Sooda Posted November 13, 2020 Posted November 13, 2020 (edited) Something to fill in the time in this post IPL- pre OZ tour black hole. As most of you know by now I a) am jobless and b) love compiling an all-time dream team XI. Put those two together you get a pretty heady mix. This little exercise in futility began when I noticed there were a few pretty good cricketers born in my month of birth- October. Naturally I started to make “an 11”, and it had thinking to myself- which month of the year has the most good cricketers born in it? Obviously then each month then needed an XI of its own. And here we are. I am not going to pretend that I have taken deep consideration of changes in rules over the years, or factors like the stratospheric SR modern day batters had compared to say 80’s counterparts. I’m too much of a romantic for that. And I have imagined this as a tournament to be played in Australia (why not) so have stacked the teams with pace (a paucity of spin options didn’t help) and where possible, wrist spin. I’m starting with December, more interesting that way (The January team is not great). Each "Table" has the players with their dates of birth... finally, and importantly, these are ODI teams! EDITED... DECEMBER S Dhawan (INDIA) December 5, 1985 Q de Kock (SA) (wk) December 17, 1992 RT Ponting (AUS/ICC) ( C ) December 19, 1974 JE Root (ENG) December 30, 1990 Yuvraj Singh (Asia/INDIA) December 12, 1981 A Flintoff (ENG/ICC) December 6, 1977 Abdul Razzaq (Asia/PAK) December 2, 1979 Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK) December 29, 1976 Kuldeep Yadav (INDIA) December 14, 1994 JJ Bumrah (INDIA) December 6, 1993 J Garner (WI) December 16, 1952 An explosive left handed opening duo, legendary no 3 and world class no 4, world Cup winning MVP at 5 – this batting side is excellent. Two excellent ODI all rounders at 6 and 7 offer some thunderous ball striking, though the tail feels longish with Saqlain as high as 8. The pace bowling has two of the most awesome yorker exponents- imagine Garner and Bumrah spearing it in in tandem in the death overs! Flintoff’s pace and hostility and Razzaq’s accurate medium pace to back it up. High class spin attack too with Saqlain’s offies and Kuldeep’s wrist spin to prise out wickets. Yuvraj’s accurate left arm spin is more than handy option. Ponting was the obvious captain choice. The options left out included Trescothick, Hooper, Agarkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Southee and perhaps the one who should be in there- Ranatunga. I’d like for Ranatunga to bat at 6 and captain, but maybe too low? And if he was at 5 the potential shuffling of the batting line up involved felt a bit too much. NOVEMBER AC Gilchrist (AUS/ICC) (wk) November 14, 1971 NV Knight (ENG) November 28, 1969 AJ Finch (AUS) November 17, 1986 V Kohli (INDIA) ( c ) November 5, 1988 Dinesh Chandimal (SL) November 18, 1989 SK Raina (INDIA) November 27, 1986 IT Botham (ENG) November 24, 1955 MG Johnson (AUS) November 2, 1981 B Lee (AUS) November 8, 1976, Amit Mishra (INDIA) November 24, 1982 Waqar Younis (PAK) November 16, 1971 Virat may find himself a bit frustrated with his lot as it’s a batting lineup that seriously lacks sparkle compared to the other “months” line ups. An aggressive top 3, and Virat at 4 to help to anchor a weak looking middle order, where Chandimal and Raina were the best options I could find for 5 and 6. Raina and Botham should offer some good power hitting- though Botham’s batting SR is a surprisingly low 74 at no 6 (79 overall) What the captain does have at his disposal however, is a terrifying pace attack of Lee, Waqar and Johnson. A trio that can blow teams away when in rhythm- though potentially erratic when not. Botham’s swing and seam will offer good support. The November spin options are thread bare to the extent that I felt Mishra ( all 36 ODIs of him) was the best choice, another wicket taking if erratic option. Gary Kirsten, Shai Hope, Younis Khan, Jason Holder and Chris Harris are ones to miss out. I toyed with the idea of including Harris’ for his mix of medium pace cutters and lower middle order scampering, to add some depth to the batting. Holder a better ODI all-rounder than Botham? Maybe Kirsten in at 3 would solidify the batting further. OCTOBER DA Warner (AUS) October 27, 1986 ML Hayden (AUS/ICC) October 29, 1971 Babar Azam (PAK) October 15, 1994 KC Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL) ( wk ) October 27, 1977 PA de Silva (SL) October 17, 1965 Imran Khan (PAK) ( c ) October 5, 1952 GJ Maxwell (AUS) October 14, 1988 A Kumble (Asia/INDIA) October 17, 1970 Z Khan (Asia/INDIA) October 8, 1978 M Morkel (Afr/SA) October 6, 1984 AA Donald (SA) October 20, 1966 A problem of plenty in this solid XI. Brutal bullying attacking opening duo, Azam, Sangakkara, De Silva form a classy middle order. Imran Khan will captain of course, and bat at 6. Maxwell offers power hitting coming in at 7. The attack is helmed by pace and bounce of Saffie