keeper, just in case of emergency, but not essential; because there is no point blocking a precious spot from 16, for a back-up Keeper, who might never play.
Players are picked based on their TEST stats mainly - career highlights & “Impact” in the best 5 years period of their career in TEST Cricket. The general qualifiers is at least 1,000 Test runs for batsmen, 100 wickets for bowlers, a 50-50 double for all-rounders & 100 dismissals for Keepers. However, in some cases, when the sample is too small, I did consider some players with less than qualifier, but with great First Class stats as well. Apart from stats, I have considered players relative pedigree in his era, because from almost 140 years of history, it’s not fair to measure players on same scale (standard average). (i. e. someone bowling in early 1900s ‘ll have lower bowling average, but someone batting in 1930s & ‘40s or 2000s ‘ll have much higher batting average, in general, due to the playing conditions. For example, Trumper in 1900s averaging <40 with bat or Wasim averaging >23 with ball in 1990s are statistically not that great; but arguably they were the best in their discipline of their era).
Apart from the selected 16, good numbers of close misses (or great players with too little sample) are listed as honorable mentions for the readers to have their own debate, few unfortunate players (who couldn't make the team for indifferent circumstances) are mentioned as a question mark & some current youngsters are listed, who has a great chance to make the team/squad at the end of their career.
Please vote for the strongest team playing each other a 6 Test Series in 3 different condition – AUS, ENG & IND (So, every team ‘ll play 198 Tests, not bad). In addition, I ‘ll put another 4 players in reserve to make a 16 men squad – surely only 12 can’t play 198 Tests, some injuries had to be covered.
To simplify, the idea is -
- 33 Series of 6 Tests each, against other 11 teams
- 11 Series each in IND, AUS & ENG
- 4 points for a Series win, 1 for a drawn series
- 0.25 points for every Test win
Please vote for the team that you think will accumulate highest points after 198 Tests each.
After voting from the posters, I shall post my analysis on the 12 teams and rank the months. My target is to post the final assessment before the ENG-PAK ODI Series & then I’ll post the same of ODI Team as well.
Here are the teams:
January
1. Bruce Mitchell
2. Arthur Morris
3. Rahul Dravid (Backup WK) ©
4. Richie Richardson (VC1)
5. Clyde Walcott (Backup WK)
6. Jimmy Adams (WK) (VC2)
7. Kapil Dev
8. Monty Noble
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Andy Roberts
11. Hugh Tayfield
12. Arthur Mailey
The Rest Squad: Johnny Wardle, Lawrence Rowe, Herbi Collins, Daniel Vettori
February
1. Graeme Smith ©
2. Bill Lawry (VC2)
3. Bob Simpson (VC1)
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Everton Weeks
6. Abraham de Villiers (Backup WK)
7. Matt Prior (WK)
8. Jim Laker
9. Michael Holding
10. Fred Trueman
11. Glenn McGrath
12. Stuart MacGill
The Rest Squad: Mohammad Azharuddin, Fazal Mahmood, Patsy Hendren, Bobby Peel
March
1. Andrew Strauss (VC1)
2. Hashim Amla
3. Viv Richards ©
4. Clem Hill
5. Dean Jones
6. Inzamam-ul-Haq (VC2)
7. George Giffen
8. Wally Grout (WK)
9. Graeme Swan
10. Neil Adcock
11. Colin Croft
12. Rangana Herath
The Rest Squad: Heath Streak, Michael Atherton, Vijay Hazare, Rodney Hogg
April
1. Dennis Amiss (VC2)
2. Vinno Mankad
3. David Gower
