Streak, Lee and Bond have the potential to demolish batting lineups. That's not even factoring in Kallis. Hell, in your team Kallis might not even have a chance to bowl, what with Nabi and Razzak doing the job in tandem during the middle to late overs.
Bagai chirps a bit much though. Never anything bad, it's always in reference to the way a batsman is playing, but he's definitely a talker.
I would like to see Morgan to bat at 4 in your squad. Both a higher average and strike rate at 4. I think he's batting just a bit too low.
It would be criminal to not include one of the greatest ODI bowlers of all-time and a strong contender to be in the all-time great ODI XI. He is another player who is unfortunately considered to be below the echelon of the most elite bowlers due to playing for four years past his peak and for a team in decline. With the selection of Curtly Ambrose, my playing XI is finalised.
Will post my thoughts on the team later along with more detail about Ambrose himself.
Stats|Matches|Wkts|BBM| Ave|Econ|5w/10w List-A
|458|684|6/15|21.84|3.92|11/0 ODI
|164|272|6/23|21.78|4.15|2/0
Here is his bio from cricinfo:
"If the credit for South Africa's success in the modern era could be given to one player, that cricketer would be Allan Donald. A classical action and top-drawer pace would have won him a place in any side in his prime, and for much of his career he was the only world-class performer in the South African team, spearing the ball in, shaping it away and always making things happen. His strike rate was below 50 in Tests and close to 30 in one-day internationals. Inevitably, he was over-bowled and the injuries began to accumulate in the twilight of his career. He quit Test cricket after breaking down in the crushing defeat by Australia at Johannesburg in 2001-02, retired from ODIs a year later, after South Africa's exit from the 2003 World Cup, and from all cricket a year later as his physical deterioration accelerated. Of Afrikaans stock, Donald speaks English with a slight Birmingham accent - at least, to South African ears - picked up during his lengthy spell as Warwickshire's overseas professional, a role he filled with distinction. No living South African player, past or present, commands as much respect from the public and his peers as Donald, the first bowler from his country to take 300 Test wickets. He transferred his huge knowledge of quick bowling to the commentary box and coaching and took up the role of bowling coach with England in 2007. However, when it was offered full time he turned it down, wanting to spend more time with his family, and instead took up a role with Warwickshire where he had enjoyed years of success as an overseas player in 1990s."
And that concludes my team, this was probably my favourite draft in a while. I love my team, The only weak point possible being Khurram Khan and Richie Berrington, in the middle of the batting line-up, however, that is only due to them not having as much experience as the rest of the team.
If I had been planning a bit, maybe I could've picked another left-arm pace bowler, but even without one I feel like my bowling attack can withstand any batting line-up.
Glenn and Donald to open the attack with Razzaq and Cummins to support in the middle order. Vettori and Sanath to provide spin as well as Tikolo and maybe Sachin to bowl an over or two if needed.
If you can get past my top order of Sanath, Sachin, Tikolo and Mushfiqur. You may find youself with two quick wickets in the middle, but I don't want to sell Khurram and Richie short, as they are two of the best players to play from their respective nations, they are just not as experienced as the rest of the team. With Razzaq and Vettori in the lower order, they will ensure to keep any side from bowling us out completely.
Badly wanted him, but went for Kapil due to his prowess with the bat.
Ian Botham needs no introduction. His ODI record can seem underwhelming when compared to his undoubted greatness in the longer format, but he is more than good enough to bat at 7, in a hitting role.
CerealKiller’s XI
1. Ed Joyce
2. Anshuman Rath
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Andy Flower
5. Garfield Sobers
6. Shakib Al Hasan
7. Ian Botham
8. Kapil Dev
9. Waqar Younis
10. Sandeep Lamichhane
11. Hamid Hassan
Points used 25/25
I was stuck between picking Donald, another South African, or a West Indian fast bowler. I went with Donald because of his better bowling ave in ODI and played more ODI than the other two
Badly wanted him, but went for Kapil due to his prowess with the bat.
Ian Botham needs no introduction. His ODI record can seem underwhelming when compared to his undoubted greatness in the longer format, but he is more than good enough to bat at 7, in a hitting role.
