Aussie_Ben91's Modern-Day Fantasy Test Draft

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Pick: Wasim Akram
Explanation: Blisteringly fast and with complete mastery of swing and seam, Akram could take wickets on any surface and do it as cheaply and yet more quickly than the other legendary pace bowlers of the modern era (opening for Pakistan during the 1990s, he took 287 wickets at 21.46 with a phenomenal strike rate of 48.9).

Akram will be my #1 strike bowler, taking 2 - 3 quick wickets at the start of an innings and setting opposing teams up for a potential rout. As an added bonus, his 22.46 with the willow gives me added batting depth and makes up for the lack of a Gilchrist at #7.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Wasim Akram
9. Shane Warne (c)
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11.

mrtwisties added 11 Minutes and 24 Seconds later...

Three absolute legends of the game in my bowling lineup, I'm pretty happy with that. Against an ordinary team my attack would have average innings figures of 9/180. It'd almost be tempting to rely on a dibbly-dobbly part-timer to take that last wicket if I didn't need another genuine pacer in there to open the attack. Kallis would've been perfect - averages 24 when opening. Oh well.
 
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very good bowling lineup mrtwisties...3 bowling legends in your lineup.
 
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Allan Donald - Very underrated fast bowler and probably the best of the fast bowlers that remain in this draft. Referred to as 'White Lightning' in his prime. A example of his extreme pace was when Matthew Hayden mentioned in his retirement press conference that he never faced a faster ball then the one that was bowled by Allan Donald, just three balls into his Test Cricket, in 1994. This coming from a guy who faced both Shoaib Akhtar & Brett Lee in their prime.

1.
2. Matthew Hayden
3.
4. Jacques Kallis
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Allan Donald

aussie_ben91 added 10 Minutes and 37 Seconds later...

Code: 
01.01 : King Pietersen		Sachin Tendulkar
01.02 : Manee			Glenn McGrath
01.03 : Dare			Brian Lara
01.04 : Mrtwisties		Shane Warne
01.05 : Aussie_Ben91		Matthew Hayden

02.01 : Aussie_Ben91		Jacques Kallis
02.02 : King Pietersen		Kumar Sangakkara
02.03 : Manee			Adam Gilchrist
02.04 : Dare			Curtly Ambrose
02.05 : Mrtwisties		Muttiah Muralitharan

03.01 : Mrtwisties		Wasim Akram
03.02 : Aussie_Ben91		Allan Donald
03.03 : King Pietersen
03.04 : Manee
03.05 : Dare

04.01 : Dare		
04.02 : Mrtwisties
04.03 : Aussie_Ben91
04.04 : King Pietersen
04.05 : Manee
King Pietersen, you are up.
 
Good pick, sensational player. His stats flatter him just a little (he burst onto the international stage after apartheid and was very much at the height of his powers), but he would have been my next pick if he was still available: an express right-armed complement to Akram and (in my opinion) the equal or better of any of the pace bowlers picked thus far.

I wasn't expecting to get Donald, though, since we'll no doubt be seeing a lot of quicks picked this round. There aren't that many greats left before you start dragging out the Players Who Had/Have Potential.
 
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Pick: Shaun Pollock
Explanation: 421 Test wickets at an average of 23.11 pretty much speak for themselves. Add to that a Test average of 32 with a couple of hundreds and over 3500 runs and you've got one heck of a player.

1.
2.
3.
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5.
6. Kumar Sangakkara +
7.
8. Shaun Pollock
9.
10.
11.
 
Pick: Ricky Ponting
Explanation: Ponting has become the most consistent run scorer of the modern generation by converting starts into centuries and pressing toward Sachin Tendulkar's record number of centuries. Australia have produced some great batsmen throughout the duration of Ponting's Test career and yet, he stands alone in terms of consistency and sheer weight of runs.

