DRAFT! Ashes history...

[KrishnamurthiN]

Sir Gubby Allen

The Bowling All rounder who got recognized by England when he took all the ten wickets of Lancashire playing for Middlesex at Lords in the year 1929 is my next Pick. He was a decent player for England and was one of the first players, more correctly the fourth in county cricket, to achieve the 10 wicket haul feat. Here are some of his Images , followed by his ashes stats.

The Batsman is Gubby Allen.

Ashes Stats
Matches: 13
Runs: 479
Wickets: 43
Bat. Avg: 23.95
Bwl Avg: 37.27
Best Figures in a match : 8/107

Sir Gubby Allen was a Shop assistant when he took the 10 against Lancashire. He became a businessman and also played county cricket till he was 53 years of age.

My Team as Of Now:
1.
2. Ricky Ponting.
3.
4.
5.
6. Gubby Allen
7.
8.
9.
10. Arthur Mailey.
11.

 

[cricket_icon]

Well Ian Botham being picked takes away one option I was considering, now I've only got about 5 possible choices instead of 6 Decisions, decisions...

Couple of interesting talking points can be had from the overnight picks:
Botham vs Flintoff? Who do you like? Flintoff was great in 2005, really stitched up the Aussie left handers. Katich and Gilchrist were deer in the headlights, and it meant Australia usually went from 4 down to 6 down pretty quickly... Botham had an influence on more series than Freddie, probably more consistent with the ball as well. Flintoff couldn't really find that 2005 magic again, except at Lord's 2009. It's a bit like the Hobbs vs Sutcliffe debate, different tastes for different folks...

And Richie Benaud...is he the best captain in Ashes history? Not sure, but he wouldn't be far away. Other candidates? From the stats, Allan Border has the most wins in Ashes Tests (13). Border also had to regain the Ashes and fight through a tough period with a less talented side. Bradman has won/retained the most Ashes series with 4. There are a couple of other captains out there with excellent winning records, some particularly renowned for their strategic abilities.

mmmm Botham or Flintoff? For me it's pretty easy, Botham any day of the week, a big match player for a longer period of time, having said that, few have had the spark that Freddie had in 2005, up there with Botham and Khan for defining entire series'. And that spell at Lords (I think it was Lords) in 2009, when Freddie was essentially one legged, bowling at 95mph...oh it was the stuff of dreams, or nightmares for the Aussies.

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Johnny Wardle

Unless his elbow causing him to quit soon, Graeme Swann will overtake Derek Underwood as the leading England slow bowler of all time & maybe when he retires he will be rated as the greatest too. This will be notable achievement especially for an english off-spinner and art ENG have struggled to produce with much top bowlers except for Jim Laker & Ray Illingworth.

Left-arm spin is ENG main spin forte as leg-spin is to Australia. Blyte, Briggs, Verity, Lock, Underwood. But one specific left-arm spinner who was basically ahead of times & probably will forever go unmentioned as times passes is Johnny Wardle.

As distinguished English cricket writer Rob Steen mentioned in an article about him Johnny Wardle and the importance of being memorable | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo - "he was maverick in less tolerant times, when conformity was all and daring to be different was not a marketable commodity. With his unique ability to bowl left-arm orthodox & chinaman with equally skill - its not a stress to say he was the most skilled English spinner ever.

It always has puzzled me how in those days if the cricket authorities could bann aussies Ian Mekiff, Gordon Rorke, S Africa's Geoff Griffin & Kiwi Gary Bartlett for chucking - but allowed Lock to get away with chucking for almost two decades. Because essentially while Laker was # 1 - Lock kept Wardle from playing more Ashes other tests in for England.

If Wardle had played from the 70s onwards it is indeed possible Underwood would not have had a career & in modern times when Warne/Murali ran rampant & off-spinners bowling the doosra, he would have been celebrated for his skills as a spinner.

