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

[Yash.]

• Vinod Kambli 1990s

• Chris Tavaré 1980s

• Eddie Paynter 1930s

• Bob Cowper 1960s

• Adam Voges 2010s

• Tony Greig 1970s

• / Albert Trott 1890s

• ?

• Matthew Hoggard 2000s

• Jack Saunders 1900s

• Ernie Toshack 1940s

Looks like the One Per decade “ASHES SIDE” ft. Vinod Kambli

 

[ahmedleo414]

Lol, I just noticed that... Wow that was unintentional

 

[Bevab]

I believe that I owe a post in this thread.

So, here is my team. Most of it was haphazardly assembled in the true nature of this draft.

Mark Richardson - 2000s

Richardson initially begun life as an unspectacular left-arm spinner before suffering from a dreaded case of yips. Richardson however moved forward in the only way he knew how to, by working on his batting to the point that he earned a selection to the national side as a stonewalling opener who made his name on occupying the crease for as long as possible. In a team prone to collapses, Richardson was often the sole source of solidity which meant that his inability to score centuries weren't considered a huge drawback. When he retired, Richardson had a claim to be one of the best openers in NZ history, something that everyone would have deemed impossible at the start of his career.

Madhav Apte - 1950s

Apte's brief but successful Indian career was one of the biggest mysteries in cricket. Why was an opener who struck a century on his Ranji debut and averaged close to 50 after two series' versus Pakistan and West Indies suddenly dropped? Given the musical chairs that occurred after the axing with his replacement being a Naren Tamhane who had never been an opener before in his career (and that was just in the first innings as Umrigar was the opener in the second!). Despite that, Apte had a solid if unspectacular opener in domestic cricket, leading Bombay to two Ranji titles. His domestic numbers were not something special, but Apte was known to be a man for the bigger occasions and there is no doubt that he deserved better.

Ernest Tyldesley - 1920s

He might have been the less entertaining brother, but Ernest offered consistency along with grace in every shot that he played. Having lost much of his formative years to the Great War, Tyldesley made his debut for England only at the age of 32. However, like fine wine he aged wonderfully and played his last international at the age of 40. Even more remarkably, at the age of 45 he finished with an incredible average of 57.83 alongside scoring his hundredth century in county cricket. He is still Lancashire's highest run-scorer, a record that looks unlikely to be broken anytime soon.

Reginald 'Tip' Foster - 1900s

Belonging to a glorious cricket family, Reginald Foster managed to represent England as captain in both cricket and football. He remains the last cricketer to do so. Foster's debut set records for the highest individual score by a debutante and also the highest score by an Englishman in Australia. Foster was one of the few cricketers of his time who relied heavily on their wrists, something that is commonplace in modern cricket. This led to him having a brilliant off-side game, not unlike modern batsmen like Kohli and Azam.

Brian Booth - 1960s

The term 'underrated' has taken on it's own meaning in recent times. However, Brian Booth was someone who was definitely underappreciated in his times and even more so now. He lacks a biography page on Cricinfo despite averaging more than 40 and being an integral member of the Aussie side in the early to mid 1960s. Booth was an unassuming character, ever polite and respectful without any controversy to his name in stark contrast to his nation's cricketing identity. Who else could have drawn an explanation letter from the Don himself for what was an admittedly harsh axing after a solitary match as the captain? Booth played both cricket and hockey and the latter helped him to have unusually powerful shots without much of a follow through. Hockey also helped him to be a fine outfielder and Booth was remarkably good at accumulating the score with perfect timing and footwork, which helped him particularly well versus spinners who were befuddled by him. Booth could also bowl part-time off-spin, leg-spin and medium pace.

Brian McMillan - 1990s

McMillan was the senior cool head in the resurgent South African side that returned after the apartheid ban. To make a comparison, he did a similar role to that of Ben Stokes for England currently. He was not the most skilled with the bat and did not make full use of his muscle power and his bowling was nothing more than medium pace. And yet, McMillan was the man South Africa turned to throughout the 90s whenever they needed some solid batting, a timely wicket or just a good old sledge. McMillan possessed the defensive technique that allowed to score at an average of nearly 40 and could deliver the awkward bounce most dreaded by batsman with his impressive physique, in addition to his ability to be an outstanding slip fielder. All of this ended in him being rated deservedly as the best all-rounder of the 90s.

Billy Bates - 1880s

Billy Bates was one of the finest bowling all-rounders of his day. He bowled off-spin and was noted for his ability to turn the ball at his will. Despite not being as good with the bat, Bates was still serviceable and ended up with five test fifties, a remarkable feat as only one other player managed to equal it in his times. It was unfortunate that his career was brought to a premature end of a training injury which left his eyesight permamently damaged, destroying his vision and mental health and forcing an early retirement at the age of 33.



Will make the next two picks tomorrow.