duo Donald and Morkel. Zaheer’s left arm swing and seam adds to the threat, and Kumble to throttle with his leg breaks. Arguably bigger story is in who has been left out- could forge an excellent XI from: T Dilshan, Sehwag, Gambhir, Hafeez, Martyn, Pooran, Haddin, Irfan Pathan, Darren Bravo, Walsh and Ryan Harris. And Most galling of all, Kallis. One fast medium bowling all rounder with low batting SR was enough so went with the bowling all rounder Imran over batting all rounder Kallis. Imran is unsuited to a lower middle order in ODIs, but having him in there adds more bite to the attack in theory. I’m sure I can be convinced that one or two of Dilshan, Gambhir and Sehwag should open instead of Hayden and/or Warner. SEPTEMBER CH Gayle (ICC/WI) September 21, 1979 JM Bairstow (ENG) September 26, 1989 Saeed Anwar (PAK) September 6, 1968 EJG Morgan (ENG/IRE) ( c ) September 10, 1986 WJ Cronje (SA) September 25, 1969 JC Buttler (ENG) ( wk ) September 8, 1990 L Klusener (SA) September 4, 1971 SK Warne (AUS/ICC) September 13, 1969 Mohammed Shami (INDIA) September 3, 1990 CEL Ambrose (WI) September 21, 1963 NW Bracken (AUS) September 12, 1977 Brute power courses through this side, studded with key cogs of England’s world cup winning batting line up. Gayle and Bairstow will be mouth wateringly destructive. The silky Strokeplay of Anwar is at 3: unfortunate not to be in his preferred openers spot. The power and aggression of Morgan and Cronje in the middle. And then you get Buttler and Klusener at 6 and 7 to really pummel the opposition. The bowling is not half bad too: two veritable all-time greats in it. Shami’s skiddy wicket taking make him good foil for Ambrose’s pace and bounce with the new ball with Brackens accurate left arm seam to back it up. Then there is the small matter of the greatest spin bowler of all time. Klusener and Cronje if required will chip in with handy fast medium / medium pace. Amongst those to miss out include Gough (opted for Shami instead), Martin Crowe, Abdul Qadir, Rashid Khan, Guptill and the one I really want just to add to the carnage of that batting line up- Brendon McCullum. AUGUST Jesse Ryder (NZ) August 6, 1984 S Chanderpaul (WI) August 16, 1974 KS Williamson (NZ) August 8, 1990 GS Chappell (AUS) August 7, 1948 Mohammad Yousuf (Asia/PAK) August 27, 1974 CH Lloyd (WI) ( c ) August 31, 1944 AT Carey (AUS) ( wk ) August 27, 1991 J Srinath (INDIA) August 31, 1969 Shoaib Akhtar (Asia/ICC/PAK) August 13, 1975 John Emburey August 20, 1952 SL Malinga (SL) August 28, 1983 Bit of a mixed team- relatively poor opening duo, though the rest of the order is excellent - Williamson, Chappell and Yousuf is a classy lineup, if maybe sedate by modern standards. Lloyd and Carey should boost the scoring rate at the back end of the inning though. The pace attack is awesome: Malinga and Akhtar will trouble any top order, and Srinath is no slouch. The spin cupboard is bare though with John Emburey the best option. Aaqib Javed, Graham Thorpe, Gus Fraser, Ramiz Raja and Andy Bichel are other August born options. Bichel should be in there or Chappell will find himself bowling a lot more than he should. JULY JJ Roy (ENG) July 21, 1990 SC Ganguly (Asia/INDIA) July 8, 1972 Zaheer Abbas (PAK) July 24, 1947 F du Plessis (SA) July 13, 1984 MS Dhoni (Asia/INDIA) (c/wk) July 7, 1981 JN Rhodes (SA) July 27, 1969 SM Pollock (Afr/ICC/SA) July 16, 1973 RJ Hadlee (NZ) July 3, 1951 DK Lillee (AUS) July 18, 1949 TA Boult (NZ) July 22, 1989 YS Chahal (INDIA) July 23, 1990 An exciting XI; the elegance of southpaw Ganguly and power of right handed Roy will be a challenge for all new ball bowlers. Abbas, Faf and MSD make up a middle order of class and power. Will be fun to see MSD and Rhodes run the fielders ragged to add to their lusty hitting. Opted for Dhoni as skipper despite rival claims of Ganguly. Pollock and Hadlee will form a vice tight new ball duo and Boult and Lillee make it relent lessly threatening pace attack. Went for Yuz Chahal’s Leggies, over Harbhajan’s offies as they will offer more of a threat outside the subcontinent. Anderson, Ntini -maybe one of them in for Lillee?- Oram and Kulasekara are others who didn’t make it. JUNE ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) June 30, 1969 ME Waugh (AUS) June 2, 1965 SPD Smith (AUS) ( c ) June 2, 1989 KP Pietersen (ENG/ICC) June 27, 1980 BA Stokes (ENG) June 4, 1991 A Symonds (AUS) June 9, 1975 N Dickwella (SL) ( wk ) June 23, 1993 Wasim Akram (PAK) June 3, 1966 Mushtaq Ahmed (PAK) June 28, 1970 DW Steyn (Afr/SA) June 27, 1983 SE Bond (NZ) June 7, 1975 Two ODI greats should complement each other well at the top. Steve Smith will captain the side and anchor a destructive middle and lower middle order. Bit thin on wicket keeping options so Dickwella makes it (batting well out of place at no 7) Wasim, Steyn and Bond are an awesome pace trio, even if Steyn’s test greatness didn’t quite translate into the ODI arena. Mushtaq’s zippy leggies in the spin department. Very