4. Sachin Tendulkar (VC1)
5. Michael Clarke ©
6. Andy Flower (Backup WK)
7. Alan Knott (WK)
8. Malcolm Marshall
9. Sydney Barnes
90. Muttiah Muralitharan
91. Jason Gillespie
92. Alec Stewart (Backup WK)
The Rest Squad: Ian Bell, Craig McDermott, Arthur Shrewsbury, Colin Bland
May
1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Michael Hussey
3. Brian Lara (VC1)
4. George Headley
5. Denis Compton
6. Ted Dexter ©
7. Jeffrey Dujon (WK)
8. Bob Willis
9. Hedley Verity
10. Erapalli Prasanna
11. Bhagwath Chandrasekhar
12. Maurice Tate
The Rest Squad: Mahela Jayawardene, Warwick Armstrong (VC2), Conrad Hunte, Colin Blythe
June
1. Len Hutton
2. John Edrich
3. Walter Hammond (VC1)
4. Javed Miandad
5. Kevin Petersen
6. Steve Waugh (VC2)
7. Dave Houghton (WK)
8. Alan Davidson
9. Wasim Akram ©
10. Dale Steyn
11. Derek Underwood
12. Mushtaq Ahmed
The Rest Squad: Steve Smith, Mark Waugh, George Lohmann, Frank Tyson
July
1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Graham Gooch (VC1)
3. Barry Richards
4. Allen Border ©
5. Stan McCabe
6. Garry Sobers
7. MS Dhoni (WK) (VC2)
8. Sir Richard Hadlee
9. Dennis Lillee
10. Alec Bedser
11. Harbhajan Singh
12. Shaun Pollock
The Rest Squad: Jimmy Anderson, Morris Leyland, Tony Lock, Wasim Raja
August
1. Frank Worrell (VC2)
2. Eddie Barlow
3. Donald Bradman
4. Greg Chappell (VC1)
5. Mohammad Yousuf
6. Clive Lloyd ©
7. Jack Gregory
8. Godfrey Evans (WK)
9. Shoaib Akhtar
10. Tom Richardson
11. Iqbal Qasim
12. Jeff Thompson
The Rest Squad: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Angus Fraser, John Embury, Trevor Goddard
September
1. Saeed Anwar
2. Majid Khan
3. Ian Chappell ©
4. Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji
5. Martin Crowe (VC2)
6. Mike Proctor
7. Denis Lindsay (WK)
8. Shane Warne (VC1)
9. Abdul Qadir
10. Curtly Ambrose
11. Wes Hall
12. Lance Gibbs
The Rest Squad: Bishan Bedi, Chris Gayle, Robin Smith, Frederick Spofforth
October
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Geoffrey Boycott
3. Neil Harvey
4. Jaques Kallis
5. Kumar Sangakkara (Back up WK) (VC2)
6. Virender Sehwag
7. Tony Greig (VC1)
8. Richie Benaud ©
9. Ray Lindwall
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Allan Donald
12. Anil Kumble
The Rest Squad: Wilfred Rhodes, Brad Haddin (WK), Bill Ponsford, John Snow
November
1. Herbert Sutcliffe
2. Victor Trumper (VC1)
3. VVS Laxman
4. Ken Barrington
5. Younis Khan
6. Adam Gilchrist (WK)
7. Imran Khan ©
8. Keith Miller (VC2)
9. Ian Botham
10. Waqar Younis
11. Fred Titmus
12. Mitchell Johnson
The Rest Squad: Dudley Nourse, Gary Kristen, Justin Langer (Backup WK), Charlie Turner
December
1. Sir Jack Hobbs
2. Hanif Mohammad
3. Rohan Kanhai (VC2)
4. Ricky Ponting ©
5. Peter May (VC1)
6. Doug Walters
7. Les Ames (Backup WK)
8. Andrew Flintoff
9. William (Bill) O'Reilly
10. Joel Garner
11. Clarrie Grimmett
12. Mohammad Asif
The Rest Squad: Saqlain Mushtaq, Mark Boucher (WK), Geoff Lawson, Alastair Cook
There are few near misses, for which I have the list of players. We can discuss that later, once the voting is done. Also, I haven't added recent players like Smith or Root or Will or Virat yet, unless they already make the team like Strac; who'll be discussed in future prospect section.
[MENTION=133760]Abdullah719[/MENTION]; [MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]; [MENTION=138379]#GreenRoars[/MENTION]; [MENTION=134551]Muhammad10[/MENTION]
Please arrange to add a poll.
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