Draft: No Landmarks XI - Poll Added - Running till 25 April

[blockerdave]

So I've picked a slightly out-of-the-box player to complete my side, but Anthony McGrath finished his Test career with a batting average of 40.20 and a bowling average of 14.00. Absolute GOAT numbers those, even if in reality he was very much a batting all-rounder. His first-class numbers back up that he was a player of reasonable quality though: 35 first-class hundreds at an average of 36.83 to go with 134 wickets at an average of 35.66 is not to be sniffed at. Okay, so maybe his one-day international record was utterly dreadful, but who cares - we're here for Test players and it's Test players we've selected.

1. Bruce Laird
2. Chetan Chauhan
3. Brian Bolus
4. Ed Joyce
5. KC Ibrahim
6. Anthony McGrath
7. Niroshan Dickwella
8. Winston Benjamin
9. Simon Harmer
10. Mashrafe Mortaza
11. Tony Gray

On balance, quite a strong team. Benjamin and Gray with the new ball, Mortaza to provide a holding seamer's role and Harmer's off-spin is a decent front-line bowling attack, while three proven Test openers is something that none of the rest of the teams can boast. The rest are a little unproven (save for Dickwella) but that was always going to be an issue in this draft.

I nearly went for McGrath. The fact that his matches were all against a shocking Zimbabwe team was what stopped me: and I didn’t think I needed 3 all rounders!

 

[Aislabie]

I nearly went for McGrath. The fact that his matches were all against a shocking Zimbabwe team was what stopped me: and I didn’t think I needed 3 all rounders!

I mean yeah - against Zimbabwe he averaged 75 and 5.33 but against not-Zimbabwe he averaged 17 and 40. I like the narrative that the truth was somewhere in the middle. I mean that Zimbabwe side did include Streak, Blignaut and Ray Price, even if there was a non-zero amount of dead weight. Taibu, Ervine, Streak and Kirsten weren't exactly bad wickets either.

 

[Master Bates]

Buddy Oldfield-
Called up for his Test debut in August 1939, Norman Oldfield scored an attractive 80 against West Indies at The Oval, and 19 in the second innings. He never represented his country again. The Second World War started a few days later, and when it ended Oldfield, then 35, could not agree terms with his county, Lancashire, and went off to play league cricket. Eighty men have played one Test, and one only, for England. None scored as many runs as did Oldfield.

CerealKiller's XI:
01.
02. Parthiv Patel
03. Buddy Oldfield
04. Vic Stollmeyer
05. Barry Shepherd
06. Asim Kamal
07. Vallance Jupp
08. Sam Curran
09. Andre Adams
10. Jhye Richardson
11. Mike Hendrick

@VC the slogger final three picks for you to complete your team before I complete mine.

 

[Master Bates]

Raman Lamba-
Raman Lamba was a journeyman cricketer who came into prominence in the 1986-87 one-day series against Australia, when a hundred and two fifties in six matches won him the Man of the Series award. Short on technique but long on bravado, Lamba was blessed with a superb eye and quickfire reflexes. He liked to give bowlers the charge, and had a flair for improvisation that made for great entertainment. His one-day form was patchy after that dream debut, and he looked pedestrian in his four Tests. He remained a prolific scorer in first-class cricket, with two triple-centuries and a Ranji Trophy average of 53. He had expressed a desire to play on for Delhi until the age of 45, but was only 38 when he died after being hit on the head while fielding at forward short leg during a club match in Bangladesh.

CerealKiller's XI:
01. Raman Lamba
02. Parthiv Patel
03. Buddy Oldfield
04. Vic Stollmeyer
05. Barry Shepherd
06. Asim Kamal
07. Vallance Jupp
08. Sam Curran
09. Andre Adams
10. Jhye Richardson
11. Mike Hendrick

@VC the slogger it is all you now.[DOUBLEPOST=1581145540][/DOUBLEPOST]There is one play modern day player who no one has picked but I should have. I am not sure if @VC the slogger will pick him.

 

[Master Bates]

VC's XI

1. Alec Bannerman
2. Mike Brearley (C)
3. Joe Denly
4.
5. Ali Bacher
6. Alan Fairfax
7. Jock Cameron (WK)
8.
9. Nuwan Kulasekara
10. Mustafizur Rahman
11.

I would love to finish his team on his behalf. Maybe @Aislabie can help?

 

[VC the slogger]

I would love to finish his team on his behalf. Maybe @Aislabie can help?

Sorry, completely forgot about this during all the events surrounding the past couple of months. I’ll finish with:



The youngest man to ever make his Test debut for England aged just 18 years and 149 days, Brian Close was one of their gutsiest players when it came to batting against high quality fast bowling despite his limited abilities as a batsman. Put up one of the bravest displays of batting ever witnessed in the Test arena after being somewhat foolishly brought back at the age of 45 to face an unstoppable Michael Holding at his deadliest in 1976, though he scored only 20 off 108 balls in his final innings.