good all round options give balance to the side - Stokes, Symonds, Jayasuriya and Junior Waugh can tweak a few if needed. Another bumper month of options, especially on the all rounder front: especially unlucky are Shane Watson and Javed Miandad. Others include Steve Waugh, Angelo Matthews, Chris Cairns, Stuart Broad and Wahab Riaz. MAY CG Greenidge (WI) May 1, 1951 BC Lara (ICC/WI) May 2, 1969 DPMD Jayawardene (Asia/SL) ( c ) May 27, 1977 Mushfiqur Rahim (BDESH) (wk ) May 9, 1987 MG Bevan (AUS) May 8, 1970 MEK Hussey (AUS) May 27, 1975 KA Pollard (WI) May 12, 1987 UDU Chandana (SL) May 7, 1972 PJ Cummins (AUS) May 8, 1993 RGD Willis (ENG) May 30, 1949 K Rabada (SA) May 25, 1995 The power of Greenidge and grace of Lara set the tone at the top of the order. Jayawardene will bring his class and touch at no 3- a spot higher than his preferred position- and will captain. Mushfiqur and Bevan can get the scoreboard really ticking in the middle overs and Hussey and Pollard are (almost) as good a death overs batting duo as a team could hope for. Two of the best of the current pacemen will rattle the opposition and share the new ball, with Bob Willis steaming in in support. Upul Chandana’s leggies is the spin option and useful no 8 batter. Pollard and Bevan will share 5th bowler duties. Not many options of note, Sunil Narine is the most notable omission- but he has not played an ODI since 2016 and we can only speculate about his new action in international cricket. Glenn Turner and Misbah Ul Haq were other possible contenders. APRIL SR Tendulkar (INDIA) April 24, 1973, RG Sharma (INDIA) April 30, 1987 SP Fleming (ICC/NZ) ( c ) April 1, 1973 MJ Clarke (AUS) April 2, 1981 A Flower (ZIM) ( wk ) April 28, 1968 JP Duminy (SA) April 14, 1984 NLTC Perera (SL) April 3, 1989 MD Marshall (WI) April 18, 1958 Umar Gul (PAK) April 14, 1984 JN Gillespie (AUS) April 19, 1975 M Muralitharan (Asia/ICC/SL) April 17, 1972 A lot will be riding on the two greatest ODI openers of all time at the top of this team; with the rest of the batting line up though good, not quite living up to that. They do have a canny captain in Fleming. Add Clarke and Flower in there and it makes a good if not great middle order (but an even better tactical “brains trust” ). Lacks a bit of powerful hitting in the middle and back end of the innings even if Duminy and especially Perera can give it a whack. As with many/most of the sides, the pace attack is top drawer. Marshall is arguably the greatest test paceman ever and that gets him in, even if his ODI record does not quite match his test pedigree. Gul’s yorkers will give the death bowling a real edge, Jason Gillespie steaming in in his mullet and Murali’s deadly offbreaks complete a fearsome foursome. Perera will bowl his bustling medium pace in support and Duminy can bowl some tidy offspin if needed. England’s two world cup winners narrowly miss out- Archer, who just misses out on “newness”, and Plunkett. Craig McDermott , Saleem Malik also made decision a bit tricky. KL Rahul, Alec Stewart, Luke Ronchi and Ian Healy means April is spoilt on the wicket keeper front. MARCH HM Amla (SA) March 31, 1983 Tamim Iqbal (BDESH) March 20, 1989 DM Jones (AUS) March 24, 1961 IVA Richards (WI) ( c ) March 7, 1952 Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/PAK) March 3, 1970 Shakib Al Hasan (BDESH) March 24, 1987 CR Woakes (ENG) March 2, 1989 HH Streak (Afr/ZIM) March 16, 1974 Wasim Bari (PAK) (wk) March 23, 1948 Imran Tahir (SA) March 27, 1979 L Ngidi (SA) March 29, 1996 Tamim Iqbal has proven a fine opener for Bangladesh over the years and with the ODI great that is Amla , should form a good opening duo. Dean Jones – revolutionary ODI bat of his day – is at 3, and the piece de resistance of the batting is the king himself strolling in at 4, Sir Viv will Captain too. Inzamam and Shakib to follow make a deep solid lineup; Shakib at least a spot too low. The bowling is the weaker suit of this XI - Ngidi will trouble anyone with his pace, and Streak offers good fast medium and Woakes accurate seam and swing. Both Woakes and Streak bring depth to the batting line up. Imran Tahir offers his enthusiasm and attacking leg spin and with Shakib left arm and Richards part time off spin if needed, there is variety in the spin attack. Glaring omission amongst the March born folk: Ross Taylor and Shahid Afridi. Strong cases for both, but cannot see who they can come in for. Kyle Mills, Graeme Swann, Adam Zampa and Roger Harper are others who didn’t make the cut. Went for Bari’s (probably) superior keeping over Denesh Ramdin. FEBRUARY DL Haynes (WI) February 15, 1956 HH Gibbs (SA) February 23, 1974 GC Smith (Afr/SA) ( c ) February 1, 1981 AB de Villiers (Afr/SA) ( wk ) February 17, 1984 M Azharuddin (INDIA) February 8, 1963 Shoaib Malik (PAK) February 1, 1982 AU Rashid (ENG) February 17, 1988 GB Hogg (AUS) February 6, 1971 B Kumar (INDIA) February 5, 1990 MA Holding (WI) February 16, 1954 GD McGrath (AUS/ICC) February 9, 1970 