Draft: The Ashes | COMPLETE

[blockerdave]

Jofra Archer is exciting, and may change this in time, but the best bowler I've seen for England in my time was also one of the unluckiest: SIMON JONES

When Hussain bowled at Brisbane, Jones took the first wicket, before horrendously injuring his knee with an ill-advised "slide" on the spongy surface. After a long time out, he got back into the team to form part of the 4-pronged pace attack in the lead up to the 2005 Ashes. Sometimes underbowled, always dangerous, Jones delivered high-pace, accurate reverse swing. Quite simply, Australia couldn't cope with him. As I said before, pace makes a difference in the Ashes.

Of players to have bowled at least 500 balls in the Ashes, Jones has the best strike rate. The rest of the top 7 all played before 1910. (Number 8 is Mitchell Johnson.)

His overall ashes record is just 5 matches (2 of which he failed to finish due to injury, including the 4th test in 2005 after which he would never play again), but he took 19 wickets at an average of 21.57 at the obscene strike rate of 34.4.

As in 2005, he forms part of a dangerous 4-man pace attack that includes a world class all-rounder, and I think our left arm spinner is an upgrade on Giles.

1. -
2. -
3. Wally Hammond
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Alan Border
6. Ian Botham
7. -
8. Mitchell Johnson
9. Hedley Verity
10. Bob Willis
11. Simon Jones

@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Overall Pick #45: Frank Tyson

Profile
It's about time I got some Northamptonshire representation in my eleven, and while this could have waited had Mitchell Johnson still been available it makes complete sense to select Frank Tyson for the important role of opening the bowling and providing a definite bodily threat to the batsman. Lots of words have been used to describe fast bowlers: rhythmical, languid. effortless - and some earn sobriquets such as "Whispering Death", "White Lightning" or "The Typhoon". Frank "Typhoon" Tyson was not a pretty bowler, his run-up was a flailing sprint towards the stumps, his action a bodily hurl of the ball, and after every delivery his follow-through would finish with him nearly on his haunches from the sheer physical exertion of his chosen style of bowling. Despite being anything but pretty, Tyson's action was devastatingly effective (right up until his body said "no more" before the age of thirty), and those who saw him bowl maintained that he was the fastest of all time. He was also a great thinking bowler, as was borne out in his successful post-playing careers as a coach and commentator.

Statistics
ASHES - 117 runs @ 10.63 (best 37*) and 32 wickets @ 25.31 (2 5WI, best 7/27) in 8 matches
ALL TESTS - 230 runs @ 10.95 (best 37*) and 76 wickets @ 18.56 (4 5WI, best 7/27) in 17 matches
FIRST-CLASS - 4,103 runs @ 17.09 (best 82) and 767 wickets @ 20.89 (34 5WI, best 8/60) in 244 matches


Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3. Charlie Macartney (Pick #36)
4. Steve Smith (Pick #8)
5. Steve Waugh (Pick #5)
6. Ben Stokes (Pick #19)
7. Brad Haddin (Pick #25)
8.
9. Jim Laker (Pick #18)
10. Frank Tyson (Pick #45)
11. Jack Iverson (Pick #40)

Next Pick:
@Sinister One

 

[Master Bates]

Bob Simpson
Herbert Sutcliffe
Maurice Leyland


Monty Noble
Alan Knott
Billy Barnes

Charlie Turner
George Lohmann

@Survivor

 

[blockerdave]

Overall Pick #45: Frank Tyson

Profile
It's about time I got some Northamptonshire representation in my eleven, and while this could have waited had Mitchell Johnson still been available it makes complete sense to select Frank Tyson for the important role of opening the bowling and providing a definite bodily threat to the batsman. Lots of words have been used to describe fast bowlers: rhythmical, languid. effortless - and some earn sobriquets such as "Whispering Death", "White Lightning" or "The Typhoon". Frank "Typhoon" Tyson was not a pretty bowler, his run-up was a flailing sprint towards the stumps, his action a bodily hurl of the ball, and after every delivery his follow-through would finish with him nearly on his haunches from the sheer physical exertion of his chosen style of bowling. Despite being anything but pretty, Tyson's action was devastatingly effective (right up until his body said "no more" before the age of thirty), and those who saw him bowl maintained that he was the fastest of all time. He was also a great thinking bowler, as was borne out in his successful post-playing careers as a coach and commentator.

