Would All Time South African XI be the best All Time XI?

[The Outsider]

The Australian team would be the best in my view. A bowling attack of McGrath, Lillee, Lindwall, Miller, and Warne with O'Reily, Grimmett, Davidson, and Gillespie in the back up. Gilchrist as the keeper obviously with Marsh and Healy being backups. A batting line up of Bradman, Waugh, Border, Chappell, Hayden, Morris. The batting backup would be an embarrassment of riches with Ponting, Harvey, Hussey, Walters, Trumper etc. etc. The West Indian first XI would be close to Australia, but after factoring in the backups the Australians would be better. South Africa are not in the same class in my view.

[Old guy]

The Australian team would be the best in my view. A bowling attack of McGrath, Lillee, Lindwall, Miller, and Warne with O'Reily, Grimmett, Davidson, and Gillespie in the back up. Gilchrist as the keeper obviously with Marsh and Healy being backups. A batting line up of Bradman, Waugh, Border, Chappell, Hayden, Morris. The batting backup would be an embarrassment of riches with Ponting, Harvey, Hussey, Walters etc. etc. The West Indian first XI would be close to Australia, but after factoring in the backups the Australians would be better. South Africa are not in the same class in my view.

i think this current south african team is there best ever and many of guys in this current team have long careers left...dont u think amla can get close to best ever batsmen? same with steyn..maybe steyn will finish along side mcgrath and then there are guys like morkel..i think his best is yet to come! but if u only go by teams until now australia wins easily cos they have been consistent through out even now they are one of the top teams

[daryl1985]

i think this current south african team is there best ever and many of guys in this current team have long careers left...dont u think amla can get close to best ever batsmen? same with steyn..maybe steyn will finish along side mcgrath and then there are guys like morkel..i think his best is yet to come! but if u only go by teams until now australia wins easily cos they have been consistent through out even now they are one of the top teams

Steyn needs to improve against left handers. Steyn is probably more lethal than McGrath when in the grove but i have seen Steyn dismantled by batsman on a few occasions (most notably KP last summer). I never saw McGrath being treated like that.

[Old guy]

Steyn needs to improve against left handers. Steyn is probably more lethal than McGrath when in the grove but i have seen Steyn dismantled by batsman on a few occasions (most notably KP last summer). I never saw McGrath being treated like that.

u cant expect them to be equal in every regard to me steyn is more lethal and can turn game and series on its head u mentioned england series then u must remember day 2 of first test...that was classic steyn and the finishing of 2nd innings now australian series that spell at perth imo thats atg stuff to bounce back like that after bad series ...he can on his day just blow teams away now being a quicker bowler he gives more lose balls then mcgrath.. i was not comparing both they are totally different kind of bowlers what i meant was at end of his career people will respect him and remember him like mcgrath and about lefties u just cant just look at stats.. this bowling attack works..morkel is lethal vs lefties so maybe they attack with him more.. also about kp..i wont compare it on hsi day he can even take mcgrath apart and i think he did too but to such extent as steyn being steyn kept attacking and honestly it was one of innings most of times steyn will come on top imo if kp decides to play like that

[daryl1985]

u cant expect them to be equal in every regard to me steyn is more lethal and can turn game and series on its head u mentioned england series then u must remember day 2 of first test...that was classic steyn and the finishing of 2nd innings now australian series that spell at perth imo thats atg stuff to bounce back like that after bad series ...he can on his day just blow teams away now being a quicker bowler he gives more lose balls then mcgrath.. i was not comparing both they are totally different kind of bowlers what i meant was at end of his career people will respect him and remember him like mcgrath and about lefties u just cant just look at stats.. this bowling attack works..morkel is lethal vs lefties so maybe they attack with him more.. also about kp..i wont compare it on hsi day he can even take mcgrath apart and i think he did too but to such extent as steyn being steyn kept attacking and honestly it was one of innings most of times steyn will come on top imo if kp decides to play like that

Don't get me wrong, i think they will be comparable but Steyn has a very long way to go. McGrath was great for many years and his record is almost flawless. On top of this, i live in England and i just remember McGrath owning the English batting line-up whenever he played in the Ashes series. Your right, Morkel is excellent against left handers. I think it's the fact that he gets extra bounce and when he bowls around the wicket, he is able to get a little bit of movement away from them, it must be really awkward to deal with.

[Old guy]

Don't get me wrong, i think they will be comparable but Steyn has a very long way to go. McGrath was great for many years and his record is almost flawless. On top of this, i live in England and i just remember McGrath owning the English batting line-up whenever he played in the Ashes series. Your right, Morkel is excellent against left handers. I think it's the fact that he gets extra bounce and when he bowls around the wicket, he is able to get a little bit of movement away from them, it must be really awkward to deal with.

ofc...what i meant was steyn has many years left imo and until now he has shown no signs that he wont stay consistent in every series he is giving match winning performance u cant ask for more btw english batting line up back then wasnt that great..imo owning today's england is bigger feat :--D

[Old guy]

btw im gonna clear it again im not comparing them im just saying steyn at end of his career will be considered as one of atg like mcgrath...once u cross 400 or 450 wickets people start to look at u like legend :winky: and suddenly comparing him with mcgrath wont be far fetched

[daryl1985]

ofc...what i meant was steyn has many years left imo and until now he has shown no signs that he wont stay consistent in every series he is giving match winning performance u cant ask for more btw english batting line up back then wasnt that great..imo owning today's england is bigger feat :--D

Yeah agree, this is the best England batting line-up i have ever seen (been watching since 99). I like Steyn more than McGrath so hope he keeps on going. Its always good to have great bowlers in the game. Yeah i know you meant whether he will compare to him at the end of his career, i just think it is a bit tougher for a bowler to do it over such a long period of time as being a fast bowler is a more physically demanding job than being a batsman but Steyn seems to have been relatively injury-free throughout his career so he has a chance of staying at the top for a while yet.

