A Leftie's draft

[Aoun13]

That italic one is what I really like so I posted it for other who don't know much about him can read it.

 

[shravi]

That italic one is what I really like so I posted it for other who don't know much about him can read it.

Yes, but how is that justifying your choice. There are a lot of random facts in there.

 

[Aoun13]

well all as whole justify why I picked him

 

[sifter132]

Well mate, I LOVE the Bobby Peel pick. I had him ahead of Verity and Bedi on my spinners wishlist. Shame you had to get him really. Saw his stats first and then when I read a bit more about him, I thought he was excellent.

I now have the best pace bowling attack in the draft as well.

Easy big fella - 2 bowlers don't make an attack. Long way to go yet...

BTW, Love the way this draft is moving. Thanks for regularly checking the thread and for making some excellent picks too. Gazza you're up again - double pick. Making the random order for rounds 5 and 6 too, will be up in a sec.

 

[shravi]

Damn, bad luck with round 5 and 6.

 

[Cricketman]

...14 wickets in a match in the subcontinent, after Imran Khan, who coincidentally, is also in my team.

What?

 

[shravi]

What?

Copy pasted the paragraph I wrote in the subcontinental draft. Will edit now .

 

[Cricketman]

Next few picks will really make it or break it for me. All teams are evenly poised at this stage so the coming rounds are absolutely critical.

 

[drainpipe32]

Sigh, not having a pick between 1 and 16 has killed me, no good keepers left! It'll have to be a random now!

Matthew Hayden/Justin Langer

Many will argue that Hayden and Langer are the best opening partnership in test history. Just as many will argue otherwise. However there is no doubt that in all of test cricketing history there has never been a better left handed opening batting combination. In an era where left handed openers became strangely common Hayden and Langer accumulated over 11,000 runs where they opened together, after being thrust into test cricket's second most successful opening pairing during the 2001 Ashes series.

Individually their records also make for stynning viewing. Each played over one hundred tests, with Langer averaging 45 and Hayden 50. Best friends in the Australian dressing room they raked in the records over their careers whilst keeping out several genuine test contenders. Langer is said to have been the only test opener to average in their mid forties yet still be battling for their place. 1481 runs in 2004 was his career high light, retiring victorious in 2007. Hayden equalled Steve Waugh for the second most test centuries scored for Australia before he too retired.

I believe that having them in my side gives me the first advantage over any team, as each innings starts with the openers. 208 games of experience and the constant great starts for Australia further back up my case.

 

[Cricketman]

DAMMIT. That was EXACTLY what I was going to do with my next two picks. Damn you! :

 

[drainpipe32]

DAMMIT. That was EXACTLY what I was going to do with my next two picks. Damn you! :

Sowwie :laugh

And to think I was considering putting this off

 

[Iridium]

Sigh, not having a pick between 1 and 16 has killed me, no good keepers left! It'll have to be a random now!

That's why I started with Gilly. But I suppose having Sobers may outweigh having to include a random keeper.

 

[mattfb]

Bruce Reid

Bruce Reid had a short but effective spell as a left-arm pacer for Australia. Making his debut alongside Merv Hughes, Reid had a lot of natural bounce and could get movement difficult to deal with. 2 10fers and 5 5fers in just 27 tests truly is amazing, as well as 11 4fers. 113 wickets at 24 a piece is a quality record for any bowler. He was particularly good against England in 1990-1991, when he took 13 wickets in Melbourne.

1.
2.
3.
4. Brian Lara (c)
5. Allan Border
6.
7. Jack Russell +
8.
9.
10.
11. Bruce Reid

 

[sifter132]

Good ol Bruce Rude - too bad his back couldn't hack the rigours of international cricket because he was all class.

 

[shravi]

Some of you may question this decision, but I actually think it's a pretty smart move. I have two strike bowlers up front, and to support them, I choose Bill Johnston. He gives my attack great versatility because he can bowl both pace and spin and hence this will be a bowling attack that could be successful around the world.

He was the work-horse of the team who was willing to mold his entire game around the team's best interests. However, he wasn't only about being a team man with umatched team ethic, he was also blessed with unique talent. Originally a spinner, when Johnston heard that Bradman was looking for fast men, he transformed himself into a fast bowler bowler who could swing the ball both ways at pace. He was deadly accurate and could bowl for hours on end. He was a freak of nature if there ever was one. Jack Moroney once said, "Bill Johnston could do things with a cricket ball that were beyond normal human beings." If this wasn't enough praise, Harvey called him "one of the best all-round bowlers in the history of cricket". The biggest praise of all, is that Bradman rated him as "Australia's greatest left-hand bowler". Because of his ability to bowl both as a fast bowler and a spin bowler, Neil Harvey noted that the team effectively had 13 players- "we reckoned Bradman was worth two and Bill Johnston was worth two".

He lived in the shadow of Lindwall, Miller and countless others came before him and followed him, but Johnston was probably more reliable than all of them. The four years he took to surpass 100 Test wickets was a record. On his first tour of England with Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles, he took 102 wickets at 16.8 including 9 for 183 from 84 overs in the first Test at Trent Bridge.

His career was shortened by a car accident from which he could never fully recover, however, his brief test career is very impressive. In 40 tests (75 innings), Bill Johnston took 160 wickets at an average of 23.91 with 8 four-fors and 7 five-fors at a miserly economy rate of 2.07. He was also named by Wisden as one of its Cricketers of the Year in 1949, stating that "no Australian made a greater personal contribution to the playing success of the 1948 side".

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
+ Rodney Marsh
Wasim Akram
Chaminda Vaas
Bill Johnston
11.