The batting starts off with a powerful opening duo, settled on Haynes as anchor at the top and a good foil to Gibbs effervescence. Graeme Smith will bat one lower than his preferred opening spot and lead the side. The great AB is in at 4 and will keep wicket, him and Azhar will be a real challenge for the opposition in the middle overs. Shoaib Malik comes in at 6 and his off spin will be handy to back up two good wrist spin options In Hogg and Rashid who offer wicket taking in the middle overs. Holdings pace and McGraths accuracy are a menacing “Whispering Pidgeon death” new ball duo, with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar the best of the 3rd seamer options. Some good batting options miss out: Tharanga, Brendon Taylor, Marlon Samuels, Ajay Jadeja, Darren Lehmann. Danny Morrison, Naved UL Hasan or Mohammed Sami were possible contenders to back up Holding and McGrath. JANUARY Alex Hales (ENG) January 3, 1989 RB Richardson (WI) January 12, 1962 Neil Johnson (ZIM) January 24, 1970 R Dravid (Asia/ICC/INDIA) January 11, 1973 Haris Sohail (PAK) January 9, 1989 N Kapil Dev (INDIA) January 6, 1959 Adam Parore (NZ) ( wk ) January 23, 1971 DL Vettori (ICC/NZ) ( c ) January 27, 1979 MA Starc (AUS) January 30, 1990 AME Roberts (WI) January 29, 1951 WPUJC Vaas (Asia/SL) January 27, 1974 You can tell I struggled with this lot, from looking at the batting line up. Still, it’s a powerful opening duo if in touch. Johnson was a good bat and offers a useful bowling option. Dravid offers solidity in the middle, and then there’s, erm, Haris Sohail. The attack however is stacked with genuine greats of the game. The pace attack has variety – the pace and bounce of Roberts and Starc will be a lethal new ball duo, followed by Vaas’ and Kapil’s swing and accuracy. Kapil Dev’s all round ability will be a match winning X factor for the team. Vettori`s left arm spin will keep things tight, and think he will bring more tactically as a captain than Dravid or Kapil. Parore was the best of the keeper options- Thought about Dravid to keep. Really I could not find many other options that can make this XI: Josh Hazlewood, Lendl Simmons and Kamran Akmal were the pick of the bunch. There you have it! Please let me know your thoughts on the 11’s… especially interested to hear of any glaring omissions! Edited November 14, 2020 by Sooda Cricketics, BacktoCricaddict, express bowling and 6 others 5 4
BacktoCricaddict Posted November 13, 2020 Posted November 13, 2020 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Sooda said: Something to fill in the time in this post IPL- pre OZ tour black hole. As most of you know by now I a) am jobless and b) love compiling an all-time dream team XI. Put those two together you get a pretty heady mix. This little exercise in futility began when I noticed there were a few pretty good cricketers born in my month of birth- October. Naturally I started to make “an 11”, and it had thinking to myself- which month of the year has the most good cricketers born in it? Obviously then each month then needed an XI of its own. And here we are. I am not going to pretend that I have taken deep consideration of changes in rules over the years, or factors like the stratospheric SR modern day batters had compared to say 80’s counterparts. I’m too much of a romantic for that. And I have imagined this as a tournament to be played in Australia (why not) so have stacked the teams with pace (a paucity of spin options didn’t help) and where possible, wrist spin. I’m starting with December, more interesting that way (The January team is not great). Each "Table" has the players with their dates of birth... DECEMBER S Dhawan (INDIA) December 5, 1985 Q de Kock (SA) (wk) December 17, 1992 RT Ponting (AUS/ICC) ( C ) December 19, 1974 JE Root (ENG) December 30, 1990 Yuvraj Singh (Asia/INDIA) December 12, 1981 A Flintoff (ENG/ICC) December 6, 1977 Abdul Razzaq (Asia/PAK) December 2, 1979 Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK) December 29, 1976 Kuldeep Yadav (INDIA) December 14, 1994 JJ Bumrah (INDIA) December 6, 1993 J Garner (WI) December 16, 1952 An explosive left handed opening duo, legendary no 3 and world class no 4, world Cup winning MVP at 5 – this batting side is excellent. Two excellent ODI all rounders at 6 and 7 offer some thunderous ball striking, though the tail feels longish with Saqlain as high as 8. The pace bowling has two of the most awesome yorker exponents- imagine Garner and Bumrah spearing it in in tandem in the death overs! Flintoff’s pace and hostility and Razzaq’s accurate medium pace to back it up. High class spin attack too with Saqlain’s offies and Kuldeep’s wrist spin to prise out wickets. Yuvraj’s accurate left arm spin is more than handy option. Ponting was the obvious captain choice. The options left out included Trescothick, Hooper, Agarkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Southee and perhaps the one who should be in there- Ranatunga. I’d like for Ranatunga to