 

[VC the slogger]

Ready or not, here I come..


1) Barry Richards (1970s)
2) Charles Bannerman (1870s)
3) Stan McCabe (1930s)
4) Colin Bland (1960s)
5) Michael Bevan (1990s)
6)
7) Jack Gregory (1920s)
8) Ranji Hordern (1910s)
9) Jofra Archer (2010s)
10) Frank Tyson (1950s)
11) Tom Richardson (1890s)


The inclusion of Richardson completes my fearsome four-man pace lineup consisting of some of the most feared fast bowlers in history in the likes of Richardson, Archer and Gregory - three of whom were quick enough to record six byes in a match. Needless to say, in the words of the wise Jofra Archer "you're gonna need two helmets" to face this bowling attack.

Bannerman might have a poor FC average, but if you dig deeper it was still among the best by an Australian batsman during his time when bowlers like Samuel Cosstick would often run riot on terrible batting wickets. Plus he scored Test crickets first runs, first boundary and the first century..

And Bevan, I reckon could have made a fine Test player in another era given his sheer appetite for runs in the first-class arena which was unmatched even by those who played for the Australian team ahead of him. He has an unbelievable Shield record of 10621 runs at 60.69 with 42 centuries and only 41 fifties, and once held the record for the most runs in a season with 1464 at 97.60 scoring 8 centuries from only 9 matches in 2004/05. Add to that, he also has a Test-match ten-fer to his credit. Nuff said..

 

[ahmedleo414]

I'll tag @Bevab you have the next pick. As well as the two outstanding picks you have previously (total 3 picks).

 

[Bevab]

Gregor MacGregor - 1890s

MacGregor was one of the greats of wicket-keeping in the 19th century, earning a mention in Wisden as the wicket-keeper of the year in 1891. He regularly kept wicket to the fastest amateur pacer of his time in Woods and was noted for the quiet, unobtrusive and mechanical way in which he kept wickets efficiently. Like other keepers of his time, he was below par with the bat but improved markedly especially towards the end of his career. Ranjitsinhji described him as "Sphinx-like in his calm fixity." Besides playing cricket, he also represented his native country Scotland in rugby.

Kyle Abbott - 2010s

One of the biggest what ifs in South Africa's recent cricket history will be the Kolpak move of one Kyle Abbott. What if he had merely waited a bit instead of signing a Kolpak deal after which he was a regular in his national side? What if he was the one bowling in the semis of that World Cup instead of being benched, a decision that surely hastened his departure? In any case, South Africa's loss was Hampshire's gain as they picked up an absolute coup in a bowler who was a master of the seam and could swing the ball in the air too and no slouch with the bat either. His county numbers are scarily good with a bowling average well below 20 and there is no doubt that he would be one of the top test bowlers had he still been playing.

Somachandra de Silva - 1980s

A test average of 36 may not seem impressive at all, but when one considers the fact that de Silva's official test debut for his newly promoted nation came when he was nearing 40, it is understandable. Despite playing for a weak side, de Silva was often the lone crusader in his team with the ball. Throughout the 70s, he impressed versus top class opposition whenever the opportunity presented itself and was a regular wicket-taker. However, by the time he was playing in official tests, de Silva had to bowl many overs and was relied upon to keep things tight instead of continuously looking for wickets which affected his strike-rate adversely. To his credit, he was very capable even in this limited role past his peak when contemporaries across the globe were long retired. de Silva was also handy with the bat and finished with two test fifties in the twelve games he played. It is a shame that he could not be a part of his fledgling country's maiden test victory. de Silva is rightly remembered now as Sri Lanka's first great spinner and was one of the few shining endorsements for leg-spin in an era where it was not favoured.

@Yash.

 

[Yash.]

1. Jimmy Cook (90s)
   
2. Wasim Jaffer (2000s)
   
3. Ernest Tyldesley (20s)
   
4. Stewie Dempster (30s)
   
5. 
   
6. Russell Endean (50s)
   
7. Barry Knight (60s)
   
8. Geoff Lawson (80s)
   
9. Max Walker (70s)
   
10. Jack Young (40s)
    
11. Josh Hazlewood (2010s)

My no. 3 batsman woukd be the Lancashire legend, Ernest Tyldesley



Statistics

Tests: 990 Runs @ 55.0 (3 Centuries, Best 122) in 14 Matches
First Class: 38,874 Runs @ 45.46 (102 Centuries, Best 256*) in 648 Matches

He’ll be the main pillar of my batting, and will grind the bowlers out and aim for big scores. As his Cricinfo profile says,

Not always happy at the commencement of an innings, his patience and the soundness of his defence often brought their reward in big scores. Seven times he made a double-century for Lancashire and twice scored a hundred in each innings of a match. On six occasions - the last time in his forty-sixth year - he passed 2,000 runs in the season, and in 1928 he amassed 3,024 runs at an average of 79.57: that summer he hit ten centuries, which he had also done in 1926, no Lancastrian either before or since having twice achieved that target.

