The Russian Roulette draft | Final - Return of the King..

[VC the slogger]

I have yet to receive @CerealKiller and @RUDI's numbers but here are the other results anyways..

@Fenil - (PG 29; 1, 3)

Neil Fairbrother - Opinons remain divided on him owing to his abysmal Test record, but there was little doubt he was one of the finest limited overs batters produced by England during the 1990s. Although not such a great striker of the ball, his ability to pierce the gaps and keep the scoreboard ticking in the middle overs was useful in an era when England didn't have many such batsmen.

@pillowprocter - (PG 50; 5, 2)

Khaled Mahmud - Another man with laughable statistics in both Tests and ODIs, but lest we forget Bangladesh pretty much still owe their Test status to him for his match turning spell of 3 for 31 in a memorable upset over finalists Pakistan in 1999 that helped them catch the attention of the relevant authorities. In ODIs his bowling was still pretty handy in helpful conditions on occasion.

@Neo 7 - (PG 94; 5, 4)

Odean Smith - A muscular and ferocious if rather inconsistent lower-order hitter who looks set to take on the mantle of West Indies' next T20 superstar from the likes of Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo. He can be seriously quick with the ball too on his good days (enough to break Chris Gayle's bat in half) which have been few and far in between.

@ddrap14 - (PG 77; 5, 3)

Shaun Pollock - By landing one of the all-time greats of ODI cricket, @ddrap14 is the clear winner of this round. Pollock was easily the most miserly bowler ever witnessed since the turn of the millennium and a dangerous lower-order bat who could play the role of hitter or firefighter depending on the situation. It speaks levels of his all-round ability that despite being renowned more for his at times unhittable top of off bowling, he scored his only ODI century in a match he didn't even bowl in.

@CerealKiller - Yet to send in his numbers

@Ed Smith - (PG 13; 4, 5)

Johan Botha - A batting average of 19 and bowling average of 40 might not say much, but Johan Botha played a pretty useful role for South Africa from the mid to late 2000s when their modus operandi on using spinners was to defend and keep the runs down rather than encourage an attacking mindset. An economy rate of 4.57 shows he did that job reasonably enough while contributing some decent lower-order runs with the bat.

@ahmedleo414 - (PG 50; 4, 1)

Gary Kidd - Even though most of his matches came on pitches not particularly conducive to spin bowling, Gary Kidd struggled to adapt at the highest level claiming just 1 wicket from 5 innings with a wicket coming every 36 overs. To his credit he managed to concede at fewer than 5 runs per over but still not ideal.

@RUDI - Yet to send in his numbers


@Till Valhalla - (PG 104; 2, 2)

Luuk van Troost - A Netherlands skipper whose most famous action was to drop himself from the playing XI in a World Cup match that his country would go on to win in his absence.


@Aravind. - (PG 16; 1, 3)



Roland Butcher - Had selection for English limited overs teams in the 1980s been based on more than just cold hard Test match numbers, an aggressive bat such as Roland Butcher who was good enough to smash a 38-ball 52 on debut (against the likes of Lillee, Thomson, Pascoe no less) might have featured in more than just 3 ODIs. He was also the first recognized black man to play for England.


@mohsin7827 - (PG 23; 5, 4)

Bas de Leede - Before the recently concluded T20 World Cup in Australia, Bas de Leede was a talented but limited middle-order bat who occasionally bowled. With his bowling stocks having risen greatly since then, he now finds himself one of associate cricket's best all-round prospects and his numbers can only improve from here.


@Verified Enigma - (PG 96; 2, 2)

Kris Srikkanth - A career strike rate of 71 might not sound like much today, but it was huge in Srikkanth's era when most openers struck it in the late 50s and 60s. Some of his unbelievable knocks during that time such as 123 off 103 balls, 95 off 66, 75 off 58 would have given the likes of Virender Sehwag and Jason Roy fair competition today. He also developed his filthy off-breaks towards the end of his career to the extent that he was able to finish with 2 ODI five-fers to his name.


