The Block(er)Chain Draft

[qpeedore]

I suppose if you're taking Marnus, I'll pick Mitch Starc. Writeup to follow later.

@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

Virat Kohli.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Hanif Mohammad
2. Graeme Pollock
3. Don Bradman
4. Virat Kohli
5.
6. Ian Botham
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Wasim Akram
9. Rangana Herath
10. Dale Steyn
11. Allan Donald

@Yash.

 

[Yash.]

I’ll take Greame Smith for my second opening spot[DOUBLEPOST=1605648409][/DOUBLEPOST]@ahmedleo414

 

[ahmedleo414]

Well, looks like I won't be needing to use my chain break after all as Greame Smith has batted against

"The Wall" Rahul Dravid

and Rahul has been in matches with Ravichandran Ashwin

I will be using Dravid as a specialist bastman, since Andy will be keeping. I feel like Ponting is the only person i can use to lead this team.

Here is my team as it stands now.

1. Rahul Dravid
2. Herbert Sutclliffe
3. Ricky Ponting
   
4. Brian Lara
5. Zaheer Abbas
6. Jacques Kallis
7. Andy Flower
   
8. Ravi Ashwin
9. Chaminda Vaas
10. Courtney Walsh
11. Lance Gibbs

[DOUBLEPOST=1605650216][/DOUBLEPOST]@Dale88 you are next

 

[Ed Smith]

1. Mark Taylor
2. Wilfred Rhodes
3. Marvan Atapattu
   
4. Len Hutton
5. Kevin Pietersen
6. Clive Lloyd
7. Mark Boucher
   
8. Waqar Younis
9. Stuart Broad
10. Harbhajan Singh
    
11. Michael Holding

Every team needs a spinner, so why not the 2nd highest wicket taking off spinner in test history?

@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

Younis Khan completes my lineup.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Hanif Mohammad
2. Graeme Pollock
3. Don Bradman
4. Virat Kohli
5. Younis Khan
6. Ian Botham
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Wasim Akram
9. Rangana Herath
10. Dale Steyn
11. Allan Donald

@Yash.

 

[Yash.]

I've been mistagged. It's @blockerdave 's turn

 

[blockerdave]

I need a keeper, and thankfully Younis Khan has played against B J Watling. Watling completes my side and gives me a very strong batting line up with Imran as low as 8.

A dream opening pair in Richards and Gooch, and a very strong middle order; 3 world class seamers with strong back-up in Hammond and Waugh; a strong front-line spinner and 3 good part-time spin options. Leadership throughout.

Very happy with this team.

1. Barry Richards
2. Graham Gooch
3. Marnus Labuschagne
4. Mark Waugh
5. Wally Hammond
6. Steve Waugh (c)
7. B J Watling
8. Imran Khan
9. Bart King
10. Joel Garner
11. Mushtaq Ahmed

@qpeedore to complete his side.

 

[Aislabie]

This is weirdly hard to plan for - Qpee still has his chain break so I could be picking from literally anywhere in history

 

[qpeedore]

No time to write up at the moment. Using my break but staying in NZ and taking Richard Hadlee.

 

[Aislabie]

Dennis Amiss

Test stats: 3,612 runs @ 46.30 (11 centuries, best 262*) in 50 matches
Batting VARP (opener): 81.10%
First-class stats: 43,423 runs @ 42.86 (102 centuries, best 262*) in 658 matches

Dennis Amiss was a hard-working, deep-thinking opening batsman who was perfectly prepared to bat long and blunt opposition attacks. Indeed, as an opener he would go an average of 126 balls without being dismissed, scoring 54 runs in that time. And the other key characteristic of an opening batsman - that of capitalising once he has a start, was in clear evidence as he converted 55% of his fifties as an opener into centuries. A hugely important player, and one of English cricket's real forgotten greats.

Aislabie's XI so far:
1. Virender Sehwag
2. Dennis Amiss
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Steven Smith
5. Greg Chappell
6. AB de Villiers
7. Mike Procter
8. Alan Davidson
9. Hedley Verity
10. Shane Warne
11. Glenn McGrath

@Yash.

 

[Yash.]

Rohan Kanhai

The keeper in my team. Rohan Kanhai started off his career as a wicket-keeper, but eventually turned out to be one of the best ever batsmen to play for West Indies. He'll play at the no. 3 spot, while everyone else moves down a spot.

1. Sir Jack Hobbs
2. Greame Smith
3. Rohan Kanhai
   
4. Sir Vivian Richards
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Allan Border
   
7. Shaun Pollock
   
8. Anil Kumble
9. Malcolm Marshall
10. Sydney Barnes
    
11. Muttiah Muralidaran

[DOUBLEPOST=1605806632][/DOUBLEPOST]And the draft is over... Over to @Aislabie to give us his expert analysis.

 

[Aislabie]

@ahmedleo414
1. Rahul Dravid
2. Herbert Sutclliffe
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Brian Lara
5. Zaheer Abbas
6. Jacques Kallis
7. Andy Flower
8. Ravi Ashwin
9. Chaminda Vaas
10. Courtney Walsh
11. Lance Gibbs

That is a quietly excellent spin duo - neither Gibbs nor Ashwin is at the tip of people's tongue for great spinners, but they're both right up in the top ten all-time for VARP.
Another team with an excellent batting engine room; you've got top batsmen all the way from number three to Kallis and Flower batting unusually low at number seven.
This is a team with opening problems though, with bat and ball - Dravid was never quite a proper opener, while Chaminda Vaas might struggle against some of the greats in cricket history.