[DOUBLEPOST=1590004328][/DOUBLEPOST]@Aislabie

 

[Bevab]

1. Jimmy Cook (90s)
   
2. Wasim Jaffer (2000s)
   
3. Ernest Tyldesley (20s)
   
4. Stewie Dempster (30s)
   
5. 
   
6. Russell Endean (50s)
   
7. Barry Knight (60s)
   
8. Geoff Lawson (80s)
   
9. Max Walker (70s)
   
10. Jack Young (40s)
    
11. Josh Hazlewood (2010s)

My no. 3 batsman woukd be the Lancashire legend, Ernest Tyldesley

View attachment 232937

Statistics

Tests: 990 Runs @ 55.0 (3 Centuries, Best 122) in 14 Matches
First Class: 38,874 Runs @ 45.46 (102 Centuries, Best 256*) in 648 Matches

He’ll be the main pillar of my batting, and will grind the bowlers out and aim for big scores. As his Cricinfo profile says,
[DOUBLEPOST=1590004328][/DOUBLEPOST]@Aislabie

He is ineligible as I've picked him a couple of posts above.

 

[Aislabie]

Andy Ganteaume

Decade: 1940s
Test stats: 112 runs @ 112.00 (1 century, best 112) in 1 match
First-class stats: 2,785 runs @ 34.81 (5 centuries, best 159) in 50 matches

This draft is rapidly becoming the most annoyingly finicky thing in the world - I only had two player ideas left: Bannerman and Foster. Well, they're both gone now. But then I remembered Ken "Bam Bam" Weekes, who would have been a perfect fit in my team. But no - I'd just used my 1930s pick up on Fingleton. So we're going to open the batting with one of the great one-cap wonders, Andy Ganteaume, because well why not at this point.

@Aislabie 's XI so far:
1. Jack Fingleton
2. Andy Ganteaume
3.
4. Seymour Nurse
5. Ross Edwards
6. Collie Smith
7. Percy Fender
8. Ryan Harris
9. Fanie de Villiers
10. Shane Bond
11. Tony Gray

@blockerdave

 

[Yash.]

Since my last pick was invalid, I’ll take Jack Russell (20s)(https://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/19497.html)
Writeup later.

 

[blockerdave]

I'll pick DICK SPOONER, for the 1950s to keep wicket. Spooner was the long-term understudy to the great Godfrey Evans, and played just 7 tests between 1951 and 1955, scoring 354 runs at 27.23 with 3 50s and a high score of 92, taking 10 catches and making 2 stumpings.

In an 11-year first class career between 1948 and 1959 he scored 13,851 at 27.26 with 12 hundreds. This was a more than respectable return for a keeper in the era, and Spooner was a fine keeper. If he played in an era that didn't have Godfrey Evans - typically up there in any list of the best glovemen of all time - he'd surely have played more tests.

@VC the slogger

 

[ahmedleo414]

With @VC the slogger being temporarily unavailable due to circumstances, I have the next pick.

For my final pick, I have Ernest "Tiger (King)" Smith, who played his first test in 1912 and final in 1913, so he is my pick from the 1910s

Stats|Matches|Runs|HS| Ave|100s/50s|Cts/Sts
First-Class |496|16,997|177|22.32|20/63|772/156
Test |11|113|22|8.69|0/0|17/3

Here is his bio from cricinfo:


"THE death of 'Tiger" Smith ends an association with Warwickshire that began up a tree 83 years ago. Born on February 6, 1886, Ernest James Smith was just 10 years old when he watched Kent v Warwickshire from a tree outside his beloved Edgbaston ground. From that day he was hooked on Warwickshire cricket. It was a relationship which mellowed over the years and right up to the recent Test match at Edgbaston he was a familiar, well-loved figure at the ground.

During that Test it was heart-warming to see men like Bob Willis, Geoff Boycott and Mike Brearley ask him for advice that was readily given and sensibly articulated with his trusty stick tapping the ground for extra emphasis. It was difficult to imagine, while listening to him analysing Gower"s technique or Taylor"s skills behind the stumps, that this man had played many times with W. G. Grace, had kept wicket behind men like Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, Gilbert Jessop and C. B. Fry, had batted against the likes of Wilfred Rhodes, Colin Blythe and J. J. Kotze.

He had a colossal memory for incidents in bygone matches yet he could be gracious in his praise of the great modern players. 'This here Viv Richards is a great player," he told me during the Somerset match this season. 'I came here today to criticise him but when his first five scoring shots go for boundaries, what can you say?"

He was proud to uphold the traditional values of the game ('It"s a sideways-on game," he"d say while wincing at the defects of the current England batsmen, 'doesn"t anybody tell them that these days?").