What were his Ashes tests? How many Ashes games did he play? Wickets ? Average? After all we have to pick the best Ashes players and I don't know much about Wardle. I know I could check Cricinfo stats but I reckon your write up should tell us

 

[War]

Scary to say that he probably underperformed in Ashes cricket, considering he only averaged around 40 in the 2001 and 2005 tours of England.

2001 ashes especially the during the infamous 4th test @ Leeds when he scored 144 batting @ # 3 for the 1st time was when Ponting the "great batsman" was born. So that would explain why his 2001 ashes numbers were not that high cause he had now made the transition from a # 6 batsman and of course was coming off that horror tour in India 01.

In 2005 you can say after facing alot of joke attacks and destroying them, the 05 english was the most testing attack ponting or the aus team had faced in a long while. So in a way although he scored that brilliant 156 @ OT (thank god i was there to see it live) - Ponting & the batting unit just didn't adjust well enough to the quality of the bowling.

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What were his Ashes tests? How many Ashes games did he play? Wickets ? Average? After all we have to pick the best Ashes players and I don't know much about Wardle. I know I could check Cricinfo stats but I reckon your write up should tell us

Ye i forgot to put in his specific Ashes stats 8 tests, 24 wickets @ 26. His 5 wicket haul @ SGC 1955 & his 4 for 7 @ OT 1953 as rain came when he was mesmerizing AUS with them on 35 for 8 were the standouts.

Obviously nothing magnificent about his Ashes record, but as i mentioned he was unlucky not to play more Ashes test and been the # 1 English spinner during a time when ENG were the best team in the world (1951-1958) because he was maverick the old english hierarchy didn't approve of. And the shocking fact that tony lock and obvious chucker was regularly picked over him & got away with chucking for along two decades.

So his selection (same with Snow before) like what i intend most of my pics of to be is to highlight unsung AUS/ENG ashes players where obscure circumstance blighted their greatness. I'm unlikely to pick any obvious players who everyone knows about.

 

[sifter132]

^Hmm yes you're quite right on Ponting, I always think of early 2000s Ponting as golden-age Ponting, but it didn't start exactly on 2000. That 2001 tour of India was pretty disatrous for him vs Harbhajan, so Leeds 2001 seems a good place to mark the beginning of the 'age of Ponting'.
Versus Ishant Sharma (and Harbhajan and Zaheer) in 2007/08 was about the first time he started to look mortal again. Between those 2 dates he played 67 Tests for 6956 runs @ 71.71, with 26 100s. Insane production.

And I'm glad you're picking the less obvious guys I want to do that as well, but maybe wait until the last couple of rounds - the big names are too tempting Wardle seemed like he was ignored a bit in games as well. To only take 3 wickets per Ashes Test but still have a good average means he could have been bowled a lot more.

EDIT: have just written more about Ken Barrington for those interested in reading...go back a page.

 

[cricket_icon]

[/COLOR]

Ye i forgot to put in his specific Ashes stats 8 tests, 24 wickets @ 26. His 5 wicket haul @ SGC 1955 & his 4 for 7 @ OT 1953 as rain came when he was mesmerizing AUS with them on 35 for 8 were the standouts.

Obviously nothing magnificent about his Ashes record, but as i mentioned he was unlucky not to play more Ashes test and been the # 1 English spinner during a time when ENG were the best team in the world (1951-1958) because he was maverick the old english hierarchy didn't approve of. And the shocking fact that tony lock and obvious chucker was regularly picked over him & got away with chucking for along two decades.

So his selection (same with Snow before) like what i intend most of my pics of to be is to highlight unsung AUS/ENG ashes players where obscure circumstance blighted their greatness. I'm unlikely to pick any obvious players who everyone knows about.[/QUOTE]

I totally get that, I'm thinking of picking a couple underrated stars too, there's plenty of 5 test wonders throughout the Ashes

 

[sifter132]

^It's been your pick cricket icon for the last day and a bit So now it's the author's pick as well.

