Draft: One per decade draft | Poll open, see post #113 for team list

Who picked the best team?

  • ahmedleo414

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yash.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • VC the slogger

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Bevab

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • blockerdave

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Aislabie

    Votes: 1 14.3%

  • Total voters
    7
  • Poll closed .
I am going with Eddie Paynter played his first test in 1931 and final in 1939 so he is my pick from 1930s

Eddie-Paynter.jpg


Stats|Matches|Runs|HS|:bat: Ave|100s/50s
First-Class |352|20,075|322|42.26|46/95
Test |20|1,540|243|59.23|4/7
Here is his bio from wiki:

"Eddie Paynter, who died at Keighley on February 5 aged 77, was a left-handed batsman who averaged 84.42 for his seven Tests against Australia, a figure which no other Englishman can approach. This in itself would entitle him to a place among the great, but his figures become even more remarkable if his innings are analysed. In three of these matches he came to the rescue at a grave crisis. On the first occasion, the third Test in 1932-33, he came in at 186 for 5, not a good score by the standards of Tests in Australia in those days, and made 77, adding 96 with Verity for the eighth wicket. In the fourth Test at Brisbane, he was taken to hospital with tonsillitis and doubtless, had all gone well with England, would not have batted. But all did not go well, and at 216 for 6 he emerged from the pavilion, refused Woodfull's offer of a runner, was still there at the close, and returned to bed in hospital. Next morning, he was not out until he had scored 83 in nearly four hours. On this occasion he and Verity put on 92 for the ninth wicket. Normally quick on his feet and a fine driver, he had conserved energy by waiting for opportunities to hit the ball to leg, preferably to the boundary. Few innings in history have so captivated the imagination of the public. Moreover, Paynter insisted on fielding for a couple of hours before retiring and then, as if to show that he was none the worse, in a brief second innings he finished the match with a 6.

In 1938 at Lord's, he came in a 31 for 3 and helped Hammond in a stand of 222, of which his own share was 99. In the previous Test at Nottingham he had broken the record for England against Australia in this country with an innings of 216 not out. In all Tests, Paynter's average was 59.23. In the series in South Africa in 1938-39 he averaged 81.62 scoring a hundred in each innings of the first Test, and 243 in the third. Yet Paynter was 24 when he first made a hundred for Lancashire II, and between 1926 and 1929 he appeared only 11 times for the county without any success. It was not until 1931, when he was 30, that he made his first century against Warwickshire at Old Trafford, gained a regular place, and reached his thousand runs. In 1932 he was inconsistent, but on the strength of some notable innings was selected for the MCC side to Australia. He had been picked for the third Test against New Zealand in 1931 but scored only 3.

It was four years after the 1932-33 tour before Paynter played for England again. Meanwhile, he had made plenty of runs for Lancashire, and in 1936 actually scored 964 runs in August; unfortunately the side for Australia had already been picked. In 1937, however, he could be denied no longer. He scored 2,904 runs with an average of 53.77, including 322 in five hours against Sussex at Hove, and 266 against Essex at Old Trafford, and played in two Tests against New Zealand, missing the third because of injury. Two years later the war virtually ended his career. He resisted pressure to return to the county side at 45, but in 1947, in a couple of festival matches at Harrogate, played innings of 154, 73, and 127, the last taking only eighty-five minutes.

A small man, Paynter was by instinct an attacking batsman, particularly effective against slow spin, but also a fine hooker and cutter who did not spare the fast bowler if he pitched short. He was one of the great outfields of his day and almost equally good at cover - a beautiful thrower with a safe pair of hands. This was the more remarkable as early in life he had lost the top joints of two fingers in an accident. At Lord's in 1938, when Ames had broken a finger, Paynter kept wicket through the Australian second innings of 204, and though he had little or no experience of wicketkeeping conceded only 5 byes and held a catch. A wonderful cricketer."

My playing XI:

  1. ?
  2. ?
  3. :eng: :bat: Eddie Paynter 1930s
  4. :aus: :bat: Bob Cowper 1960s
  5. :aus: :bat: Adam Voges 2010s
  6. :eng: :ar: Tony Greig 1970s
  7. ?
  8. ?
  9. ?
  10. ?
  11. ?

