Draft: The 40/30 Draft

[Yash.]

I mean, I don't think anyone's picked Rod Marsh or Godfrey Evans or Jeff Dujon or Farokh Engineer or Prasanna Jayawardene so there should be keepers available

I know they're available. Just the batting aspect I was thinking upon. Neither of them were really great batsmen. Could go with a pure keeper though.

 

[Aislabie]

I know they're available. Just the batting aspect I was thinking upon. Neither of them were really great batsmen. Could go with a pure keeper though.

Sixteen Test tons between them, five of which belonged to Dujon who was probably the best batsman of the bunch (although obviously he never had to face the best bowling lineup of his era with bat in hand)

 

[Bevab]

None of my backup options for Watling have been picked yet and all of them are very good batsmen (as good as Reid if not better and are better with the gloves at the very least). With Gregory in there already I wouldn't mind a pure keeper though. In truth it would be a disservice to Reid who was a world class all-rounder back in the day to have him keep wicket.

 

[Bevab]

In an utterly unpredictable team like Sri Lanka, he has been the only dependable guy since so long

A bit harsh on Sri Lanka that.

While they are wildly inconsistent in white ball cricket, I would say that they're the best test team apart from the big four at the moment. Their excellence in tests has gone under the radar due to India trouncing them routinely.

 

[Yash.]

A bit harsh on Sri Lanka that.

While they are wildly inconsistent in white ball cricket, I would say that they're the best test team apart from the big four at the moment. Their excellence in tests has gone under the radar due to India trouncing them routinely.

I never said they were bad... They were just being really unpredictable...

Once you whitewash Australia in your hometurf, next time, England (who were without their mainstays) trump you easily in your home...
That is unpredictability...

 

[Aislabie]

Peter Burge

Test stats - 2,290 runs @ 38.16 (4 centuries, best 181) in 42 matches
First-class stats - 14,640 runs @ 47.53 (38 centuries, best 283) in 233 matches

Batting VARP (middle order) - 36.30%

Okay, so for the entire draft I'd been planning to pick Bob Catterall for my number five batsman, owing to his freakishly good record at five and six. Unfortunately, he also managed to take seven wickets at 23 apiece. Still, selecting Peter Burge at five allows me to keep my team balanced, as he was a player well known for being prepared to grind out long innings when necessary, curbing his instincts for beefy stroke-play. All of his best performances came in Ashes Tests, the yardstick by which Australian batsmen are rightly or wrongly judged. After retiring from cricket, he crafted the role of Match Referee through sheer force of personality. Honestly not the best cricketer I could have picked here, but I'm too busy being sad about the statistical marvel that is Bob Catterall

@Aislabie's XI so far:
1. Keith Stackpole
2. Alec Stewart
3. Billy Murdoch
4.
5. Peter Burge
6. Brendon McCullum
7. Colin de Grandhomme
8. David Allen
9. Sarfraz Nawaz
10. Corey Collymore
11. Dilip Doshi

@Parth D is next

@CerealKiller has a late pick

 

[CerealKiller]

Asad Shafiq has the most centuries ever at number 6, and that's where he'll play. He was ineligible for this draft for a while during his career, before a recent drop in form brought his average to 39.

CerealKiller’s XI
1. Victor Trumper
2. John Wright
3. Tom Hayward
4. Warwick Armstrong
5. Ben Stokes
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Alan Knott
8. Yasir Shah
9. Peter Siddle
10. Geoff Lawson
11.

@Parth D still to pick

 

[CerealKiller]

Asad Shafiq has the most centuries ever at number 6, and that's where he'll play. He was ineligible for this draft for a while during his career, before a recent drop in form brought his average to 39.

CerealKiller’s XI
1. Victor Trumper
2. John Wright
3. Tom Hayward
4. Ben Stokes
5. Warwick Armstrong
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Alan Knott
8. Yasir Shah
9. Peter Siddle
10. Geoff Lawson
11.

@Parth D still to pick

@Aislabie do you think it would be better to shift Shafiq at 4, so Stokes can bat lower?

 

[Aislabie]

@Aislabie do you think it would be better to shift Shafiq at 4, so Stokes can bat lower?

Shafiq has an okay record at four, but I'd bat Armstrong there, then Stokes five and Shafiq six

 

[Aislabie]

@ahmedleo414 can go ahead and pick

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Sanjay Manjrekar

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@Parth D's Team So Far

1. Murali Vijay
   
2. Ravi Shastri
   
3. Sanjay Manjrekar
4. MAK Pataudi
5. ?
6. MS Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
   
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Srinivas Venkataraghavan
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Javagal Srinath

___________________________________

@ahmedleo414 go on.

 

[ahmedleo414]

My next pick is the best Irish test player to only play once Edmund Joyce

​

Stats|Matches|Runs|HS| Ave|100s/50s
First-Class |256|18,465|250|47.71|47/92
Test |1|47|43|23.5|0/0

My playing XI:

1. Majid Khan
2. Michael Atherton
3. Ed Joyce
4. ?
5. Faf du Plessis
6. Matthew Wade
7. Abdul Razzaq
   
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Brett Lee
10. Umesh Yadav
11. Nathan Lyon

@Akshay.

 

[Yash.]

Damn, that’s a pick!

 

[Aislabie]

That is a serious shout; not really an angle I went down, but perhaps I should have!

 

[Akshay.]

Andy Sandham

Statistics
Tests:- 879 runs @ 38.21 in 14 tests, 2 hundreds
First Class:- 41284 runs @44.82 in 643 matches

Partner of Jack Hobbs, he held record for scoring 300 in his 40th year. He has mammoth 107 hundreds in first class, with over 41,000 runs. He will partner Jaffer at the top.

1. Wasim Jaffer
   
2. Andy Sandham
3. Vijay Manjrekar
4. ?
5. Arjuna Ranatunga
6. Andrew Flintoff
   
7. Quinton de Kock
8. Chris Woakes
   
9. Learie Constantine
10. Ishant Sharma
    
11. Alf Valentine

@ahmedleo414 back to you