The Baz-Ball Draft

[Till Valhalla]

When Mohammad Azharuddin is the weak link in your top six, everyone else should just go home.

Good joke when you have Sachin in the Lineup

 

[ddrap14]

Good joke when you have Sachin in the Lineup

I don't think there's an argument for Azharuddin over Sachin. One has a Test average over 50, the other has a match fixing charge.

I can see an argument for Graeme Smith being the worst of that top six, but 2008 was the first Test series I remember watching, and I remember that Pink Test very clearly.

 

[Till Valhalla]

I don't think there's an argument for Azharuddin over Sachin. One has a Test average over 50, the other has a match fixing charge

Yeah no argument.
Anyday Azharuddin>Tendulkar

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Alright, time to rate these teams. I'll be giving pros and cons of all eight, but I'll only rank the seven picked in the regular draft - although Aravind did outstandingly well to autofill the Disharies team, it was picked under other circumstances.

@Verified Enigma
The first of many scary bowling attacks - Lee and Johnson are prototypical Bazball bowlers.
Bradman, followed by Modern Bradman. Not bad.
The Trescothick pick feels like a letdown (although not a teamkiller). He was good, but I'd have opened with Buttler in the true spirit of Bazball, and picked another AR - Shahid or Hadlee come to mind.

@Disharies (autofilled by Aravind)
How'd we let those five bowlers go undrafted (aside from Bond's injury concerns)?
AB de Villiers is a great guy to be the only regular pick in the team.
Two small things - the openers probably aren't the best available (Srikkanth is worryingly similar to Zak Crawley), and the bowlers are injury prone aside from Hadlee. That said, for our table scraps, it's incredibly good

@Aravind.
The team bats deep and well. I don't know if I'd have changed any of them.
A five pronged bowling attack, and that isn't even including the spin of Sir Viv.
Honestly, the biggest knock I've got is the lack of a legspinner who's better than the part-timers of Sanath Jayasuriya.

@Supreme General
There's a real case to say Supreme got three of the four best ever all-rounders. And good all rounders are a massive boon in this style of play.
Six deadly bowling options, including the best bowling partnership ever and Shane Warne.
Hard to knock this team too. It feels like they didn't get any of the top tier of batsmen though

@Aislabie
What did I say about all-rounders?
1-8 is incredibly strong for a Bazball team. Even discounting the all-rounders, Baz himself is there, and Hayden/Gibbs is a domineering opening duo.
My one worry is spinning wickets; I don't know enough about Aubrey Faulkner to say how good he was as a bowler, but I can tell you that if he wasn't a lead spinner, Andrew Symonds definitely isn't. Barnes makes up for this a bit.

@Naman7
The choices of bowler are unconventional, but would work I think for Bazball - we've seen Anderson do it with a very similar skillset to Zaheer, Pollock and McGrath. Also deep with bowling talent
Sehwag and Dhoni would thrive in this system, while Harry Brook already is. Solid picks.
Picking Cheteshwar Pujara is an affront to Bazball that will be penalised in the final draft rankings.

@liveinasociety
When Mohammad Azharuddin is the weak link in your top six, everyone else should just go home.
A quality top four bowling options.
The one issue with this team is plain and simple for me - other teams have Wasim, Broad, Cummins and Imran at first change seamer, you have Colin de Grandhomme.

Myself
Batting. The top six are all guys who would love to be told "Go for it".
I think I made good use of the end of the draft. Boucher and Cairns are key players to my team, and I got them in Rounds 10 and 11.
A similar complaint to Supreme; I too missed out on a top, top tier batsman.

