Best side for each decade.

31 is hardly a poor return anyway. warne averages 47 against the best players of spin. the 2 best batsmen of his generation dominated him - does that make him soft aswell?

Bit harsh to judge Donald inferior to McGrath because he didn't demolish Australia... when exactly did McGrath do that?

Those arguing Donald's case as being able to 'lead' an attack might point to the losing England tour of 1998, when the contest essentially boiled down to 'how many can England get off the other bowlers before Donald rolls them over?'

Brass Monkey wrote:It's been done:

Code:



Player      Mat Wkt Ave  Econ SR  5 10
CEL Ambrose  71  309 20.14 2.31 52.2 21 3
Wasim Akram  62  289 21.45 2.63 48.9 17 3
AA Donald    59  284 21.83 2.86 45.7 19 3
Waqar Younis 56  273 21.71 3.18 40.9 21 5
GD McGrath  58  266 22.87 2.61 52.4 15 1
SM Pollock  38  161 20.45 2.33 52.6 10 0



amazing stats!

Waqar's stats are a lot better than Wasim's but most people rate Wasim a lot higher than Waqar. I guess its probably because Waqar really went down hill after the 2nd back injury in 1994.

Waqar I think demolished Zimbabwe and NZ on a regular basis.


The strike rate is jaw dropping though.

You think Waqar's strike rate is jaw-dropping, check out Dale Steyn's on this list:

http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283274.html

Second best strike rate in history! Yes, he hasn't played Australia yet but for a post-war bowler, a strike rate of 35 is unbelievable. Above the likes of SF Barnes FFS!

I can't actually believe how good he is. He could end up one of the top three bowlers in history if he keeps this sort of form up.

wow

Steyn is AMAZING!

What stands out on that list is that SHane Bond has only played 17 tests!

I think Steyn, Asif and Morkel are going to be the three premier fast bowlers for the next decade or so.

Asif isn't too far down that list at 16.

51 wickets at 23, sr 45.7.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:I think Steyn, Asif and Morkel are going to be the three premier fast bowlers for the next decade or so.

Asif isn't too far down that list at 16.

51 wickets at 23, sr 45.7.

Asif? Guy with a plastic elbow?

Does he have injury problems with his elbow?

I've always thought Asif is class and he'll definitely be one of the world's best bowlers for many years.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Does he have injury problems with his elbow? .

Yeah he has missed about 50% of cricket.

He is a fine bowler but he always needs a bit of help from the pitch. Other PAK bowlers like Shoaib, Wasim, Waqar and Imran had the ability to take the pitch out of the equation and still get wickets.

JGK wrote:What stands out on that list is that SHane Bond has only played 17 tests!

The NZ figjam

Going with the 'player can only appear in on edecade rule':

1880s

WG Grace (c)
Shrewsbury
Murdoch
PS McDonnell
AG Steel
Giffen
Blackham+
R Peel
Palmer
Spofforth
Ferris

1890s

Hayward
Darling
Ranjitsinji
Maclaren
Stoddart (c)
Noble
Kelly+
Lohmann
Trumble
CTB Turner
Tom Richardson

Excellent work tya.

So far we have sides for the 1880s, 1890s, 1910s, 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

We still need sides for the 1900s ad 1930s. I'll have a go eventually if no-one better informed does.

There's been a lot of debate about the 90s side that was posted but what about all the others, does everyone agree on those?

Take Basil's 70s side, was Chandra really the best spinner in that decade? And in Leo's 50s side - isn't Weekes generally regarded as the best of the three Ws?

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Excellent work tya.

So far we have sides for the 1880s, 1890s, 1910s, 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

We still need sides for the 1900s ad 1930s. I'll have a go eventually if no-one better informed does.

There's been a lot of debate about the 90s side that was posted but what about all the others, does everyone agree on those?

Take Basil's 70s side, was Chandra really the best spinner in that decade? And in Leo's 50s side - isn't Weekes generally regarded as the best of the three Ws?

Chortle . . .

1930s (on the basis of performance in that decade rather than when the player made their debut):

Hutton
Sutcliffe
Bradman*
Hammond
Headley
McCabe
Oldfield+
Larwood
Voce
O'Reilly
Grimmett


Bowling is tricky - the three leading wickettakers were Grum, Tiger and Verity with Ironmonger 6th with 67 wickets at 16!

Larwood picks himself on the basis of one series. Voce had the most wickets for a quick although Bowes had a much better average and strike rate(probably against inferior sides). Went with Voce in the end because he obviously enjoyed bowling with Larwood and I reckon Bradman (as captain) would have been very canny in how he used those two. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be Jardine and played against them.

