DRAFT! Ashes history...

[Aalay]

Harold Larwood ​

Ashes Statistics: Matches: 15. Wickets: 64. Best bowling figures: 6/32. Bowling average: 29. 87. Five wicket hauls: 3

Fast Bowlers! The best sight for me in cricket is a fast bowler running in who can bowl extremely fast and hit the batsmen. Harold Larwood was the fastest bowler England has ever produced. He was quick, he was nasty, and he loved to hit batsmen with his sheer pace. He made his debut in the 2nd test of 1926 Ashes series. He played 2 matches in that series and ended up with 9 wickets at an average of 28. His best series however came in 1932/33, the famous bodyline series. He took 33 wickets at an average of 19.51. Douglas Jardine was the captain of the England team that travelled to Australia in 1932/33 ashes series. Before travelling to Australia for the bodyline series, he saw videotapes of Don Bradman and figured out that Don has a weakness. He found out that Don had trouble with the ball that is targeted toward his ribs. He also went against the rules of MCC and instructed his bowlers to bowl at the leg and body of the Australian batsmen. Harold Larwood was the most successful bowler for him who completely followed his instructions and demolished the Australian batting line-up. He also kept Don Bradman quiet for that series. Don only averaged 56 in that series which is much lower than his usual numbers. However after England won this series, Australians made fuss about this bodyline tactics and asked Harlod to apologize for his bowling. Harold had done nothing wrong and he did not apologize and in result he was never selected to play for England again. One of the saddest end to such a talented fast bowler's career.

Some footage from the boydline series.

And as Geoffrey Boycott said : Harold Larwood - 'The sole reason England won the Bodyline series'

 

[sifter132]

Was going to do something clever, but that can be next round For now, I'll just pick the guy who has been criminally overlooked thus far - he needs a mention!

Jim Laker

Ashes stats:
Tests: 15
Wickets: 79
Average: 18.27
Best Bowling: 10/53 at Manchester, 1956
Best Series: 1956 Ashes - 46 wickets(!) with an average of 9.60(!)

Who was Jim Laker? An English off-spinner who played from the late 40s to the late 50s. For further detail, I'm quoting from my Illustrated History of Test Cricket, since I've never really seen him bowl...

"Tall and strong, Laker had a lively, high action, great powers of spin, and immaculate control of the variations of length, pace, and flight with which he plagued batsmen. In England he mostly pushed the ball through at a pace that kept the batsmen from moving out to him but still allowed the ball to turn. On the harder pitches overseas, where he had a good but less spectacular record, he would flight it more, yet with equal control."

How'd he go in the Ashes?
He played in 4 series. His first series vs Australia was 1948, playing in Tests against the 'Invincibles'. He took just 9 wickets @ 52. The record last day chase of 3/404 by Australia at Leeds saw Laker dropped. He had several chances dropped off his bowling, but was generally handled pretty easily by the great Aussie batsmen - not surprising since Laker was in only his second series of Test cricket.

In 1953, he was economical without much success in 2 drawn Tests. In the last Test at The Oval, Laker was a key difference maker. He and Lock bowled Australia out to regain the Ashes for England (1-0 after 4 previously drawn Tests).

The 1956 series was an amazingly productive one for Laker. 19 wickets in the match at Old Trafford is still a record, and 46 wickets for the series is still the Ashes record as well. By comparison, the other two spinners of note in that series didn't get anywhere near Laker's wicket tally (Tony Lock and Richie Benaud took only 23 wickets BETWEEN them!). Conditions in the series were criticised, England won most of the tosses and it seemed to rain at the wrong times for the Aussie batsmen, but Australian captain Ian Johnson was happy to admit:

"That the Australian batsmen were unable to cope with the spinning surfaces was more a tribute to Laker's skill in the conditions than to their(our) own relative weaknesses."

Laker only toured Australia once, in 1958/59. He took 15 wickets @ 21 in 4 Tests, despite fears he wouldn't be as effective in Australia. He led the averages for the first class matches on tour too.