bat at 6 and captain, but maybe too low? And if he was at 5 the potential shuffling of the batting line up involved felt a bit too much. NOVEMBER AC Gilchrist (AUS/ICC) (wk) November 14, 1971 NV Knight (ENG) November 28, 1969 AJ Finch (AUS) November 17, 1986 V Kohli (INDIA) ( c ) November 5, 1988 Dinesh Chandimal (SL) November 18, 1989 SK Raina (INDIA) November 27, 1986 IT Botham (ENG) November 24, 1955 MG Johnson (AUS) November 2, 1981 B Lee (AUS) November 8, 1976, Amit Mishra (INDIA) November 24, 1982 Waqar Younis (PAK) November 16, 1971 Virat may find himself a bit frustrated with his lot as it’s a batting lineup that seriously lacks sparkle compared to the other “months” line ups. An aggressive top 3, and Virat at 4 to help to anchor a weak looking middle order, where Chandimal and Raina were the best options I could find for 5 and 6. Raina and Botham should offer some good power hitting- though Botham’s batting SR is a surprisingly low 74 at no 6 (79 overall) What the captain does have at his disposal however, is a terrifying pace attack of Lee, Waqar and Johnson. A trio that can blow teams away when in rhythm- though potentially erratic when not. Botham’s swing and seam will offer good support. The November spin options are thread bare to the extent that I felt Mishra ( all 36 ODIs of him) was the best choice, another wicket taking if erratic option. Gary Kirsten, Shai Hope, Younis Khan, Jason Holder and Chris Harris are ones to miss out. I toyed with the idea of including Harris’ for his mix of medium pace cutters and lower middle order scampering, to add some depth to the batting. Holder a better ODI all-rounder than Botham? Maybe Kirsten in at 3 would solidify the batting further. OCTOBER DA Warner (AUS) October 27, 1986 ML Hayden (AUS/ICC) October 29, 1971 Babar Azam (PAK) October 15, 1994 KC Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL) ( wk ) October 27, 1977 PA de Silva (SL) October 17, 1965 Imran Khan (PAK) ( c ) October 5, 1952 GJ Maxwell (AUS) October 14, 1988 A Kumble (Asia/INDIA) October 17, 1970 Z Khan (Asia/INDIA) October 8, 1978 M Morkel (Afr/SA) October 6, 1984 AA Donald (SA) October 20, 1966 A problem of plenty in this solid XI. Brutal bullying attacking opening duo, Azam, Sangakkara, De Silva form a classy middle order. Imran Khan will captain of course, and bat at 6. Maxwell offers power hitting coming in at 7. The attack is helmed by pace and bounce of Saffie duo Donald and Morkel. Zaheer’s left arm swing and seam adds to the threat, and Kumble to throttle with his leg breaks. Arguably bigger story is in who has been left out- could forge an excellent XI from: T Dilshan, Sehwag, Gambhir, Hafeez, Martyn, Pooran, Haddin, Irfan Pathan, Darren Bravo, Walsh and Ryan Harris. And Most galling of all, Kallis. One fast medium bowling all rounder with low batting SR was enough so went with the bowling all rounder Imran over batting all rounder Kallis. Imran is unsuited to a lower middle order in ODIs, but having him in there adds more bite to the attack in theory. I’m sure I can be convinced that one or two of Dilshan, Gambhir and Sehwag should open instead of Hayden and/or Warner. SEPTEMBER CH Gayle (ICC/WI) September 21, 1979 JM Bairstow (ENG) September 26, 1989 Saeed Anwar (PAK) September 6, 1968 EJG Morgan (ENG/IRE) ( c ) September 10, 1986 WJ Cronje (SA) September 25, 1969 JC Buttler (ENG) ( wk ) September 8, 1990 L Klusener (SA) September 4, 1971 SK Warne (AUS/ICC) September 13, 1969 Mohammed Shami (INDIA) September 3, 1990 CEL Ambrose (WI) September 21, 1963 NW Bracken (AUS) September 12, 1977 Brute power courses through this side, studded with key cogs of England’s world cup winning batting line up. Gayle and Bairstow will be mouth wateringly destructive. The silky Strokeplay of Anwar is at 3: unfortunate not to be in his preferred openers spot. The power and aggression of Morgan and Cronje in the middle. And then you get Buttler and Klusener at 6 and 7 to really pummel the opposition. The bowling is not half bad too: two veritable all-time greats in it. Shami’s skiddy wicket taking make him good foil for Ambrose’s pace and bounce with the new ball with Brackens accurate left arm seam to back it up. Then there is the small matter of the greatest spin bowler of all time. Klusener and Cronje if required will chip in with handy fast medium / medium pace. Amongst those to miss out include Gough (opted for Shami instead), Martin Crowe, Abdul Qadir, Rashid Khan, Guptill and the one I really want just to add to the carnage of that batting line up- Brendon McCullum. AUGUST Ramiz Raja (PAK) August 14, 1962 S Chanderpaul (WI) August 16, 1974 KS Williamson (NZ) August 8, 1990 GS Chappell (AUS) August 7, 1948 Mohammad Yousuf (Asia/PAK) August 27, 1974 CH Lloyd (WI) ( c ) August 31, 1944 AT Carey (AUS) ( wk ) August 27, 1991 J Srinath (INDIA) August 31, 1969 Shoaib Akhtar (Asia/ICC/PAK) August 13, 1975 John Emburey August 20, 1952 SL Malinga (SL) August 28, 1983 Bit of a mixed team- relatively poor