Statistics
ASHES - 117 runs @ 10.63 (best 37*) and 32 wickets @ 25.31 (2 5WI, best 7/27) in 8 matches
ALL TESTS - 230 runs @ 10.95 (best 37*) and 76 wickets @ 18.56 (4 5WI, best 7/27) in 17 matches
FIRST-CLASS - 4,103 runs @ 17.09 (best 82) and 767 wickets @ 20.89 (34 5WI, best 8/60) in 244 matches


Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3. Charlie Macartney (Pick #36)
4. Steve Smith (Pick #8)
5. Steve Waugh (Pick #5)
6. Ben Stokes (Pick #19)
7. Brad Haddin (Pick #25)
8.
9. Jim Laker (Pick #18)
10. Frank Tyson (Pick #45)
11. Jack Iverson (Pick #40)

Next Pick:
@Sinister One

Ha... you know I was gonna pick Tyson... it was all gonna be Tyson. And then I thought, actually if I’m going out and out pace, I’ll go Tommo

And then at the very last minute, I overwrote what I’d already started typing and picked Jones instead.

Imagine how annoyed you’d have been if I took Johnson AND Tyson!

 

[Deleted member 193590]

Look out Goochie here comes my next pick.

TERRY ALDERMAN - The smiling assassin



Graham Gooch’s nemesis. The Australian who bowled like a traditional English swing bowler, bowling stumps to stumps, revelled over here. He took 42 wickets at 21.26 in 1981 (no Australian has taken more in an Ashes series) only to struggle (1-84) in 1982-83 (he even damaged a shoulder tackling a pitch invader). Back in England, though, it was back to business, with 41 wickets at 17.36 in 1989. Against his fast-medium out-swingers and off-cutters, Gooch struggled so much against him he asked to be dropped. He also did pretty well in Australia in 1990-91, however, with 16 wickets at 26.75. He took 100 Ashes wickets in total at just 21.17 apiece.

1. Arthur Morris
2. Justin Langer
3. Ken Barrington
4. Michael Vaughan
5. Michael Hussey
6.
7.
8.
9. Shane Warne
10. Alec Bedser
11. Terry Alderman

@VC the slogger

 

[Bevab]

Overall Pick #45: Frank Tyson

Profile
It's about time I got some Northamptonshire representation in my eleven, and while this could have waited had Mitchell Johnson still been available it makes complete sense to select Frank Tyson for the important role of opening the bowling and providing a definite bodily threat to the batsman. Lots of words have been used to describe fast bowlers: rhythmical, languid. effortless - and some earn sobriquets such as "Whispering Death", "White Lightning" or "The Typhoon". Frank "Typhoon" Tyson was not a pretty bowler, his run-up was a flailing sprint towards the stumps, his action a bodily hurl of the ball, and after every delivery his follow-through would finish with him nearly on his haunches from the sheer physical exertion of his chosen style of bowling. Despite being anything but pretty, Tyson's action was devastatingly effective (right up until his body said "no more" before the age of thirty), and those who saw him bowl maintained that he was the fastest of all time. He was also a great thinking bowler, as was borne out in his successful post-playing careers as a coach and commentator.

Statistics
ASHES - 117 runs @ 10.63 (best 37*) and 32 wickets @ 25.31 (2 5WI, best 7/27) in 8 matches
ALL TESTS - 230 runs @ 10.95 (best 37*) and 76 wickets @ 18.56 (4 5WI, best 7/27) in 17 matches
FIRST-CLASS - 4,103 runs @ 17.09 (best 82) and 767 wickets @ 20.89 (34 5WI, best 8/60) in 244 matches


Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3. Charlie Macartney (Pick #36)
4. Steve Smith (Pick #8)
5. Steve Waugh (Pick #5)
6. Ben Stokes (Pick #19)
7. Brad Haddin (Pick #25)
8.
9. Jim Laker (Pick #18)
10. Frank Tyson (Pick #45)
11. Jack Iverson (Pick #40)

Next Pick:
@Sinister One

One player that I really expected to be picked in the Pre-T20 draft. Great choice.