1.
2.
3. Ricky Ponting
4.
5.
6.
7. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
8.
9.
10.
11. Glenn Mcgrath
 
Code: 
01.01 : King Pietersen		Sachin Tendulkar
01.02 : Manee			Glenn McGrath
01.03 : Dare			Brian Lara
01.04 : Mrtwisties		Shane Warne
01.05 : Aussie_Ben91		Matthew Hayden

02.01 : Aussie_Ben91		Jacques Kallis
02.02 : King Pietersen		Kumar Sangakkara
02.03 : Manee			Adam Gilchrist
02.04 : Dare			Curtly Ambrose
02.05 : Mrtwisties		Muttiah Muralitharan

03.01 : Mrtwisties		Wasim Akram
03.02 : Aussie_Ben91		Allan Donald
03.03 : King Pietersen		Shaun Pollock
03.04 : Manee			Ricky Ponting
03.05 : Dare

04.01 : Dare		
04.02 : Mrtwisties
04.03 : Aussie_Ben91
04.04 : King Pietersen
04.05 : Manee
Dare, you are up next. You have two selections to make.
 
Pick: Greame Smith
Explanation: With the best test opener that was available in this draft already gone I decided to take the 2nd best in my opinion. A solid batsman at the top of my batting lineup will help my team get of to a great start.


1. Greame Smith
2.
3.
4. Brian Lara
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Curtly Ambrose
11.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pick: Courtney Walsh
Explanation: There might be better test bowlers still available but nobody worked better with Ambrose. Over 500 test wickets in his long career, 421 wickets in 49 tests that Ambrose and Walsh played together. And there is nobody I would rather take to the subcontinent, maybe Malcolm Marshall but Walsh has a great record in the subcontinent.

1. Greame Smith
2.
3.
4. Brian Lara
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Curtly Ambrose
11. Courtney Walsh
 
Last edited:
Code: 
01.01 : King Pietersen		Sachin Tendulkar
01.02 : Manee			Glenn McGrath
01.03 : Dare			Brian Lara
01.04 : Mrtwisties		Shane Warne
01.05 : Aussie_Ben91		Matthew Hayden

02.01 : Aussie_Ben91		Jacques Kallis
02.02 : King Pietersen		Kumar Sangakkara
02.03 : Manee			Adam Gilchrist
02.04 : Dare			Curtly Ambrose
02.05 : Mrtwisties		Muttiah Muralitharan

03.01 : Mrtwisties		Wasim Akram
03.02 : Aussie_Ben91		Allan Donald
03.03 : King Pietersen		Shaun Pollock
03.04 : Manee			Ricky Ponting
03.05 : Dare			Graeme Smith

04.01 : Dare			Courtney Walsh
04.02 : Mrtwisties
04.03 : Aussie_Ben91
04.04 : King Pietersen
04.05 : Manee
Mrtwisties, you are up.
 
Ben and mr.twisties (very daring to go with three bowlers in three picks) have got the best looking lineups for mine. Manee's is pretty good as well though as much as I love Gilly, he wouldn't be in my top picks unless we're considering limited overs as well.

Great idea for a thread, I'm certainly enjoying it.
 
Murali and Akram were sheer opportunism on my part. It's time to get back on target and pick a specialist number 3.

This is the most crucial, difficult slot in the batting lineup. Crucial because it plays many roles in your innings (esp. backup for your openers and extended depth in the middle order), difficult because these roles demand talents that aren't usually seen together. With a first rate number 3 your middle order is guaranteed protection from the new ball, your openers are free to play more aggressively and you set up an old ball run-scoring engine that starts at #3 and extends all the way down to 6 or 7.

Only three modern batsmen have been able to average 60+ in this challenging position over a significant period of time - Lara, Ponting and Dravid. Once those three are gone, the alternatives mostly average in their 40s. It's time to snap up the last of the good ones.

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Pick: Rahul Dravid
Explanation: An underrated giant of the game and the only batsman with 10,000+ runs who hasn't been picked already. Perhaps because he's not as talented as Lara or Ponting, Dravid has become the most flexible, technique-oriented batsman in the game - perhaps the reason for his remarkable record away from home. An ideal number three, he can wear out bowlers (and the ball) with "The Wall", build an innings total or score free-flowing runs (eg 50* off 22 balls) as the match situation demands.