 

[KrishnamurthiN]

I have done the writeupon my pick.... just scroll to the first post of this page to read about it

 

[cricket_icon]

^It's been your pick cricket icon for the last day and a bit So now it's the author's pick as well.

My bad, didn't know we were onto round 3.

My pick is....David Gower, write up will follow later today

 

[Umair7]

Matthew Hayden

Matthew Hayden is probably one of the best opener Australia have ever produced

Batting Average FC- 52.57
Batting Average TEST- 50.73

He made his debut against South Africa in 1994 scoring just 20 runs in the first match.When Australia toured England for the Ashes in 2005 Hayden didn't performed well in the first four matches.He scored just 180 runs at the average of 22.5 but in the last test he scored 138 runs in the first innings while remained not out at 0 in the 2nd.2007 Ashes didn't went well for Hayden as he just played two big innings in the 3rd test he scored 92 runs in the second innings and in the 4th test he scored a hundred in the first innings.Ashes 2007 was also his last ever ASHES Series
​

 

[Fenil]

Keith Miller! Writeup later today.

 

[cricket_icon]

David Ivon Gower
Ashes Stats: Matches: 42 Runs: 3269 HS: 215 Avg: 44.78 100s: 9

David Ivon Gower, a regal name for a regal batsman, often regarded by English fans as the most stylish batsman to ever don the whites. He was a left handed swashbuckler of sorts, often getting himself out trying to play flashy, almost arrogant strokes but every now and then, when he aplied himself, he could play innings of not just style but also substance.

In his debut Ashes series in '78, he would score a sublime 102. It wasn't his best innings and in a match where the second and third best scores in the first innings were 77 and 40 respectively, it just goes to show the young man had legitimate skill. However, he wouldn't live up to his full potential until his streak during the 85/86 series', a period in which he scored 4 centuries in 11 games, including his career best 215. It was a time when he averaged almost 80, scoring runs home AND away.

Gower, the flashy, brilliant and at times moronic batsman with an eye for the spectacular and a spectacular ability to get out doing something stupid will always be regarded as one of England's elites and an Ashes great in every sense of the word.

Edit: Team Thus far

1. J Hobbs
2.
3. DI Gower
4.
5.
6.
7. R Benaud C
8.
9.
10.
11.

 

[Sulaiman7]

My player: George Lohmann

Ashes stats : Best figures in an innings 8/35 , total wickets 77 , bowling average 13.

George Lohmann comes in the list of one of the best bowlers in the history of cricket and as-well as in Ashes. George Lohmann had a deadly pace with swinging abilities which made his opponents rank him as the most deadliest bowler to face (at his era), he played total 18 test matches which , 15 against Australia (ashes) and 3 against Sought Africa. George Lohmann has health problems although he did recover two or three times and made a very strong comeback in first-class cricket for Surrey.

So , my team so far:

1.
2.
3. Allan Border
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Dennis Lillee
11. George Lohmann​

 

[Fenil]

Keith Miller

Ashes Record

Capable enough to make it to any side of his era through his batting ability, not for nothing was Keith Miller known as one of the best bowlers of his time. He was neither inconsistent like Botham nor an allrounder which favored one facet of the game. By all means he was the most complete allrounder to play for Australia till date. If you look close at Miller's stats, you will find that he has performed exceedingly well with the bat when his team has won fielding first while he has bowled some of his best spells when Australia has won a match batting first which shows that he becomes a lot more dangerous player when he has a target in mind and the best part of him is he became better with his age. Something that you strive for in a player. All in all a perfect man to have in the team and if he had a captain like Steve Waugh, he could have only performed better.

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I'm pretty sure Lohmann was a right arm bowler. This must be a different bowler.

 

[Sulaiman7]

I'm pretty sure Lohmann was a right arm bowler. This must be a different bowler.

It's written that's he's a right arm bowler but in some pics he's bowling from left hand.

 

[Samuels]

Man! I was looking to pick Lohmann. Anyways, he has a relatively poor record in the Ashes so will take heart from it. ha ha