 

[Aislabie]

Ha... you know I was gonna pick Tyson... it was all gonna be Tyson. And then I thought, actually if I’m going out and out pace, I’ll go Tommo

And then at the very last minute, I overwrote what I’d already started typing and picked Jones instead.

Imagine how annoyed you’d have been if I took Johnson AND Tyson!

I'd have been all kinds of sad!

Those were always my three front-runners in the side for the spot of "guy who bowls ridiculous gas". Probably going to complete my bowling attack next round because there are so many good openers to pick from

 

[VC the slogger]

​

Every batsman in the world was envious of Don Bradman, he of the unparalleled Test batting average of 99.94 and owner of more records than a gramophone company. But the unthinkable happened on one fine morning during the 1938 Ashes, where Bradman himself was green with envy after having watched a batsman play an innings he described as the greatest he had ever seen in a Test match. The batsman in question was Stan McCabe, who on his day was arguably the most brutal striker of the cricket ball and perhaps the best player of fast bowling in the world. As a batsman, he grew up with no formal coaching whatsoever and knew only one way to play which was to strike the ball hard but along the ground. It didn't matter if the bowler was Harold Larwood or Eddie Gilbert, the indigenous Australian fast bowler who once famously knocked the bat out of Bradman's hand and later dismissed him for a duck on their first encounter - McCabe put every single one of them to the sword with his powerful hooks and cuts. Clarrie Grimmett, who played alongside both Bradman and McCabe considered the latter to be the technically superior batsman of the two, stating that "When Stan was in command, he was so magnificent to watch, and he left everyone, including Bradman, for dead. Certainly Bradman scored more runs, but Stan was the batsman you most wanted to be."

Things were not always so rosy for McCabe however. During his first couple of seasons of first-class cricket for New South Wales between 1928/29 and 1929/30, he totalled an impressive 1041 runs at 49.57, but had a tendency to waste his starts due to his at times overaggressive approach, not scoring a single century during this period. He was selected for the 1930 Ashes in England primarily because of his useful medium-paced bowling, something which Australia were in rather short supply of following the retirements of Jack Gregory and Charles Kelleway, with the rest of their bowling reserves being comprised mostly of slow bowlers. He had a nightmarish start to the tour scoring just 51 runs at an average of 7.28 with the bat and taking no wickets with the ball during the initial six first-class matches played by the Australians, and even considered retirement at one stage. But after taking some batting advice from Clarrie Grimmett of all people, he recovered to post scores of 91, 65 and 96 along with a match haul of 8 for 85 against Cambridge University, thus leading to a Test debut in the first Test of the series. Things did not quite go according to plan for him, through he smashed the first ball he ever received in Test cricket to the boundary, he had scores of 4 and 49 in the match - his second innings dismissal due to a rash shot potentially cost his team the match as Australia lost by 93 runs. Nevertheless, Australia recovered to win the series 2-1 thanks to Bradman's record shattering efforts of 974 runs at an average of 139.14 with 4 centuries which included two doubles and one triple century. McCabe's efforts paled in comparison with him totalling 210 runs at an average of 35.00, but claiming a somewhat more impressive 8 wickets with a best of 4 for 41 to finish atop the Australian bowling averages. He ended the tour with 1012 runs at 32.64 and 26 wickets at 27.80 from all first-class matches.

Three figures continued to elude him at international level during Australia's next two Test series against the touring West Indies in 1930/31, and South Africa in 1931/32 for which he totalled 397 runs at 33.08 with a highest of 90. But he managed to finally tackle the problem at first-class level with scores of 229*, 106 and 103* from the only two appearances he made in the Sheffield Shield, which saw him finish with a stratospheric season batting average of 438 for 1931/32. He finally came of age with the bat in the 1932/33 Ashes aka 'Bodyline' series, where he recorded his maiden Test century with a stunning 187* off just 233 balls out of a total of 360 whilst the rest of his team-mates struggled due to Douglas Jardine's infamous tactics. Australia however, still lost the match by 10 wickets and the series 4-1, but McCabe finally proved his detractors wrong with 385 runs at 42.77 for the series where most batsmen including Bradman struggled with just 396 runs at 56.57, almost half of his career average which hovered around 112 at that stage of his career.