@VC the slogger back to you, you have 4 write-ups now :p
 
I’ll go with Jack Gregory from the 1920s. For now I’ll just say this is the guy who probably began the trend of express pace bowlers from Australia tormenting English batsmen in the Ashes over the years. His bowling stats are pretty good considering the era he played in was one full of flat batsman-friendly pitches; add to that he was a brilliant batsman too, at one time owning the record for the fastest century in Test cricket off 67 balls for a good 60 years or so before Viv Richards eclipsed him.
 
Just keeping track..

VC’s XI

1) :saf: :bat: Barry Richards (1970s)
2)
3)
4) :aus: :ar: Stan McCabe (1930s)
5)
6)
7) :aus: :ar: Jack Gregory (1920s)
8)
9)
10)
11) :eng: :bwl: Frank Tyson (1950s)
 
My pick would now be from the 80s :-

Geoff Lawson

geoff-lawson-bowling-for-australia-on-the-fifth-day-of-the-1st-test-picture-id101564128


Statistics

Tests:- 180 wickets @ 30.01 (11 5WI, BBI 8/112) in 46 Tests
First Class:- 666 Wickets @ 24.87 (28 5WI, BBI 8/112) in 191 Matches


Geoff Lawson was 22 when he caught attention of the Australian selectors when he rattled the England great, Geoff Boycott, with 2 nasty bouncers, eventually going on to dismiss him and take 2 other wickets in that innings. He was a tall, lively pacer from NSW, and could have been one of the Aussie legends, if not for his injuries. He was fiercely competitive and played every game as his last. In the chances he got initially, he didn't do much good, but he bounced back.
In the 1982-83 Ashes. Lawson led the Aussie pace attack in absence of Dennis Lillee and ended the series with a phenomenal tally of 34 wickets to his name, rightfully earning the player of the series award.


Apart from his bowling, his main strength was his captaincy. He captained his domestic side, New South Wales, in the Sheffield Shield. As a leader, he inspired his troops, that comprised the likes of Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, both of whom went on to etch their names into the history of Australian cricket. He captained NSW for four years and brought a glorious end to his domestic career as he helped them win the title in his last game ever in 1991-92 season.


My team as of now...
  1. :saf: :bat: Jimmy Cook (90s)
  2. :ind: :bat: Wasim Jaffer (2000s)
  3. ?
  4. ?
  5. ?
  6. ?
  7. ?
  8. :aus: :bwl: Geoff Lawson (80s) :c: (As of now)
  9. ?
  10. ?
  11. :aus: :bwl: Josh Hazlewood (2010s)
[DOUBLEPOST=1588967573][/DOUBLEPOST]@Aislabie
 
@Aislabie missed his deadline, so I will go ahead with my pick

I am going with Matthew Hoggard played his first test in 2000 and final in 2008 so he is my pick from 2000s

MatthewHoggardGET_468x334.jpg


Stats|Matches|Wkts|BBI|BBM|:bwl: Ave|5w/10w
First-Class |239|786|4/49|?|27.65|26/1
Test |67|248|7/61|12/205|30.5|7/1
Here is his bio from wiki:

"Big, bustling, and with the sort of energy coaches kill for, Hoggard shapes the ball away from the right-hander at pace and is surprisingly slippery off the pitch, although he can be Fraserishly ineffective when the ball refuses to move. Hoggard was one of the leading lights among Yorkshire's bright young things, but it was under the astute tutelage of Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain that he grew the senior bowler of the England quartet that swept all before them in an unbeaten year 2004. His apprenticeship was long and at times tortuous. With just two Tests under his belt, Hoggard was chosen to lead the attack on an arduous tour of India in 2001-02, where he charged in obediently and accurately, and capped his winter with figures of 7 for 63 against New Zealand at Christchurch. By the end of the following summer he had been voted the bowler of the season by readers of Wisden Cricket Monthly, but he endured a horrific winter Down Under, where his arcing inswing was meat and drink to Australia's legion of left-handers - in particular, Matthew Hayden.

To his credit, Hoggard retreated to the ECB Academy in Adelaide, and returned with a snappier run-up to play his part in England's fifth-Test win at Sydney. By his own admission, he took a while to learn his role in the side, and his flashier colleagues consistently stole his limelight. But his moments when they came were worth waiting for - a brilliant hat-trick at Barbados in April 2004, and then a phenomenal 12-wicket haul at Johannesburg the following winter, where he single-handedly bowled England into a series-clinching 2-1 lead. And the following summer, he shrugged off a quiet start to the summer to contribute nine wickets at Trent Bridge and The Oval, as England sealed their first Ashes victory for 18 years.

