A Leftie's draft

[Cricketman]

Bill Whitty

Whitty's 6 foot frame allowed him to swing the ball considerably, and his left arm, unorthodox angle proved to be very troublesome for batsman world over. Whitty was quick too, his pace along with his swing bagged him 65 wickets in just 14 test matches. He had a phenomenal bowling average of just 21.12, and a strike rate of 51.6 made him a regular wicket taker for team Australia.

He was known as Australia's greatest bowler in the pre war era. Whitty will make a fine partnership with Zaheer Khan with the new ball in my team.

1.
2.
3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Michael Hussey
6.
7.
8.
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Bill Whitty
11. BS Bedi

 

[shravi]

Frank Wooley was one of the greatest all rounders of all time. In thirty year career, he scored more first-class runs than anyone but Sir Jack Hobbs and took over 2,000 wickets at an average of under 20. He is the only non-wicket-keeper to have held more than 1,000 catches. No one else scored 2000 runs and took 100 wickets in a season more often, a feat he performed in 1914 and 1921-23. Only W.G. Grace scored a century and took ten wickets in a match more often. He was also known for his incredible consistency- he averaged 40.75 in first-class cricket and scored one thousand runs in a season 28 times, a record equaled only by W.G. Grace. He was a masterful batsman, particularly known for his driving, cutting, and turning the ball off his legs. He was also a very intelligent bowler, using his height to his advantage while also swinging the ball with relative ease. However, he was also a slow left arm orthodox bowler, which gives my attack further versatility than it already has with Bill Johnston.

Graeme Smith
2.
3.
4.
5.
Frank Wooley
+ Rodney Marsh
Wasim Akram
Chaminda Vaas
Bill Johnston
11.

 

[sifter132]

Bill Whitty

He was known as Australia's greatest bowler in the pre war era.

Might be a slight stretch of the truth I think most fans will have never heard of him unlike say Fred 'Demon' Spofforth. Whitty's got a good record though, it's just he couldn't hold his spot in the Test side - kind of a 1900s Ryan Sidebottom I had Whitty on my reserve list, and it's kinda getting to that stage already...

 

[Cricketman]

I'm just glad i got that second seamer out of the way. Now I can focus on some of the better picks I have in the kitty.

 

[drainpipe32]

Tony Lock

After Underwood Lock is the second most productive left handed spinner in terms of wickets. Averaged less than Underwood too. Infamously he was the one to take the 20th wicket during Laker's 19 haul against the Aussies at the Oval, 1956. Only played the 49 tests but took 179 wickets at an ER of under 2. As he did with Laker I expect Lock to combine well with Verity, both providing a handful for batsmen and setting up the lightning quick Voce.

1. Matthew Hayden
2. Justin Langer
3. Gary Sobers
4.
5. Simon Katich
6.
7.
8. Hedley Verity
9. Bill Voce
10. Tony Lock
11.

 

[sifter132]

^Glad you picked Lock, now I know exactly who I'm gonna pick.

I'm just glad i got that second seamer out of the way. Now I can focus on some of the better picks I have in the kitty.

Yep it's a relief I can tell ya

 

[Chewie]

Tony Lock


After Underwood Lock is the second most productive left handed spinner in terms of wickets. Averaged less than Underwood too.

Doesn't Vettori have the most wickets :sarcasm

 

[Iridium]

Doesn't Vettori have the most wickets :sarcasm

You could be right.

Underwood - 297 wickets
Lock - 174 wickets
Vettori - 325 wickets

He must have seen it wrong.

 

[drainpipe32]

Sorry, maybe I should have added 'Out of good players'.

 

[mattfb]

Grab a napkin homie, you just got served.

 

[drainpipe32]

Gotta love a bunch of defensive Kiwis aye?

 

[Cricketman]

Tony Lock

Man, umps were so intense back then!

 

[Iridium]

Gotta love a bunch of defensive Kiwis aye?

Haha. Nope just being correct. :laugh

 

[Dare]

Saeed Anwar

Easily the best opener to ever come out of Pakistan Saeed Anwar was always recognized as a great ODI batsman which took the spotlight from his solid performances in test cricket. He averaged 50 when he came in at #1 and scored all of his 11 centuries at that position and all but one of his 25 fifties. Anwar did really well against Australia who were the best team during his time, he averaged 59 against them and scored 3 centuries and 5 fifites. With Kirsten and Anwar I get a solid opening pair.

1. Saeed Anwar
2. Gary Kirsten
3.
4.
5.
6. Clive Lloyd*
7. Ridley Jacobs
8. Bobby Peel
9. Derek Underwood
10.
11. Richard Collinge

 

[sifter132]

^Nice one, he was one of the openers I wanted to have. And as you said his record against Australia is excellent. When I was researching for a post a while back I found he's one of the few players to average over 50 when both Warne and McGrath were present - there's only 5: Pietersen, Sehwag, Saleem Malik, Lara and Saeed Anwar.


Johnny Wardle

Once Gazza picked Lock, I was locked in for Wardle. Wardle and Lock spent most of the 50s fighting for the 2nd spinner spot in the England team opposite Jim Laker. Lock ended up playing more often for England, but Wardle ended up with better figures. In fact Wardle has the best average of any post war spinner, 20.39 for his 102 wickets (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine...4;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling). The thing I like about Wardle is that while he started as a conventional left arm orthodox bowler he developed wrist spinners (chinamans) and often used them when overseas to make him more versatile on the harder pitches. And it worked too, his average away from home is slightly less than when he bowled in England.

1
2
3 Neil Harvey
4 David Gower
5 Andy Flower (wk)
6 Graham Thorpe
7
8 Alan Davidson
9 Mitchell Johnson
10 Johnny Wardle
11