Generation Draft - COMPLETED!!

[sifter132]

WG what a legend - the Tendulkar of the 1800s ie. Has all the records because he played so long and people came to watch him play in droves. WG would have been my first pick for the round, such an icon.

Like Richard Hadlee a lot. Toiled without a lot of help for the Kiwis and very handy with the bat too. Great choice.

I reckon I know which guy shravi might go for here - well his 71-90 guy anyway. Fast bowler? No idea about which old guys will be left at my pick though, a bit of a lottery.

 

[shravi]

My first pick is Johnny Briggs. The first bowler to take a 100 wickets, Briggs was one of the greatest success stories of his time. In fact, he was the highest wicket taker in test match history two times during his career. A master of flight, pace variation and turn, Briggs mesmerized batsmen. He was an artist and was even more deadly on wet wickets. In 33 matches (49 innings), he took 118 wickets at an average of 17.75 and a strike rate of 45.1. This came at a miserly economy rate of 2.35 with 4 four-fors, 9 five-fors and 4 10WMs. His best bowling figures in an innings is a quite astounding 8/11. He wasn't too shabby with the bat either. He has a test century and 2 fifty to his name with 815 runs at an average of 18.11.

Widely regarded the best fast bowler of all time, Malcolm Marshall was unstoppable. He has the lowest bowling average of anyone to have taken 200 wickets or more. He could move the ball either way and at pace and more importantly, with control. He could smell fear and was ruthless. In 81 tests (151 innings), he took 376 wickets at an average of 20.94 and at a phenomenal strike rate of 46.7. Like Briggs, he was also quite miserly with an economy rate of 2.68. He took 19 four-fors, 22 five-fors and 10WMs. His best bowling in an innings is 7/22. He was also a very useful lower order batsman with 10 fifties to his name with 1810 runs at an average of 18.85.

In Briggs and Marshall, I have two wicket taking bowlers who can keep the runs down and can add a few runs to the total if the top order were to collapse.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Johnny Briggs (815 runs @ 18.11, 118 wickets @ 17.15)
Malcolm Marshall (1810 runs @ 18.85, 376 wickets @ 20.94)
10
11

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Haha, thanks for that Shravi Just made my life easier. For both of my picks, I was stuck between 2 guys. The ones you picked and the ones I am about to post.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Oh yeah, I saw Demon's profile. But, given the numbers of Lohmann, I chose him. Hopefully, I'll be able to do the writeup for Imran Khan later today.

----------

Ah, nice picks Shravi. Marshall was there amongst the top 3 which I shortlisted. I had 3 options. A batsman, a bowler or an AR. I guess, Imran was the right choice.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Charles Turner​

I think his nickname sums his up. Terror. While he wasn't pacy as such, only managing to bowl medium-pace from a long run-up, he had great control and accuracy. He had a lethal yorker, but it was his change in his pace to such a degree, he could bowl off-breaks and, rarely, leg-breaks, on rain-affected pitches that made batsmen all around him to be considered without a peer. He is without doubt one of the finest ever produced by Australia, a testament proven by that he stills holds the record for BBM at the SCG - 87/12.

I know Shravi's player, Johnny Briggs, became the 1st bowler to reach 100 Test wickets, but I believe it could have been Turner had he not missed the 3rd Test during the 1894/95 Ashes. Needless to say, he became the second. He's also the fastest man in Test history to reach 50 wickets (6 matches), and second fastest to 100 wickets (17 matches) after Lohmann. All at an economy rate of 1.93.

Turner makes my XI with Test stats of:

Matches: 17
Wickets: 101
Average: 16.53

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

Dennis Lillee​

As my picture clearly shows, arguably the greatest fast bowler of all-time. And without a doubt the most complete. Shravi might not agree with his pick of Marshall, and statistically, Marshall is the superior. But Lillee was the more complete package. He was amazingly accomplished in all the skill facets of a fast bowler. He also had to carry the burden of the Aus attack for most of his career, especially after Thommo's decline. After his retirement, he was the leading wicket-taker in Tests at the time. His only blemish is his record in the SC, but then again, he hardly played any matches over there.

Not else much to say really. You all know how great he is, so I guess I'll just leave it with a video of him getting the better of Sir Viv.

Lillee makes my XI with Test stats of:

Matches: 70
Wickets: 355
Average: 23.92


The Papa XI:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10) D Lillee
11) C Turner

Quite chuffed with my opening bowling combination

 

[sifter132]

Haha, thanks for that Shravi Just made my life easier. For both of my picks, I was stuck between 2 guys. The ones you picked and the ones I am about to post.