CerealKiller’s XI
1. Ed Joyce
2. Anshuman Rath
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Andy Flower
5. Garfield Sobers
6. Shakib Al Hasan
7. Ian Botham
8. Kapil Dev
9. Waqar Younis
10. Sandeep Lamichhane
11. Hamid Hassan
Points used 25/25
ODI stats: 299 runs @ 37.37 (SR: 88.72, 1 century, best 136) in 8 matches List A stats: 1,520 runs @ 25.33 (SR: 81.94, 2 centuries, best 148) and 54 dismissals (50 ct, 4 st) in 70 matches
Batting VARP (top order): 69.84% (very small sample size)
In literally my very last post I said I wouldn't pick a part-time wicket-keeper. And now here I am in quite literally my very next post picking someone to keep who hasn't actually done it in an official one-day international, as the Namibian management replaced him in that role with the inferior Zane Green in order to liberate Kotze's batting. In fairness to them, it workedquitewell: 2019 brought a trio of astonishing hitting displays. Against Hong Kong, his rapid-fire 148 propelled Namibia to a total of almost 400, and to a win that would secure them one-day international status. Shortly thereafter, a still more remarkable innings of 136 against the United States saw score all but 40 of the runs registered during his time at the crease. Finally, against Botswana he lashed a 43-ball T20 international century against admittedly questionable bowling. Across those three exhibits of power hitting, Kotze was responsible for 26 sixes in 238 deliveries. A perfect fit at number seven for my team.
But what of his keeping skills? Well he's quite a big guy so he's not the most elegant keeper to watch (a slightly upright technique doesn't help) but despite him not having those natural attributes, he has outstanding hands which he puts to especially good use standing back from the stumps to quick bowlers. And after an extensive search of past Namibia scorecards, I could barely find any examples of him conceding so much as a bye - quite unlike Zane Green and Lohan Louwrens, who were given the task of replacing him.
Now that the draft is complete, I can say the last two people I was considering for my final pick were Dale Steyn and Michael Holding, but I ended up selecting Allan Donald, all three of them could've made my team
I've watched Kotze play and he is indeed a very exciting player to watch. I would say that you could have him ahead of Flintoff and have the latter focus more on his bowling.
I've watched Kotze play and he is indeed a very exciting player to watch. I would say that you could have him ahead of Flintoff and have the latter focus more on his bowling.
I don't think he's quite that good; he's very bottom-handed with a clear preferred hitting arc, which means that you can contain him with ball in hand - particularly if you can get lateral movement away from him, and vary your pace. But then the flipside of that is that if you stray into his preferred areas, he's very good indeed. So I think seven is about right: number seven batsmen in the 2010s have faced on average just under 20 balls per ODI match, and short hitting sprees suit Kotze's game.
@ahmedleo414
1. Sanath Jayasuriya
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Steve Tikolo
4. Mushfiqur Rahim
5. Khurram Khan
6. Richie Berrington
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Anderson Cummins
10. Allan Donald
11. Glenn McGrath
This is another team with an outstanding pace attack: Donald and McGrath with the new ball, then Razzaq and Cummins to follow. No easy runs there. Again, another team with huge flexibility: batting down to eight, and all ten non-keepers are arguably bowling options. Given that you made them quite early, a few of your budget picks weren't what they could have been: Tikolo, Rahim and Berrington are all guys I didn't expect to get picked, and who I suspect won't fare well on the VARP analysis later on.
I mean... all the players are players who couldn't really be replaced - and definitely not at the time in the draft when they were picked. The flexibility of this team is huge: there are proper batsmen down to nine (with Davey as well who can be a backup firefighter) and seven good bowling options (and Bevan). A team like this could be quite hard to maintain role clarity, especially if you start to make on-the-fly changes to the batting order. Promote a couple of hitters to get the momentum going and suddenly Michael Bevan could end up at seven.
- - -
@Akshay.
1. Chris Gayle
2. Tony Ura
3. Jacques Kallis
4. Ashish Bagai
5. Eoin Morgan
6. MS Dhoni
7. Mohammad Nabi
8. Heath Streak
9. Brett Lee
10. Shane Bond
11. Abdur Razzak
You've definitely selected a team that covers all the major roles in a one-day international team, which is excellent: five hitters (Gayle, Ura, Morgan, Dhoni and Nabi), two accumulators (Kallis and Bagai) and a firefighter (Streak) show just how well-balanced this team is. That bed-wettingly scary new ball pair of Bond and Lee is something to behold. Ideally from a safe distance. I do think you could have done with fewer picks. Getting rid of Streak and Razzak, and replacing them with a and a (maybe Shoaib Akhtar and Jan Frylinck) would have strengthened your side considerably.
- - -
@Bevab
1. Kyle Coetzer
2. Neil Johnson
3. Zaheer Abbas
4. AB de Villiers
5. Mark Chapman
6. Jos Buttler
7. John Davison
8. Richard Hadlee
9. Rashid Khan
10. Mitchell Starc
11. Curtly Ambrose
Holy mother of pace attacks - Hadlee, Ambrose and Starc all charging in and ready to decapitate people. A terrifying proposition. Oh and Rashid Khan comes on once you've been softened up. A really well-balanced batting order as well: every player there is capable of hitting out, but you still have Neil Johnson in there ready and willing to play the anchor role. Besides, if your hitters are Abbas, de Villiers and Buttler, do you need a backup plan? It's pretty difficult to pick fault in this team if I'm honest. If anything, I'd have liked to see another high-class batsman above de Villiers to fully set him free in the middle order, but I'm sure he'll be fine.
