Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

the BBC are running a vote on it from pre-determined players ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/30983202

2 openers from Sachin, Sehwag, Gayle, Amla, Jayasuriya
3 batters from Bevan, ABD, Inzi, Lara, Clive Lloyd, Ponting, Sir Viv, Steve Waugh, Sanga
1 wk from Dhoni, Gilly, Boucher, Flower, McCullum
1 AR from Imran, Kapil, Botham, Kallis, Afridi, Klusener
3 pacers from Wasim, Waquar, McGrath, Donald, lillee, Garner, Lee, Malinga, Marshall
1 spinner from Murali, warne, kumble, saqlain, vettori

for me I'd change the rules a bit and pick 3 of the openers - if not allowed then I'd go with Clive Lloyd instead of Sehwag. Might not be too long before Kohli joins these ranks as well. Donald is a close call with McGrath - but in some conditions I'd go for 2 spinners and pick Warne or maybe Saqlain instead

My XI - Sachin, Sehwag, Amla, Richards, ABD, Dhoni, Klusener, Wasim, Donald, Garner, Murali

Surely Gilly should be in as an opener, didn't bat down the order to often

Red Devil wrote:the BBC are running a vote on it from pre-determined players ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/30983202

2 openers from Sachin, Sehwag, Gayle, Amla, Jayasuriya
3 batters from Bevan, ABD, Inzi, Lara, Clive Lloyd, Ponting, Sir Viv, Steve Waugh, Sanga
1 wk from Dhoni, Gilly, Boucher, Flower, McCullum
1 AR from Imran, Kapil, Botham, Kallis, Afridi, Klusener
3 pacers from Wasim, Waquar, McGrath, Donald, lillee, Garner, Lee, Malinga, Marshall
1 spinner from Murali, warne, kumble, saqlain, vettori

for me I'd change the rules a bit and pick 3 of the openers - if not allowed then I'd go with Clive Lloyd instead of Sehwag. Might not be too long before Kohli joins these ranks as well. Donald is a close call with McGrath - but in some conditions I'd go for 2 spinners and pick Warne or maybe Saqlain instead

My XI - Sachin, Sehwag, Amla, Richards, ABD, Dhoni, Klusener, Wasim, Donald, Garner, Murali

Not one Australian. Even though they have won the world cup 4 times, finalist 2 more times? Most successful nation at the 50 over game. 34 games unbeaten over 4 world cups which resulted in winning 3 WCs. 3 players above played in 3 of those tournaments. 4 South africans and no world cup wins, though that might change this year?

Must just produce the greatest teams ever, but no good individual players......

I'd like Dhoni and Gilly. But MSD if I had to have one.

SRT, Jaya, Lara, ABDV, Dhoni, Bevan, Imran, Wasim, Warne, Garner, McGrath.

Nearly left McGrath out for his fielding.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:I'd like Dhoni and Gilly. But MSD if I had to have one.

Gilly never batted down the order. I would have Gilly opening with Sachin, even if not keeping. But hes a better keeper than Dhoni, so maybe Dhoni will have to field?

Obviously they are picking a team to a formula, which successful teams do not.

Maybe why England are yet to win the world cup

based on their options I would go for ;

gilchrist
Tendulkar
ponting
Richards
de Villiers
dhoni
botham
warne
wasim
donald
garner

Botham weren't a great ODI player...

I left out Viv!

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Botham weren't a great ODI player...

I left out Viv!

in his prime he would have been a quality 5th bowler and had the ability to clear any boundary , he would do for me, botham played a lot of ODIs towards the end of his career when he really should have retired and his numbers suffered for it, especially his bowling

as far as leaving out Richards, that's heresy

tbh I didn't have a really close look at their numbers when picking the XI , I did check garner's tho , I knew they were good but an average of 18.84 and an economy rate of 3 is just insane, even taking account the differences between eras, that basically gives him an average 10 overs of 2-30

yuppie wrote:
Not one Australian. Even though they have won the world cup 4 times, finalist 2 more times? Most successful nation at the 50 over game. 4 South africans and no world cup wins, though that might change this year?

Must just produce the greatest teams ever, but no good individual players......

Gilly would be my wk pick after Dhoni and ABD - he'd also be the next opener after Sachin, Sehwag and Amla. Lillee and McGrath were both close contenders with Donald for the last fast bowling slot

my second XI would be (bending rules since Kohli is not in BBC list): Gilly, Jayasuriya, Kohli, Ponting, Sanga, Lloyd, Imran, Kapil Dev, Lillee, McGrath, Saqlain

4 aussies in my top 22 players - but I'd agree with the point about strong teams - the aussie line-ups in that era just didn't have a weak link whereas SA did even though they had some great players (Donald, Klusener, Pollock - but their batting was not that great at that time and no decent spinner)

rich1uk wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Botham weren't a great ODI player...

I left out Viv!

in his prime he would have been a quality 5th bowler and had the ability to clear any boundary , he would do for me

as far as leaving out Richards, that's heresy

tbh I didn't have a really close look at their numbers when picking the XI , I did check garner's tho , I knew they were good but an average of 18.84 and an economy rate of 3 is just insane, even taking account the differences between eras, that basically gives him an average 10 overs of 2-30

Garner did very well on the bouncy pitches in Australia. I think he played more one day matches in Australia than anywhere else. Some of my first cricketing memories are of big bird taking aussie wickets for fun.

If Gilly is not keeping then I don't see how he gets in ahead of Sehwag or Amla as an opener. If you want him to keep then maybe Dhoni and ABD both play as pure batsmen and end up fielding - but it would be very odd to see Dhoni in the field.

Econ of 3 for a pace bowler the is the same as 5 now. But Garner was pretty awesome. The best in ODIs in his era at least.

Shouldn't Steyn be an option.

Bevan was a great, can't leave out Lara, so it's ABDV or Viv. I think I'll stick with ABDV. Which is an incredible compliment to the South African.

Imran as skipper.

I reckon there's only three that have no question - Sachin, Viv and Akram. Sir Viv was without a doubt the greatest of all time. The rest are all arguable, and all great players.

don't want to get into the comparisons between eras, but I am going to, how would the likes of Richards do with todays bats where every mis-hit has a chance of going for 6

people don't hit the ball any farther these days when it is timed perfectly, they do get away with edges and mis-hits going for 4s and 6s that would never have happened when Richards was playing