Some Fun Cricket XIs

[ddrap14]

Don't know much about this guy, but must be bloody good if he can keep out Herschelle Gibbs.

Averaged 45 in Tests (and arguably more importantly, played the middle order). Gibbs would have probably made every other squad, but Gayle/Greenidge/Gooch/Ganguly kinda means there's no top order spots available in limited overs for this team

 

[Fenil]

Ashley Giles - Um

*Cough* Lance *Cough* Gibbs. *Cough*

 

[Fenil]

G
1. Graham Gooch - Gooch missed three years due to leading a South African rebel tour and, after returning, only got even better. His 1990-91 season was among the best in cricket history, including a triple century at Lord's.
2. Sunil Gavaskar - On the strength of his 36 (128), Sunny shouldn't play any T20s. But he's an all-time great batsman who was probably the best Indian batsman before Tendulkar (lthough there are other strong candidates).
3. Saurav Ganguly - A top ODI player of all time and a great Test player (if overshadowed by a few others from the same India teams), Ganguly comes in at first drop in this XI.
4. David Gower - Something of a loose cannon off the field, Gower averaged 44 in Tests on it, although he was less stellar in limited overs cricket. The one asterisk for me is that he hated Graham Gooch by the end of his career.
5. WG Grace - The first truly great cricketer. Need I say more?
6. Tony Greig - Great batsman, good bowler, solid fielder, elite commentator. I can forgive the bad haircut.
7. Adam Gilchrist - A revolutionary; both a great keeper and an elite batsman across all three formats. He probably opens in the shorter ones, but bats at a customary #7 in Test cricket, from where he scored the fastest ever ton at the time.
8. Jack Gregory - Gregory was destructively quick and also averaged 36 with the bat. He would be a lot more well known had he not ruined his knee in 1928, still with several more years of cricket in him.
9. Jason Gillespie - The first ever Indigenous Test cricketer, Dizzy's arguably more famous for a double-century in his final Test than for his bowling. But he still had 259 wickets @ 26, which is kinda good.
10. Clarrie Grimmett - An obvious pick for spinner. Grimmett averaged almost six wickets a game at 24, without the benefit of spinning pitches like many modern spinners have access to.
11. Joel Garner - No mug with the bat (although there aren't any in this team), Garner's harsh at #11. His bowling, though, needs no introduction - according to the ICC, he's the greatest ever at ODIs.

Bench:
Tom Graveney - A utility player who could open or play in the middle order, he was the 1953 Cricketer Of The Year.
Chris Gayle - While his Test record is good, the Universe Boss is more likely to come in as an opener in both limited overs formats.
Gordon Greenidge - G is stacked at opener, and this World Cup winner is likely to spend a lot of time on the bench (or in the middle order).
Godfrey Evans - Not a great batsman, but Evans is among the finest glovemen in history.
Trevor Goddard - A backup really to Grace and Greig, but quite an effective one.
Charlie Griffith - One of the first express West Indians. Not as successful as the future ones, but given he taught Joel Garner, just as important.
Ashley Giles - Um

Good all round side this. It's a shame that guys like Herschelle Gibbs with his shwashbuckling ability to take the attack to any opposition and Gautam Gambhir (can play in middle order in limited overs cricket) being one of the rare openers being an excellent player of spin bowling have to miss out thanks to the likes of Gooch, Gavaskar, Ganguly and Greenidge.

Gayle's bowling gives him an edge over Gibbs and Gambhir too.

Another guy I thought would have made into the squad was Roy Gilchrist. The guy was said to be threatening fast and would have provided a good option to an otherwise batting heavy squad.

 

[ddrap14]

*Cough* Lance *Cough* Gibbs. *Cough*

As you may have learnt by now, I'm completely blind.

I'll stand up for not including Gambhir though - he or Gibbs might have a chance if Gilchrist doesn't come up the order in LOs, but him doing that leaves us with Gayle-Gilchrist-Greenidge-Gooch-Ganguly and then the ARs.

 

[Fenil]

As you may have learnt by now, I'm completely blind.

I'll stand up for not including Gambhir though - he or Gibbs might have a chance if Gilchrist doesn't come up the order in LOs, but him doing that leaves us with Gayle-Gilchrist-Greenidge-Gooch-Ganguly and then the ARs.

