90s England Draft - It's Richard Blakey time

[blockerdave]

Phillip DeFreitas

90s Tests - 730 runs @ 16.22 (best 88) and 114 wickets @ 29.85 (3 5WI, best 7/70) in 31 matches
Test career - 934 runs @ 14.82 (best 88) and 140 wickets @ 33.57 (4 5WI, best 7/70) in 44 matches
First-class career - 10,991 runs @ 22.75 (10 centuries, best 123*) and 1,248 wickets @ 27.89 (61 5WI, best 7/21) in 372 matches

When Phillip DeFreitas arrived in the England side as a mere 20-year-old, he wasn't quite ready, and by the end of 1989 his early-career numbers were bad. Throughout the early to mid 1990s though, he was a crucially dependable cog in the English bowling attack. He was an accurate seamer who could swing the ball both ways as opposed to a tearaway quick - but as a third seamer behind the new ball options o Fraser and Malcolm, he's absolutely ideal.

@Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3.
4. Graeme Hick
5. David Gower
6.
7.
8. Phillip DeFreitas
9.
10. Angus Fraser
11. Devon Malcolm

@Dale88

I really liked Daffy as a player - decent bat, lively swing, excellent fielder. Mind you, his record outside England was awful.

 

[Ed Smith]

Feels like my side has too much neck (and gut), so here's a pick that reduces both. Probably should have played more matches, if not for England's crazy selection process for bowlers...



5. Allan Lamb
6. Ian Botham
7. Jack Russell
10. Gladstone Small
11. Andy Caddick

@ahmedleo414 I think

 

[blockerdave]

Feels like my side has too much neck (and gut), so here's a pick that reduces both. Probably should have played more matches, if not for England's crazy selection process for bowlers...



5. Allan Lamb
6. Ian Botham
7. Jack Russell
10. Gladstone Small
11. Andy Caddick

@ahmedleo414 I think

Never played another test after the 90/91 Ashes - madness. In my playthrough, he was my best seamer by a mile to that point, so it was a real wrench.

 

[Ed Smith]

Never played another test after the 90/91 Ashes - madness. In my playthrough, he was my best seamer by a mile to that point, so it was a real wrench.

Ergh, so I'm currently playing his last series. That's lifting

 

[ahmedleo414]

My pick goes to Alan Mullally

Stats||Matches||Wkts||BBI||BBM|| Ave||Econ||5w/10w
First-Class| |307| |708| |9/93| |?| |27.65| |3.92| |31/4
Test| |19| |58| |5/84| |5/105| |31.24| |2.40| |1/0

A bit of his bio from circinfo:

"With a bounding, rhythmic approach to the wicket and the ability to nip the ball back into the right-hander, Mullally is England's leading left-arm seamer. But he's tidy rather than terrifying, and an up-and-down Test career in which he often sprayed the new ball out of the openers' reach is now second on his CV behind his one-day achievements, where his outstanding economy rate helped him at one stage up to No. 2 in the world. Born in Southend, but bred in Western Australia, Mullally began with WA, had brief spells with Hampshire and Victoria, before moving to Leicestershire. A winter in the gym in 1998-99 gave his bowling extra edge and movement, and he returned to Hampshire (he loves the sea) to team up with Shane Warne in 2000. They took wickets - but no-one else did. Mullally's batting is a joke, although the 16 he made against a fired-up Glenn McGrath in Melbourne in 1998-99 proved decisive - England won by 12 runs. In the last couple of seasons Hampshire's youth policy and a run of injuries have limited Mullally's chances and at the end of the 2005 season he announced his retirement."

1. ?
2. Michael Atherton
3. ?
4. Nasser Hussain
5. Andrew Flintoff
6. John Crawley
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. Allan Mullally

@Yash. with the double picks

 

[blockerdave]

My pick goes to Alan Mullally

Stats||Matches||Wkts||BBI||BBM|| Ave||Econ||5w/10w
First-Class| |307| |708| |9/93| |?| |27.65| |3.92| |31/4
Test| |19| |58| |5/84| |5/105| |31.24| |2.40| |1/0

A bit of his bio from circinfo:

