Here is my list of the all time Cricket Test XI - comprising of only people that I have seen play.
1. Mathew Hayden: One of the most solid yet intimidating opening batsmen of all time. His presence on the crease is like that of a heavy weight boxer - and you knew you were going to be hit around
2. Virendra Sehwag: Yea, that's correct. I have picked Sehwag over Gavaskar. Here is one man who can change a game in just 60 minutes. A maverick to the core.
3. Brian Lara: The Magician when on song!
4. Sachin Tendulkar: The God of Indian cricket.
5. Viv Richards: In my opinion, the greatest batsman to have played cricket - that I have watched. His swagger and his contempt for bowlers was like none before him and none after him. He would also be my choice of captain of this World XI
6. M. S. Dhoni: Yes I pick him over Adam Gilchrist and Sangakara. Dhoni will break all records by the time he is done. He has the flair, class and the temparament that will be the benchmark for all future wicket-keeper batsmen. He would also be my vice-captain for this World-XI
7. Wasim Akram: The sultan of swing and reverse swing. Perhaps the best left-arm pacer of all times
8. Shane Warne: The absolute master of leg-spin - and a fabulous match winner
9. Muttiah Muralidharan: The absoulte master of the off-spin and the doosra.
10. Glen McGrath: What can I say!
11. Alan Donald: Mr Express - white lightening. Grace and hostility combined
12. Steve Waugh: One of the greatest batsmen to play the game of cricket. His talent was limited as compared to the other greats of the game but his tenacity is unmatched. Unfortunately I cannot place him above Sachin, Lara and Viv
13. Rahul Dravid: Another great of the game. One of my favorite all time greats. But won't find a place in my playing eleven
14. Malcolm Marshal: One of the most hostile pace bowlers the world has ever seen
15. Imran Khan: A great fast bowler and a greater captain! If he made my playing XI he would walk in and be the captain of the side. But I will have to choose Akram, McGrath and Alan Donald over him
That's my Dream Test Team !
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For test cricket, I would swap Steve for Viv given his traits of "nerver say die", rock solid batting and useful bowler. Also I would include Sir Richard Hadlee instead of Allan Donald!!!
ReplyDeleteFirst congrats for picking up the pen for writing blog :-)
ReplyDeleteI would pick Sunny over Viru because its test cricket and with Hayden on the other side, you would need a perfect foil at other end who can carry you through with his technical correctness, ability to play for long time and tremendous temperament. On second thought, I may like to exchange Hayden with Gordon Greenidge or a Desmond Haynes.
Another change would be a Coutney Walsh or a Micheal Holding over Allan Doland. On their day, they were more mesmerizing than Allan Doland. If you have to benchmark fast swing bowling at its best, you have to see Holding on a Sabaina park pitch. They were simply unplayable.
Imran I will pick over Glen McGrath. Glen was perhaps more consistent over the years but those 2-3 series where I have seen Imran bowling at his best, I have not seen any better exponent of fast bowling than that. If you are not sure, ask Jimmy Amaranth - who negotiated most of it quite successfully. Moreover his all round ability will add balance to team and he can be the natural choice for captaining the side.
With due respect to Sachin, I think Rahul or a Javed Miadand is more reliable. Remember that Marshellin (Sunny's wife) famous quote that she would bet her life on Javed and not Sunny because if he decides to drop anchor he can just play for ages.
Have you not seen Dennis Lillie play? He should figure somewhere – is not it?
Nice to see you blogging Sam... and i am not surprised to see cricket as the topic of the first posting...
ReplyDeleteDifficult task to pick a world xi of all time... Dhoni over Gilchrust, for example
I would like to see Ponting in the middle order(may be exclude dravid). Gilly is missing for sure, he ought to be part of any dream team. Two other bowlers who could be compared with other bowlers in the list - Holding and Walsh.
ReplyDeleteVery difficult task selecting world XI for test cricket... i agree with most of your selections however, i would prefer hadlee and holding over marshall and donald.. also, i would prefer gavaskar over sehwag considering test cricket... may be good to exchange roles of MS & Viv...:)
ReplyDeletean all time great is really going to be tough... but i feel any team you select will be influenced by the way test cricket is getting played at that particular time..... i know basics are basics and class and talent is permenant.. but i think there has been a generational change that has happened in test cricket in the last decade....where more rivalries and stronger teams came to fore(SA vs AUS,IND vs AUS, IND vs PAK, SL vs Ind) other than the traditional ashes and Windies being the super power and with the current state of test cricket which is way different than how it used to be before... i would agree with your team selection....
ReplyDeleteIn terms of attractive cricket team is right on the money.
ReplyDeleteI would have picked Dhoni over Viv for captaincy because Dhoni seems to be more tactically astute.
One missing link may be all rounder and I would pick Kallis who is undoubtedly the best in the last 15 years. That would also make it a nice balanced team 5 batsmen, 4 bowlers, 1 wicket keeper bat and 1 batting/medium pace allrounder. But with a team like this we may not need an all rounder.
I would pick Kallis or Marshall over Donald.
Joel Garner would be in my list. I have seen him bowl and he was a very destructive bowler.
ReplyDeleteI don't think 3 Indians will make it to the "all-time 11". If the title is "recent 11", then yes.
Gavaskar faced the fastest west indian bowling to score his first 1000 runs and without a helmet. I don't think there is any comparison between that and Sehwag. Sehwag has not faced those attacks - his 300s are scored on absolutely flat pitches. He is a great batsman don't get me wrong. Given a little bit of uneven bounce and a true pace attack, it is almost a guarantee that sehwag will be caught anywhere between the slips and the covers. Between him and Gavaskar, my pick is Gavaskar simply because of his ability to navigate a true bowling pitch.
Viv Richards, Sir Walter Hammond, Don Bradman, Dennis lillee, Richard Hadlee, Jeff Thomson and our own Kapildev who bowled 50% of his life on dead indian pitches - the list of all-time greats is quite a big one. Yes we may not have seen a don bradman - a record of 99.XX is sufficient to pick him - we don't need a video.
I do not believe Marshall was better than Holding or Roberts. He was fast and furious alright.
I will drop Dhoni from 11. Today, Dhoni looks terrific and he is, given his maturity. However, when you have these fast bowlers bowling and murali and shane spinning, Dhoni will be terrible behind the wickets - he doesn't have it in him to be a world-class wicket keeper. My pick is Gilchrist or may be even a Dujon or Kirmani.
My 11:
1. Gavaskar
2. Lara
3. Viv Richards
4. Don Bradman
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Adam Gilchrist
7. Shane Warne
8. Muralidharan
9. Wasim Akram
10.Joel Garner
11.Glenn McGrath
Always a difficult task to choose 11 (or 15). A few points:
ReplyDeletea) Would be interesting to see how the "modern greats" - the likes of Sehwag, Sachin and Dhoni would fare without protective gear. Sunil Gavaskar faced up to the most hostile West Indian attack ever without ever using a helmet - and dominated them. Kapil Dev transformed India from a sure shot loser to a World beater. Sunil & Kapil - their contribution has been significant as players and captains. They would be in my team anyday.
b) Richard Hadlee is another surprising miss here - for sheer match winning abilities, he would rank above McGrath in my selection.
c) My preference would be for gritty team-men over inconsitent superstars - Steve Waugh & Rahul Dravid would be in the 11 always.
Bull shit.. No Bradman, No McGrath. What rubbish
ReplyDelete