OK so killing some time before the Test match starts I compiled these lists:
Most Runs (top 7 batsmen)
39673 - sifter132
33420 - Angry Pixel (helps to have Tendulkar
)
32541 - Swacker
32353 - shravi
32169 - User2010
30959 - Send2yaari
30196 - War
29284 - Aditya
25150 - Papa Smurf
24704 - StinkyBoHoon
22793 - Crew of Black
Average batting average of top 7 batsmen
53.44 - Angry Pixel
48.74 - Send2yaari
47.92 - User2010
46.82 - shravi
46.66 - Aditya
44.95 - War
43.95 - StinkyBoHoon
43.40 - sifter132
43.23 - Swacker
42.12 - Crew of Black
40.18 - Papa Smurf
Most wickets (5 main bowlers)
1442 - StinkyBoHoon (and that's with Giffen as 5th not Sobers :0 - Giffen took 3 wkts/T @ 27 vs Sobers 2.5wkts/T @ 34)
1422 - Crew of Black (Macartney as 5th)
1207 - Papa Smurf (Noble as 5th - very close vs Rhodes)
1158 - sifter132 (Miller as 5th)
1069 - Aditya (Dexter as 5th)
961 - shravi (Faulkner as 5th)
879 - Angry Pixel (Tendulkar as 5th)
720 - User2010 (Imran as 5th)
700 - Send2yaari (Greig as 5th)
633 - War (Simpson as 5th)
609 - Swacker (Ulyett, Steel and Kallis as 3rd, 4th and 5th lol)
Average bowling average of 5 main bowlers
19.21 - User2010
19.74 - Send2yaari
22.66 - Papa Smurf
23.04 - shravi
23.25 - Crew of Black
24.20 - Swacker
24.21 - sifter132
24.86 - StinkyBoHoon
25.94 - Aditya
28.70 - Angry Pixel
29.85 - War
Of course the way to win these statistical analysis is to pick lots of old time bowlers and then pick up modern batsmen, because the stats favour those eras generally. That's what User and Aoun have done for the most part and that's why they are near the top of both the batting and bowling average summaries. But does that give them the best teams?? Stats often oversimplify things, when there are other important factors that make a good team: balance of the lineup, fielding ability, batting of the tail, leadership and morale, ability to excel in many different conditions etc.
