Best to never play Test cricket | Draft Part 2 underway...

[VC the slogger]

A left-hand batsman and spin bowler, Sydney Smith was without a doubt one of the finest all-rounders in the world during the first quarter of the 20th century and a player who had the misfortune of representing not one, but two Test nations before they were given Test status - the West Indies between 1901 to 1906, and New Zealand between 1920 to 1924. During a two-year period between 1907 and 1909 whilst he was attempting to qualify for county cricket, he claimed 10 wickets against the touring South African Test team in 1907, and took 9 wickets whilst also scoring an unbeaten 76 against a near Test class Philadelphian lineup that included the legendary Bart King and Ranji Hordern among others in 1908. Once he finally did qualify in 1909, he proved himself one of the finest all-rounders in county cricket between 1909 and 1914, where in six seasons for Northamptonshire he achieved the all-rounders double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season on three occasions. In what turned out to be his final year of county cricket in 1914, he totalled 1373 runs at 42.90 and claimed 105 wickets at 16.25 from 21 matches, for which was named as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1915.

Despite his numbers, he was never seriously considered for England as they had a slew of great all-rounders during this period in Wilfred Rhodes, Frank Woolley, George Hirst, 'Young' Jack Hearne and Jack Crawford among others. The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 effectively ended his county career and robbed him of his peak years, but he resurfaced again in New Zealand where he played out the final half of his career between 1917 and 1926 for Auckland - representing New Zealand five times during this period. Overall, he scored 10920 runs at 31.28 with 14 centuries & 60 half-centuries and a best of 256 with the bat; with the ball he claimed 955 wickets at 18.08 with 71 five-wicket inning hauls to go with 19 ten-wicket match hauls, including an innings best of 9/34. Among players who have never had the opportunity to play Test cricket, there can hardly be a more deserving candidate.​

VC's XI

1. George Patterson
2. Sunny Jim Mackay
3. Bert Kortlang
4. Ken McEwan
5. Ilikena Bula
6. Sydney Smith
7. Ryan Campbell
8. Bart King
9. Jack Walsh
10.
11. Jack Marsh


@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Overall Pick #41: Jack Massie

​

Profile
Jack Massie undoubtedly would have played for Australia if it weren't for the mindless carnage of the First World War. Proud owner of almost a hundred Sheffield Shield wickets before his 24th birthday, he was selected for a tour of South Africa that would never take place. Instead, he went on an entirely different tour - with the military to Gallipoli. Ever the pragmatist, he tied a bright red rag to his right arm to make it a target and not his preferred bowling arm, but the chaos of war paid no heed and shrapnel blew both his bowling (left) shoulder and his landing (right) foot to bits. Not only his cricket career, but his boxing, football, rowing, rugby and track careers were also ended by his injuries. His prowess across so many sports would have made him something of a proto-de Villiers on all but the cricket field.

In all honesty, I didn't particularly want to pick Massie - not because he was anything less than an excellent cricketer, but because the player I wanted had a far more interesting story to tell. But it looked like nobody was going to pick Massie, and in purely cricketing terms it would have been a travesty. And he does add a very useful left-handedness to my seam attack.

First-class statistics
199 runs @ 10.47 (best 50*) and 99 wickets @ 18.42 (7 5WI, best 7/110) in 16 matches

Finest Performances
In only his second full Shield season (only four matches in those days), Massie's 31 wickets came at eighteen apiece and he twice took ten wickets in a match. It was by some distance the best return for any fast bowler.

Role in the Team
Massie and van der Bijl is a pretty devastating new ball pairing. I certainly wouldn't want to face them.

Aislabie's XI so far:
1. Karl Schneider (Pick #17)
2. Michael Di Venuto (Pick #22)
3. Jamie Siddons (Pick #34)
4. Shantanu Sugwekar (Pick #9)
5. Yacoob Omar (Pick #39)
6. Frank Tarrant (Pick #6)
7. Bill Alley (Pick #26)
8. Ray Jennings (Pick #31)
9. Vince van der Bijl (Pick #3)
10. Jimmy Boucher (Pick #16)
11. Jack Massie (Pick #41)

Next pick:
@VC the slogger

 

[VC the slogger]

Another thought - for a potential LAB idea, how about no Test cricketers allowed?

It's been on the cards for a while now.

But it looked like nobody was going to pick Massie, and in purely cricketing terms it would have been a travesty.

I was looking to pick him before opting for Jack Marsh because of his extra pace and tragic circumstances. Would have probably gone for him in the final round if he stood unpicked.

 

[Aislabie]

It's been on the cards for a while now.