His batting is limited, but he has developed into a reliable tailend blocker and one of the most effective nightwatchmen in the game. After a solid series against Sri Lanka in 2006 - 15 wickets at 24.60 - he struggled against Pakistan with 10 expensive wickets, but showed unstinting efforts on the Ashes tour including a seven-wicket haul at Adelaide. He carried a huge workload and was ruled out of the final Test with a side strain, bringing an end to 40 consecutive appearances. A rusty display against New Zealand led to his axing after the first Test in Hamilton and though he earned a recall to the squad for the first Test of the 2008 season, he was subsequently overlooked on home soil at Headingley when the uncapped Darren Pattinson played as a replacement for Ryan Sidebottom."

My playing XI:

  1. ?
  2. ?
  3. :eng: :bat: Eddie Paynter 1930s
  4. :aus: :bat: Bob Cowper 1960s
  5. :aus: :bat: Adam Voges 2010s
  6. :eng: :ar: Tony Greig 1970s
  7. ?
  8. ?
  9. :eng: :bwl: Matthew Hoggard 2000s
  10. ?
  11. ?

@blockerdave you have the next pick, @Aislabie you still have one late pick
 
My pick is Frank Foster from the 1910s.

From cricinfo "A fine allrounder, a superb medium fast left arm bowler, and a natural hitter. He is best remembered, perhaps for his partnership with Sid Barnes on the 1911-12 Ashes tour, where their pairing was all but unstoppable."

In that series, Foster took 32 wickets at 21.62 (to Barnes' 34 at 22.88). Foster also scored 226 runs at 32.38.

Without Foster, there'd be no bodyline, he acrually pioneered "leg-theory", bowling a leg-stump line to a packed leg-side field, his left-arm brisk fast-medium around the wicket being deadly in such tactics. Foster also captained an un-fancied Warwickshire to the county championship in 1911. In 1914, in the last championship season before the war he did the 1000 runs/100 wickets double, and made his highest first class score of 305*.

A serious leg-break in a 1915 motorcycle accident meant his top-level cricket career was over.

Unfortunately, after that, his life fell apart. He was implicated in the murder of a prostitute, was cut-off from his family money and ended up bankrupt, spoke to Jardine before the Ashes tour and then disowned bodyline, finally being banned from Edgbaston "for his disgraceful conduct in the past season, notably towards amateur players and the catering staff". He ended up in Nottingham Lunatic Asylum, where he would eventually die penniless. This descent was not likely due to his injury, he had been eccentric before, retiring from cricket in 1910 before being persuaded back, and again in 1911 when he was offered the Warwickshire captaincy, declined it in order to retire (he was 22), before being told to accept it by his Dad after the committee wrote to him when they lost their first match by an innings. He took the captaincy, got a test call up, won the championship, and went on his triumphant Ashes tour.

He played only from 1908-1914 and for England only from 1911-12. His test record was 330 runs at 23.57 and 40 wickets at 20.57 including 4 5-fers, in 11 matches.

His first class record was 6,548 runs at 26.61 and 717 at 20.75.

I believe the modern parlance would be to call him a troubled genius.

  1. Marcus Trescothick (2000)
  2. Lee Irvine (1970)
  3. Frank Foster (1910)
  4. Hedley Verity (1930)
  5. Charlie Griffith (1960)




@VC the slogger is next, and @Aislabie still has a late pick
 
Percy_Fender_1925cr.jpg


:eng: :ar: Percy Fender

Decade
: 1920s
Test stats: 380 runs @ 19.00 (best 60) and 29 wickets @ 40.86 (2 5WI, best 5/90) in 13 matches
First-class stats: 19,034 runs @ 26.65 (21 centuries, best 185) and 1,894 wickets @ 25.05 (100 5WI, best 8/24) in 557 matches

I'm not necessarily on a mission to pick the best possible team - what I want is am impressive, entertaining and enjoyable team for the hypothetical fans. And there's absolutely no way that a team led by the big-hitting, leg-spinning Surrey all-rounder Percy Fender would be anything other than entertaining. Yes he was a bit crap at Test level, but was generally regarded as the most creative captain of his time; many accounts suggest that it was he who suggested the Bodyline tactic to his friend and protege Douglas Jardine. With four rapid fast men in the side, Fender's knowledge of how to weaponise fast bowling should be... entertaining.

