Draft: Selection: Impossible

[Welwyn]

Yashasvi Jaiswal

Alan Jones

Barry Richards

Karun Nair

Martin Donnelly

Washington Sundar

Ellyse Perry

Mike Proctor

Wally Grout

Vince van der Bijl

Don Shepherd

 

[mohsin7827]

Shafiq Ahmed and Shaun Tait

01. Ed Joyce
02. Joseph Vine
03. Shafiq Ahmed
04. Ajay Sharma
05. Charles Passailaigue
06. Heinrich Klaasen
07. Michael Neser
08. Andre Adams
09. Malinda Pushpakumara
10. Dick Tyldesle
11. Shaun Tait

 

[CerealKiller]

Just need to fill a couple gaps, and i have the luxury of picking Babar Azam, and Vinoo Mankad, because i need another spinner.

CerealKiller's XI
Victor Trumper
Alastair Cook
Don Bradman
Jacques Kallis
Babar Azam
Clyde Walcott
Aubrey Faulkner
Imran Khan
Shaun Pollock
Kapil Dev
Vinoo Mankad

 

[Supreme General]

My last two picks are players who got really unlucky with the eras they were born in. Hard to break past Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden for Jamie Cox and Hard to make a dent into an Indian middle order consisting of Sachin, Laxman and Dravid for Sridharan Sharath.

So my final XI is

1. Johann Myburgh
2. Jamie Cox
3. Shantanu Sugwekar
4. Sridharan Sharath
5. Ken McEwan
6. Sarfaraz Khan
7. Darren Stevens
8. Franklyn Stephenson
9. Bart King
10. Charles Kortright
11. Rajinder Goel

 

[Aislabie]

MS DHONI

So I've done the exact same thing as I did with Adam Gilchrist, and will be slotting in a strokemaking keeper-batter into my team as a specialist batter at number six. Though not remembered as so much of a Test batter, Dhoni's record at number six is stellar, averaging 55.36 in that position with a best of 224. He also really enjoyed bowling, and if it comes down to it I might even end up using Dhoni as a bit of an all-rounder to balance my team. He should also help my team ship plenty of merchandise, as everyone will be buying Dhoni shirts.


GEORGE LOHMANN

George Lohmann is a real statistical outlier. His Test bowling average of 10.75 was the greatest of all time, but it's also not a huge departure from his first-class average of 13.73 with his variety of accurate, medium-paced cutters. He could also bat very well, and a first-class average of 18.67 was perfectly respectable on some very difficult playing surfaces. However, he only ever played one Test innings of note, a 55-minute 62 not out against an Australian attack starring "Terror" Turner and JJ Ferris; otherwise, his batting returns were so negligible that he becomes eligible for my team with a sub-10 batting average. Huzzah!

1. Herbert Sutcliffe
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Brian Lara
4. Dudley Nourse
5. Adam Gilchrist
6. MS Dhoni
7. Bob Taylor
8. George Lohmann
9. Courtney Walsh
10. Glenn McGrath
11. Lance Gibbs

 

[Aislabie]

Oh dear! You do have two picks left, I'm not quite sure how I missed you

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Virender Sehwag & Dale Steyn





Two of the most aggressive players in their respective departments in the red ball cricket. Sehwag used to play white ball cricket in Tests in an era where traditional batting was highly regarded. While Steyn was dreaded by most batters during this time mainly because he could swing the ball at 145+ speeds, something which is rarely seen.

That completes my mission.

Barakadi 11:

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Sir Len Hutton
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Wally Hammond
5. AB de Villiers
6. Rishabh Pant
7. Sir Richard Hadlee
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Sydney Barnes
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11. Dale Steyn

Alphabetically, these were my picks:

1. Ravichandran Ashwin
2. Sydney Barnes
3. AB de Villiers
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Sir Richard Hadlee
6. Wally Hammond
7. Sir Len Hutton
8. Muttiah Muralitharan
9. Rishabh Pant
10. Virender Sehwag
11. Dale Steyn

Thanks a lot @Aislabie for this amazing draft...

