Draft time: World Cup history - ALL FINISHED!!

[Papa_Smurf]

Paul Strang​

Arguably Zimbabwe's greatest ever all-rounder, Paul Strang averaged 52 with the bat and 16 with the ball, as well as being Zimbabwe's best fielder during the 96 WC.

A leg-spinner, he had the entire repitorie of a leggie, combined with incredible accuracy. Add to this useful lower-order batting, and outstanding fielding at cover or backward-point, and you get yourself a fine all-rounder.

Injuries hampered his career however, and it's why his 99 WC stats aren't that impressive. But what the world saw of him at the 96 WC, I can't believe he was still avaliable when my turn came for this round - and just shows the depth of talent the minnows have

For his all-round abilities, Paul Strang makes my WC XI with stats of:

1996 WC:
Matches: 6
Runs: 52
Batting Average: 52.00
Batting SR: 65.82
HS: 22*

Wickets: 12
Bowling Average: 16.00
Bowling SR: 21.00
Econ: 4.55

Overall WC:
Matches: 12
Runs: 109
Batting Average: 18
Batting SR: 65
HS: 29

Wickets: 15
Bowling Average: 25.86
Bowling SR: 34.6
Econ: 4.47

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Papa's WC XI:

1) A Gilchrist (+)
2)
3)
4) Z Abbas
5) A Ranatunga
6)
7)
8) P Strang
9)
10) D Patel
11)

 

[AkshayS]

Average of 52 and 16 sounds impressive but then only 52 runs pulls me back.
I would rate Neil Johnson and Heath Streak over Paul Strang any day.

 

[shravi]

Papa Smurf's Round 6 pick is John Davison. I will make my round 5 and 6 picks later.

 

[AngryPixel]

fling I thought nobody would remember John Davison

 

[shravi]

I'm going for Thomas Odoyo. He was a very handy cricketer and a true team player and will round off my bowling attack nicely, I feel while also giving my batting order just that something extra. Thomas Odoyo played in 4 World Cups and in 20 matches. In those matches he took the second highest number of wickets by any player from Zimbabwe, Kenya or Bangladesh so while his average may be lower, it is to be expected because he plays for a weaker team and because he has played so many World Cup matches. He took 20 wickets at 34 with a best of 4/28. He also scored 361 runs in 18 innings at 26. His all round talent was recognized in 2007 when he received the award for ICC's Associate Player of the Year for 2007.

My second pick will be Boyd Rankin as he proved that he could perform against the bigger nations as well, and not just by picking up 5 wickets in one match and the none after that. In 2007, Rankin had quite a tournament which included 3/32 vs Pakistan, 2/28 vs England, 2/26 vs South Africa, and 2/42 vs Bangladesh. He picked up 12 wickets at an average of 27 in that World Cup. More than his stats though, I was just impressed with the way he bowled. He has genuine talent and skill and certainly could perform quite admirably outside the minnow arena against better teams.

Glenn Turner ('75, '79, '83- 612 runs, 61 average, 2 hundreds, 2 fifties)
Marvan Atapattu ('99, '03- 521 runs, 43 average, 2 hundreds, 3 fifties)
3.
4.
5.
6.
* Imran Khan ('75, '79, '83, '87, '92- 666 runs @ 35, 34 wickets @ 19)
Thomas Odoyo ('96, '99, '03, '07- 361 runs @ 26, 20 wickets @ 34)
Shane Warne ('96, '99- 32 wickets at 19.50)
Boyd Rankin ('07- 12 wickets @ 27)
11.

 

[sifter132]

Geez I was wondering who would be good enough to make you pass over John Davison, but I think you did pretty well with Rankin. He was a bit expensive but at least he got a bit more respect from the larger nations than most of the other minnow players, and the English liked him enough to try and poach him. Davison's the only minnow guy I could think of who got some respect from the big teams, even a little bit of fear after that whirlwind 100 against the Windies.

Interestingly, no one claimed a Bangladeshi in round 5. 6 Zimbo's and 3 Kenyans but no Deshis!

Average of 52 and 16 sounds impressive but then only 52 runs pulls me back.
I would rate Neil Johnson and Heath Streak over Paul Strang any day.

Hehe very sneaky. That's a bit like my man Abdul Qadir - he averages 59 in World Cups, but he was only out in 2 of his 9 innings.

 

[shravi]

I couldn't pick Davison anyways. I already have 2 openers.

 

[sifter132]

Ah yes of course, you're already set - didn't think of that. Although Marvellous Marvan batted at #3 for a while didn't he?

 

[AngryPixel]

Can we pick unpicked bangladeshi players in this minnow round

 

[riz7khan12]

Trent Johnston
​

Trent has been the iconic all-rounder in the Irish side for a long time and was captain of the Irish side for their world cup debut in 2007. His skills as captain showed when his side eliminated Pakistan from the world cup in the thriller at Kingston, where he smashed a six of the best and also got his side in the super 8's. He averaged 21.50 with the bat and 32.25 with the ball in his 8 world cup games, his economy rate in world cups is quite high but that must be because one or two bad performances.

He adds vital bowling depth and good late order slogging options to back up my already strong middle-order.

1.
2. Grant Flower
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Martin Crowe
5. Javed Miandad
6.
7.
8. Trent Johnston
9.
10. Lasith Malinga
11.​

 

[mohit_dude10]

Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk

A decent middle order batsman, proved to be very good addition for the dutch team as he scored well against top teams. Also the only 2nd Dutchman to ever score a 100 in an ODI.

Over-all World Cup Record:

Mat: 9
Runs: 322
Avg: 46
100's: 1
50's: 1
HS: 134*

My World Cup team:

1.Rameez Raja
2.Stephen Fleming
3.
4.Mahela Jayawardane
5.
6.KJ van Noortwijk
7.Mauris Odumbe
8.
9.
10.
11.Glenn Mcrath

 

[shravi]

That hundred did come against Namibia by the way. He really didn't do anything special apart from that. The fact that he was not out in that innings also boosts his average by quite a bit.

 

[mohit_dude10]

Well pretty much all the associate players have scored/done well against their associate counterparts only, he is also one of those, But he did do well in 96 World cup with decent scores against NZ,Pak and Eng.

 

[sifter132]

Can we pick unpicked bangladeshi players in this minnow round

Haha, nope bad luck, you'll have to wait to cash til round 11 to cash in on the Bangladeshi riches.

That hundred did come against Namibia by the way. He really didn't do anything special apart from that. The fact that he was not out in that innings also boosts his average by quite a bit.

Hmmm, perhaps not too wise pointing that out I could make a similar point for one of your openers who's average is inflated by about 20 with one massive innings vs East Africa. But I guess that's the trap of playing with World Cup stats isn't it? It's not a big sample size for most players and how do you rate performances against lesser teams? Then you can get really tricky and see if they made big scores when the game was already lost or against a team that was resting it's best bowlers...the analysis can be endless.

Anyway, that dutch dude you picked mohit was certainly on my list Sure the big score against Namibia is not the greatest endorsement, but we aren't picking from a great group here lets not forget.

________________________________________________________

And Angry, I think you might as well get the India round cracking when you're on next or when you make your minnow pick. That will help keep the draft rolling along nicely.

 

[AngryPixel]

Spot on Jason. People talk about games against minnow as if they dont matter. Ask South Africa. You gotta perform against minnows to play against the better teams.