- - -
@CerealKiller
1. Ed Joyce
2. Anshuman Rath
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Andy Flower
5. Garfield Sobers
6. Shakib Al Hasan
7. Ian Botham
8. Kapil Dev
9. Waqar Younis
10. Sandeep Lamichhane
11. Hamid Hassan
This is another team with huge flexibility: batting down to eight and seven bowlers is an outstanding return. Your pace attack us a particular highlight, with Hamid Hassan and Waqar Younis being a frightening proposition with both new and old ball in hand. One definite criticism that can be levelled at this team is that it's full of accumulators. The entire top four and Shakib are all players who score their runs between the wickets, as opposed to past the boundary. Leaves a lot of responsibility on Garry Sobers.
- - -
@qpeedore
1. Fakhar Zaman
2. Calum MacLeod
3. Tom Cooper
4. Carl Hooper
5. Angelo Mathews
6. Kevin O'Brien
7. Tatenda Taibu
8. Lance Klusener
9. Mujeeb Ur Rahman
10. Mustafizur Rahman
11. Ali Khan
Again, you've got plenty of all-rounders to facilitate the flexibility that a modern one-day international team needs. That's something that everyone has done very well. A cleverly selected front four bowlers: Fizz, Ali Khan, Klusener and Mujeeb is entirely competent, and yet they only cost you eight points between them. I think the selection of Taibu really did set you back a bit. He was a fighter for sure, but he doesn't add anything much to a team like this. He's an archetypal firefighter, but picking him first up meant that you missed out on a lot of big players by the time your next pick rolled around.
- - -
@Yash.
1. Jonny Bairstow
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Virat Kohli
4. Paras Khadka
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6. Craig Williams
7. Shahid Afridi
8. Thomas Odoyo
9. Dale Steyn
10. Safyaan Sharif
11. Joel Garner
You started by building your team around Kohli, Tendo and Garner which is an outstanding recipe for success. Bairstow and Hayden would be one of the very best opening pairs in the entire draft, and you picked both up as spares at the end. Apart from Garner and Steyn, the seam attack is a bit of a weakness. But "apart from Garner and Steyn" is a hell of a qualifying statement.
Originally I decided to complete your team with some players who hadn't been picked yet. Here's the process of that:
1.
2.
3. Virat Kohli
4.
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6.
7.
8. Thomas Odoyo
9.
10.
11. Joel Garner
That is an outstanding start to a team, and I think it's only fair to complete it with players who've yet to be picked.
Dennis Amiss
Amiss was just as far ahead of his contemporaries as Richards was, and was a free-scoring and prolific opening batsman to start this side off.
Shoaib Akhtar
Arguably the fastest bowler of all time and a man with a fantastic set of ODI stats to his name.
Dale Steyn
Yeah, let's throw in a genuinely scary fast bowler to add to the other two genuinely scary fast bowlers. It can't hurt.
Darren Lehmann
Probably seems like a really strange pick with some of the players still available, but when you look into batsmen's running strike rates (that is, their strike rates from balls they didn't hit to the boundary) Darren Lehmann finds himself near the top of that list despite being slow as anything between the wickets. Will be essential for getting the best out of those around him.
Paras Khadka
A good middle-order hitter and another decent spin option, all at a cost of one point. Get him in.
Craig Williams
He does technically provide a bowling option but we don't need it; he is however one of the most complete batsmen we've ever seen at his tier of the international game.
Matty Cross
A good wicket-keeper and pretty elegant batsman, Matty Cross' stats are questionable but they're also better than any of the alternative players who've not been picked yet.
Final team:
1. Dennis Amiss
2. Darren Lehmann
3. Virat Kohli
4. Paras Khadka
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6. Craig Williams
7. Matty Cross
8. Thomas Odoyo
9. Dale Steyn
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Joel Garner
Steyn. Akhtar. Garner. Another terrifying fast bowling trio; Garner in particular right in the conversation for GOAT one-day bowler. If you've got Virat Kohli in the side, you can't really go wrong can you. It's not this team's fault that its last seven players came from the offcuts of everyone else's teams, but it does show a little bit in places.
Getting rid of Streak and Razzak, and replacing them with a and a (maybe Shoaib Akhtar and Jan Frylinck) would have strengthened your side considerably.
I made a team for @Yash. too, having the best modern day associate cricketer, best number three and best pacer in ODI history helps a lot in creating a good team even with the disadvantage. Shall post it later.
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This is another team with an outstanding pace attack: Donald and McGrath with the new ball, then Razzaq and Cummins to follow. No easy runs there.
Given that you made them quite early, a few of your budget picks weren't what they could have been: Tikolo, Rahim and Berrington are all guys I didn't expect to get picked, and who I suspect won't fare well on the VARP analysis later on.
