[Cricket] Your All Time Test Cricket XI

[loz]

I am going to be lazy and just say the West Indies team of 1984.

 

[goldstone]

Where are Ted Dexter and Jim Parks??

 

[Red Squirrel]

Dravid
Sangakarra
Richards
Lara
Kallis
Botham
Akram
Marshall
Warne
Donald
Muralitheran

 

[DJ NOBO]

Hayden
Gooch
Ponting
Tendulkar
Richards
Imran
Botham
Gilchrist
Warne
Ambrose
Waqar

Based more on peak years rather than longevity

 

[DJ NOBO]

Maybe the ‘you have seen’ requirement impacted selection ?

Very difficult though. Probably something like this for me :

Greenwich
Cook
Tendulkar
Lara
Richards
Botham
Russell
Warne
Imran
Holding
Anderson

The little fella‘s got to be happy with that

 

[Clive Walker]

Not one team with kohli. Nuts.

 

[dazzer6666]

Not one team with kohli. Nuts.

I haven't seen him play

 

[Berty23]

I started watching test cricket in the late 80s. This is my best team I have watched.

Gordon G
Gooch (simply because of one innings he played vs a ridiculous windies attack when he was the only one who could cope)
Ponting
Lara
Sachin
Kallis
Gilchrist
Warne
Marshall
Ambrose
McGrath

I really wanted to include wasim but I worshipped Ambrose and McGrath when I was a tall young fast bowler. Marshall has to be in because he was the best of that side.

Kallis is the best of all that lot. To average mid 50s with the bat and take almost 300 wickets at just over 30 when you bowl the dog overs is ridiculous. If he could not bat and focussed on bowling he would have been good enough to play as a bowler. He was brilliant. Top fielder too.

Leaving our Sanga feels wrong so maybe he could open.

 

[Berty23]

Not one team with kohli. Nuts.

Interested to hear on what basis kohli gets in. Bowling now is nowhere near as good as it was in the 80s and 90s (my theory is this is linked to equipment as much as change of approach batting) and kohli doesn’t even average 50.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Interested to hear on what basis kohli gets in. Bowling now is nowhere near as good as it was in the 80s and 90s (my theory is this is linked to equipment as much as change of approach batting) and kohli doesn’t even average 50.

I think there's some serious nostalgia goggles on re. the quality of bowling comment there.

Apart from a brief period in the early 80s when Willis and Botham were paying together, England's bowling attacks back then basically consisted of a fat Botham, whichever couple of seamers the selectors had decided to take a punt on that week, and John Emburey if he was lucky enough not to be serving a ban at the time.

By contrast, when I saw Kohli batting at Edgbaston/Trent Bridge a few years ago it was under lights against Anderson, Broad, Stokes and Sam Curran, all of who would walk into England sides of the 80s/90s (not that Curran's a great player or anything, but England picked a lot of crap all rounders back then when Botham was either injured, banned, or retired).

 

[Eeyore]

As a general rule, seeing them play can mean on television. So modern era (although some will go back to the 60s here)

 

[Bold Seagull]

I doubt this team would need to cheat so can leave Steve Smith out.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I picked the team based on having seen them in person:

Chris Gayle
Alastair Cook
Kumar Sangakarra
Jacques Kallis
Virat Kohli
Ben Stokes c
Ravindra Jadeja
Ben Foakes w
Pat Cummins
Dale Steyn
James Anderson

I "should" pick Steve Smith in the middle order, but I hate watching him bat and I dislike him generally, so he's out.

Hardest spot to fill was the spinner. Again I should probably pick Lyon but again I just don't want to. Jadeja means I can pick Foakes as wicketkeeper and have a really solid 8 rather than worry about the keeper's batting.

 

[Eeyore]

I think there's some serious nostalgia goggles on re. the quality of bowling comment there.

Apart from a brief period in the early 80s when Willis and Botham were paying together, England's bowling attacks back then basically consisted of a fat Botham, whichever couple of seamers the selectors had decided to take a punt on that week, and John Emburey if he was lucky enough not to be serving a ban at the time.

By contrast, when I saw Kohli batting at Edgbaston/Trent Bridge a few years ago it was under lights against Anderson, Broad, Stokes and Sam Curran, all of who would walk into England sides of the 80s/90s (not that Curran's a great player or anything, but England picked a lot of crap all rounders back then when Botham was either injured, banned, or retired).

I agree with that. As for 80s all-rounders, I rated Imran Khan above Botham because he was more consistent over a longer period. The best all-rounder at the time wasn't even in international cricket, Clive Rice.

Botham had four golden years at the top before the combination of injury, ego, food and beer took it's toll. I see two Botham's- before 1983 and after.

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

Mike Proctor anyone ?

His bowling action was legendary!

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

As a general rule, seeing them play can mean on television. So modern era (although some will go back to the 60s here)

In that case,

Graeme Smith
Alastair Cook
Kumar Sangakarra
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Ben Stokes c
Adam Gilchrist w
Shane Warne
Dale Steyn
Shane Bond
Glenn McGrath

Also consider the balance of the team. My luxury here is that I can bat Sangakkara at three.

I'll tack this on here, it's worth bearing in mind that Sangakarra only kept wicket in about a third of his tests, and "only" averaged 40 while doing so, compared to 9000+ runs at 66 when he wasn't keeping. Which says more about how great he was without the gloves than anything else.

 

[Brownstuff]

An impossible team to pick. 2 England players I would have in there though would be Ian Botham and Joe Root.

 

[Eeyore]

In that case,

Graeme Smith
Alastair Cook
Kumar Sangakarra
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Ben Stokes c
Adam Gilchrist w
Shane Warne
Dale Steyn
Shane Bond
Glenn McGrath


I'll tack this on here, it's worth bearing in mind that Sangakarra only kept wicket in about a third of his tests, and "only" averaged 40 while doing so, compared to 9000+ runs at 66 when he wasn't keeping. Which says more about how great he was without the gloves than anything else.

This is true. And it does rather fly in the face of my 'keeper first' policy. But he was very tidy behind the stumps. But if he is played as a batsman and a keeper brought in, we could go with Allan Knott or Rod Marsh. But Bob Taylor was also outstanding before we get to possibly the best of the more recent era, James Foster, who only played a handful of Tests. England has traditionally produced the best keepers, yet the policy of playing the batsman first seems to have crippled some pathways.

 

[Arkwright]

Only one team has Bradman. Best test batter ever.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I agree with that. As for 80s all-rounders, I rated Imran Khan above Botham because he was more consistent over a longer period. The best all-rounder at the time wasn't even in international cricket, Clive Rice.

Botham had four golden years at the top before the combination of injury, ego, food and beer took it's toll. I see two Botham's- before 1983 and after.

Based on their records rather than having watched them, I'd take Botham's first 5 years over the other three all rounders to have played tests at that time. And to be fair that's still over 50 matches with 11 hundreds and 20 5-fers, if he'd just stopped playing altogether at that point nobody would question his quality.

It's difficult when thinking about picking an all-time team because we're presumably assuming the players would be fit and at something like their best, rather than hiding in a hotel room downing rum to deal with being chased around by paparazzi all the time.