[Old guy]

mcgrath was freak..never seen any fast bowler doing so well at end of his career :giggle: good thing with steyn is he has good bowling support so he has chance..also he gets good pitches at home and in england,australia and other countries just dont play fast bowling well :p honestly i did not saw much of career of mcgrath ..i started watching test cricket in 2002-2003 he gave some amazing performances while i watched but i will always rate steyn higher cos i have seen him turn matches on head now and its thrilling to watch cricket when he is on fire

[Lurker]

btw im gonna clear it again im not comparing them im just saying steyn at end of his career will be considered as one of atg like mcgrath...once u cross 400 or 450 wickets people start to look at u like legend :winky: and suddenly comparing him with mcgrath wont be far fetched

Its not far fetched already. At the same point in their career: Mcgrath 288 wickets@22.4 SR 51.7 Steyn 309 wickets@23.4 SR 41.9 Steyn has more wickets and big SR difference. If he bowls as much as Mcgrath did, Steyn will end up with 130 more wickets. I know it is all mathematics but still telling in some ways.

[Lurker]

The Australian team would be the best in my view. A bowling attack of McGrath, Lillee, Lindwall, Miller, and Warne with O'Reily, Grimmett, Davidson, and Gillespie in the back up. Gilchrist as the keeper obviously with Marsh and Healy being backups. A batting line up of Bradman, Waugh, Border, Chappell, Hayden, Morris. The batting backup would be an embarrassment of riches with Ponting, Harvey, Hussey, Walters, Trumper etc. etc. The West Indian first XI would be close to Australia, but after factoring in the backups the Australians would be better. South Africa are not in the same class in my view.

Australia makes the most complete team I agree. But it also has history on its side. I mean if South Africa did not lose 2 decades who knows? With batting though, a team of Morris, Hayden, Waugh, Border, Greg Chappell is NOT too distantly different to Smith,B Richards, Amla, Kallis, Pollock. Bradman is the X-factor but otherwise I dont see South Africa taking a step back. Australian bowling is more complete. But South Africa can afford to pick 2, or even 3 all-rounders to help out. So that evens out level playing field

[Old guy]

Its not far fetched already. At the same point in their career: Mcgrath 288 wickets@22.4 SR 51.7 Steyn 309 wickets@23.4 SR 41.9 Steyn has more wickets and big SR difference. If he bowls as much as Mcgrath did, Steyn will end up with 130 more wickets. I know it is all mathematics but still telling in some ways.

they will finish very close as steyn wont bowl for as long mcgrath did... even now i rate steyn higher but im really biased here :--D at end of his career i wont be surprised if people rate him better then mcgrath

[vandokkum]

Thanks Lurker, well the idea is certainly flattering, SA could edge out Australia/ WI all time XI if it weren't for us lacking great spinners. Australia would probably win out due to having the best potential bowling lineup, no other country has produced as many quality pacers and spinners. And then there is the small matter of the best batsman ever. Their batting lineup would probably also be the best ever. 1. Arthur Morris 2. Hayden/ Trumper 3. Don Bradman 4. Ricky Ponting/ Greg Chappell 5. Allan Border/ Steve Waugh 6. Keith Miller 7. Adam Gilchrist 8. Shane Warne 9. Mcgrath 10. Lillee 11. Thomson/ Gillespie/ Lindwall. And this is without mentioning the likes of Doug Walters, David Boon, Michael Hussey, Richie Benaud, Davidson, Bill Lawry and a whole lot more.

[Cricketics]

That's a great team LUrker. As much as I like your team I would say it's too early to add Hashim Amla in there. I would just change it to Daryll Cullinan. One of the best South African bats for me. I used to enjoy his batting. He perhaps only failed against Warne but he was a class bat.

[vandokkum]

But going bak to your point what about Australia? I mean they have had everything in terms of Batting greats,Wk greats,SPin/Fast bowling legends. Surprisingly though I can't recollect Aussies having a Outstanding allrounder in the league of Botham.Kapil,Imran,Sobers though unless we can count Adam Gilchrist as one.

Keith freakin Miller? He was as good as the ones you mentioned bar Sobers.

[vandokkum]

Glenn Mcgrath is probably the most complete fast bowler ever (Odi's, tests) and when it comes to performing when it matters, the greatest cricketer I have ever seen. Steyn is close when it comes to test cricket though, and in a couple of years would rank alongside.

[CG]

This team would be hammered to pulp by a australian alltime 11 or even a wi all time 11.We allknow how Kallis ,Amla,Smith fared against top attacks.Also without a good spinner they would have struggled anyhow.

[vandokkum]

This team would be hammered to pulp by a australian alltime 11 or even a wi all time 11.We allknow how Kallis ' date=Amla,Smith fared against top attacks.Also without a good spinner they would have struggled anyhow.

:hysterical:

[vandokkum]

This team would be hammered to pulp by a australian alltime 11 or even a wi all time 11.We allknow how Kallis ' date='Amla,Smith fared against top attacks.Also without a good spinner they would have struggled anyhow.[/quote'] All 3 of these batsmen are better than any current Indian batsmen bar Sachin.

[Old guy]

All 3 of these batsmen are better than any current Indian batsmen bar Sachin.

no question about that but we are talking abt atg teams of countries..and he has a point kallis flopped agains mcgrath and warne never dominated them i think amla part is unfair as he nevr really got fair chance against them