Draft: Best to Never Play ODIs

Possibly I am up for another team completely different from others with lack of some real quality players. Although I have an advantage since I am targeting mostly domestic players from India who just played recently most of my picks, won't be taken by anyone else. :p
 
:ar: Mike Proctor
tumblr_ngl54niVe61sdffexo1_640.gifv
 
Well, my first two (obvious) choices are gone so it's time for:

image-asset.jpeg


:eng: :ar: Gilbert Jessop

By most estimates, Gilbert Jessop is the fastest scorer in first-class cricket history. He's not the player who my team will necessarily depend on to score hundreds, but as a lower-middle order hitter there's no-one better available in this entire draft. He also used to be a fearsomely fast bowler, though there's every chance he'll not get used much if I get something close to the team I'm planning.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. :eng: :ar: Gilbert Jessop
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

@ahmedleo414
 
Hmm...


110041.2.jpg


If ever there was a player during the 1960s and 1970s who was meant to dominate the one-day game apart from Garry Sobers, it was Graeme Pollock - undoubtedly one of the best batters in the world and certanly the best left-handed batter of the time (and also perhaps all-time). But sadly, he was never afforded the opportunity to appear in a single ODI due to South Africa's justifiable suspension from international cricket 1971 onwards due to their government's Apartheid policies. He averaged well above 50 in first-class cricket, 60 in Test cricket, but was nothing short of a monster during his List-A career between 1969/70 and 1986/87 aggregating a stunning 4656 runs at an average of 50.06 with 12 centuries. This at a time when most of the batters in the top echelons of the ODI game with the possible exception of Viv Richards and Zaheer Abbas barely touched the 40-average mark, and at a far slower scoring pace than at which Pollock generally scored his runs. Whilst Glenn Turner was out there gaining applause for scoring 171 against the might of East Africa, this man was doing something 30-40 years ahead of his time by scoring List-A double centuries - he scored a humongous 222* in South Africa's then very strong domestic tournament, and helped his team maintain a run rate of 6.2 runs per over throughout his innings which was something undreamt of at the time. Needless to say, ODI and world cricket in general missed out big time.


images


You can't have one without the other so my next pick shall be Barry Richards, a man who shared some of the finest moments of his all too brief but still legendary Test career with that man Pollock at the other end. Of his 7 Test knocks, 3 came at a strike rate of above 70 including a brutal 164-ball 140 against a strong bowling attack consisting of Garth McKenzie, Alan Connolly and John Gleeson - then considered to be the strongest in the world until hidings from the bats and Richards and Pollock all but ruined their Test careers. He is also recorded to having scored 325 runs in a single day's play against Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield in 1970/71 against the likes of Dennis Lillee, McKenzie yet again and Tony Lock. To prove these were no flukes, he dominated the batting averages in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket as well, scoring 554 runs at 79.14 against the best fast bowlers in the world in their prime such as Lillee, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner etc. His best performance came in a match against WSC Australia where he smashed 207 off just 234 balls at a strike rate of 88, completely overshadowing the two greatest ball strikers of the era in his namesake Viv Richards (177 off 222) and Gordon Greenidge (140 off 241) - arguably the only man to ever reduce them to sideshows in a cricket match. All being said, a List-A average of 40.12 after 233 List-A matches is still excellent for the time period but one still reckons he had the talent to do way better if he hadn't been such an enigma with the bat, always preferring to put on a show rather than pile on massive scores in the manner of a Rohit Sharma.



VC's XI

1. :saf: :bat: Barry Richards
2.
3.
4. :saf: :bat: Graeme Pollock
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.


@ahmedleo414 Over to you again
 
1639335594704.png

:eng: :ar: Wally Hammond

England's Wally Hammond was one of the most destructive batters of his age, and one of the very best Test batters of any age. Although he usually batted at number three or four, he did open the innings on occasion, and I think that in the one-day game that is the role for which his game would have been best-suited. A clean boundary hitter with a free swing of the bat that was ahead of its time (there is some wonderful Pathé footage of him absolutely demolishing bowlers in the nets), he could absolutely have been the Rohit Sharma of his age in the one-day game, if only one-day cricket had existed at the time. But it did not exist at that time, so instead he had to be content with being the Wally Hammond of his age in Test cricket. He's my first opener. He also bowled a bit, but eh... also unlikely to be used.

1.
2. :eng: :bat: Wally Hammond
3.
4.
5.
6. :eng: :ar: Gilbert Jessop
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

@Parth D
 
View attachment 259334

:eng: :ar: Wally Hammond

England's Wally Hammond was one of the most destructive batters of his age, and one of the very best Test batters of any age. Although he usually batted at number three or four, he did open the innings on occasion, and I think that in the one-day game that is the role for which his game would have been best-suited. A clean boundary hitter with a free swing of the bat that was ahead of its time (there is some wonderful Pathé footage of him absolutely demolishing bowlers in the nets), he could absolutely have been the Rohit Sharma of his age in the one-day game, if only one-day cricket had existed at the time. But it did not exist at that time, so instead he had to be content with being the Wally Hammond of his age in Test cricket. He's my first opener. He also bowled a bit, but eh... also unlikely to be used.

1.
2. :eng: :bat: Wally Hammond
3.
4.
5.
6. :eng: :ar: Gilbert Jessop
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

@Parth D


You failed to mention the bit about him once smacking 10 sixes in a Test innings.. Not easy to do for most batters even today. Great pick!
 
That league of mine was run on basically the same theme with just a few exceptions where we allowed one or two players per squad who played barely a handful of ODIs such as Clive Rice, Sobers, Jaffer etc..
Oh absolutely. Was just pissed that the three players I was considering for pick two - Jessop, Barnes and Pollock - went in one night.
 
My next pick is the Victoria-born Australian Cricketer Michael Klinger.

Klinger was the Captain of Australia U19 in the 1998 U19 WC. He became the 2nd highest run-scorer for Australia in that tournament scoring 229 runs averaging 57.25 with 3 half centuries to his name.

He did not have a great start to his List-A career with Victoria. In one of the Shield games he was left stranded on 99 when his Captain Paul Reifel declared the innings. He was very upset with it and it affected his game. In 2006-07 he was back in the contention and made his 1st century in first class. He then followed it up with his 1st List-A century.

Klinger moved to the South Australian Redbacks in 2008-09. A move that changed his career drastically. He was asked to play at no.3 and eventually open for them. His consistency improved as he became a dependable batsman across formats for the years to come by. He notched up his career best score of 140 for the South Australian Redbacks in 2013. He scored his highest List-A score in 2016 playing for Gloucestershire against Hampshire.

Despite his List-A average of 49.33 after scoring 7449 runs with 18 centuries & 44 half centuries he never got to play for Australia in ODIs being consistently ignored for the likes of Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, David Warner, etc. His average of 49.33 is the 20th highest while the 2nd highest amongst Australian players.

Nilay's XI

1. Michael Klinger
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Aditya Tare :wkb: :c:
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

@ddrap14
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Top