On the second day of the Warwickshire v Lancashire match at Edgbaston, (August 13) E. J. ('Tiger") Smith set up a new record of longevity for a professional cricketer. Smith made his first-class debut for Warwickshire, against the South Africans at Edgbaston, on June 16, 1904 and was thus alive 75 years 59 days after his debut, exceeding the record for a professional held by Wilfred Rhodes. He had extended the period to 75 years 77 days at the time of his death.

A very small number of amateurs exceed Smith. F. A. Mackinnon died in 1947, 76 years 284 days after his first-class debut for Cambridge University, while others to reach 76 years were H. M. Lawrence (Kent), died 1975, and J. Gilman (MCC), died 1976.

However, the English record appears to be held by H. Jenner, who died in 1904, 77 years 57 days after his appearance for Cambridge in the 1827 University match. Even Jenner has to give best to the Australian-born John Wheatley, however. Wheatley made his first-class debut for Canterbury against Otago in February 1883, and died aged 102 in 1962, 79 years 78 days afterwards.

But nobody could ever accuse 'Tiger" of living in the past. In his last few days he struggled painfully but cheerfully ('I"ve told 'em I want hops on my coffin not lilies," he"d joke)- but he"d still constructively analyse the batting of Gooch ('You come back and tell me I"m a bloody fool if you like- but you take a look at his front foot")- or the wicketkeeping of Bob Taylor ('They"d be mad not to take him to Australia- he"s got the best pair of hands in the game").

And no man alive was better qualified to comment on the art of wicketkeeping: on the 1911-12 tour of Australia he stood up to Barnes and Foster in four Tests on those lightning fast wickets. By common consent he kept immaculately, with the highlight a superb leg-side stumping of Clem Hill off Frank Foster at Adelaide ('Bob Crockett, the umpire at square leg, said Good God, Clem, you"re out and I said Aye, and by a long way! I did it again in the second innings but the other umpire was asleep!").

He could bat too- nearly 17,000 runs and 20 centuries in a career lasting from 1904 to 1930- and in his last season he was still fit enough to score a hundred before lunch against Essex-'and I even had time to drink a glass of Guinness before the players came off for lunch!"

At the time of his death he was the oldest living Test cricketer - but his real love was Warwickshire. As the county"s coach in the immediate post-war years his disciplinarian yet kindly methods yielded an outstanding crop of players - and even in his last days, he talked with warm affection of his 'boys"- players like David Brown, Dennis Amiss, John Jameson, Jack Bannister, Tom Cartwright and Neal Abberley. And the respectful attention the players continually showed him spoke volumes.

It"s not an overstatement to say that 'Tiger" Smith was a legend in the game. It"s difficult to think of any Englishman with a more distinguished career in three major facets of the game - 11 Tests as a player, nine seasons as a first-class umpire (including eight Tests) and coach to the champion county in 1951.

He was present at some of cricket"s great moments - at Leyton in 1932 he signalled the boundary that posted the new world record first-wicket stand by Holmes and Sutcliffe. He kept to Syd Barnes as he mesmerised 49 South African victims in just four Tests in 1913-14. He watched every ball of the epic opening partnership of 323 by Hobbs and Rhodes at Melbourne in 1911-12.

'Tiger" stood in the Lord"s Test of 1938 when Wally Hammond scored his majestic 240 against Bradman"s Australians and he played in that amazing match against Hampshire when, in 1922, they were bowled out for 15 but still managed to beat Warwickshire by 155 runs.

He will be fondly remembered for many things by countless people associated with cricket - and anybody privileged to have spent happy hours with him in the company of his family and his beloved wife Rose will confirm that the bark of this endearingly gruff character was considerably worse than his soft-hearted bite."

And that completes my Ashes team featuring Vinod Kambli...

My playing XI:

1. Vinod Kambli 1990s
2. Chris Tavaré 1980s
3. Eddie Paynter 1930s
4. Bob Cowper 1960s
5. Adam Voges 2010s
6. Tony Greig 1970s
7. / Albert Trott 1890s
8. Tiger Smith 1910s
9. Matthew Hoggard 2000s
10. Jack Saunders 1900s
11. Ernie Toshack 1940s

@Yash. you pick next and @VC the slogger will pick whenever he can

 

[Yash.]

1. Jimmy Cook (90s)
2. Wasim Jaffer (2000s)
3. Jack Russell (20s)
4. Stewie Dempster (30s)
5. Reggie Duff (00s)
6. Russell Endean (50s)
7. Barry Knight (60s)
8. Geoff Lawson (80s)
9. Max Walker (70s)
10. Jack Young (40s)
11. Josh Hazlewood (2010s)

I pick Reggie Duff from 1900s. Writeup later.

 

[Yash.]

@Aislabie

 

[ahmedleo414]

@Aislabie missed his deadline, @blockerdave has the next pick