If you haven't already been using it, there is a link on cricinfo wherein you can find the cricketers with their last name for each country. I think that would help you a great deal.

Cricketers by last name

 

[ddrap14]

If you haven't already been using it, there is a link on cricinfo wherein you can find the cricketers with their last name for each country. I think that would help you a great deal.

Cricketers by last name

I was using it already, yeah, but thanks a ton!

I actually have all squads ready to go already

 

[Fenil]

I was using it already, yeah, but thanks a ton!

I actually have all squads ready to go already

Brilliant! I guess the next team would just as strong as this. Way too many good options to choose from.

Hunte, Harvey, Hall, Holding, Healy, Haynes, Hammond, Hanif, Hazlewood, Hill, Hadlee, Hayward, Hendriks, Hayden, Harbhajan, Hooper, Headley, Herath ...

Just wow!

 

[Bevab]

I might do a sim with these sides on Cricket 22 if all of the players are available (I believe that 1950s is the oldest decade @Mouseydread has finished till now). No promises though.

 

[ddrap14]

Expect another team tomorrow

 

[ddrap14]

H. Some tough cuts in this one

1. Matt Hayden - As much as five or six great H openers exist, very few could argue with the two I've picked. Hayden was a truly dominant player, who (albeit against Zimbabwe) held the highest score in Test history for a small point in time and won two World Cups with the Australian team.
2. Jack Hobbs - Hobbs was a Wisden Cricketer of the Century and one of two players to have more than one Cricketer Of The Year award. I think that's enough said, honestly - and if it isn't, 61000 first class runs should be.
3. Len Hutton - Usually an opener, Hutton was the most used at 3 compared to Hobbs and Hayden, so he slides down here. Another to hold the world record for highest score for some time, Hutton will also captain this side.
4. George Headley - A smaller record than most due to West Indies' limited standing in the 30s and 40s, Headley has a real case for being the best since Bradman. His FC average was a tick below 70. Definitely the best player ever not born in a Test country
5. Wally Hammond - Hammond was reluctant to bowl himself, something that his contemporaries suggested prevented him from dominating in every aspect of the game. Certainly, he did with bat and in field.
6. Neil Harvey - The most natural of all H's batting options at 6, Harvey's average being 48.5 prevents a top six of over-50 averages, but that's not a knock on him. His eyesight was awful, especially from close range, but he still managed not only to score 6000 Test runs but be arguably the best fielder of the 1950s.
7. Brad Haddin - Haddin's not as good with the bat as the top six, but two things keep him in here. One, he can keep wicket, and two, he's an absolute fighter with the bat - especially in the 2013 Ashes, his best knocks came with the team in trouble.
8. Richard Hadlee - The four bowlers do basically pick themselves with this team. Hadlee single handedly won 1980s New Zealand several tests with his pace and swing. Can bat too.
9. Rangana Herath - The one slight weakness of this team is spin, where Herath's the clear #1 option. Not that Herath is bad, though - especially at home, he was capable of ripping through an opposition without even doing that much with the ball.
10. Josh Hazelwood - He's struggled with fitness for the last couple of years, but prime Josh was as close as Aussie fans have got to watching Glenn McGrath after the Pigeon's retirement. Line, length, and accuracy are key to his results.
11. Michael Holding - Holding's unironically first change, given his weapon is more extreme pace than swing. But he's called Whispering Death, and if a nickname ever made it clear to a batsman that they're in trouble...

Bench:
Clem Hill - One of the finest pre-war batsmen, he can count himself unlucky not to be in the team.
Desmond Haynes - Same story; Haynes was a key part of a dominant West Indies team through the 1980s.
Hanif Mohammad - Hanif was considered for #6, but Neil Harvey made more sense. This guy does have one of two second-innings triple-centuries in Test history, though.
Ian Healy - A solid gloveman who had his moments with the bat. Overshadowed since his retirement by his replacement, Adam Gilchrist, but still a good player.
Harbhajan Singh - This is why Herath, while not the biggest name, is starting - because Harby is more of a meme than anything.
Merv Hughes - The infamous hat trick, the iconic moustache - Merv's been one of Australian cricket's most recognisable characters for forty years.
Wes Hall - Stiff not to make it until you consider he's an express bowler fighting with Richard Hadlee and Michael Holding for a spot.

