Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
The absolute lowest front elbow I've ever seen on a batsman. Incredible4.
Draft: 90s England Draft - It's Richard Blakey time
- Thread starter Aislabie
- Start date
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
Richard Illingworth90s Tests - 19 wickets @ 32.36 (best 4/96) in 9 matches
Test career - 19 wickets @ 32.36 (best 4/96) in 9 matches
First-class career - 831 wickets @ 31.54 (27 5WI, best 7/50) in 376 matches
Weirdly, I really wanted to pick Ian Salisbury as a luxury spinner. But I can't - so I'm going with Richard Illingworth. Just a nice, reliable stock spinner to complete my bowling attack. From what I can make out of Richard Illingworth's playing career, I'm genuinely quite baffled that he didn't even rack up ten Test matches. He wasn't ever really a player who was going to demolish a Test batting order on any but the most helpful of spinning pitches, but he would be the ideal foil to a pretty strong four-man seam attack.
@Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
Nick Knight2.
Mike Gatting3.
Mark Ramprakash4.
Graeme Hick5.
David Gower6.
7.
Chris Lewis8.
Phillip DeFreitas9.
Richard Illingworth10.
Angus Fraser11.
Devon Malcolm@blockerdave
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
View attachment 241550
90s Tests - 19 wickets @ 32.36 (best 4/96) in 9 matches
Test career - 19 wickets @ 32.36 (best 4/96) in 9 matches
First-class career - 831 wickets @ 31.54 (27 5WI, best 7/50) in 376 matches
Weirdly, I really wanted to pick Ian Salisbury as a luxury spinner. But I can't - so I'm going with Richard Illingworth. Just a nice, reliable stock spinner to complete my bowling attack. From what I can make out of Richard Illingworth's playing career, I'm genuinely quite baffled that he didn't even rack up ten Test matches. He wasn't ever really a player who was going to demolish a Test batting order on any but the most helpful of spinning pitches, but he would be the ideal foil to a pretty strong four-man seam attack.
@Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
@blockerdave
I always thought it was worth picking Illingworth so we could send in Gooch twice and hope they wouldn’t notice under the helmet...
Ed Smith
Gaffer
I can't wait to see you sum up my team btw
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
It's seriously wild
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
OK I mean yeah, 2,794 first class runs at 25.87 in 75 matches, with only 3 centuries, and 126 wickets at 33.45 with a single 5-fer don’t scream quality.
But 8 years before Kevin Pietersen showed England that you could whack McGrath and Warne, Ben Hollioake had already done it, with less power for sure but certainly more elegance. Down the track to McGrath? You got it. Slog sweep Warne for 6 over mid-wicket? You got it. Whip through the leg-side Viv Richards would be happy with? You got it. And that straight drive that got him off the mark - I could watch that all day.
You can’t tell me someone who did that at 19 wasn’t gonna crack it?
I don’t even like One Day Cricket* but that summer Ben Hollioake played 2 Limited overs inns I’ve never forgotten (this and his 98 in the B&H final).
I can’t believe he wouldn’t have come good. As a bowler he wasn’t in Flintoff’s class but he could have been a far superior batsman. There’s an alternative reality where he and Flintoff were in the same England side, giving us freedom to pick Read or Foster and we were the best team in the world.
And that’s why Ben Hollioake is batting 6 in my side. He won’t bowl much.
@Yash. Is up to pick next.
*for real, I couldn’t give a damn that England won the World Cup in 2019: I’ve just no interest in the format. It’s as if they won it in tiddlywinks or speed crochet as far as I’m concerned.
Last edited:
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
Something like this?
1.
Andrew Strauss2.
Marcus Trescothick3.
Michael Vaughan 4.
Graham Thorpe5.
Kevin Pietersen6.
Ben Hollioake7.
Andrew Flintoff8.
Chris Read9.
Graeme Swann10.
Simon Jones11.
Matthew Hoggard
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
Something like this?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
If it’s gonna be my dream XI the 60+ average Vaughan stays opening but yeah that’s pretty close!
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
In that case you'll probably be needing a non-Vaughan captain. Trescothick would be the obvious choice, but with his depression and anxiety concerns I don't particularly think the extra stress of captaincy would have been fair or sustainable. Strauss would have been quite premature in that side, but he's the obvious leader out of that group. Either him or Hoggy
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
I really dislike Strauss, is the problem.[DOUBLEPOST=1609620370][/DOUBLEPOST]Mark Butcher to bat 3 and captain.
Ed Smith
Gaffer
Why don't you like Strauss?
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
I can hazard a guess that there's not another person on this forum, and possibly in the world, whose dream XI contains Mark Butcher in any capacity - let alone as captain
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
The Mark Butcher that came back into the team from 2000-ish until he got injured and went out of the side in 2004 was an absolute top-class player. 3rd top scorer in that period for England (behind Tres and Vaughan) at over 40.[DOUBLEPOST=1609622945][/DOUBLEPOST]
Just a boring, empty, corporate blazer.
Ed Smith
Gaffer
Wrong
Ah so not the player then, just the boredom he's been involved in since.
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
Wrong
Ah so not the player then, just the boredom he's been involved in since.
Well it was quite evident as a captain already... though I’ll acknowledge he was a decent player!
