Draft: Test Cricket Scrubs XI Draft

[blockerdave]

So yeah I absolutely did not notice the caps requirement...

 

[Ed Smith]

8.Gareth Batty
11.Lonwabo Tsotobe



Never liked him. Always thought he was a complete waste of an England Shirt, turns out I was right. But he has 3 1st class 100s, so in this draft he'll make a top class No8, so yeah, I'm picking my spinner for his batting.

@ahmedleo414

 

[Aislabie]

So yeah I absolutely did not notice the caps requirement...

Oh yeah - it's not a difficult one to hit though; you're very likely to hit it just by going about your business and picking a team, but if you're in a tight spot you can just pick up one or two of the scrubs with 10 caps or more (but probably not Andy Whittall, no matter how lost you get in his eyes) and you're all set. I suspect there'll be three or four of you who do that with keepers because there are some decent glovemen there from Ye Olden Dayes who'll make up about half the cap requirement

 

[ahmedleo414]

My next pick Nigel Haig

Stats​	Matches​	Runs​	High Score​	Batting Ave​	50s/100s​	Wickets​	BBI​	BBM​	Bowling Ave​	Econ​	5w/10w​
First Class​	513​	15,220​	131​	20.90​	12/61​	1,117​	7/33​	?​	27.48​	2.35​	47/2​
Test​	5​	126​	47​	14.00​	0/0​	13​	3/73​	4/122​	34.46​	2.61​	0/0​

​

From cricinfo:

"Nigel Haig was a celebrated amateur allrounder between the two World Wars. He did not gain a place in the XI while at Eton, but from 1912 until he retired from the game in 1934 he rendered splendid service to Middlesex, whom he captained for the last six years of his career. He was a member of the Championship-winning sides of 1920 and 1921. In addition, he played for England against Australia in the second of the disastrous Test series of 1921 and four times against the West Indies for the Hon. F. S. G. Calthorpe's M.C.C. team of 1929-30 without achieving much success. In all first-class cricket, Haig hit 15,208 runs, average 20.83, and with swing-bowling above medium pace he obtained 1,116 wickets for 27.47 runs each.
Six times he exceeded 1,000 runs, five times he took 100 or more wickets in a season and in 1921, 1927 and 1929 he did the cricketers' double. An agile fieldsman, he held 218 catches. His batting style was scarcely classic, but a quick eye stood him in good stead and, despite his not very powerful physique, he could hit the ball hard. The highest of his twelve centuries was 131 against Sussex at Lord's in 1920, when he, P. F. Warner, H. W. Lee and J. W. Hearne, the first four Middlesex batsmen, each reached three figures--an unprecedented occurrence in first-class cricket which was repeated for the same county by H. L. Dales, H. W. Lee, J. W. Hearne and E. Hendren against Hampshire at Southampton three years later.
Seemingly built of whipcord, Haig, a nephew of Lord Harris, bowled for long spells without apparent signs of fatigue. Among his best performances with the ball was the taking of seven wickets for 33 runs in the Kent first innings at Canterbury in 1920. This was another eventful match for Haig, for he scored 57 in the Middlesex first innings and became the second leg of a hat-trick by A. P. Freeman in the second. In 1924 Haig took six wickets for 11 runs in Gloucestershire's first innings on Packer's Ground at Bristol, a game rendered specially memorable by the fact that C. W. L. Parker, the slow left-hander, twice accomplished the hat-trick at the expense of Middlesex. Haig was also a fine real tennis player, could hold his own with lawn tennis players of near-Wimbledon standard and was equally good at racquets, squash and golf. While serving with the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War, he won the M.C.
Clarence Passailaigue was a close childhood friend of George Headley, who scored 183 on his first-class debut for Jamaica against MCC in 1929-30. His second match was his Test debut, also at Sabina Park, in the final Test where he made 44 and 2 not out, and he was unfortunate not to be picked for the tour of Australia in 1930-31. Indeed, it was rather odd that he never played for West Indies again. The remainder of his first-class career was spasmodic, with ten matches in the next eight years, all in either Jamaica or Trinidad. In 1931-32, he hammered a career-best 261 not out against Lord Tennyson's tourists, adding a world-record 487 for the sixth wicket with Headley."

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. Charles Passailaigue
6. ?
7. Nigel Haig
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

Test caps used (6/50)

@blockerdave you have the next pick

 

[blockerdave]

Well he sure won’t get my cap count up, but I’m gonna pick Adrian Kuiper only.

@qpeedore is next

 

[Aislabie]

I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that only Jimmy Cook would have made my best eleven so far, out of everybody's picks. It's really interesting to see people's different strategies

 

[Ed Smith]

I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that only Jimmy Cook would have made my best eleven so far, out of everybody's picks. It's really interesting to see people's different strategies

You think I have a strategy? Appreciate that

 

[qpeedore]

Well, my next pick didn't play very many Tests, but it wasn't through lack of ability by any means. As Sir Curtly Ambrose once said, "Fast bowling is hard work." When you're capable of beating Ahktar in terms of sheer pace, it gets even harder. Add to that a slingy action that generated appreciable swing, both conventional and reverse, but also put even more strain on the body, it's no wonder that Shaun Tait retired from the longer formats of the game just when he was probably at his peak. Choosing to focus on the shorter formats lengthened his career by some years, but by the end even 4 overs of a T20 game was a lot for someone who just wanted to get the ball down to the other end as quickly as possible. It goes to show that speed isn't really everything and it puts you at risk for injury upon injury if you don't have things in a rhythm. And "rhythm" or "grace" couldn't be used to describe Tait. The run-up was fine, all nice and calm. It was the delivery stride and action, pretty much everything came from that. It was all muscle and pushing his upper body to the limit time and again.