Between 1934 and 1937, he established himself as one of the greatest batsmen in the world, scoring 1394 runs at an average of 63.36 with 4 centuries from 15 Test matches during this period - including a starring role to help Australia regain the Ashes in 1934 with 483 runs at 60.37 with a best of 137, a performance which saw him named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the year in 1935 alongside fellow team-mates Bill Ponsford and Bill O'Reilly. He then had what was arguably his best series with the bat against South Africa in 1935/36, scoring 420 runs at 84.00 in the absence of Bradman due to poor health, including a brutal unbeaten 189 that had the South African fielders ducking for cover and could have helped Australia chase down their record target of 399 if not for bad light. He saved his greatest batting performance for what turned out to be his final Test series in the 1938 Ashes, where he lit up the First Test with that famous innings of 232 coming off just 277 balls that left even Bradman in awe, causing him to say probably for the only time in his career "I wish I could bat like that". His form did not carry on to the rest of the matches and he did not cross fifty in an innings after the knock, seeing him finish with 362 runs at 45.25 for the series which Australia drew 1-1 with England to hold onto the urn. His Test career was effectively ended by the onset of the Second World War in 1939 at the age of 29. He played no first-class cricket after 1941/42.

Overall, McCabe scored 2748 runs at an average of 48.21 with 6 centuries, and claimed 36 wickets at 42.86 with a best of 4 for 13 from 39 Test matches between 1930 and 1938; in the Ashes, he scored 1931 runs at 48.27 with 4 centuries and claimed 21 wickets at 51.23 from 24 matches. This extended to 11951 runs at 49.38 and 159 wickets at 33.72 in all first-class cricket between 1928/29 and 1941/42. He had an estimated strike rate of 60.02 in Test cricket, making him easily one of the most aggressive batsmen of his era - even more so than Bradman whose rough estimate is said to be around 59. Interestingly, none of his three most famous knocks i.e 187* against England in 1932/33, 189* against South Africa in 1935/36 and 232 against England in 1938 resulted in an Australian victory, as he usually saved his best performances with the bat for matches where Australia found themselves in difficult positions. One shudders to think what he might have achieved had his Test career like that of many of his contemporaries not been interrupted by the War.


Playing Role

McCabe will bat at No 4, a position from where he averaged 51.87 in the Ashes. I doubt we'll be needing his otherwise useful medium pace bowling unless we're faced with a total of 500-600 which is unlikely given the bowling attack we possess.


VC's XI

1. Jack Hobbs
2.
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Stan McCabe
5.
6. Keith Miller
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Ray Lindwall
9.
10. Bill O'Reilly
11. Sydney Barnes


@Sinister One Double pick, because your previous pick of Alan Knott was invalid as he was already picked by @CerealKiller.​

 

[Master Bates]

Bob Simpson
Herbert Sutcliffe
Maurice Leyland


Monty Noble
Jim Parks
Billy Barnes
Bobby Peel
Charlie Turner
George Lohmann

@blockerdave

 

[blockerdave]

As I need an opener, JOHN EDRICH a solid, patient left-handed opener with an excellent record. In 32 Ashes Tests he scored 2,644 runs at 48.96 with 7 hundreds and 13 half-centuries.

Edrich adds significant solidity to the top order, his job is to stick in like a limpet and let the others bat around him.

@Survivor

 

[Deleted member 193590]

My wicket keeper,thought long and hard about this one but I always thought this guy was so unlucky not to play more test cricket,so he's going in my team.

JACK RUSSELL



he was extremely agile, could move either way in a fluid motion that never seemed forced, and along with being an excellent catcher he was one of the best stumpers the world has produced.

We all know about Jack and Atherton in Johannesburg.But I found this write-up about the 89 Ashes and thought it showed just what a battler Jack was.He will make me a great no 7.

Ashes 1989

This was the season where the Australian Ashes juggernaut took off: they gave England a 4-0 thrashing in the six Test series, and it would take England 16 years to reclaim the much-coveted urn. He had a quiet Ashes debut at Headingley (though he had four catches) as England surrendered meekly. It was clear that the Australian fast bowlers had spotted his weakness against bounce.