"With a bounding, rhythmic approach to the wicket and the ability to nip the ball back into the right-hander, Mullally is England's leading left-arm seamer. But he's tidy rather than terrifying, and an up-and-down Test career in which he often sprayed the new ball out of the openers' reach is now second on his CV behind his one-day achievements, where his outstanding economy rate helped him at one stage up to No. 2 in the world. Born in Southend, but bred in Western Australia, Mullally began with WA, had brief spells with Hampshire and Victoria, before moving to Leicestershire. A winter in the gym in 1998-99 gave his bowling extra edge and movement, and he returned to Hampshire (he loves the sea) to team up with Shane Warne in 2000. They took wickets - but no-one else did. Mullally's batting is a joke, although the 16 he made against a fired-up Glenn McGrath in Melbourne in 1998-99 proved decisive - England won by 12 runs. In the last couple of seasons Hampshire's youth policy and a run of injuries have limited Mullally's chances and at the end of the 2005 season he announced his retirement."

1. ?
2. Michael Atherton
3. ?
4. Nasser Hussain
5. Andrew Flintoff
6. John Crawley
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. Allan Mullally

@Yash. with the double picks

The biggest problem about Mullally is that “ability to nip the ball back into the right hander” existed only with the white ball. With the red ball he was usually gun barrel straight

 

[Ed Smith]

The biggest problem about Mullally is that “ability to nip the ball back into the right hander” existed only with the white ball. With the red ball he was usually gun barrel straight

Wrong

 

[blockerdave]

Wrong

As I say to my wife when she points out a plot hole in a Disney movie my daughter is watching “I’m not sure it’s a documentary...”

 

[Ed Smith]

As I say to my wife when she points out a plot hole in a Disney movie my daughter is watching “I’m not sure it’s a documentary...”

It's also a left hander he's bowling to... Meh I liked bowling with Al

 

[Aislabie]

We're now just about scraping the barrel of where our selections start being dreadful aren't we. It seems fair to say that Alan Mullally wouldn't have got into many other Test teams at the time

 

[Ed Smith]

We're now just about scraping the barrel of where our selections start being dreadful aren't we. It seems fair to say that Alan Mullally wouldn't have got into many other Test teams at the time

Aye its all down hill from here, particularly with the bowling.

 

[ahmedleo414]

Yeah I think I messed up with picking the batsman up front now I'm left with a few bowling options

 

[blockerdave]

There’s some excellent bowlers unpicked...

 

[Yash.]

Phil Tufnel and Dean Headley[DOUBLEPOST=1609348188][/DOUBLEPOST]@ahmedleo414

 

[ahmedleo414]

My pick goes to Martin Bicknell​

Stats||Matches||Wkts||BBI||BBM|| Ave||Econ||5w/10w
First-Class| |292| |1,061| |9/45| |?| |25.06| |2.87| |44/4
Test| |4| |14| |4/84| |6/155| |38.78| |3.01| |0/0

A bit of his bio from circinfo:

"Aggressive, upright and with the ability to swing the ball both ways, Martin Bicknell is the most underrated opening bowler in England, if only by the selectors. He has a high arm-action, bowls a miserly wicket-to-wicket line, and has been the rock on which Surrey have built their domination of the County Championship in the past few seasons. Bicknell's unstinting efforts at domestic level have, in part, been borne of frustration - his England career has been less a stop-start affair, more a non-stop non-starter. He was chosen for the 1990-91 Ashes tour at 21 - too early - and had to wait until 1993 for his Test debut. He let nobody down, but against a rampant Australian team, he played just two Tests before being consigned to the crowded scrapheap of ex-England cricketers. His opportunities were subsequently limited by Angus Fraser's return to fitness, then by the emergence of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, although he was continually mentioned at Test-selection time without quite getting the recall. Instead, he kept himself busy by developing into a high-class county No. 8 or 9, adept at carting tired bowlers. By his own admission, he had given up on England some three years before he earned a shock recall to the Test squad in 2003, when he was 34. He duly took a wicket with his second ball at Headingley, before bowling England to a famous victory on his home ground at The Oval. He was pensioned off for good after that, and his career had rather fizzled out in injury before he called time at the end of 2006."

1. ?
2. Michael Atherton
3. ?
4. Nasser Hussain
5. Andrew Flintoff
6. John Crawley
7. ?
8. ?
9. Martin Bicknell
10. ?
11. Allan Mullally

@Dale88 has the next pick