Just like you've done for me mate Woke up this morning, saw I was 3rd in line, wrote my 3 top choices: Marshall, Lillee, Botham and spent my spare moments of the day reordering them in my head So great choices guys, but I couldn't lose in my mind.

My picks are Sir Ian Botham and Ranjitsinhji

Will write up tomorrow morning so check back and you will: a) get the chance to learn something you may not know, and b) realise how awesome they both were. While you're waiting go and look at Great India's summary of Ranji:
http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/cricket-discussion/cricketer-week-20th-nov-26th-nov-76569-2.html#post2226136

1
2
3 Ranjitsinhji
4
5
6 Sir Ian Botham
7
8
9
10
11

 

[Aoun13]

My Picks:
From Round 1: J.J. Ferris (61 wickets in just 9 Test matches at an average of 12.7)
Round 2: Joel Garner ( 259 wickets in 58 tests at an average of 20.9)

Will do write-up tomorrow as I have to study for my exam.

 

[Sedition]

My picks are Sir Ian Botham and Ranjitsinhji

A prince and a knight? Sifter's team is so full of win, it should be illegal.

 

[Varun]

Interesting stuff. Would love to participate in a draft like this sometime.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Beefy! Was thinking of nabbing him for myself, but Lillee was just too good to pass on

My Picks:
From Round 1: J.J. Ferris (61 wickets in just 9 Test matches at an average of 12.7)

Good pick But the requirement was at least 10 Tests. But I'm not too bothered by it - the rule can be flexible, especially when it comes to the old guys. I don't have a problem with it, and I don't think anyone else would either

Interesting stuff. Would love to participate in a draft like this sometime.

We're only in the 1st round. You can join if you want to.

 

[sifter132]

A prince and a knight? Sifter's team is so full of win, it should be illegal.

You know it


Ranji

Tests: 15
Runs: 989
Ave: 44.95
HS: 175 vs Australia, SCG, 1897/98

Prince Ranjitsinhji, usually called Ranji, was the first great Indian player - although he played his Tests for England.

He averaged almost 45 in his Tests, and 56.37 in a prolific first-class career, scoring almost 25,000 runs, mainly for Sussex, where he captained for a few years. Both those averages are much higher than the norm of the day and show how good Ranji was. And yet it wasn't his production that makes him a legend, it was his effect on the game.

Ranji revised batting technique. He played back rather than played forward as was the style of the day. The back foot defence was one of his trademarks, previously unseen, but his most famous shot was the leg glance, which was regarded as some sort of Eastern magic! They need to do a retro Pepsi ad with Ranji and the leg glance instead of Dhoni/helicopter shot, Dilshan/Dilscoop etc.


Sir Ian Botham

Tests: 102
Runs: 5200
Ave: 33.54
Wkts: 383
Ave:28.40

My old cricket encyclopedia of 1987 describes Botham as "the leading cricketer of the 1980s...an outstanding all-rounder whose figures dwarf all who went before him". At the time he was the leading wicket taker in Test cricket history and arguably cricket's biggest star.

I pointed this out in the greatest all-rounder thread, but Botham was possibly the all-rounder who was best able to excel at both disciplines at once. Let's run down the statistical achivements:
*He is the only man to have taken at least 10 5fers and made at least 10 centuries (14 100s, 27 5fers); The closest anyone else has got to 10 of each is 8, Botham has 14!
*He had 5 matches where he made a 100 and took a 5fer, the next best is only 2!
*3 times he made 250 runs and took 20 wickets in a series, and he is the equal leader of that category.
*He has the 2nd highest ever all-rounder rating in the ICC rankings.

It's a shame as time has passed that more emphasis has gone onto his fairly innocuous looking career stats (relative to Imran for example) rather than recognising what he did in cricket. It's easy to pick holes in records and Botham has a couple. Botham didn't do as well against WI as he might have and he played on too long. Botham didn't make a 100 or take a 5fer after 1986, yet he played 14 more Tests before he retired, battling with his fitness.

He was very inconsistent with bat and in fact has the lowest average of anyone who has made 10 or more centuries. But then again...he's a bowler who made 10 centuries - 14 in fact. When he was on, he was a brutal batsman, "the hardest hitting batsman in the game" my encyclopedia says, a pretty big honour when Viv Richards was still about. I'm not relying on him for consistency, instead Botham will be the exclamation point on a quality batting lineup. And of course having a guy at #6 who can open the bowling with excellent swing bowling, awesome...