opening duo, though the rest of the order is excellent - Williamson, Chappell and Yousuf is a classy lineup, if maybe sedate by modern standards. Lloyd and Carey should boost the scoring rate at the back end of the inning though. The pace attack is awesome: Malinga and Akhtar will trouble any top order, and Srinath is no slouch. The spin cupboard is bare though with John Emburey the best option. Aaqib Javed, Graham Thorpe, Gus Fraser, Jesse Ryder and Andy Bichel are other August born options. Bichel should be in there or Chappell will find himself bowling a lot more than he should. JULY JJ Roy (ENG) July 21, 1990 SC Ganguly (Asia/INDIA) July 8, 1972 Zaheer Abbas (PAK) July 24, 1947 F du Plessis (SA) July 13, 1984 MS Dhoni (Asia/INDIA) (c/wk) July 7, 1981 JN Rhodes (SA) July 27, 1969 SM Pollock (Afr/ICC/SA) July 16, 1973 RJ Hadlee (NZ) July 3, 1951 DK Lillee (AUS) July 18, 1949 TA Boult (NZ) July 22, 1989 YS Chahal (INDIA) July 23, 1990 An exciting XI; the elegance of southpaw Ganguly and power of right handed Roy will be a challenge for all new ball bowlers. Abbas, Faf and MSD make up a middle order of class and power. Will be fun to see MSD and Rhodes run the fielders ragged to add to their lusty hitting. Opted for Dhoni as skipper despite rival claims of Ganguly. Pollock and Hadlee will form a vice tight new ball duo and Boult and Lillee make it relent lessly threatening pace attack. Went for Yuz Chahal’s Leggies, over Harbhajan’s offies as they will offer more of a threat outside the subcontinent. Anderson, Ntini -maybe one of them in for Lillee?- Oram and Kulasekara are others who didn’t make it. JUNE ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL) June 30, 1969 ME Waugh (AUS) June 2, 1965 SPD Smith (AUS) ( c ) June 2, 1989 KP Pietersen (ENG/ICC) June 27, 1980 BA Stokes (ENG) June 4, 1991 A Symonds (AUS) June 9, 1975 N Dickwella (SL) ( wk ) June 23, 1993 Wasim Akram (PAK) June 3, 1966 Mushtaq Ahmed (PAK) June 28, 1970 DW Steyn (Afr/SA) June 27, 1983 SE Bond (NZ) June 7, 1975 Two ODI greats should complement each other well at the top. Steve Smith will captain the side and anchor a destructive middle and lower middle order. Bit thin on wicket keeping options so Dickwella makes it (batting well out of place at no 7) Wasim, Steyn and Bond are an awesome pace trio, even if Steyn’s test greatness didn’t quite translate into the ODI arena. Mushtaq’s zippy leggies in the spin department. Very good all round options give balance to the side - Stokes, Symonds, Jayasuriya and Junior Waugh can tweak a few if needed. Another bumper month of options, especially on the all rounder front: especially unlucky are Shane Watson and Javed Miandad. Others include Steve Waugh, Angelo Matthews, Chris Cairns, Stuart Broad and Wahab Riaz. MAY CG Greenidge (WI) May 1, 1951 BC Lara (ICC/WI) May 2, 1969 DPMD Jayawardene (Asia/SL) ( c ) May 27, 1977 Mushfiqur Rahim (BDESH) (wk ) May 9, 1987 MG Bevan (AUS) May 8, 1970 MEK Hussey (AUS) May 27, 1975 KA Pollard (WI) May 12, 1987 UDU Chandana (SL) May 7, 1972 PJ Cummins (AUS) May 8, 1993 RGD Willis (ENG) May 30, 1949 K Rabada (SA) May 25, 1995 The power of Greenidge and grace of Lara set the tone at the top of the order. Jayawardene will bring his class and touch at no 3- a spot higher than his preferred position- and will captain. Mushfiqur and Bevan can get the scoreboard really ticking in the middle overs and Hussey and Pollard are (almost) as good a death overs batting duo as a team could hope for. Two of the best of the current pacemen will rattle the opposition and share the new ball, with Bob Willis steaming in in support. Upul Chandana’s leggies is the spin option and useful no 8 batter. Pollard and Bevan will share 5th bowler duties. Not many options of note, Sunil Narine is the most notable omission- but he has not played an ODI since 2016 and we can only speculate about his new action in international cricket. Glenn Turner and Misbah Ul Haq were other possible contenders. APRIL SR Tendulkar (INDIA) April 24, 1973, RG Sharma (INDIA) April 30, 1987 SP Fleming (ICC/NZ) ( c ) April 1, 1973 MJ Clarke (AUS) April 2, 1981 A Flower (ZIM) ( wk ) April 28, 1968 JP Duminy (SA) April 14, 1984 NLTC Perera (SL) April 3, 1989 MD Marshall (WI) April 18, 1958 Umar Gul (PAK) April 14, 1984 JN Gillespie (AUS) April 19, 1975 M Muralitharan (Asia/ICC/SL) April 17, 1972 A lot will be riding on the two greatest ODI openers of all time at the top of this team; with the rest of the batting line up though good, not quite living up to that. They do have a canny captain in Fleming. Add Clarke and Flower in there and it makes a good if not great middle order (but an even better tactical “brains trust” ). Lacks a bit of powerful hitting in the middle and back end of the innings even if Duminy and especially Perera can give it a whack. As with many/most of the sides, the pace attack is top drawer. Marshall is arguably the greatest test paceman ever and that gets him in, even if his ODI record does not quite