Russell arrived very early for the second Test at Lord’s. A group of MCC groundstaff boys had been hurling plastic balls at Knott from a 15-yard distance. Russell did not play a single stroke — not even tried to fend — for the first 20 minutes: he simply swayed and ducked. Thus prepared, he entered the sacred arena of cricket for the first time in Test cricket.

Russell came out to bat at 185 for 6 — below John Emburey — and lost Robin Smith on 191. Not only did the trio of Terry Alderman, Geoff Lawson, and Merv Hughes intimidate him with bouncers, the entire side dished out their entire array of verbal dosage to him.

Russell was more than eager to give them back an earful. Wisden wrote that Russell had “decided that the best response to the verbal bouncers he was getting from the Australian close-fielders while he batted was to answer back in good, old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon. Jack, 5ft 8in and 9st 8lb with his boots on, gave the startled Aussies an earful as well as his best shots.”

Russell went on to score a gutsy 64 not out in 115 balls with nine fours. He later said: “That day I played the most important innings of my career, I crossed a mental bridge. They tried the short-pitched bowling and I coped, they tried all the verbals and I had a go back. You know, they didn’t say another word to me out in the middle all series.” He also took three catches and scored a 65-ball 29 in the second innings, but it all went in vain.

Once again he succeeded with the bat, scoring 42 in the drawn Test at Edgbaston. With England 187 runs in arrears at Old Trafford Russell walked out at 38 for five and lost David Gower on 59. Wisden described Russell’s batting in that innings as “one of the gutsiest innings you are likely to see.”

Russell eventually scored his maiden First-Class hundred — a 293-ball 128 not out with 14 fours. He added 142 with John Emburey, but his heroics were not enough to nullify the failure of his colleagues as Australia clinched the Ashes in that Test. It would remain his highest Test score. Russell finished the series with 314 runs at 39.25, 14 catches, and four stumpings.

For a wicketkeeper whose Test debut was delayed because of limited batting skills, Russell finished third in terms of runs for England (after Smith and Gower) and averaged more than Gower’s 34.81. Other than Gower he was the only Englishman to play all 6 Tests that Ashes.


1. Arthur Morris
2. Justin Langer
3. Ken Barrington
4. Michael Vaughan
5. Michael Hussey
6.
7. Jack Russell
8.
9. Shane Warne
10. Alec Bedser
11. Terry Alderman

@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

I'll go with Bill Lawry. He might be famous around the cricketing world thanks to his fantastic commentary, but he was also a great opening batsman, and had a very good Ashes record, with 2233 runs at an average of over 48, with 7 hundreds and 13 fifties.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Len Hutton
2. Bill Lawry
3. Don Bradman
4.
5. Mark Waugh
6. Andrew Flintoff
7. Alan Knott
8. Hugh Trumble
9. Dennis Lillee
10.
11. Glenn McGrath

@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Overall Pick #53: Bill Lockwood

Profile
When describing Bill Lockwood, even Wisden used terms such as "troubled" and "difficult" and for good reason: his life and career were bifurcated by a disastrous few years in which he struggled through shoulder and hand injuries to complete an unsuccessful away Ashes series, then returned home to the death of his wife and child. Quite understandably, he did his level best to find answers at the bottom of bottles and his performances no longer commanded a place in the Surrey side. However, with the support of his county, he gave up alcohol and resumed his titanic influence on the successes of both Surrey and England. In all, Lockwood contested four Ashes campaigns, and finished them with respective bowling averages of 16.71, 67.80, 14.85 and 12.11 which make clear that it was struggle and not excellence that was the outlier. Not only could one count on his metronomic seam bowling, but he comes with the added dimension of being a capable lower-order batsman.

Statistics
ASHES - 231 runs @ 17.76 (best 52*) and 43 wickets @ 20.53 (5 5WI, best 7/71) in 12 matches
ALL TESTS - 231 runs @ 17.76 (best 52*) and 43 wickets @ 20.53 (5 5WI, best 7/71) in 12 matches
FIRST-CLASS - 10,673 runs @ 21.96 (15 centuries, best 165) and 1,376 wickets @ 18.34 (121 5WI, best 9/59) in 363 matches


Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3. Charlie Macartney (Pick #36)
4. Steve Smith (Pick #8)
5. Steve Waugh (Pick #5)
6. Ben Stokes (Pick #19)
7. Brad Haddin (Pick #25)
8. Bill Lockwood (Pick #53)
9. Jim Laker (Pick #18)
10. Frank Tyson (Pick #45)
11. Jack Iverson (Pick #40)

Next Pick:
@VC the slogger

 

[VC the slogger]

My picks are Sid Barnes and Wilfred Rhodes (writeup later)..

