All time WI XI

HTF do you pick the quickies,

Here

A novel idea for a thread . . . can't belive we've not discussed this before . . .

Fark me, middle order ain't too easy either.

Link

Just commenting on the cricinfo links, as we have done before for other teams

Without looking at what cricinfo have come up with, i'd go for something like-

Greenidge
Worrell (c)
Richards
Headley
Lara
Sobers
Dujon+
Marshall
Holding
Garner
Ambrose

F*ck there's a lot of great players that i've left out.

According to the format you have to fit a spinner in

In that case, Lace gibbs for Colin Croft. I have a soft spot for Holding, with his silky smooth action.

"F*ck there's a lot of great players that i've left out."

Here's a 2nd XI that would be at least competitive, thrown together in lass than 5 mins:

Haynes
Hunte
Kanhai
Lloyd
Kallicharran
Rchardson
Derick Murray
Hall
Roberts
Griffith
Croft (unless we're playing on SCG Jan 85 pitch, otherwisw Harper I spose...)

OK - swap Weekes for Kalli

Greenidge
Haynes
Lara
Richards
Headley
Sobers
Dujon+
Marshall
Ambrose
Holding
Ramadhin

Fred Nerk wrote:OK - swap Weekes for Kalli

And Ramadhin for Harper - and he starts in the XI regardless

taipan wrote:HTF do you pick the quickies,

Here

You pick Marshall and 3 others.

Gotta have the pace of Holding in there IMO.

Henry wrote:In that case, Lace gibbs for Colin Croft. I have a soft spot for Holding, with his silky smooth action.

Delicate filigree offie? ;o)

Allan D wrote:

taipan wrote:HTF do you pick the quickies,

Here

You pick Marshall and 3 others.

Bit facile

vilkrang wrote:Gotta have the pace of Holding in there IMO.

Yeah instead of those one-paced donkeys Ambrose, Croft, Griffith and co. ... ;o)


I would agree though. Holding is one of the top four: the intimidation factor alone is massive, speed, menace and an accuracy above most of the others. He scared the holy sh!t out of Boycott, which is a plus (You'll notice Boyks always mentions him first.)

Ambrose or Garner for the steepling bounce?

On an impression, many insiders (batsmen) seem to rate Andy Roberts as being as deadly as any of the others.

taipan wrote:

Allan D wrote:

taipan wrote:HTF do you pick the quickies,

Here

You pick Marshall and 3 others.

Bit facile

But true.

Henry wrote:In that case, Lace gibbs for Colin Croft. I have a soft spot for Holding, with his silky smooth action.

??

you dont have croft in your original team

I got Croft and Garner mixed up. Both tall f*ckers who I wouldn't like to face.

Cricinfo should let us have four quickies on the team. I know they are following the format but 4 fast bowlers is a staple of West Indies cricket and as great as Gibbs was I think it is only right we have four pacers in our all time 11.

Fred Nerk wrote:"F*ck there's a lot of great players that i've left out."

Here's a 2nd XI that would be at least competitive, thrown together in lass than 5 mins:

Haynes
Hunte
Kanhai
Lloyd
Kallicharran
Rchardson
Derick Murray
Hall
Roberts
Griffith
Croft (unless we're playing on SCG Jan 85 pitch, otherwisw Harper I spose...)

The fact it's possible to pick a 2nd XI and still ignore someone with 500 Test wickets just shows the depth of quality they've had in the pace department... sadly the production line dried up after Ambrose and Walsh. There's probably 10 WI fast bowlers from 1970-2000 who would be a candidate for best in the world if they were around now?

Can't we just pick Sobers as the spinner?

Except that Sobers reverted to left-arm swing for the latter half of his career and I suspect took the bulk of his 236 wickets in that mode. Ramadhin and Valentine were outstanding at the outset of their careers but were rather nullified by the development of pad-play (interesting to speculate whether they would have prospered under the present lbw law - the answer must be most probably). It seems a shame to ignore Gibbs' 309 wickets and one of the greatest masters of a turning pitch. 4 pace bowlers is overkill as I thought in the 1980s. Marshall + 2 from Roberts, Holding, Garner, Walsh and Ambrose with Sobers as the swing all-rounder (who could also be used as the second spinner) as well as Gibbs would cover all circumstances and wicket types. The batting is more problematical. Everton Weekes made under 4500 runs in 48 Tests yet he averaged 58.61 which I think is more than any other West Indian apart from Headley.

The other way to go about selection is to take the strongest XI from the late'80s and decide whom you would omit to accommodate Sobers, Headley and Gibbs or whichever players from earlier eras you think deserve to be included. I would have thought Sobers is a must-pick rather like Bradman in an all-time Australian XI or Jack Hobbs in an England XI.

Or Imran Khan, Kapil Dev or Richard Hadlee.







Or MuMu.

Which Caribbean islands do they all hail from?