match his test pedigree. Gul’s yorkers will give the death bowling a real edge, Jason Gillespie steaming in in his mullet and Murali’s deadly offbreaks complete a fearsome foursome. Perera will bowl his bustling medium pace in support and Duminy can bowl some tidy offspin if needed. England’s two world cup winners narrowly miss out- Archer, who just misses out on “newness”, and Plunkett. Craig McDermott , Saleem Malik also made decision a bit tricky. KL Rahul, Alec Stewart, Luke Ronchi and Ian Healy means April is spoilt on the wicket keeper front. MARCH HM Amla (SA) March 31, 1983 Tamim Iqbal (BDESH) March 20, 1989 DM Jones (AUS) March 24, 1961 IVA Richards (WI) ( c ) March 7, 1952 Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/PAK) March 3, 1970 Shakib Al Hasan (BDESH) March 24, 1987 CR Woakes (ENG) March 2, 1989 HH Streak (Afr/ZIM) March 16, 1974 Wasim Bari (PAK) (wk) March 23, 1948 Imran Tahir (SA) March 27, 1979 L Ngidi (SA) March 29, 1996 Tamim Iqbal has proven a fine opener for Bangladesh over the years and with the ODI great that is Amla , should form a good opening duo. Dean Jones – revolutionary ODI bat of his day – is at 3, and the piece de resistance of the batting is the king himself strolling in at 4. Inzamam and Shakib to follow make a deep solid lineup; Shakib at least a spot too low. The bowling is the weaker suit of this XI - Ngidi will trouble anyone with his pace, and Streak offers good fast medium and Woakes accurate seam and swing. Both Woakes and Streak bring depth to the batting line up. Imran Tahir offers his enthusiasm and attacking leg spin and with Shakib left arm and Richards part time off spin if needed, there is variety in the spin attack. Glaring omission amongst the March born folk: Ross Taylor and Shahid Afridi. Strong cases for both, but cannot see who they can come in for. Kyle Mills, Graeme Swann, Adam Zampa and Roger Harper are others who didn’t make the cut. Went for Bari’s (probably) superior keeping over Denesh Ramdin. FEBRUARY DL Haynes (WI) February 15, 1956 HH Gibbs (SA) February 23, 1974 GC Smith (Afr/SA) ( c ) February 1, 1981 AB de Villiers (Afr/SA) ( wk ) February 17, 1984 M Azharuddin (INDIA) February 8, 1963 Shoaib Malik (PAK) February 1, 1982 AU Rashid (ENG) February 17, 1988 GB Hogg (AUS) February 6, 1971 B Kumar (INDIA) February 5, 1990 MA Holding (WI) February 16, 1954 GD McGrath (AUS/ICC) February 9, 1970 The batting starts off with a powerful opening duo, settled on Haynes as anchor at the top and a good foil to Gibbs effervescence. Graeme Smith will bat one lower than his preferred opening spot and lead the side. The great AB is in at 4 and will keep wicket, him and Azhar will be a real challenge for the opposition in the middle overs. Shoaib Malik comes in at 6 and his off spin will be handy to back up two good wrist spin options In Hogg and Rashid who offer wicket taking in the middle overs. Holdings pace and McGraths accuracy are a menacing “Whispering Pidgeon death” new ball duo, with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar the best of the 3rd seamer options. Some good batting options miss out: Tharanga, Brendon Taylor, Marlon Samuels, Ajay Jadeja, Darren Lehmann. Danny Morrison, Naved UL Hasan or Mohammed Sami were possible contenders to back up Holding and McGrath. JANUARY Alex Hales (ENG) January 3, 1989 RB Richardson (WI) January 12, 1962 Neil Johnson (ZIM) January 24, 1970 R Dravid (Asia/ICC/INDIA) January 11, 1973 Haris Sohail (PAK) January 9, 1989 N Kapil Dev (INDIA) January 6, 1959 Adam Parore (NZ) ( wk ) January 23, 1971 DL Vettori (ICC/NZ) ( c ) January 27, 1979 MA Starc (AUS) January 30, 1990 AME Roberts (WI) January 29, 1951 WPUJC Vaas (Asia/SL) January 27, 1974 You can tell I struggled with this lot, from looking at the batting line up. Still, it’s a powerful opening duo if in touch. Johnson was a good bat and offers a useful bowling option. Dravid offers solidity in the middle, and then there’s, erm, Haris Sohail. The attack however is stacked with genuine greats of the game. The pace attack has variety – the pace and bounce of Roberts and Starc will be a lethal new ball duo, followed by Vaas’ and Kapil’s swing and accuracy. Kapil Dev’s all round ability will be a match winning X factor for the team. Parore was the best of the keeper options- Thought about Dravid to keep. Really I could not find many other options that can make this XI: Josh Hazlewood, Lendl Simmons and Kamran Akmal were the pick of the bunch. There you have it! Please let me know your thoughts on the 11’s… especially interested to hear of any glaring omissions! That's a lot of work! Nicely done. Two comments: (1) October team: I would replace Babar Azam with Viru. Open with Viru and Hayden and move Warner to #3. (2) Overall, the December team looks to be the best followed by the October team. Edited November 13, 2020 by BacktoCricaddict
rkt.india Posted November 14, 2020 Posted November 14, 2020 Jesse Ryder over Ramiz Raja, Ross Taylor over inzamam.