 

[Bevab]

That is one strong side.

 

[ddrap14]

That is one strong side.

B and H are by far the strongest sides so far

 

[Fenil]

Solid side. IMO, Healy is probably the second best keeper ever for Australia and should have been in the XI. There is little chance of him getting to bat anyway with the staggering top 6.

The best of the sides would kill to get the guys like Hill, Hall, Haynes and Hanif who sit as backups which shows the might of the side. Just incredible.

 

[Aislabie]

So it's been probably about seven years since I last did this, but I'm going to go back through and make some left-handed XIs.

The rules are:

• All bowlers must be left-handed
• No right-handed batters can bat above number 9, or above any left-handed batter (this is to make sure players like Trent Boult don't miss out)
• The wicket-keeper must bat left-handed

Let's start with England

	Test XI	ODI XI	T20I XI
1	Ben Duckett	Ben Duckett	Ben Duckett
2	Keaton Jennings	Keaton Jennings	Tom Alsop
3	Nick Gubbins	Miles Hammond	Miles Hammond
4	Jacob Bethell	Jacob Bethell	Jacob Bethell
5	Ben Stokes	James Rew	Sam Curran
6	James Rew	Sam Curran	Paul Walter
7	Sam Curran	Paul Walter	Dan Mousley
8	Tom Hartley	Luke Wood	Luke Wood
9	Jack Leach	James Coles	Jake Lintott
10	Josh Hull	Danny Briggs	Reece Topley
11	Reece Topley	Reece Topley	Tymal Mills

Spoiler: Unavailable due to retirement

Moeen Ali - all formats
Dawid Malan - all formats
Ben Stokes - ODI, T20I, I think

David Willey - all formats

Tymal Mills - Test, ODI

I think all of my teams look like they're a bowler heavy, but that's mostly because of Jacob Bethell - he has so far shown himself to be far more of a batter than a bowler, and I think that's reflected in how I've deployed him in my teams. I've also tried to give a slight bias to players already being picked by England or the Lions, which is how come Dan Mousley still makes the T20 side as a specialist number seven batter, and why Josh Hull is there at all. Reece Topley for the Test side feels a bit presumptuous, but it was between him and Luke Wood - and neither has played a Championship game this year.

I'll probably do Australia next time.

 

[Aislabie]

The rules are:

• All bowlers must be left-handed
• No right-handed batters can bat above number 9, or above any left-handed batter (this is to make sure players like Trent Boult don't miss out)
• The wicket-keeper must bat left-handed

	Test XI	ODI XI	T20I XI
1	Usman Khawaja	Usman Khawaja	Travis Head
2	Marcus Harris	Travis Head	D'Arcy Short
3	Sam Whiteman	Daniel Hughes	Jake Weatherald
4	Matt Renshaw	Tom Rogers The Batsman	Caleb Jewell
5	Travis Head	Cooper Connolly	Cooper Connolly
6	Kurtis Patterson	Alex Carey	Alex Carey
7	Alex Carey	Ashton Agar	Ashton Agar
8	Mitchell Starc	Ben Dwarshuis	Ben Dwarshuis
9	Joel Paris	Mitchell Starc	Mitchell Starc
10	Matt Kuhnemann	Spencer Johnson	Spencer Johnson
11	Spencer Johnson	Jason Behrendorff	Jason Behrendorff

Spoiler: Unavailable due to retirement

David Warner - all formats

Matthew Wade - all formats

Jason Behrendorff - Test
Steve O'Keefe - all formats

Honestly, I had a really hard time picking batting orders here. I've ended up with silliness like a D'Arcy Short recall, Tom Rogers The Batsman making the ODI side off the back of one innings, and Cooper Connolly making the team in two formats. It's amazing what only having six domestic teams will do for lack of quantity when I'm putting together a team like these ones. That said, the bowling in all formats is absolutely ridiculous - these would all be world-class bowling attacks even in a world where right-handed cricketers also exist.