- - -

@Aislabie
1. Virender Sehwag
2. Dennis Amiss
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Steven Smith
5. Greg Chappell
6. AB de Villiers
7. Mike Procter
8. Alan Davidson
9. Hedley Verity
10. Shane Warne
11. Glenn McGrath

A five-man bowling attack where every bowler is a legend and every bowler is completely different will be a horrible proposition for any opposition team.
The batting order contains a fantastic balance of free-scoring match-winners and long-staying rear guard merchants. And at least four of them can do both.
AB de Villiers' glovework does have a couple of downsides - firstly, it's a bit scruffy compared to what might have been possible from a proper specialist, and secondly it's a waste of his fielding.

- - -

@blockerdave
1. Barry Richards
2. Graham Gooch
3. Marnus Labuschagne
4. Mark Waugh
5. Wally Hammond
6. Steve Waugh
7. BJ Watling
8. Imran Khan
9. Bart King
10. Joel Garner
11. Mushtaq Ahmed

Your batting line-up goes on for days; BJ Watling, Imran Khan and Bart King could go in any order at seven, eight and nine. That's genuinely ridiculous.
That pace trio is also outstanding - Imran, King and Garner are all express-pace, and elite-skill, merchants. They're also backed up by a surprising stock of part-time seamers.
Mushy was a good spinner, but not a great spinner - and he's the only full-time spin bowler in this side. This was always the risk though if you ended up in a corner with the chain.

- - -

@CerealKiller
1. Hanif Mohammad
2. Graeme Pollock
3. Don Bradman
4. Virat Kohli
5. Younis Khan
6. Ian Botham
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Wasim Akram
9. Rangana Herath
10. Dale Steyn
11. Allan Donald

You got Bradman.
There are also a couple of other all-time greats in this side. Hanif was the great stonewaller, Wasim and Steyn in the conversation of great fast bowlers, and Gilchrist almost certainly the great keeper-batsman. Even Botham, before he started eating almost all the things and drinking the rest of them, was a truly elite all-rounder.
This is a bit of a team stretched thin to cover its cracks though - the clearest example being Graeme Pollock opening the batting when he never batted above number four for South Africa. It's a risk.

- - -

@Dale88
1. Mark Taylor
2. Wilfred Rhodes
3. Marvan Atapattu
4. Len Hutton
5. Kevin Pietersen
6. Clive Lloyd
7. Mark Boucher
8. Waqar Younis
9. Stuart Broad
10. Harbhajan Singh
11. Michael Holding

This team certainly won't have any shortage of leaders with Taylor, Hutton, Lloyd and Boucher in its ranks.
A well-balanced five-man bowling attack is great, even if a couple of its members (Broad, Harbhajan) don't quite come with the same sort of fear factor attached to their names.
That batting order is... creative. Taylor, Hutton, Attapattu, Pietersen, Lloyd, Rhodes, Boucher is probably the right top seven (ignoring the tail for now) and even then you have guys batting in positions where they never really clicked.

- - -

@qpeedore
1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Mahela Jayawardene
4. Everton Weekes
5. Clyde Walcott
6. Garry Sobers
7. Johnny Douglas
8. Daniel Vettori
9. Richard Hadlee
10. Mitchell Starc
11. Curtly Ambrose

This is a team that is full of match-winners with bat (Greenidge, Hayden, Weekes, Sobers in particular) and ball (Hadlee, Starc and Ambrose) in pace-friendly conditions.
Again, some excellent batting depth - Vettori and Hadlee at eight and nine is properly absurd given their respective qualities.
A couple of picks just stop the team from fitting together perfectly - Douglas doesn't add anything but gets in the way of a proper keeper, while Vettori shows that spin isn't a priority here.

- - -

@Yash.
1. Jack Hobbs
2. Greame Smith
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Vivian Richards
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Allan Border
7. Shaun Pollock
8. Anil Kumble
9. Malcolm Marshall
10. Sydney Barnes
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

You've built an excellent and varied bowling attack, built in particular around the excellent trio of Malcolm Marshall, Sydney Barnes and Muttiah Muralitharan. That will be a huge obstacle for opposing bowling attacks.
That bowling attack should have plenty of runs to play with, courtesy of the powerhouse middle order of Richards, Tendulkar and Border; that is a serious engine room.
When three of your main bowlers require the keeper up to the stumps to be fully effective, you're probably going to want a top-quality wicket-keeper. I don't doubt that Kanhai was good, but his very low tally of eight stumpings in a 580-match cricket career suggests that he may miss important chances.

 

[Yash.]

When three of your main bowlers require the keeper up to the stumps to be fully effective, you're probably going to want a top-quality wicket-keeper

I pretty much messed up with using the chain break at the wrong time. I needed a keeper who could bat as well, and among all the keepers who played alongside Amiss, there weren’t many who could bat.
Also the no. Of stumpings factor in Kanhai’s career is because he didn’t keep for most of his later career. As his Cricinfo bio says, he started out as a wicket keeper only to be transformed to a pure batsman.

 

[blockerdave]

I pretty much messed up with using the chain break at the wrong time. I needed a keeper who could bat as well, and among all the keepers who played alongside Amiss, there weren’t many who could bat.
Also the no. Of stumpings factor in Kanhai’s career is because he didn’t keep for most of his later career. As his Cricinfo bio says, he started out as a wicket keeper only to be transformed to a pure batsman.

I reckon if you have Pollock and Marshall - both very handy batsmen - you didn’t need to compromise on the keeper and could have gone for a pure gloveman