@Aislabie 's XI so far:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. :eng: :ar: Percy Fender :c:
8. :aus: :bwl: Ryan Harris
9. :saf: :bwl: Fanie de Villiers
10. :nzf: :bwl: Shane Bond
11. :wi: :bwl: Tony Gray
 
Dr Herbert “Ranji” Hordern shall be my pick from the 1910s, a decade during which he was arguably the world’s greatest legspinner. Claimed a staggering 46 wickets from just 7 Tests, and could have easily gone on to become an all-time great if not for his medical career and the onset of World War I in 1914.


@Yash.
 
My pick would be Max Walker (70s)

upload_2020-5-11_19-43-20.jpeg

Tests: 138 Wickets @ 27.47 (6 5WI, BBI 8/143)
First Class: 499 Wickets @ 26.47 (21 5WI, BBI 8/143)

Max Walker was a wrong footed bowler, nicknamed “Tangles”, and was the bowling partner to Lillee and Thomson. He would be a strong component to my Aussie fast bowling attack.[DOUBLEPOST=1589206889][/DOUBLEPOST]@VC the slogger
 
The only man to come in the way of Steve Smith breaking Don Bradman's 90-year record for the most runs in a Test series during the 2019 Ashes when he nearly killed him with a brutal bouncer that struck him on the neck. Also perhaps the only fast bowler from England since Frank "Typhoon" Tyson to send the ball all the way over the boundary after having bounced just once on the pitch i.e six byes but in Jofra Archer's case it did so after clipping the bails off the stumps, something I'm confident NO ONE has ever done in cricket history - not even the likes of Frank Tyson, Jeff Thomson, Charles Kortright, Roy Gilchrist etc who have all been recorded to having achieved the rare distinction of six byes. Together, he and Tyson will make life a living hell for any who oppose us.




1) :saf: :bat: Barry Richards (1970s)
2)
3)
4) :aus: :ar: Stan McCabe (1930s)
5)
6)
7) :aus: :ar: Jack Gregory (1920s)
8)
9) :aus: :ar: Ranji Hordern (1910s)
10) :eng: :ar: Jofra Archer (2010s)
11) :eng: :bwl: Frank Tyson (1950s)


@ahmedleo414
 
I am still surprised to find this player available Vinod Kambli, who played his first test in 1993 and final test in 1995 so he will be my pick from the 1990s

kambli-660_112213021804.gif


Stats|Matches|Runs|HS|:bat: Ave| 100s/50s
First-Class |129|9,965|262|59.67|35/44
Test |17|1,084|227|54.20|4/3
Here is his bio from wiki:

"Born and bred in Mumbai, Vinod Kambli's flashy strokeplay, flamboyant personality and fondness for gold jewellery were more West Indies than West India. A precocious talent, he was 17, and Sachin Tendulkar 16, when they put on a world-record unbroken 664-run partnership in a school match. Kambli started his Test career three years after Tendulkar, and three years after he had hit the first ball he received in the Ranji Trophy for six. But what a start it was: in his first seven Tests he racked up two double-centuries and two single ones. His footwork was dazzling against the spinners - he once smashed Shane Warne for 22 runs in an over - but he often got himself into a tangle against the short ball, and his flash to gully soon became a trademark. Kambli's problems were compounded by indiscipline and an obsession with the width of his bat-handle, which had nine grips on at one time. He made as many as nine comebacks into the one-day team, but played his last Test in 1995 before he had turned 24. He wasn't picked in the Indian ODI team after October 2000 and retired from international cricket in 2009. He announced his retirement from first-class cricket in 2011."

My playing XI:

  1. :ind: Vinod Kambli 1990s
  2. ?
  3. :eng: :bat: Eddie Paynter 1930s
  4. :aus: :bat: Bob Cowper 1960s
  5. :aus: :bat: Adam Voges 2010s
  6. :eng: :ar: Tony Greig 1970s
  7. ?
  8. ?
  9. :eng: :bwl: Matthew Hoggard 2000s
  10. ?
  11. ?
@Aislabie you have the next pick
 

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