​

It is often said that the best players are often those that leave you wanting more. This old cliche couldn't have applied more to any one individual than Sidney Barnes, the opening batsman from New South Wales who shared remarkable similarities with the legendary Englishman Sydney Barnes both in name and in regards to off-field controversies. Barnes played a grand total of just 13 Tests over a 10-year career but left an indelible mark from the few opportunities he got, averaging a staggering 63.05, which extended to 71.38 as opener - the second highest batting average ever recorded by an opening batsman with a minimum of 500 runs in Tests behind the great Barry Richards (72.57), and the fourth highest overall among batsmen with a minimum of 10 innings at Test level after Don Bradman (99.94), Stewie Dempster (65.72) and Steve Smith (63.24). To show this was no fluke, he also scored 6582 runs at 62.09 at First Grade Level, where even Bradman averaged only 89.47 compared to a Test batting average of 99.94, putting himself on par with some of Australia's most cherished opening batsmen such as Victor Trumper (9244 runs at 62.03), Bob Simpson (10188 runs at 60.28) and Archie Jackson (3084 runs at 58.18) in the competition. Of the three Ashes series he played, he finished second on averages to Bradman in 1946/47 with 73.83 to the latter's 97.14, but actually managed to beat him in 1948 where he averaged 82.25 to Bradman's 72.57 - thus making him the only Australian batsman apart from Archie Jackson, Bill Ponsford and Arthur Morris to finish ahead of 'The Don' in terms of batting average in a Test series.

Early in his career though, he made his name as an attacking middle-order batsman and part-time leg break bowler with a brash confidence that almost bordered on arrogance in his ability. In just his second season of first-class cricket in 1937/38, he totalled 800 runs at 50.56 with 1 century, which he managed despite bleeding profusely after being struck on the jaw by Test fast bowler Ernie McCormick; another century against Western Australia which ought to have been his first was removed as a result of the NSWCA retrospectively deeming the match as a non first-class fixture much to Barnes' anger. Nevertheless, his performances so early in his career were enough to earn him a call-up to the Australian Test side which toured England to contest the 1938 Ashes. Though unbeknownst to anybody, Barnes went into the tour with a fractured wrist which he kept secret for fear of being sent home, thereby causing him to miss half of Australia's first-class fixtures along with the first two Tests of the series. He made his Test debut in the final Test of the series, where England posted a then record total of 903/7 on the back on Len Hutton's epic 364, being forced to bowl as many as 38 overs whilst claiming 1 for 84 in the process. Australia, with both Don Bradman and Jack Fingleton unable to bat due to injury, managed just 201 and 123 in response to lose the match by a record innings and 579 runs - still the biggest innings defeat ever suffered by a team in Test history. Barnes though acquitted himself quite well given the circumstances, scoring 41 and 33 with the bat in both innings. He managed 720 runs at 42.35 for the entire tour, but had his international career put on hold for the next six years due to the onset of the Second World War - in between, he managed 1050 runs at 75.00 with 6 centuries for the 1940/41 season prior to enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force.

When cricket resumed after the War, Barnes took on a completely different identity as a batsman, changing his attacking style of play to become an obdurate opening batsman after being approached by the Australian selectors, who were unable to find a suitable opening partner for the talented Arthur Morris with regular pre-war opener Bill Brown ruled out due to injury. Despite initial misgivings, he accepted the role for it would see him coming in before Bradman in the lineup instead of after, which he described as "flat beer after champagne". He would go on to score 443 runs at 73.83 for the 1946/47 Ashes with a highest score of 234, which he made whilst sharing a record 405-run partnership with Bradman who also scored 234 in the same innings; Barnes later revealed he had deliberately thrown away his wicket to avoid outscoring Bradman. His performances in his new role were enough to force Brown to batting in the middle-order for the rest of his career, with Barnes and Morris confirmed as Australia's new Test opening pair. He toured England with Bradman's 'Invincibles' in 1948, where he continued in the same vein of form he had left off in his previous Ashes series - scoring 329 runs at 82.25 from 4 Tests; he missed one due to an injury he suffered fielding at his novel short-leg position. In six innings in the Test series, he crossed fifty four times with a highest of 141 at Lord's where he had wagered £8 at 15/1 on himself to score a century. Australia dominated the series 4-0 and went through the entire tour unbeaten to live up to the moniker of the 'Invincibles', with Barnes scoring a total of 1354 runs at 56.41 from all first-class matches. Upon returning home, he played in Bradman's testimonal match in 1948/49 where he famously walked out to bat with a miniature bat as a practical joke, and later announced a shock retirement from all cricket aged just 32 in order to focus on his business interests.