He also comes with match-winning bonus capabilities. One of them is his capacity to occupy the crease and form the backbone of multiple partnerships, protecting you from the batting collapses that have so afflicted Australia in recent years. The other is his incredible fielding, where he now holds the record for most Test catches (183).

With Rahul Dravid, I have the foundations of a batting lineup that contains potential centurions all the way down to #9. Combine that with "The Wall", and any team that relies purely on pace bowlers is going to find they all get exhausted long before my innings is over.

1.
2.
3. Rahul Dravid
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Wasim Akram
9. Shane Warne (c)
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11.
 
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Steve Waugh - The man, the myth, the legend. My captain. Curtly Ambrose certainly found out who the **** he is at Triandad 1995. A man of great character and a guy who you want coming in at number 5, whatever the situation. I may not have a Tendulkar, Ponting or Lara in my lineup, but I've got arguably the next 3 best batsman of the last 20 years and all 3 of them have scored over 30 Test hundreds.

1.
2. Matthew Hayden
3.
4. Jacques Kallis
5. Steve Waugh (c)
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Allan Donald

aussie_ben91 added 15 Minutes and 15 Seconds later...

Code: 
01.01 : King Pietersen		Sachin Tendulkar
01.02 : Manee			Glenn McGrath
01.03 : Dare			Brian Lara
01.04 : Mrtwisties		Shane Warne
01.05 : Aussie_Ben91		Matthew Hayden

02.01 : Aussie_Ben91		Jacques Kallis
02.02 : King Pietersen		Kumar Sangakkara
02.03 : Manee			Adam Gilchrist
02.04 : Dare			Curtly Ambrose
02.05 : Mrtwisties		Muttiah Muralitharan

03.01 : Mrtwisties		Wasim Akram
03.02 : Aussie_Ben91		Allan Donald
03.03 : King Pietersen		Shaun Pollock
03.04 : Manee			Ricky Ponting
03.05 : Dare			Graeme Smith

04.01 : Dare			Courtney Walsh
04.02 : Mrtwisties		Rahul Dravid
04.03 : Aussie_Ben91		Steve Waugh
04.04 : King Pietersen
04.05 : Manee

05.01 : Manee
05.02 : Dare
05.03 : Mrtwisties
05.04 : Aussie_Ben91
05.05 : King Pietersen
King Pietersen, are you up next.
 
Pick: Waqar Younis
Explanation: One of the first men to truely introduce Reverse Swing to the masses, he was a superb fast bowler and one with a fantastic record. In the time period for this draft Waqar took 367 Test wickets at an average of 23.29 with 22 5 wicket hauls, only behind Glenn McGrath in terms of 5fer's from quicks in the time period. A class act.

1.
2.
3.
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5.
6. Kumar Sangakkara +
7.
8. Shaun Pollock
9.
10. Waqar Younis
11.
 
Code: 
01.01 : King Pietersen		Sachin Tendulkar
01.02 : Manee			Glenn McGrath
01.03 : Dare			Brian Lara
01.04 : Mrtwisties		Shane Warne
01.05 : Aussie_Ben91		Matthew Hayden

02.01 : Aussie_Ben91		Jacques Kallis
02.02 : King Pietersen		Kumar Sangakkara
02.03 : Manee			Adam Gilchrist
02.04 : Dare			Curtly Ambrose
02.05 : Mrtwisties		Muttiah Muralitharan

03.01 : Mrtwisties		Wasim Akram
03.02 : Aussie_Ben91		Allan Donald
03.03 : King Pietersen		Shaun Pollock
03.04 : Manee			Ricky Ponting
03.05 : Dare			Graeme Smith

04.01 : Dare			Courtney Walsh
04.02 : Mrtwisties		Rahul Dravid
04.03 : Aussie_Ben91		Steve Waugh
04.04 : King Pietersen		Waqar Younis
04.05 : Manee

05.01 : Manee
05.02 : Dare
05.03 : Mrtwisties
05.04 : Aussie_Ben91
05.05 : King Pietersen
Manee, you have the next two selections.
 
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