1
2
3 Sir Donald Bradman
4 Ken Barrington
5
6
7
8
9 Jim Laker
10
11

 

[Gaurav_7]

I thought someone already picked Laker! :sad

 

[Aalay]

Greg Chappell and Kevin Pietersen are my pick for this round.I will add description later.

Greg Chappell ​

Ashes Statistics: Matches: 30. Runs: 2154. Average: 43.95. Centuries: 8. Highest Ashes score: 144

Greg Chappell is one of the most talented and gifted batsmen of his era. He made his Ashes debut in the 2nd test of 1970/71 series. He was straight onto his task by scoring a hundred from number 7 positions. The most eye-catching thing about that inning was his stroke playing. In his next ashes series in 1972 when Australia toured England, he scored 2nd highest runs in that series. Greg scored 437 runs at an average of 49 and helped Australia level the series. However, his best ashes series came in 1974/75 when he scored 608 runs in 6 matches at an average of 55.27 and ended up as the highest run scorer in the series. Greg with the help of his teammates in Dennis Lille and Jeff Thompson demolished England to regain the ashes after 4 years. He came to England in 1977 as a captain but lost the ashes even though he was the highest run scorer for his team. Greg Chappell made himself unavailable for selection in the 1981 ashes series. However he came back as a captain his last ashes series and Australia regained the ashes. He scored century in both his first and last test.

Greg Chappell labeled this century as his best inning ever in his career::

Kevin Pietersen ​

Ashes Statistics: Matches: 21. Runs: 1752. Average: 48.66. Centuries: 4. Highest Ashes score: 227

Kevin Pietersen is one of the best middle order batsmen I have seen to play for England. He can attack the bowlers from ball one and can make any bowling attack in the world look ordinary. He made his ashes debut in one of the greatest test series till the date. KP made his test and ashes debut in 2005 Ashes. It was controversial because KP was picked ahead of experienced Graham Thorpe. However, he showed no sign of of nervousness as he made half centuries in both the innings but that went in losing cause. He scored his first century in the last test of that series. He also ended up as the highest run scorer in the series and helped England win the series and regain the Ashes. KP scored 473 runs at an average of 52.55. However, his best ashes series came in 2006/07 in Australia. He scored 490 runs at an average of 54.44 and ended up as the second highest run scorer for this series. However, it was in the losing cause as England were whitewashed. He is still playing cricket so we might see more records coming from him.

His highest ashes score inning and probably one of the best:

His best inning according to me:

 

[cricket_icon]

what's happening with the picks?

 

[Gaurav_7]

Hedley Verity & Clarrie Grimmett.

 

[Sulaiman7]

Hedley Verity

now that's one classy pick , I was once a very big fan of him.

 

[Samuels]

Is it my turn?

EDIT: Checked the picks and yes, it is indeed my turn. My picks are the two great batsmen of around war II era Arthur Morris and Maurice Leyland. One is the best Australian opener ever and the other is one of the Ashes heroes for England. Should be a great boost to the lineup with Hammond at #4.

Arthur Morris
?
Maurice Leyland
Wally Hammond
?
?
?
?
?
Glenn McGrath
Terry Alderman


Thanks for the wait for me. My internet was not at its best yesterday so was not able to pick the players on time.

 

[sifter132]

Sorry I haven't kept the whip cracking over the weekend, was away for much longer than anticipated. Some more good names disappearing Arthur Morris in particular, what a great player.

Hedley Verity & Clarrie Grimmett.

Is this a typo? 3 top notch tweakers? Holy spinners batman. With Laker gone too, that's quite a few spinners out of the cupboard in a short time.

And Aalay's quintet is definitely winning the crowd pleasing stakes thus far: Chappell, KP, Botham, Warne and Larwood - would pay a fair bit to see those guys in action.

 

[Samuels]

Sorry I haven't kept the whip cracking over the weekend, was away for much longer than anticipated. Some more good names disappearing Arthur Morris in particular, what a great player.



Is this a typo? 3 top notch tweakers? Holy spinners batman. With Laker gone too, that's quite a few spinners out of the cupboard in a short time.