@Umair7 - (PG 27; 1, 5)

Kirk Edwards - A man who was touted for great things after an eventful first year in international cricket where he averaged above 50 in Test cricket, a rarity in Caribbean cricket for anyone whose name wasn't Chanderpaul during that period. But he fell away horribly after 2012, despite one glimpse o brilliance in the form of an ODI hundred was never able to revive his career.


@Aislabie - (PG 90; 6, 3)

Mohammad Shahzad - One of Afganistan's biggest failures has been their odd reluctance to utilize Mohammad Shahzad's talents properly whenever a World Cup comes around for some odd reason or another. Despite his lackadaisical attitude towards fitness, Shahzad has nevertheless proved himself their best and most explosive batter at the top and deserved better than to be snubbed for the 2015 World Cup and sent home in disgrace from the 2019 edition, where it was their clown show of an administration that entertained rather than their cricket.


@VC the slogger - (PG 1; 1, 2)

Abdul Jabbar - An opening bat who played a handful of matches in 2007 without crossing 50 even once, bagged a pair in 2008, and has never been seen or heard from since. There isn't even a picture of his on the internet that I can find to display here.

 

[RUDI]

Sent through. Apology, didn't know it actually started.

 

[Aislabie]

Abdul Jabbar - An opening bat who played a handful of matches in 2007 without crossing 50 even once, bagged a pair in 2008, and has never been seen or heard from since. There isn't even a picture of his on the internet that I can find to display here.

*Amazingly* I think this might be him now:

 

[VC the slogger]

Sent through. Apology, didn't know it actually started.

No worries pal


@CerealKiller - (PG 83; 1, 1)

Richard Reid - Not the shoe bomber. This Richard Reid was far more peaceful in nature and in terms of batting style too, being an obdurate opening batter who managed a couple of ODI fifties but failed to really cement his spot in the New Zealand lineup. Like most sons of famous cricketing fathers, he couldn't quite follow in his old man's giant footsteps but nevertheless showcased his swag by becoming among the first players to bat in sunglasses.

@RUDI - (PG 50; 6, 4)

Craig Kieswetter - Before the likes of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales took them to World Cup glories with their blistering starts at the top, it was Craig Kieswetter who did so originally back in the 2010 World T20 that played a pivotal role in securing England's first silverware of any kind at an ICC tournament. This destructive opener/wicket-keeper was good enough to make Jos Buttler of all people insecure at Somerset forcing a move to Lancashire, but tragically had his career cut short by a horrific facial injury after being struck inside the grill of his helmet that damaged his eyesight.

 

[VC the slogger]

@Fenil - (PG 109; 1, 3)



Dav Whatmore

A man whose playing career paled greatly in comparison to his coaching career. Apart from a brace of fifties in a Test match in India, Dav Whatmore achieved little else of significance during his brief international career that barely lasted a year owing to the defection of Australia's leading players to World Series Cricket. Once the Packer 'rebels' were back, he was gone.


@pillowprocter - (PG 74; 6, 1)

Rishabh Pant

One of the most audacious strikers of the current era, Rishabh Pant's ODI numbers still remain mediocre by his lofty Test match standards despite having recently struck a maiden century in the format. He was by all accounts lucky to get out alive from that horrible car crash, but it also means he won't get an opportunity to improve them until 2024 at the very least which is unfortunate considering he was finally coming into his own as an all-format player.


@Neo 7 - (PG 44; 1, 3)

Wasim Jaffer

Despite a couple of failures in his only two ODIs on a tough tour of South Africa before being cast aside as an ODI option forever, Wasim Jaffer certainly had the game to ace the format. He averaged in excess of 44 in List-A cricket and once helped his team chase down a 350-plus target with a swashbuckling 178 off just 132 balls which still wasn't quite the norm back in the 2000s. In the era of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir among others, there's only so many chances you can get as a top-order batter.


@ddrap14 - (PG 14; 1, 4)

Mike Brearley

The man who had 'a degree in people' according to one Rodney Hogg. Mike Brearley was one of the most respected captains of his era good enough to merit a place in the XI despite never being a world class batsman or ever keeping wicket in an international as he had done at domestic level. Nevertheless, he DID manage to top score in a World Cup final against the mighty West Indies team of 1979 and put England in a good position to chase down their target of 287 before Joel Garner started wrecking shit up as usual.