Well I didn't expect to see Bilal Shafayat in an LAB list

 

[VC the slogger]

​

There's still a ton of bowlers with impressive first-class records out there from which I could have cherry-picked just about anyone, but for my final pick I will be going for a player who never so much as appeared in a single first-class match throughout his career. Jack Laing was arguably the finest all-round cricketer ever produced by Canada, and was perhaps second only to the legendary Bart King in the continent of North America during the 1890s when the rivalry between USA and Canada, incidentally cricket's oldest predating even the Ashes by 38 years, reached something of a heyday due to the presence of these two fine cricketers. Standing at 6'4 with a strong build, he was a fast bowler who could get the ball to swing late and a more than capable batsman who was good enough to score centuries on pitches in Canada where teams seldom reached three figures, let alone batsmen. At the peak of his powers, he was considered by Philadelphian great George Patterson to be second in terms of pace only to Australian tearaway Ernie Jones, who was thought to be the fastest bowler of that era and a man famous for bowling a ball through WG Grace's beard, and breaking Stanley Jackson's ribs among other things.

He claimed a total of 63 wickets at just 10.37 apiece against the United States, who during his career had players of the calibre of Bart King, George Patterson, John Lester, Francis Bohlen, Arthur Wood, Percy and Walter Clark, who formed the core of a Philadelphian lineup that humbled the Australian Test team on two occasions in 1893 and 1896. His two best performances with the ball were a spell of 7 for 21 against them in 1895 which included the first ever hat-trick by a player in the USA-Canada rivalry, and an even more impressive match haul of 14 for 54 with figures of 6 for 17 and 8 for 37 across both innings against a US lineup containing several of the aforementioned players including King and Patterson in 1896. His batting statistics are not as well known, but he is recorded to having scored a total of 11 centuries throughout his career with a best of 249. Unfortunately for him, Canada did not play any first-class cricket during his career, which restricted his performances to non first-class matches against the USA, Ireland, and various touring teams containing good first-class cricketers brought over to Canada by the likes of Lord Hawke. Neither did he have any uber-wealthy team mates who could set him up with a stable job outside cricket à la Bart King, which meant he was lost to cricket at the age of 28 whilst he embarked on a career as a barrister, playing only sporadically until 1910 and no international cricket after 1901.

He remains arguably one of the greatest players to have never graced the first-class game.​

VC's XI

1. George Patterson
2. Sunny Jim Mackay
3. Bert Kortlang
4. Ken McEwan
5. Ilikena Bula
6. Sydney Smith
7. Ryan Campbell
8. Bart King
9. Jack Walsh
10. Jack Laing
11. Jack Marsh[DOUBLEPOST=1565874440][/DOUBLEPOST]@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

How did i forget about this?
Darren Berry, another unlucky Aussie from the golden era, who was rated as the best pure 'keeper he had ever seen by Shane Warne.
Glen Chapple, one of the best non-capped all rounders of recent times, played for Lancashire for 25 years, with almost a thousand wickets at an average of 26, to go with over 8000 runs at 24.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Jamie Cox
2. Bhausaheb Nimbalkar
3. Amol Muzumdar
4. Ryan ten Doeschate
5. David Hussey
6. Franklyn Stephenson
7. Glen Chapple
8. Darren Berry
9. Rajinder Goel
10. Tom Pritchard
11. Don Shepherd

@blockerdave

 

[blockerdave]

A left-hand batsman and spin bowler, Sydney Smith was without a doubt one of the finest all-rounders in the world during the first quarter of the 20th century and a player who had the misfortune of representing not one, but two Test nations before they were given Test status - the West Indies between 1901 to 1906, and New Zealand between 1920 to 1924. During a two-year period between 1907 and 1909 whilst he was attempting to qualify for county cricket, he claimed 10 wickets against the touring South African Test team in 1907, and took 9 wickets whilst also scoring an unbeaten 76 against a near Test class Philadelphian lineup that included the legendary Bart King and Ranji Hordern among others in 1908. Once he finally did qualify in 1909, he proved himself one of the finest all-rounders in county cricket between 1909 and 1914, where in six seasons for Northamptonshire he achieved the all-rounders double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season on three occasions. In what turned out to be his final year of county cricket in 1914, he totalled 1373 runs at 42.90 and claimed 105 wickets at 16.25 from 21 matches, for which was named as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1915.

Despite his numbers, he was never seriously considered for England as they had a slew of great all-rounders during this period in Wilfred Rhodes, Frank Woolley, George Hirst, 'Young' Jack Hearne and Jack Crawford among others. The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 effectively ended his county career and robbed him of his peak years, but he resurfaced again in New Zealand where he played out the final half of his career between 1917 and 1926 for Auckland - representing New Zealand five times during this period. Overall, he scored 10920 runs at 31.28 with 14 centuries & 60 half-centuries and a best of 256 with the bat; with the ball he claimed 955 wickets at 18.08 with 71 five-wicket inning hauls to go with 19 ten-wicket match hauls, including an innings best of 9/34. Among players who have never had the opportunity to play Test cricket, there can hardly be a more deserving candidate.​

VC's XI

1. George Patterson
2. Sunny Jim Mackay
3. Bert Kortlang
4. Ken McEwan
5. Ilikena Bula
6. Sydney Smith
7. Ryan Campbell
8. Bart King
9. Jack Walsh
10.
11. Jack Marsh


@Aislabie

Man what a pick. Never heard of him. Great pick.

 

[blockerdave]

Sorry for the delay, I've been very busy yesterday and today... (ok full disclosure, I was at the Test yesterday and immensely hungover today...)