And Aalay's quintet is definitely winning the crowd pleasing stakes thus far: Chappell, KP, Botham, Warne and Larwood - would pay a fair bit to see those guys in action.

You know it is always tricky when set to pick players for a particular series. There are those legendary players who have relatively underperformed in the series, then there are those players who it seems like they were born to play such series. Lastly, not to forget those who does not have the best of career figures or in the series but they have played a mammoth role in their team's series win in one or two instance. Larwood is the best example of the third category.

 

[War]

Denis Compton & Trevor Bailey

Compton Ashes record

England have produced many great batsmen. But many of them follow a similar archetype. Hutton, Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Barrington, Gower, Thorpe, Ranji, Dulip, Boycott, Gooch namely. Many of them if you think about it you can describe as textbook technically correct batsmen, who accumulated their runs in a stylish manner. In modern times Cook, Trott, Bell, Atherton, Stewart, Vaughan continued this trend.

But few ENG batsmen batted with the kind of destruction and flair that a Lara, Viv Richards, Bradman, Ponting etc had. Compton alongside, Hammond, Pietersen & Ted Dexter are the few that they, which is why they will always stand out when judging the great English batsmen. What KP for example has done since 2004 Compton set the trend during his time versus some good attacks. Some of his best knocks came in Ashes battles versus the legendary AUS new-ball pair of Lindwall/Miller.

Ashes record

When speaking of the great English all-rounders, Botham for his 77-84 heroics, Flintoff for his inspiring Ashes 05 efforts, Tony Greig (RIP) for his stylish brand of cricket in the 70s, world series & post career commentary plus Wilfred Rhodes are readily mentioned.

This make Trevor "Barnacle" Bailey the most forgotten English all-rounder of them. He is probably remembered more now for writing Gary Sobers biography than his playing days. Which is unfortunate because he is the only all-rounder that was part of an English team that was # 1 in the world.

Obviosuly he was an very defensive player with the bat. But as many would know such a batting display aided England in drawing a famous Lord's test of 1953, en route to clinching that Ashes series 1-0. Their first at the time after two decades dating back to the bodyline series.

 

[Sulaiman7]

My players : Sydney Barnes & Geoffrey Boycott

Ashes stats : Matches 20 , wickets 106 , Best bowling in an innings 7/60 , bowling average 21.58 , 5 wickets haul 12

Sydney Barnes , probably one of the most loyal cricket for his county , he had all the abilities to be a beast and the best and he took the advantage , with both seam and swing , he was a master although he wasn't that fast as Lillee was , he had the ability of cutters which are quite deadly. He had the average of 6.03 (bowling average) for his club with 6229 wickets , it's not an easy job to take that much wickets , the records speak themselves about the legend.

Ashes statistics : Matches 38 , runs 2945 , highest score 191 , average 47.50 , centuries 7

Geoff Boycott , with no doubt he was one of the most finest batsman , he was to most successful opening batsman for England as he was the first English cricketer to pass 8,000 runs which was a great achievement for him and for England itself. England did not lose a Test match in which he scored a century and only 20 of his 108 Tests ended in defeat. He was a very classy player with the front foot and back foot as-well , his defensive stokes were very hard to beat , he was a pure professional classical batsman with a brilliant technique of playing cricket. Again , the records speak for themselves.

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1. Geoff Boycott
2.
3. Allan Border
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Sydney Barnes
10. Dennis Lillee
11. George Lohmann

 

[cricket_icon]

now that's one classy pick , I was once a very big fan of him.

Really? You must be a 100

 

[Sulaiman7]

Really? You must be a 100

Lol I didn't meant that.

I meant I liked the player before because of his stats but I eventually forgot him.

 

[Aalay]

Just a remainder that I have done the write-up of all my players. You can scroll up to have a look.

And Aalay's quintet is definitely winning the crowd pleasing stakes thus far: Chappell, KP, Botham, Warne and Larwood - would pay a fair bit to see those guys in action.

I am picking players who plays with flare and can change the game on their own and especially hates their opponent.