Albondiga wrote:"The greats of an era would be greats in any era"
I believe any ODI side or any other longer form of the game ( I don't include 20/20 because I don't see it as a game for professionals ) should contain BRADMAN SOBERS HOBBS S F BARNES WARNE AKRAM MARSHALL.
It does not matter if they have not played ODI's as we know them now as they would soon adapt.
I love the double standards of this old era v new era thing. We have to hear about how these old legends batted on pitches that were uncovered, with helmets, etc.....
Sidney Barnes played in an era where no Australia who played more than 3 matches averaged over 40. Poor pitches, no helmets and poor batting quality seem to have twisted the statistics from this era.... a list of pre-WWI bowlers as follows:
GA Lohmann..... 112 wickets at 10....
J Ferris.... 61 wickets at 12
W Barnes....51 wickets at 15
CTB Turner...101 wickets at 16
R Briggs... 118 wickets at 16
R Peel...101 wickets at 17
R SPotforth... 68 wickets at 18
C Blythe...100 wickets at 18
The average wicket in these days dropped nearly 10 runs per wicket less, so bowling in Sidney Barnes day was like shooting fish in a barrel compared to nowadays. If Kallis isnt as good as Sobers because of X,Y and Z, for the same reason we should ignore Sidney Barnes in any debate.