@CerealKiller - (PG 55; 2, 2)

Clive Lloyd

Clive Lloyd as a batter was a couple of decades ahead of his time at the very least in the one-day format, striking at above 81 with an average of nearly 40 and played one of the most iconic ODI knocks of all time when he pulverized Australia with an 85-ball 102 that allowed the West Indies to lift the first ever men's 50-over World Cup. After that triumph he also single handedly built up the most formidable cricketing outfit the world has ever seen that would go on to easily defend their title in 1979 and nearly claim a third in 1983. In addition to all that, Lloyd was a reliable medium pacer good at keeping the runs tight before his knees started troubling him after 1976 which forced him to give up bowling for good.


@Ed Smith - (PG 107; 2, 2)

Bandula Warnapura

Given that he achieved so many firsts for Sri Lanka including the distinction of leading them in their first ever Test match, facing their first delivery as a Test nation, scoring their first Test runs, first boundary in ODI cricket and also their first ODI victory over India at the 1979 World Cup incidentally the first by an associate nation back then over a Test playing nation at the tournament - it would seem Bandula Warnapura had one heck of a career. But in truth it wasn't, for as a player he was bang average with 96 runs at 12.00 in Test cricket and 180 runs at 15.00 in ODIs. Despite his limitations, he even doubled up as both opening batsman and opening bowler at Test level, and was generally his country's second/third choice seamer because they simply didn't have anyone else at the time.


@ahmedleo414 - (PG 15; 1, 4)

Neil Broom

Neil Broom had a career of two halves, firstly as a middle-order rabbit under headlights who was badly exposed at the highest level averaging only 17.53 after 22 matches between 2009 to 2010 during a very lean period for New Zealand at a time when James Franklin and Daniel Vettori would sometimes bat in the top six. He found his way back some 7 years later on the weight of domestic runs and returned a vastly improved player averaging above 38 during this phase, but New Zealand had no shortage of good players this time around and it wasn't enough to retain his spot in the XI.


@RUDI - (PG 62; 4, 6)

Geoff Miller

Not the most talented player going around perhaps, Geoff Miller did what he could with whatever skill he had as an accurate off-spinner and batter who was at times frustratingly difficult to dislodge in Tests. He was not quite as well suited to one-dayers however, averaging less than 9 with the bat although his bowling was still okey dokey.


@Till Valhalla - (PG 68; 6, 2)

Mushfiqur Rahim

Mushfiqur Rahim has been a stalwart of Bangladesh cricket since his debut 17 years ago, playing a pivotal role in their transition from being mere pushovers to a team no one could take lightly and now one that is nearly unbeatable at home even against the best ODI sides in the world. In all that time, he has undergone quite a few transitions of his own evolving from a rigid grinder whose maiden half-century took more than a 100 balls to scoring the fastest ever ton by a Bangladeshi in the format off just 59 balls as of yesterday.


@Aravind. - (PG 88; 6, 1)

Kumar Sangakkara

In a group where one could have easily ended up with someone like Marcel Schewe, Aravind. struck gold by claiming a one of the best wicket-keeper batters to ever play the game. Unlike Tests where he gave up the gloves to put all his energy into becoming a 60-average batter, Kumar Sangakkara kept them on throughout his ODI career which lasted 404 matches resulting in a staggering 482 dismissals to go with 14234 runs at nearly 42 and 25 hundreds. Unlike most players, he got only better with age in both formats but especially in one-dayers where the last 3 years of his career brought him 3319 runs at 59.27 at a strike rate of 91 with 11 centuries - including a world record 4 centuries in 4 innings at the 2015 World Cup which was his swansong in the format. He continued to dominate even after his international retirement averaging above 100 for the 2017 county season, and retired only out of boredom perhaps.


@mohsin7827 - (PG 102; 1, 1)

Marcus Trescothick

When one thinks of Marcus Trescothick, one usually ponders at what could have been had he had a full international career that wasn't cut short at the age of 30. In that limited amount of time, he managed to establish himself as arguably England's greatest white ball batter prior to this current generation of world beaters scoring 12 centuries in the format and striking it at 85 which was still 5th best in the world for an opener behind only Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag, Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi. Remarkably, he still sits joint third on their list of most centuries scored alongside Jason Roy, behind only Joe Root and Eoin Morgan.


