Draft: Pakistan All-Time Test XI Draft
- Thread starter CerealKiller
- Start date
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
Taufeeq UmarTest stats - 2,963 runs @ 37.98 (7 centuries, best 236) in 44 matches
First-class stats - 10,598 runs @ 36.41 (21 centuries, best 247) in 177 matches
Just like most decent Pakistani opening batsmen, Taufeeq Umar has been recalled more often than most Findus ready meals, but throughout his rather stochastic career (spread across 13 years under six different captains) he has been consistently good. He was never a great player really - apart from the two times he actually got a consistent run in the team: 2002-2003 under the captaincy of Waqar Younis and his injury replacements, and 2011 under the captaincy of Misbah Ul-Haq. The fact that he could barely string two Tests together between times was largely because he wasn't much of a white-ball player, so the selectors must have forgotten about him between Test series or something.
1.
Taslim Arif2.
Taufeeq Umar3.
4.
Babar Azam5.
Mushtaq Mohammad6.
Shahid Afridi7.
8.
Fazal Mahmood9.
Khan Mohammad10.
Pervez Sajjad11.
Mohammad Zahid@Ahmad94
Ahmad94
Staff Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2011
- Location
- West Midlands, UK
- Online Cricket Games Owned
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - Steam PC
Ahmad94's Test XI:
1. Aamer Sohail
2. Ahmed Shehzad
3.
4. Zaheer Abbas
5. Fawad Alam
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Kamran Akmal
8.
9. Saeed Ajmal
10. Shabbir Ahmed
11. Mohammad Asif
Shabbir Ahmed - 406 First CLass Wickets @ 22.32 ; 51 Test Wickets @ 23.03
1.
Aamer Sohail2.
Ahmed Shehzad3.
4.
Zaheer Abbas5.
Fawad Alam6.
Asad Shafiq7.
Kamran Akmal8.
9.
Saeed Ajmal10.
Shabbir Ahmed11.
Mohammad AsifShabbir Ahmed - 406 First CLass Wickets @ 22.32 ; 51 Test Wickets @ 23.03
Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
Looks like we'll just have to wait for your bowling attack to get itself banned if we're playing against them!9.
10.
11.
CerealKiller
Staff Member
Given that we’re this deep in the draft, i am extremely surprised that a batsman as good as Wasim Raja is still available. My middle order has two big gaps at 4 and 5, and he is perfectly suited to fill the latter position. He scored 919 runs against the team considered the benchmark of that era, the West Indies, at an average of 57, a record surpassed only by Greg Chappell among his contemporaries.
Here is his Wisden obituary. It’s a long read, but worth it.
"Wasim Raja was a glorious lefthanded strokemaker, who revelled in adversity, a useful legspinner, who also opened the bowling for Pakistan on occasions, and an outstanding, lithe cover fieldsman. He represented Pakistan in more than 100 international matches, coached the national side for a short while and had a spell as an ICC match referee, being in charge of the last Ashes series in Australia. He will always be remembered for the style and spirit in which he played the game, yet for such a mild-mannered and charming man he had his fair share of clashes with the Pakistan board. From a privileged background, he did not enjoy the hierarchy within the side, once refusing to hang out a senior player's socks to dry, but more importantly he always felt frustrated that he seemed to be picked on a match-by-match basis while a clique of senior players were omnipresent in the team. But for this, he might have captained Pakistan ahead of the more rumbustious Javed Miandad or diffident Zaheer Abbas. After all, as a batsman he was a prodigy at 18 and led the under-19 side. Quite often then he did not bother to wear pads when practising with his contemporary Imran Khan, who admitted that Wasim "was in a different class altogether and was already batting with a maturity beyond his years". He was the eldest of three boys, all of whom played first-class cricket. Ramiz followed him into the Test team and later captained Pakistan, while Zaeem played for National Bank. His father Raja Saleem Akhtar also played firstclass cricket, captaining Sargodha. Wasim made his first-class debut at 15, for Lahore, while still at school at Government College, went on to Punjab University, where he excelled at cricket and academically, getting a first in his Masters degree in politics, and came into the Test side in 1972-73, when called up as a replacement for the tour of New Zealand. He began to establish himself in 1974 in England, where he topped the tour averages. The "exuberant" Wasim played two innings at Lord's that Wisden described as "masterly", countering Derek Underwood on a drying wicket with selective attack. At home that winter he scored his maiden Test hundred against West Indies at Karachi. His innings was such a fine one that, instead of the usual handful of well-wishers that used to run on to the field to congratulate a batsman on reaching three figures, there was a full-scale invasion. In all he played 11 Tests against West Indies, against attacks including Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Colin Croft, making 919 runs at 57.43, an average that only Greg Chappell exceeded during that era. He also had an excellent record against India, hitting two 90s on the 1978-79 tour when many of the other front-line batsmen crumpled under the pressure and ending the series with 450 runs at 56.25. He made his highest Test score against them - 125 not out at Jullundur - and had his best bowling figures, 4 for 50, with his under-utilised legspin in the same match. For a number of years he played Minor Counties cricket for Durham, where he met his future wife, Anne, also a useful cricketer. He studied for his teaching degree at the University. While there, a serious car accident nearly ended his life, never mind his playing days, but he eventually returned to the game, helping Durham win the UAU Championship in 1990 with a match-winning 50 in the final. He went on to teach geography and PE at Caterham School for 15 years. Wasim, who collapsed and died while playing cricket for Surrey over-50s at High Wycombe, is survived by his wife Anne, and his two sons, Ali and Ahmed."