I've been struggling to thinking not just who to pick, but the role. I've got decent batting, 3 very good seamers, one front line spinner and 2 decent "all rounder" spinners. So I've been wondering whether to go for another front line seamer, a 2nd front line spinner, or an extra specialist batsman.

I've been back and forth... I've actually started composing this post and overwrote it 3 or 4 times.. ultimately I think that 3rd seamer, number 6 batsman and captain is too big a role for Rice, and I want to get the most out of him. So I'm going for a seamer. Then Rice can be 4th seamer, and concentrate on getting runs and captaincy.

Tikolo and Raynor can give us the extra spin if we need it, otherwise Goonasena is a string front line spinner.

I've gone for:

OLE MORTENSEN

Big Ole, number 2 on Denmark's list of best exports of the 80s (behind bacon and ahead of butter cookies and carlsberg). A stalwart bowler for Derbyshire in the 80s and early 90s, Mortensen was a tall, accurate and economical fast-medium bowler. Not quite the height or accuracy of a van der Bijl but still at 6'4" and with 434 FC wickets at 23.88 and an economy rate of 2.60 he represents a difficult prospect to face. He can be the workhorse allowing Le Roux and Kortright to bowl short, fast spells.

He's the one real rabbit in the team, with an average of 8.97 - only Devon Malcolm's presence in the same line up got him up to number 10 in the order, although he does have a first class 50.

1. Surendra Bhave
2. Sheridan Raynor
3. Steve Tikolo
4. Mahadevan Sathasivam
5. Derrick de Saram
6. Clive Rice (C)
   
7. Henry Martyn
8. Gamini Goonasena
9. Garth Le Roux
10. Charles Kortright
11. Ole Mortensen

I'm very happy with this team. Tikolo, Satha, de Saram and Rice is a very strong middle order with a good mix of elegance and grit. Martyn, Goonasena, Le Roux and Kortright is a lower order that shouldn't fold. And I don't think the bowling is compromised - 2 opening bowlers of real pace and threat, plus 2 quality back up seamers allowing them to bowl short, aggressive spells. A high quality leg spinner with support from both an offie and a slow-left. There's a lot of bases covered but no "bits and pieces" - some players are multi-skilled, sure, but they're all high-class in their primary discipline.

------------------

Just a note to say I've loved this draft. I've learned about players I wasn't familiar with, and also learned new things about players I was familiar with. And as a lot of my first choice players went, it's forced me to research and learn more about still others, some who haven't been picked by me or others but are still high-class players.

 

[Aislabie]

It's between this and the Fender photo for best cricket picture of all time

 

[VC the slogger]

Alrighty, now that this is complete I'm willing to run a short 'Test' tournament between our XIs. Just need you guys to do one thing - select your match venues for home games (fixtures where your team name is mentioned first). You can select any Test match venue of your choice with the exception of Lord's where the final will be played, and yes - I will do everything in my power to replicate real life pitch conditions based on the venue you select, so I would suggest you select one based on the strengths of your squad.

Spoiler: Fixtures

Round 1

Aislabie's XI v VC's XI at TBC
Blockerdave's XI v CerealKiller's XI at TBC

Round 2

VC's XI v CerealKiller's XI at Trent Bridge
Aislabie's XI v Blockerdave's XI at TBC

Round 3

Blockerdave's XI v VC's XI at TBC
CerealKiller's XI v Aislabie's XI at TBC

Final

1st placed v 2nd placed at Lord's

As for myself, I'll go with Trent Bridge which has been a good venue for seam/swing bowlers in recent times, and will hopefully suit the bowling of King, Laing and Patterson in my XI.

@Aislabie @blockerdave @CerealKiller

 

[blockerdave]

I'll take a 70s WACA when it was properly fast

 

[CerealKiller]

CerealKiller's XI
1. Jamie Cox
2. Bhausaheb Nimbalkar
3. Amol Muzumdar
4. Ryan ten Doeschate
5. David Hussey
6. Franklyn Stephenson
7. Glen Chapple
8. Darren Berry
9. Rajinder Goel
10. Tom Pritchard
11. Don Shepherd

I'll go with The Oval

 

[Aislabie]

It's actually incredibly hard to pick a venue because a lot of my batsmen enjoyed '90s Shield tracks, but my bowling attack not so much. And it's quite a balanced group of bowlers, but arguably lacking outright pace.

And if we land on a minefield then Yacoob Omar will feel right at home.

If the ground only matters for the attributes of your team then I'll go for Bourda in the 1970s - fairly flat, buf rewards both good pace and spin.

If you're accounting for players preferring somewhere familiar then I'll go for Adelaide in the 1990s

 

[VC the slogger]

If the ground only matters for the attributes of your team then I'll go for Bourda in the 1970s - fairly flat, buf rewards both good pace and spin.

If you're accounting for players preferring somewhere familiar then I'll go for Adelaide in the 1990s

It's actually a bit of both.

 

[Aislabie]

It's actually a bit of both.

90s Adelaide it is