The Layer Cake Draft

[blockerdave]

My pick is Bob Taylor

Test stats - 1,156 runs @ 16.28 (best 97) and 174 dismissals (167 caught, 7 stumped) in 57 matches
First-class stats - 12,065 runs @ 16.92 (1 century, best 100) and 1,649 dismissals (1,473 caught, 176 stumped) in 639 matches

My side doesn't need any more batting, so I've not worried about that when selecting my wicket-keeper. Instead I've picked the best pure gloveman ever to play the game: Bob Taylor. He just never made mistakes, and was good enough to keep keeping for England until well into his 40s, and for Derbyshire until almost 50. There's a fairer, kinder universe out there somewhere where he gets to play 100 or more Tests, and chooses not to walk on 97, rather than take his best chance at a Test century. Taylor was so good a keeper that he never once broke a finger trying to take a cricket ball.

1. Gordon Greenidge (L)
2. Geoffrey Boycott
3. Younis Khan (L)
4. Douglas Jardine (L)
5. Everton Weekes
6. Charlie Macartney
7. Imran Khan (P)
8. Scott Kremerskothen (L)
9. George Lohmann
10. Hedley Verity
11. Bob Taylor

@Dutch if he's feeling it, but @blockerdave can go ahead

great pick. Again in my thought experiment to complete @Dutch side I had Taylor as his keeper.

 

[Aislabie]

great pick. Again in my thought experiment to complete @Dutch side I had Taylor as his keeper.

I feel reasonably sure of who your selection will be though

 

[blockerdave]

I feel reasonably sure of who your selection will be though

I guess you probably assumed Jack Russel? That's certainly who I have been leaning towards picking throughout - he was a superb gloveman and I'm a huge fan.

But instead, fairly late in the day I instead decided to go with DENNIS LINDSAY

Lindsay was keeper for the SPringboks in the 60s and played the last two tests of the legendary 1970 series vs Australia. He was a fine keeper, and batsman good enough to play his first 4 tests as a specialist batsman at number 5. Overall he scored 1,130 runs from 19 tests at 37.66 with 3 tons and 5 half-centuries.

1) Barry Richards
2) Eddie Barlow
3) Peter May (c)
4) Clive Rice
5) Ross Taylor
6) Keith Miller
7) DENNIS LINDSAY (wk)
8) Franklyn Stephenson
9) Graeme Swann
10) Andy Roberts
11) Muttiah Muralitharan

Very very happy with that side! Was extremely lucky to avoid any mediocre players in the lucky dip.

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So, I've gone ahead and picked a team for @Dutch based on who was left now. He gets Jack Russell! Having Botham and Sobers in his side allows him to carry Gavin Hamilton without too much damage.

1. Bob Simpson
2. Conrad Hunte
3. Richie Richardson
4. David Gower (c)
5. Clyde Walcott
6. Garry Sobers
7. Ian Botham
8. Jack Russell (wk)
9. Gavin Hamilton
10. Jeff Thomson
11. Bishan Bedi

 

[Aislabie]

7) DENNIS LINDSAY (wk)

Oooh close! I was thinking Lee Irvine myself.

1. Bob Simpson
2. Conrad Hunte
3. Richie Richardson
4. David Gower (c)
5. Clyde Walcott
6. Garry Sobers
7. Ian Botham
8. Jack Russell (wk)
9. Gavin Hamilton
10. Jeff Thomson
11. Bishan Bedi

This has a couple of similarities with who I had in mind for sure. Will put my version of the @Dutch XI together in a moment

 

[blockerdave]

Oooh close! I was thinking Lee Irvine myself.


This has a couple of similarities with who I had in mind for sure. Will put my version of the @Dutch XI together in a moment

Was thinking of Irvine too - plumped for Lindsay simply because he played more tests, and all of Irvine's were as a specialist batsman.

 

[Dutch]

Thanks for filling in the gaps for me guys. Sorry I couldn't take part. Things are manic at the moment. Keep safe everyone.

 

[Aislabie]

The @Dutch XI so far:

1.
2.
3. David Gower (P)
4. Garry Sobers (L)
5. Clyde Walcott (L)
6.
7. Ian Botham (L)
8. Gavin Hamilton (L)
9.
10.
11.

Some questions arise here I'm sure.

• David Gower at three? Yes; he averaged nearly 50 there with eight centuries.
• Garry Sobers at five? Yes; he scored his three highest Test scores (including the 365*) from the top four and was certainly good enough to bat there.
• Gavin Hamilton at eight? Yeah maybe that's a bit high, we'll leave that one pencilled in.

Pick 1: Lee Irvine
If Apartheid hadn't led to South Africa's sporting isolation, Lee Irvine would have played about 80 Tests and played them well. He was a brutally punishing left-handed batsman and an effervescent wicket-keeper. Sound like a certain Australian we know of?

Pick 2: Jeff Thomson
Every team should have an express pace bowler, and why not go for one of the very fastest of all time. If I were in line to face him, I'd be busy soiling myself.

Pick 3: Richie Richardson
Richardson was an outstanding opener in the latter half of the West Indies' golden age as a Test team.

Pick 4: Sid Barnes
He was one of the great opening batsmen, but a combination of the Second World War and a remarkable ability to irritate authority figures meant Barnes played only 13 Tests.

Pick 5: Hugh Trumble
One of the great Australian spinners who has been left in the shadow of Shane Warne. But a Test average of 21 and a first-class average of 18 scream quality.

Pick 6: Mike Brearley
This team already has a devastating top seven batsmen. It already has a wicket-keeper and five bowlers (Thomson, Botham, swing Sobers, Trumble and spin Sobers). It also has Gavin Hamilton. So why not give them one more gift: an all-time great captain and tactician to get the best out of them.

1. Richie Richardson
2. Sid Barnes
3. David Gower (P)
4. Garry Sobers (L)
5. Clyde Walcott (L)
6. Lee Irvine
7. Ian Botham (L)
8. Mike Brearley
9. Gavin Hamilton (L)
10. Hugh Trumble
11. Jeff Thomson

For what it's worth, this is the side I had picked.