CerealKiller's XI
1. Shoaib Mohammad
2. Saeed Ahmed
3. Azhar Ali
4.
5. Wasim Raja
6. Imtiaz Ahmed
7. Azhar Mahmood
8. Wasim Akram
9. Iqbal Qasim
10. Junaid Khan
11.
@Na Maloom Afraad
Here is his Wisden obituary. It’s a long read, but worth it.
"Wasim Raja was a glorious lefthanded strokemaker, who revelled in adversity, a useful legspinner, who also opened the bowling for Pakistan on occasions, and an outstanding, lithe cover fieldsman. He represented Pakistan in more than 100 international matches, coached the national side for a short while and had a spell as an ICC match referee, being in charge of the last Ashes series in Australia. He will always be remembered for the style and spirit in which he played the game, yet for such a mild-mannered and charming man he had his fair share of clashes with the Pakistan board. From a privileged background, he did not enjoy the hierarchy within the side, once refusing to hang out a senior player's socks to dry, but more importantly he always felt frustrated that he seemed to be picked on a match-by-match basis while a clique of senior players were omnipresent in the team. But for this, he might have captained Pakistan ahead of the more rumbustious Javed Miandad or diffident Zaheer Abbas. After all, as a batsman he was a prodigy at 18 and led the under-19 side. Quite often then he did not bother to wear pads when practising with his contemporary Imran Khan, who admitted that Wasim "was in a different class altogether and was already batting with a maturity beyond his years". He was the eldest of three boys, all of whom played first-class cricket. Ramiz followed him into the Test team and later captained Pakistan, while Zaeem played for National Bank. His father Raja Saleem Akhtar also played firstclass cricket, captaining Sargodha. Wasim made his first-class debut at 15, for Lahore, while still at school at Government College, went on to Punjab University, where he excelled at cricket and academically, getting a first in his Masters degree in politics, and came into the Test side in 1972-73, when called up as a replacement for the tour of New Zealand. He began to establish himself in 1974 in England, where he topped the tour averages. The "exuberant" Wasim played two innings at Lord's that Wisden described as "masterly", countering Derek Underwood on a drying wicket with selective attack. At home that winter he scored his maiden Test hundred against West Indies at Karachi. His innings was such a fine one that, instead of the usual handful of well-wishers that used to run on to the field to congratulate a batsman on reaching three figures, there was a full-scale invasion. In all he played 11 Tests against West Indies, against attacks including Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Colin Croft, making 919 runs at 57.43, an average that only Greg Chappell exceeded during that era. He also had an excellent record against India, hitting two 90s on the 1978-79 tour when many of the other front-line batsmen crumpled under the pressure and ending the series with 450 runs at 56.25. He made his highest Test score against them - 125 not out at Jullundur - and had his best bowling figures, 4 for 50, with his under-utilised legspin in the same match. For a number of years he played Minor Counties cricket for Durham, where he met his future wife, Anne, also a useful cricketer. He studied for his teaching degree at the University. While there, a serious car accident nearly ended his life, never mind his playing days, but he eventually returned to the game, helping Durham win the UAU Championship in 1990 with a match-winning 50 in the final. He went on to teach geography and PE at Caterham School for 15 years. Wasim, who collapsed and died while playing cricket for Surrey over-50s at High Wycombe, is survived by his wife Anne, and his two sons, Ali and Ahmed."
CerealKiller's XI
1.
Shoaib Mohammad 2.
Saeed Ahmed 3.