Close also has arguably the best record of any England captain to have skippered in a minimum of five Tests: of the 7 Tests he led them in, they won 6 and drew 1. Overall, he scored 887 runs at 25.34 with 4 half centuries and a highest of 70, and also claimed a rather useful 18 wickets at 29.55 which included a best of 4 for 35 with his underrated medium-paced offbreaks from a 22-match career stretching from 1949 to 1976; his 27-year career being the second longest in history behind Wilfred Rhodes.

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Several players have taken hat-tricks over the course of Test cricket’s 143-year history, but only one of them has managed to do so twice in the same Test match. His name is Jimmy Matthews, a right-arm legbreak bowler from Victoria who achieved the feat against South Africa during the ill fated 1912 Triangular Tournament on a badly rain affected wicket. But despite this astonishing feat, he never claimed more than 4 wickets in an innings and managed only 16 wickets at 26.18 from his 8 Tests, which also yielded 153 runs at 17.00 with 1 half century.

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Eldine Baptiste played only 10 Tests for the West Indies between 1983 and 1990, and won the lot of them. The presence of Holding, Garner, Marshall and latterly Ambrose, Walsh, Patterson on the bowling front meant he was used as little more than a support bowler for when the frontline quicks were tired. He finished with okayish figures considering, with 16 wickets at 35.18 and 233 runs at 23.30, never claiming more than 3 wickets in an innings or scoring more than 87 with the bat. His excellent first-class statistics of 723 wickets at 24.65 and 8070 runs at 27.73 suggest he could have perhaps made a greater impact had he been born in another era.


VC’s XI

1) Alec Bannerman
2) Mike Brearley
3) Joe Denly
4) Ali Bacher
5) Brian Close
6) Alan Fairfax
7) Jock Cameron
8) Eldine Baptiste
9) Jimmy Matthews
10) Nuwan Kulasekara
11) Mustafizur Rahman

 

[Aislabie]

The youngest man to ever make his Test debut for England aged just 18 years and 149 days, Brian Close

*Man reappears after months away, pulls out a pick that none of us can believe we missed.*

 

[Master Bates]

I really thought that James Faulkner deserved to be somewhere in this draft.

 

[Master Bates]

Now the only thing that could end this draft on a perfect note would be @Aislabie team reviews.

 

[Aislabie]

@Aislabie
1. Bruce Laird
2. Chetan Chauhan
3. Brian Bolus
4. Ed Joyce
5. KC Ibrahim
6. Anthony McGrath
7. Niroshan Dickwella
8. Winston Benjamin
9. Simon Harmer
10. Mashrafe Mortaza
11. Tony Gray

Harmer, Gray and Benjamin make up three cornerstones of an excellent attack - and Mortaza sure isn't bad for a weak link.
I'm really proud of my top four - it's a little on the stoic side, but not one of them will give their wicket up easily.
I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I picked McGrath, but he is likely a weak link. And a couple of quick wickets might make it harder for Dickwella to attack.

- - -

@blockerdave
1. Jimmy Cook
2. Michael Carberry
3. Wayne Larkins
4. Stuart Law
5. Brun Smith
6. Adrian Kuiper
7. Ben Hollioake
8. Bob Taylor
9. Ian Salisbury
10, Dayle Hadlee
11. Wayne Clark

Jimmy Cook, Stuart Law and Adrian Kuiper are three outstanding selections, and can form the backbone of your batting efforts.
You've also managed to pick up arguably the best pure gloveman in Test history in Bob Taylor.
Ian bloody Salisbury. There are a couple of less good players in every team, but this team has Ian Salisbury.

- - -

@Master Bates
1. Raman Lamba
2. Parthiv Patel
3. Buddy Oldfield
4. Vic Stollmeyer
5. Barry Shepherd
6. Asim Kamal
7. Vallance Jupp
8. Sam Curran
9. Andre Adams
10. Jhye Richardson
11. Mike Hendrick

This side has an absolutely outstanding bowling attack - all five of Hendrick, Adams, Richardson, Curran and Jupp would be key members of any of our bowling attacks.
Jupp, Curran and Adams also let this side bat deep; they're not the guys you want coming in if your bowlers are a bit tired.
The top three is a bit shaky; Lamba and Patel are both known to have been a bit questionable against short fast bowling.

- - -

@VC the slogger
1. Alec Bannerman
2. Mike Brearley
3. Joe Denly
4. Ali Bacher
5. Brian Close
6. Alan Fairfax
7. Jock Cameron
8. Eldine Baptiste
9. Jimmy Matthews
10. Nuwan Kulasekara
11. Mustafizur Rahman

There are lots of all-round cricketers in this side, which should serve to ensure that no opposition bowler is faced with any easy wickets.
With Brearley at the helm and Close as his deputy, this side will be fantastically well-led.
There's no express pace in this eleven; although outright fast bowlers without five-fors aren't easy to come by, this side could definitely have used one.

- - -

All in all, it's nice to come by and see that we appear to have done a pretty good job of picking our sides. There aren't many non-Salisbury players who I would say are in any way out of place, and although there's not a Test century or five-for to be seen, there are still a lot of good players in this draft.

 

[Master Bates]

@blockerdave @Aislabie @VC the slogger @CerealKiller poll added.