 

[Paranoid Kendroid]

Fred Grace
​

"Fred Grace was talented but lacked the temperamental stability of EM Grace and WG Grace. The youngest of the Grace brothers, Fred played a solitary Test for England in 1880. He was dismissed run-less in both innings and never returned to Test cricket. However, he was more comfortable at the first-class level, scoring 6906 runs accompanied by 329 wickets.

Two weeks after his Test appearance, he died of pneumonia." ~ from cricbuzz. Poor guy.

In my team, he will mostly bat with the tail and hopefully, get those quick runs to get us ahead of the competition. And we have no dearth of quality bowlers so his bowling might not be required much. Not that there is any doubt of his bowling ability.

No Career Runs XI:
01. Ken Meuleman
02. Wessly Madhevere
03. Gerald Bond
04. Shahidullah
05. Bal Dani
06. Rakesh Shukla
07. Fred Grace
08. Vijay Rajindernath
09. Fred Root
10. Arthur Mold
11. Charles Marriott

 

[CerealKiller]

Thanks a lot @Aislabie
One of the most fun drafts I’ve participated in

 

[Till Valhalla]

@Till Valhalla - Dwaraka Ravi Teja
@Till Valhalla - Manvinder Bisla
@Till Valhalla - Vengugopal Rao
@Till Valhalla - Azhar Bilakhia
@Till Valhalla - Scott Styris
@Till Valhalla - Shahid Afridi
@Till Valhalla - Biplab Samantray
@Till Valhalla - Ammana Ashish Reddy
@Till Valhalla - RP Singh
@Till Valhalla - Shoaib Ahmed
@Till Valhalla - : Kemar Roach

Ravi Teja was difficult to cast as I first had Tirumallasetty Suman there but it became a battle royale between him, Teja, Jaggi, Chipli, Mohnish and Akshath. But I had to get the best.

Ashish is one of the OGs.
But difficult as it would make my team only 3 overseas but we are already superpower hence Chamara Silva couldn't make it.

 

[Bevab]

Just need to fill a couple gaps, and i have the luxury of picking Ian Botham just so he can come in and smash the bowlers after they’ve been exhausted by the top order, and Vinoo Mankad, because i need another spinner.

CerealKiller's XI
Victor Trumper
Alastair Cook
Don Bradman
Jacques Kallis
Clyde Walcott
Aubrey Faulkner
Ian Botham
Imran Khan
Shaun Pollock
Kapil Dev
Vinoo Mankad

You made me double check if I picked Botham which I did… so you might have to change that pick?

 

[CerealKiller]

You made me double check if I picked Botham which I did… so you might have to change that pick?

Oh okay, my bad
I'll just take Babar Azam then

 

[ddrap14]

hilarious auto-picks.

Boo

So here's how my lineup stacks up right now:
1. Michael di Venuto
3. Jamie Siddons
4. Clive Rice
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6. David Hussey
7. Craig Kieswetter
9. Adam Milne
10. Hamid Hassan
11. Bilal Khan

So I need an opener and a spinner. For the spinner, here's a dude Aislabie put me onto who I had no idea existed first:

Chaturanga de Silva

And for the opener - it's the British Jamie Siddons!

Ali Brown

So:

1. Michael di Venuto
2. Ali Brown
3. Jamie Siddons
4. Clive Rice
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6. David Hussey
7. Craig Kieswetter
8. Chaturanga de Silva
9. Adam Milne
10. Hamid Hassan
11. Bilal Khan

 

[Bevab]

Will make a more detailed post by the weekend (hopefully) but for now my final picks are Bill Johnston and Wriddhiman Saha.

 

[ahmedleo414]

The last two players to make up my team Henry Taberer and Will Porterfield

1. Johnny Douglas
2. Alan Melville
3. William Porterfield
4. C.K. Nayudu
5. Dave Houghton
6. Frank Mann
7. Freddie Calthorpe
8. Naimur Rahman
9. James Lillywhite
10. Henry Taberer
11. Aubrey Smith

I think I have the best team given the conditions