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, rkt.india said: Jesse Ryder over Ramiz Raja, Ross Taylor over inzamam. Thanks for commenting Taylor over inzy is a close one, I agree purely on scoring rate but was he a better ODI bat? And yes Ryder for the power starts he could give over Ramiz , agreed. I think I went for Ramiz for his longevity Edited November 14, 2020 by Sooda
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 6 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said: That's a lot of work! Nicely done. Two comments: (1) October team: I would replace Babar Azam with Viru. Open with Viru and Hayden and move Warner to #3. (2) Overall, the December team looks to be the best followed by the October team. Thanks man. It was alot of work haha, really enjoyed it tbh. (Test 11s next up maybe?!) Good shout re: Viru, it means a right/left opening duo. Dropping Azam though, who seems set for ODI ATG status, is a tough decision
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 One thing I didn't comment on was fielding, there are some good fielding sides like June, but not many teams have more than a few top fielders
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 6 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said: That's a lot of work! Nicely done. Two comments: (1) October team: I would replace Babar Azam with Viru. Open with Viru and Hayden and move Warner to #3. (2) Overall, the December team looks to be the best followed by the October team. Hard to decide the best team: June, September, October and December are probably top 4 . Maybe Sept the best for me .
Majestic Posted November 14, 2020 Posted November 14, 2020 How on earth can you leave Kallis in October month. He is the greatest test cricketer of all-time.
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 21 minutes ago, Majestic said: How on earth can you leave Kallis in October month. He is the greatest test cricketer of all-time. I know! Of course these are ODI teams and the crucial word there was "test" His generally low scoring rate counted against him. Tough one between him and Imran as I mentioned above. The other thing is putting him at 3 means that Azam, Sanga and AdS all end up batting too low.
Jimmy Cliff Posted November 14, 2020 Posted November 14, 2020 Great post. Tempted to pick Allan Lamb ahead of Smith (better overall record adjusted for era), Ranatunga over Root (more impact) and Len Pascoe ahead of Bhindi Kumar (better option as 3rd seamer).
Jimmy Cliff Posted November 14, 2020 Posted November 14, 2020 How about Simon O'Donnell ahead of Parore at no. 7 with Dravid taking over the gloves?
Sean Bradley Posted November 14, 2020 Posted November 14, 2020 Glaring errors in your August team, greatest batsman and fast bowler to have played the games missing, Sir Don Bradman and Jeff Thompson, , I don't even want to point out to Jesse Ryder. This is blasphemy, also Alex carey ahead of Jack Russel, Many former English players rate Russel as the greatest wicket keeper to have played the game (purely on his keeping skills). Other big name missed in the August team is Simon Katich.
Majestic Posted November 14, 2020 Posted November 14, 2020 6 hours ago, Sooda said: I know! Of course these are ODI teams and the crucial word there was "test" His generally low scoring rate counted against him. Tough one between him and Imran as I mentioned above. The other thing is putting him at 3 means that Azam, Sanga and AdS all end up batting too low. I get your point. Appreciate the hardwork on the post. Great work!
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 2 hours ago, Sean Bradley said: Glaring errors in your August team, greatest batsman and fast bowler to have played the games missing, Sir Don Bradman and Jeff Thompson, , I don't even want to point out to Jesse Ryder. This is blasphemy, also Alex carey ahead of Jack Russel, Many former English players rate Russel as the greatest wicket keeper to have played the game (purely on his keeping skills). Other big name missed in the August team is Simon Katich. Thanks for the comment! I thought about Russell ... but Careys hitting at the death edges him..... I think Chanderpaul and Ryder should be the Aug team top two, Katich was not that good a one day bat. Bradman didnt play ODIs, and Thompson was not very good at them ;-) He was in the Nov options from memory so yet another genuine paceman
Sooda Posted November 14, 2020 Author Posted November 14, 2020 9 hours ago, Jimmy Cliff said: Great post. Tempted to pick Allan Lamb ahead of Smith (better overall record adjusted for era), Ranatunga over Root (more impact) and Len Pascoe ahead of Bhindi Kumar (better option as 3rd seamer). Thanks man and Great shouts, I think There's enough batting firepower in lower middle order of the June 11 for Lamb to not be needed, and think there's more room for Smith like player to try and anchor the side? Len Pascoe i didn't even think of, so Thanks! Will get him in. How did you even know if him?! Ranatunga in for Root is interesting, by more impact do you mean including as captain? Hard to ignore Roots 50+ average. O Donnel is a good shout too, he was ahead of his time as a lower order hitter. Better no 7/8 than Parore for sure. I wonder if the team would miss having a pure "keeper" and Dravid in slips The Jan side would then have 7 bowling options which it doesn't need. Maybe O Donnel in for Parore and a better batsman in for Neil Johnson- don't know who though, the options from what I can see are Kim Hughes, Lendl Simmons who could be a good contender, Asad Shafiq :) Jimmy Cliff 1
Sooda Posted November 16, 2020 Author Posted November 16, 2020 @zen @Ankit_sharma03 @coffee_rules @Gollum @express bowling
Ankit_sharma03 Posted November 16, 2020 Posted November 16, 2020 7 minutes ago, Sooda said: @zen @Ankit_sharma03 @coffee_rules @Gollum @express bowling June team looks best , i dont knw how but watson has to get in......may be in place of mark waugh what a team when u have - steve waugh, watson, cairns, miandad on bench December also looks very good
Ankit_sharma03 Posted November 16, 2020 Posted November 16, 2020 In feb team - shami over Bk...shami is a better ODI bowler Also feb team has to much bowling, will drop Adil rashid for Ajay jadeja or brendon taylor
Ankit_sharma03 Posted November 16, 2020 Posted November 16, 2020 In april- KL cant sit out specially when duminy kind of player is in XI, KL at 4...clarke drops down the order
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