It's very tricky to rank these teams. Everyone knocked this out of the park and should be very happy with their efforts, and the only team I could say would probably struggle is the offcuts team.But here's one anyway:
7. Naman - It's the Pujara pick, sorry. Swap him for Maco or Wasim and add an undrafted batter in Round 11, and I think this is a top 4 team.
6. LiveInASociety - Great team for spinning conditions, but might regret having de Grandhomme and two spinners as first change options on the WACA or at Lord's. That batting lineup this low is rough though.
5. Aislabie - Similarly, outstanding batting and outstanding draft, but probably not enough bowling firepower in Delhi or Colombo.
4. Myself - I'm similar with the bat and worse with the ball than Supreme, so I can't go any higher than here.
3. Supreme - Outstanding first draft, very little that could have improved it - if Brian Lara's at 3 instead of KP, I think this team wins.
2. Parth - I think Parth and Aravind both basically aced the draft; one small thing made me tip it Aravind's way, but Parth's team would win most drafts.
1. Aravind - That difference maker is that, no matter the conditions or the batsman, there's absolutely zero respite from any of Aravind's five main bowlers. Absolutely ruthless and with the batting to boot.

And one more thing. I'm going to do a quick XI of players who went completely undrafted (not just "undrafted but made the Disharies replacement team").

1. Shikhar Dhawan - Doesn't have the best record in Tests, but dominated shorter forms. Similarly to at least one future pick in this side, that gets him here.
2. Andy Flower - Not a lot of quality keeper-batsmen are left. Flower was a quality one, and while not a natural Bazballer, he's probably better than Romesh Kaluwitharana would be in this spot.
3. Babar Azam - There's an argument Babar is better at ODIs than Tests, which works in his favour for this side.
4. Graeme Pollock - An obvious choice here. Limited to 23 games by Apartheid, Pollock averaged 60 in them; up there with Smith and co in terms of Greatest Since Bradman.
5. Brad Hodge - If the selectors ran with him over either Mike Hussey or Michael Clarke, he'd have a similar record and have been drafted here. An Aussie great in practically any other generation.
6. Michael Bevan - Poor record in Tests, but he feels like a Travis Head who could bowl usefully and would benefit from being let off the leash.
7. Clive Rice - Never played a Test due to Apartheid, but would likely have joined Kapil, Imran and Botham in terms of greatest ARs of that generation.
Jansen
8. Bart King - The USA's best ever cricketer, King would be a Test legend if he was born in Barbados in 1973. Instead, he was born in Philly in 1873, but he's still far closer than any other American in history.
9. Joel Garner - No idea how he went undrafted, he was probably the best player that did. Awkward bounce and ferocious pace.
10. Vintcent van der Bijl - ah, my favourite sleeper pick. VVDB was South Africa's answer to Lillee, or would have been if not for Apartheid. This pick could have just as easily been Mitch Starc.
11. Jim Laker - Laker often wasn't assisted by English wickets, but when he was (and even when he wasn't) he was deadly. Still has the best ever Test figures of 10/53.

Surprised that the two teams who had the most outstanding picks end up being the two best teams.

 

[ddrap14]

Surprised that the two teams who had the most outstanding picks end up being the two best teams.

That do be how drafts work

 

[Aravind.]

Thanks for the review mate, we'll written and the eleven you selected after the review is also too good.

 

[Aislabie]

Fair; as I mentioned, my main worry was whether Faulkner could be as good of a #1 spinner as someone like Ashwin, Warne or Murali given his record, but I've just realised he played a total of 0 times on the subcontinent

He's the second spinner. Barnes is the first.

 

[ddrap14]

He's the second spinner. Barnes is the first.

Is he not right arm medium?

 

[Aislabie]

Is he not right arm medium?

Old-timey bowling styles are a bit misleading; he used to bowl off- and leg-breaks at around medium pace.

 

[Aravind.]

Is he not right arm medium?

He did bowled both fast medium and leg spin, but not a out and out spinner, further never played in subcontinent.

 

[Aravind.]

Barnes had been a fast bowler with Warwickshire but in his time at Rishton he reduced his pace to medium fast and experimented with spin.

 

[ddrap14]

I see. I got misled by ESPNCricinfo