Azhar Ali 4.
5.
Wasim Raja 6.
Imtiaz Ahmed 7.
Azhar Mahmood 8.
Wasim Akram 9.
Iqbal Qasim 10.
Junaid Khan 11.
@Na Maloom Afraad
ahmedleo414
The Butcher
@Na Maloom Afraad missed his pick, I have the next pick Wallis Mathias
Stats||Matches||Runs||HS|| Ave||100s/50s
First-Class | |146| |7,520| |278*| |44.49| |16/41
Test | |21| |783| |77| |23.72| |0/3
His bio from cricinfo
"Wallis Mathias, who died on September 1, 1994, after a brain haemorrhage, aged 59, was the first non-Muslim to play for Pakistan. He made his debut in November 1955 as a 20-year-old and played in 21 Tests over the next seven years. His greatest merit was his fielding; he was the safe pair of hands in the slips that Pakistan's strong medium-pace attack of that era desperately wanted. He had exceptional reflexes and, though he took some spectacular catches, his great skill was to make hard chances look simple. He was also a middle-order batsman whose figures did not do justice to the usefulness of his runs: he scored 783 runs in Tests at 23.72, but regularly played critical little innings. The 64 and 45 he scored in Pakistan's win over West Indies at Dacca in 1958-59 made him easily the most successful batsman in a low-scoring game; a year earlier he had scored 73 and 77 in successive Tests in the Caribbean. He played three Tests in England in 1962, but the following year he suffered a finger injury in the nets which left him with a slight deformity that restricted his brilliant catching. He continued in domestic cricket and scored 278 not out for Karachi Blues against Railway Greens in 1965-66. In 1969-70 he became National Bank's first captain and played on until 1975-76 before becoming coach, selector and manager. In 146 first-class matches he made 7,520 runs, average 44.49, including 16 centuries. He held 130 catches, 22 in Tests. He was a popular captain and a much respected man.
"
ahmedleo414's playing XI:
@AsadRM \ @Bevab have the next pick
Ave||100s/50sFirst-Class | |146| |7,520| |278*| |44.49| |16/41
Test | |21| |783| |77| |23.72| |0/3
"Wallis Mathias, who died on September 1, 1994, after a brain haemorrhage, aged 59, was the first non-Muslim to play for Pakistan. He made his debut in November 1955 as a 20-year-old and played in 21 Tests over the next seven years. His greatest merit was his fielding; he was the safe pair of hands in the slips that Pakistan's strong medium-pace attack of that era desperately wanted. He had exceptional reflexes and, though he took some spectacular catches, his great skill was to make hard chances look simple. He was also a middle-order batsman whose figures did not do justice to the usefulness of his runs: he scored 783 runs in Tests at 23.72, but regularly played critical little innings. The 64 and 45 he scored in Pakistan's win over West Indies at Dacca in 1958-59 made him easily the most successful batsman in a low-scoring game; a year earlier he had scored 73 and 77 in successive Tests in the Caribbean. He played three Tests in England in 1962, but the following year he suffered a finger injury in the nets which left him with a slight deformity that restricted his brilliant catching. He continued in domestic cricket and scored 278 not out for Karachi Blues against Railway Greens in 1965-66. In 1969-70 he became National Bank's first captain and played on until 1975-76 before becoming coach, selector and manager. In 146 first-class matches he made 7,520 runs, average 44.49, including 16 centuries. He held 130 catches, 22 in Tests. He was a popular captain and a much respected man.
"
ahmedleo414's playing XI:
- Saeed Anwar
- Majid Khan
- Ijaz Ahmed
- ?
- Wallis Mathias
- ?
- Abdul Razzaq
- Wasim Bari
- Mushtaq Ahmed
- Mohammad Sami
- Waqar Younis
@AsadRM \ @Bevab have the next pick
ahmedleo414
The Butcher
ahmedleo414
The Butcher
@blockerdave missed his first pick, but he also has the next pick
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
If I told you I’d even googled Liaqat Ali because I knew he bowled the ball that Gower hit for 4 on his first ball in test cricket, this will tell you how at a loss I am for my next picks.
Nevertheless, I’ll find 2 asap!
Nevertheless, I’ll find 2 asap!
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
Abdul Hafeez Kardar and Javed Burki were Pakistan’s two first test captains, and by dint of that alone they are welcomed aboard.
Last edited:
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
CerealKiller
Staff Member
Taken
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
Oh ffs.
blockerdave
ICC Chairman
Shoaib Malik?