Oh yeah and Ashes 1981... Always has to be mentioned whenever Botham is mentioned apparently

----------

oh and just further on Ranji, he's one of only 2 players that played before 1900 that ended up with a first class batting average over 50 (qualification: guys with at least 50 innings). And the other guy is 50.22, Ranji is almost 57 - truly the best batsman of his generation

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Just like you've done for me mate Woke up this morning, saw I was 3rd in line, wrote my 3 top choices: Marshall, Lillee, Botham and spent my spare moments of the day reordering them in my head So great choices guys, but I couldn't lose in my mind.

My picks are Sir Ian Botham and Ranjitsinhji

Will write up tomorrow morning so check back and you will: a) get the chance to learn something you may not know, and b) realise how awesome they both were. While you're waiting go and look at Great India's summary of Ranji:
http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/cricket-discussion/cricketer-week-20th-nov-26th-nov-76569-2.html#post2226136

I cannot believe it took this long for ranji to come out, he would have been my 1st pick. I was beginning to dream the impossible dream after so many rounds had come up without mentioning his name. an innovator, an incredible average for the age, a legend. absolutely shocked he never came out before this.

 

[AngryPixel]

My picks are: Charlie Turner & Kapil Dev. Will do a writeup soon

Kapil Dev
​

Kapil Dev was the greatest pace bowler India has produced, and their greatest fast-bowling allrounder. If he had played at any other time - not when Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee were contemporaries - he would surely have been recognised as the best allrounder in the world. In any case he did enough to be voted India's Cricketer of the Century during 2002, ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. His greatest feats were to lead India almost jauntily, and by his all-round example, to the 1983 World Cup, and to take the world-record aggregate of Test wickets from Hadlee. It was the stamina of the marathon runner that took him finally to 431 wickets and only a yard beyond. He might not have been quite the bowling equal of Imran, Hadlee or Botham at his best, and his strike rate was less than four wickets per Test, but he was still outstanding in his accuracy and ability to swing the ball, usually away from right-handers. And he could hit a ball even more brilliantly than he bowled it, with uncomplicated flair.

He took 434 wickets in 131 tests and scored over 5000 runs. A class allrounder. One of the best allrounder of all time. He's got 23 five fers and 8 centuries. He was renowned for his banana swing at a decent pace.

Bobby Peel​

Bobby Peel, who died at Morley, on August 12, aged 84, was one of the finest allround cricketers of any time. Primarily he was a bowler, the second in the remarkable succession of slow left-handers -- Edmund Peate, Peel, Wilfred Rhodes and Hedley Verity -- who rendered such brilliant service to Yorkshire over a period of sixty years. Born at Churwell, near Leeds, on February 12, 1857, Bobby Peel first played for his county in 1882, when Yorkshire were singularly rich in bowling talent, so that he had to wait several years before attaining real distinction. Still, being a capital fieldsman, especially at cover-point, and a punishing left-handed batsman, he kept his place in the team, and when Peate's connection with the county ceased in unhappy circumstances Peel came to the fore. For nine seasons, with his fine length, easy action and splendid command of spin, this sturdily built left-hander regularly took over 100 wickets for Yorkshire, his county total amounting to 1,550 at an average cost of 15 runs each. He was often a match-winner. In 1887 he took five Kent wickets for 14 runs in an innings and, with 43 runs in a low-scoring match, helped largely in a victory by four wickets. In the same season eleven Leicestershire wickets fell to him for 51 runs at Dewsbury, five in the first innings for four runs. A year later he took eight Nottinghamshire wickets in an innings for 12 runs, while in 1892 five wickets for seven runs in an innings and eight for 33 in the match against Derbyshire at Leeds was a startling performance. He did even better in 1895 against Somerset, 15 wickets falling to him in 36 overs for 5 runs, nine for 22 in one innings causing a sensation. At Halifax in 1897, a month before his county career ended, Peel dismissed eight Kent men in an innings for 53 runs, his match average showing eleven for 85; this performance gave Yorkshire an innings victory with 103 runs to spare in two days. Peel's full return in bowling in first-class cricket was 1,754 wickets at 16.21 runs apiece.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

turners been 'ad.

 

[AngryPixel]

oops.. Missed him.. Bobby Peel its is then