The alternative to Voce/Bowes could be Constantine or Martindale but it hard to judge the Windies records because they often played against England Second or Third XIs.

I'm happy with the 2 spinners in this side as Hammond and McCabe could bowl a number of overs if needed.

The Top 5 pretty much pick themselves - I have gone with Stan on the basis of his 3 great innings and his speed of scoring (and to avoid a fight with peterg) but you could have gone with Paynter, Hendren, Compton or even Nourse and not lost a lot.

A crack at the 1900s (excluding players in the 1890s team above (I don't know what the 1910s team is but assume Faulkner is in it))

Jackson
Gunn
Fry
Hill
Trumper
Armstrong*
Rhodes
Lilley+
Blythe
Barnes
Saunders


A bit out of my depth on where the players batted in the order although I consiously haven't picked Trumper as opener.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:I think Steyn, Asif and Morkel are going to be the three premier fast bowlers for the next decade or so.

Asif isn't too far down that list at 16.

51 wickets at 23, sr 45.7.

You could add Ishant, Broad, Johnson, Taylor, and Southee to that list, imo. There's a few good 'uns coming through now.

Ishant - loads of potential. Could well go the way of most Indian pacers though - crocked, overhyped and forgotten.

Broad - Looks decent but hasn't really done anything at first class level and has a loooooooooong way to go before he can be mentioned in the same breath as Steyn and Asif.

Johnson - Meh.

Southee - Let's see him in unhelpful conditions. Good eye. Meh.

Taylor - forgot him. Looks a class act. Could be bowled into the ground though.


None of them are almost certain greats like Steyn and Asif.

JGK wrote:1930s (on the basis of performance in that decade rather than when the player made their debut):

Hutton
Sutcliffe
Bradman*
Hammond
Headley
McCabe
Oldfield+
Larwood
Voce
O'Reilly
Grimmett


Bowling is tricky - the three leading wickettakers were Grum, Tiger and Verity with Ironmonger 6th with 67 wickets at 16!

Larwood picks himself on the basis of one series. Voce had the most wickets for a quick although Bowes had a much better average and strike rate(probably against inferior sides). Went with Voce in the end because he obviously enjoyed bowling with Larwood and I reckon Bradman (as captain) would have been very canny in how he used those two. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be Jardine and played against them.

The alternative to Voce/Bowes could be Constantine or Martindale but it hard to judge the Windies records because they often played against England Second or Third XIs.

I'm happy with the 2 spinners in this side as Hammond and McCabe could bowl a number of overs if needed.

The Top 5 pretty much pick themselves - I have gone with Stan on the basis of his 3 great innings and his speed of scoring (and to avoid a fight with peterg) but you could have gone with Paynter, Hendren, Compton or even Nourse and not lost a lot.

Hard to argue with this team on its merits. If we want a fifth bowler then we need an all rounder which could only mean Ames as keeper batting at 6.

Farnes was probably a better bowler than Voce but the war took his prime and his life.

Sutcliffe would be better placed in the 20s team and Hutton probably in the 40s or 50s. The next best openers in the 30s are Ponsford, Woodfull and Bruce Mitchell.

Grimmett may also go in the 20s team so Verity would get his spot.

JGK wrote:A crack at the 1900s (excluding players in the 1890s team above (I don't know what the 1910s team is but assume Faulkner is in it))

Jackson
Gunn
Fry
Hill
Trumper
Armstrong*
Rhodes
Lilley+
Blythe
Barnes
Saunders


A bit out of my depth on where the players batted in the order although I consiously haven't picked Trumper as opener.

The opening spot is a bit of a problem as the best available are better suited to the 1890s or the 1910s. Excluding those players Reg Duff was the best opener around and would replace Gunn. Hill and Jackson were really middle order bats so it would be between Fry and Trumper as the other opener.

I would also bring in Hirst for Armstrong. Rhodes in the early 1900s was possibly the best SLA who has ever played and Blythe was not far behind. Since Barnes bowled medium paced leg breaks Armstrong's bowling, good though it was, is not needed. Hirst's batting was alot better than his test record suggests - he was a genuine all rounder.

With all of these lefties in the team i think i would go for Cotter ahead of Saunders ever though JV was probably a slightly better bowler. Cotter was an out and out quick which this team is otherwise missing (and another of the glorous fallen). So:

Fry
Duff
Hill
Trumper
Jackson
Hirst
Rhodes
Lilley
Cotter
Blythe
Barnes

time for a 2010's update?

F*cking Ishant fooled a lot of you didn't he?