Would slowing his pace have allowed him to play longer? Undoubtedly. But would he be as effective? I don't know. With the speed, he also did have very good control, but I just...don't know. As it stands, Tait has one job in my team and one job alone. Bowl, and bowl fast. In a Day's play, he might barely bowl more than 15 overs through 3 or 4 spells, but those 15 overs will all probably be 150+kmph, swinging, accurate, and deadly. Despite being very injury-prone, I'm not passing up the chance to pick him.

3 Tests, 5 wickets at 60.40, best 3-97
50 FC, 198 wickets at 28.59, best 7-29

5/50 caps currently

@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Pat Crawford

Test stats - 7 wickets @ 15.28 (best 3/28) in 4 matches
First-class stats - 110 wickets @ 21.02 (5 5WI, best 6/55) in 37 matches

I can't believe I've been lucky enough to have Pat Crawford last long enough for me to pick him up. His first-class career was over before his 25th birthday as a result of an unusually brittle body, but what a career it was. In his first season of the Sheffield Shield, aged only 21, he took his wickets at a mesmeric 12.96 runs apiece. That earned him an immediate Test callup, but his injury troubles began almost at once. In two of his Tests, his body gave up after five overs or less; in the other two, he was tremendous with his best spell being a phenomenal 26 overs, 8 maidens, three for 32 on an entirely unhelpful Nehru Stadium track. He would later forge a short but similarly dominant Lancashire League career.

@Aislabie's XI so far:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Simon O'Donnell
7.
8. Pat Crawford
9.
10.
11.

(10 of 50 caps)

@qpeedore

 

[ahmedleo414]

I had Pat Crawford penciled in for someone down the line

 

[Aislabie]

I had Pat Crawford penciled in for someone down the line

The best bowler in the draft by a distance in my opinion. It's cruelly unfair that his body fell to bits by the time he was 25, but the amount he achieved in that time is incredible. In the present day, he'd probably have followed the Pat Cummins trajectory, but in the era he played in he had to go and earn a living

 

[qpeedore]

Alright, I've got the beginnings of a bowling attack. Time to focus on the batting for a while. I won't have another pick for some time, and I do have to remember my cap requirements. Thankfully I've scoured the list and found someone who might be up there with Jimmy Cook in terms of First Class batting. That player is Shafiq Ahmed, who has excellent FC stats but never transferred those into a successful Test career. It wasn't quite for lack of chances, in all fairness, he played his Tests over 7 years. After his first, he didn't play again for another 3 years (while still performing domestically). Then he had a run of 3 matches, still didn't step up and didn't play his final couple of Tests until almost 3 years after that. But his FC record is stellar despite that.

After his playing career ended, he was the GM of Domestic Cricket Operations for the Pakistani Cricket Board from 2007-2019.

6 Tests, average 11, best 27*
266 FC, average 49.92, best 217*, 53 centuries, 113 fifties

Fun fact according to Wikipedia: He is the co-holder of the record for most Tests without a decisive result over an entire career. All six of his Tests ended in a draw.

11/50 caps currently

@blockerdave

 

[Aislabie]

Gentle reminder that @blockerdave has about three and a half hours left

 

[blockerdave]

Apologies, I missed the original notification.

I'm going to go with Bandula Warnapura, Sri Lanka's first test captain. A solid opening batsman and a reasonable medium pacer, he played just 4 tests before getting banned for life due to going on the AROSA Sri Lanka tour of South Africa in 1982/3.

@ahmedleo414 is next.

 

[ahmedleo414]

Just realized, i messged up again for my last pick, where i put the picture of my next pick Sam Staples, instead of Nigel Haig. But I've fixed that in the previous update

Stats	Matches	Wickets	BBI	BBM	Bowling Ave	Econ	5w/10w
First Class	385	1,331	9/141	?	22.85	2.41	72/11
Test	3	15	3/50	6/148	29.00	2.27	0/0

From cricinfo:

"Samuel James Staples, died on June 4 after being in poor health for some months. When Staples, who was born at Newstead Colliery on September 18, 1893, ended his cricketing career with Nottinghamshire after a connection with the county club extending over eighteen years, he had taken 1,400 wickets. Medium-paced, with a rather shuffling, jumpy run, he bowled cutters an excellent length for long spells, with ability to make the ball break either way. On hard pitches he kept down runs, and was specially effective on turf which helped him, making the ball turn sharply from the off when bowling round the wicket. In 1932 at Southampton he enjoyed the distinction of dismissing, at a cost of 21 runs, all ten Hampshire batsmen in an innings. He was a splendid fieldsman, and as a batsman low in the order did good work, his highest innings being 110 against Surrey at The Oval in 1923. He toured South Africa in 1927-28 with the MCC team led by Captain RT Stanyforth, appearing in three Test matches, and went to Australia with Percy Chapman's side the following winter, but was compelled by rheumatism to return home without taking part in a single game. In 1939 he became coach to Hampshire, and he served for one season, 1949, on the list of first-class umpires, but owing to ill-health he resigned both these positions."

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. Charles Passailaigue
6. ?
7. Nigel Haig
8. ?
9. Sam Staples
10. ?
11. ?

Test caps used (9/50)

@Dale88 you got the next pick