What, already?! Ah, damn.
Give me a little more time, I'll officially pick tonight.
I like my strike bowlers being referred to as my "merry band of associates" from
@Bevab. But he makes an excellent point. In today's game a bowler must have at least one or two variations in order to even be considered for selection. Back as soon as the late 90s to maybe even the early 00's, any bowler having a cutter or a slower ball was considered a major asset to a limited overs team. Not so these days. Now it's more of "what makes YOUR slower ball so special?" Guys like Dwayne Bravo, who had more than one slower variation, were seen as something of a revelation. Bravo also had an effort ball early on in his career, that could get up to a good 10kmph faster than his usual pace, which would surprise a lot of batsmen.
That being said, a bowler has 6 legal deliveries per over and he can be absolutely wrong off of all 6. A batsman has to be wrong only once and he'll find himself walking back to the pavilion.
@Akshay. I knew someone would have picked Nabi sooner or later. What surprised me was that he was picked this late on. Nabi is a top-class spinner with more than adequate batting ability. My reason for picking Mujeeb over him was the wicket breakdowns and seeing that Mujeeb attacked the stumps more and as a preference, I like to see that.
@ahmedleo414 picked Dan Vettori, who was on my shortlist of spinners too, but at the time I wasn't sure how the rest of my team was going to turn out and I wanted to keep a couple other NZ picks in mind for higher up the order.
So I'll edit this post a bit later to be the first one to complete my team and give my comments on my own selection.
EDIT: Okay, so first of all, a question that's on people's minds as to why I (mostly) post my reasons for edits. I understand that it can be annoying at times. In a completely different message board, there was a member that would change opinions in their original post based on replies given. Arguments happened because that member edited their posts, insisting that, "look at the original post, I never said as such" and so on. A moderator suggested that we should allow the "edited at" tag to be amended to posts. That only caused more drama. Eventually I, as invited admin, suggested that anytime someone edits they put in their post the reason why. That particular message board is long dead, but in fairness to everyone, I do think that people should know why I edited my posts. I'm sort of used to it, I don't expect everyone to accept it, but I do actually do a lot of edits.
Right.
So, I'm the first to complete my team. Even though I knew this from the start, it's still sort of now dawning on me. I can't make changes now. I need to make this choice.
Pakistan has had quite a history of debuting players in their teens. Which makes this guy's debut in his late 20s an interesting case. Some inter-department games early on. This guy was told by his coach in these middle-level cricket games that he has potential. But when you're in the Navy, all you want to do is be a naval officer, no matter how much you enjoy cricket.
It was a difficult decision for him to leave the Pakistan Navy and enter into the world of professional cricket. You'd never think so. The fastest to 1000 ODI runs, after just 18 innings and a year and a little. Average of 46, strike rate of 95.
Yet, I'd never want to teach any aspiring cricketer his technique. A high backlift as the bowler runs in. Reminds one of Lara. Except Lara would still be winding up as he danced down the pitch. I've not seen this guy move his feet much. I should clarify that...I've not seen this guy move his feet at all. He relies on pure timing to get the ball away. And has been effective. Look at those stats. Outside the off stump, he hits it through point or the covers. On the body, it goes behind square on the leg side. Short, he'll hit you over the onside.
You'd think that a batsman who doesn't move his legs at all would be a prime candidate for bowled or LBW. What baffles me is that he hasn't much. 8 of his 46 innings are bowled or LBW.
To complete my team, I'm picking
Fakhar Zaman.
1.
Fakhar Zahman - Attacking opener
2.
Calum MacLeod - Facilitating opener/Attacker if 1 down
3.
Tom Cooper - Accumulator/Hit out or get out
4.
Carl Hooper (c) - Anchor/Second spinner
5.
Angelo Mathews - Second accumulator/Hit out or get out/Bowler if needed
6.
Kevin O'Brien - Hit out or get out/Bowler
7.
Tatenda Taibu - Wicketkeeper/Tail-ender minder
8.
Lance Klusener - Finisher/Bowler
9.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman - Bowler
10.
Mustafizur Rahman - Bowler
11.
Ali Khan -Bowler
Total points used - 24
Thoughts on my team:
- I'll get a hell of a lot of flak for picking a pure keeper in an ODI team. But as one of the best ever pure wicketkeepers and probably the first to transition into a wicketkeeper-batsman, Jeff Dujon once said (oh gosh, I'm still trying to find the YouTube link so I really am paraphrasing here) "When you had Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Gomes, Lloyd, and probably Richardson coming before me, there wasn't really much I could add in terms of batting." I don't subscribe to the WKB theory in any form of cricket. Dhoni and Sangakarra are outliers. I still believe that even in ODI cricket there is a role for pure keepers. That being said, Taibu's career ended at the age of 29. I think if you gave him 3 more years at the international level, you'd have seen his average rise considerably.
- My strike bowlers are in their career infancy, so to speak. I wanted it that way. They will be hungry. They will attack. A few bad overs here and there can be covered by economical overs from my more experienced part-timers. Getting Ali Khan was something of a coup on my part, I think he could still be one of the bowlers most talked about once these lockdowns are over. Mustafizur has proven himself against all types of opposition, and Mujeeb has played a lot of matches against full members.
- I love my middle order. Carl Hooper adds stability, which, if he and Matthews bat together until about 35 overs, it allows Matthews to start hitting out. Then O'Brien is in with a license to hit. Then Klusener. If Hooper gets out, Taibu to bat with any of the three finishers.
- A weak point is my tail, which I referred to as my 9, 10, Jack. None of them can bat. Get this team 7 down and you're in with a chance to quickly get the rest out.
-
@Aislabie had an excellent post where he said in any ODI team you need 11 players to have 15 roles. I do believe that I've covered those 15 roles in my team, but there is a slight overbalance that makes it potentially iffy.
So...I'm the first to finish my team.
@Akshay. to complete his team next. I'm happy with my squad, not where I expected at the start of this draft, but I did get in a few of my first choice picks in and I think it's a modern competitive side.
(EDITx2: Just made the final team selection pretty and listed their roles. If Aislabie can tell me how he does that table thingy that he has, much appreciated.
52.91%