@Verified Enigma - (PG 69; 1, 5)

Najibullah Zadran

An aggressive middle-order southpaw whose power hitting game is more suited to T20 cricket, Najibullah Zadran took a long time to acclimatize to ODIs. Since 2018 however, he has been among their most reliable batters with 1185 runs averaging 42.32 and striking at 95 runs per hundred balls - numbers that are comparable to some of the best in the world during this period.


@Umair7 - (PG 23; 6, 4)

Quinton de Kock

Till date, there has been only one completed year since his debut in 2013 where Quinton de Kock hasn't been able to bring up three figures in ODIs. His statistics as an opening wicket-keeper batter are unparalleled by anyone in ODI history including the likes of Adam Gilchrist, with 5959 runs at an average of above 45 along with 17 centuries whilst striking just a touch below 100, and he's still only 30. It's a completely different story at ICC tournaments however, where his average drops down to just 31.06 which is perhaps the only real blemish in an otherwise splendid career thus far.


@Aislabie - (PG 74; 5, 3)

Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya, much like his more renowned brother Hardik specializes in limited overs formats with only 9 red ball appearances as opposed to 242 with the white ball. Although a more than handy all-rounder at IPL and domestic level, he hasn't been able to nail down a spot in the Indian lineup due to the presence of his brother, Ravindra Jadeja, and several all-round options vying for the same spot in the XI in India's era of riches. In a different country, I doubt he would have been so easily cast aside after blitzing a match-winning fifty on debut and maintaining a batting average of 65 after 5 ODIs.


@VC the slogger - (PG 57; 3, 4)

Nixon McLean

A player perhaps emblematic of the decline in Caribbean fast bowling following the retirements of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. From having two of the world's greatest at the time, West Indies went to having a group of mediocre occasionally fast trundlers such as Nixon McLean who would often spray the ball around and be dealt with ease. He never claimed more than 3 wickets in an innings in either format and averaged close to 40 with the ball in ODIs. Its no surprise West Indies fell as low as they did during this period.

 

[CerealKiller]

Lloyd was a great ODI cricketer, happy with that pick.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

@Till Valhalla - (PG 68; 6, 2)

Mushfiqur Rahim

Mushfiqur Rahim has been a stalwart of Bangladesh cricket since his debut 17 years ago, playing a pivotal role in their transition from being mere pushovers to a team no one could take lightly and now one that is nearly unbeatable at home even against the best ODI sides in the world. In all that time, he has undergone quite a few transitions of his own evolving from a rigid grinder whose maiden half-century took more than a 100 balls to scoring the fastest ever ton by a Bangladeshi in the format off just 59 balls as of yesterday.

Lesssssssss GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! @Till Valhalla

 

[VC the slogger]

Lesssssssss GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! @Till Valhalla

You could still join if you want pal. Currently 15 members so 16 would even things out nicely for a small knockout tourney if I were to run one afterwards..

 

[Till Valhalla]

Lesssssssss GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! @Till Valhalla

Why?

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

You could still join if you want pal. Currently 15 members so 16 would even things out nicely for a small knockout tourney if I were to run one afterwards..

Yes pleasseeeee... would love to join in on the fun

Post automatically merged: Mar 21, 2023

Why?

You drew the Naagin man, how lucky can you be

 

[Till Valhalla]

You drew the Naagin man, how lucky can you be

Okay

 

[Aislabie]

I'm really happy with how my team is fitting together at this early stage. Krunal might not be a glamour pick, but he's a really handy role player in my team.

2. Mohammad Shahzad
8. Krunal Pandya

 

[Fenil]

@Fenil - (PG 109; 1, 3)

There seems to be some mistake due to lot numbers being churned out at your end. My numbers for second round were 5 and 4.

Can you please check?

 

[VC the slogger]

There seems to be some mistake due to lot numbers being churned out at your end. My numbers for second round were 5 and 4.

Can you please check?

Yep you're right. Will change and update accordingly

 

[Fenil]

Yep you're right. Will change and update accordingly

It's okay. I understand the sheer numbers you would be dealing with.