In the three years following his retirement, Australia struggled with their opening position with the formerly prolific Morris aggregating a mediocre 884 runs at 36.83 as opposed to the 1408 at 74.11 he managed until 1948, whilst Barnes' replacements in Jack Moroney, Ken Archer and Jim Burke fared no better with a combined aggregate of just 632 runs at 27.48 during this period. Barnes, now a columnist who would often criticise the Australian cricket administration was prompted to return to first-class cricket in a bid to win back his Test place after being told by ACB chairman Aubrey Oxlade that he would be judged solely on his batting performances. But in reality, he was judged on anything but his batting performances - despite recording an impressive century against Victoria and thereby being selected in the Australian Test squad to play the West Indies at home in 1951/52, he was vetoed out of the team by the ACB "on grounds other than cricketing ability" in a manner not too dissimilar from what would befall Kevin Pietersen more than half a century later. He continued to impress with the bat without any hope of a Test recall, scoring 152 against Victoria in what turned out to be his final season of first-lass cricket in 1952/53, but made the headlines for the wrong reasons when he walked out dressed as a flight assistant (pictured above) carrying several superflous items in a match against South Australia where he was acting 12th man, thereby delaying proceedings much to the annoyance of the opposing team. He then retired for good at the end of the season, saying that "his card had been marked".

Overall, Barnes scored 1072 runs at 63.05 with 3 centuries (all of them in the Ashes) from 13 Tests between 1938 and 1948, including a staggering 846 runs at 70.50 in the Ashes. Among openers with a minimum of 500 runs in the Ashes, nobody averages higher than his 77.10 from the position with the nearest rival being Herbert Sutcliffe (2708 runs at 67.70). In all first-class cricket, he scored 8333 runs at 54.11 with 26 centuries, and also claimed 57 wickets at 32.21 with his part-time leg breaks which were sparingly used at Test level where he managed only 4 wickets at 54.50 from 9 innings. He also kept wicket early in his career, managing a total of 4 stumpings at first-class level in the process. If not for his larrikin nature and outspokenness against the Australian Cricket Board, he could have perhaps added to his 13 Test caps, a number which did little justice to a player of his ability.

Playing Role

I had initially planned to select an aggressive opening batsman like Victor Trumper to complement Hobbs at the top of the order. But with my team already possessing a galaxy of attacking players in Ponting, McCabe, Miller, Gilchrist and even Lindwall to some extent, I reckoned a bit more solidity would be better up top. Barnes and Hobbs, both averaging well above 50 (77 in Barnes' case) are the two perfect men to lay a solid foundation at the top in my opinion. Besides, I couldn't resist the urge of having both Sidney and Sydney in the same lineup! (sorry to those still searching for openers)

As for the bowling, my selection of Rhodes has pretty much completed my attack and added some much needed left-arm variety to a predominantly right-handed bowling lineup. With an Ashes bowling average of 24.00, batting average of 31.01 along with the ability to open either the batting (from where he averages a stunning 42.95 in the Ashes) or the bowling, he was simply too good to ignore. But I'll deliberate more on that later, as I need some sleep now..


VC's XI

1. Jack Hobbs
2. Sid Barnes
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Stan McCabe
5.
6. Keith Miller
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Ray Lindwall
9. Wilfred Rhodes (writeup later)
10. Bill O'Reilly
11. Sydney Barnes


Over to @Aislabie, again.​

 

[Aislabie]

Sid Barnes

He was very much my next pick. It was so late in the draft I just assumed he'd gone under the radar