The Seniors First Test Draft

[Aravind.]

@Aislabie it's more than 24 hours since last pick, can I post my pick or do I need to wait for another 24 hours, as @ahmedleo414 needs to make double pick.

 

[Aislabie]

@Aislabie it's more than 24 hours since last pick, can I post my pick or do I need to wait for another 24 hours, as @ahmedleo414 needs to make double pick.

Go right ahead

 

[ahmedleo414]

Sorry please go ahead with your pick I'll pick when I have some time

 

[Aravind.]

Rabada Rabada (Kris Srikanth commentary style in Star Sports 1 Tamil) Kagiso Rabada (58 caps) with 270 test wickets at bowling average of 22 and bowling strike of 40.
My bowling unit is strong now like my batting unit.
The trio of Anderson, Holding & Rabada with company of Jaddu & Stokes.

@CerealKiller to pick next
@ahmedleo414 has two outstanding picks left.

Will be interesting to pick my last player, as last pick of the draft, hope I will be able to pick one of the player from four I have shortlisted.

 

[CerealKiller]

Perhaps the pioneer of fearsome West Indian fast bowling, Andy Roberts (47 caps) would form a terrifying pair with Steyn.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Herbert Sutcliffe
2. Dennis Amiss
3. Younis Khan
4. Greg Chappell
5. Javed Miandad
6. MS Dhoni
7. Shaun Pollock
8. Shane Warne
9. Dale Steyn
10. Andy Roberts
11.

@Neo 7

 

[Neo 7]

Not gonna wait . Better now to pick Rishabh Pant ...

Graeme Smith
Sachin Tendulkar
Joe Root
Allan Border
Steve Waugh
Rishabh Pant
Daniel Vettori
Zaheer Khan
Nathan Lyon
Courtney Walsh

 

[Aislabie]

@liveinasociety up next

 

[Paranoid Kendroid]

I will take

02. Matthew Hayden (103 caps)
03. Marnus Labuschagne (35 caps)
04. Jacques Kallis (166 caps)
05. Frank Worrell (51 caps)
06. Clive Lloyd (110 caps)
07. Andy Flower (63 caps)
08. Mitchell Starc (75 caps)
09: Hugh Tayfield (37 caps)
10. Rangana Herath (93 caps)
11. Glenn McGrath (124 caps)

@ddrap14

 

[ddrap14]

YES YES YES YES YES MY GUY IS AVAILABLE

I have no doubt in my mind that Barry Richards wouldn't have averaged 72 over a full Test career. But he would have been around 55-60, placing him with everyone else truly great apart from Bradman. And he played just four games due to apartheid.



1. Sunny Gavaskar
2. Barry Richards
3. Kumar Sangakkara
4. Ken Barrington
5. Everton Weekes
6. Michael Clarke
7. Ian Botham
9. Joel Garner
10. Murali
11. Waqar Younis

The order's a bit funky maybe, thanks to Sanga batting at 3, but I'll take Clarke batting one spot below where he should over Sanga several down.
@Aislabie both to pick and to update the order if possible?

 

[Aislabie]

The missing piece of my bowling attack has just arrived: Alan Davidson is statistically the best left-arm seam bowler of all time. He took 186 wickets at 20.53 apiece, with 14 five-wicket hauls from his 44 Test matches. An incredible performer often capable of winning entire matches off his own back, and he gets to share that workload with Hadlee, Marshall and Imran Khan. This is honestly one of the best four-man pace attacks I could have hoped to put together.

He's also a very capable batter with nine first-class centuries, but he slots in at nine here because look at all that batting above him.

1. Jack Hobbs (61 caps)
2. Wilfred Rhodes (58 caps)
3. Wally Hammond (85 caps)
4. Steven Smith (92 caps)
5. Garfield Sobers (93 caps)
6. Imran Khan (88 caps)
7. Quinton de Kock (54 caps)
8. Richard Hadlee (86 caps)
9. Alan Davidson (44 caps)
10. Malcolm Marshall (81 caps)

@Parth D
@ahmedleo414 also still has two outstanding picks unless I've missed them

 

[ahmedleo414]

I'm travelling at the moment so I haven't had a chance to make my picks. Please skip me for now I'll pick when I have time

 

[Aravind.]

@Verified Enigma to post his pick.

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

The earlier tag didn't work

1. Rohit Sharma (47 caps)
2. Bill Lawry (67 caps)
3. Rahul Dravid (164 caps)
4. Brian Lara (131 caps)
5. Shakib al Hasan (65 caps)
6. Andrew Flintoff (79 caps)
7. Adam Gilchrist (96 caps)
8. Ravichandran Ashwin (88 caps)
9. Wasim Akram (104 caps)
10. Mitchell Johnson (73 caps)

@Na Maloom Afraad

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

YES YES YES YES YES MY GUY IS AVAILABLE

Fuuuuuuuuu...

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

As infuriating it is to lose out on Barry Richards just a few picks from making mine, it's just the nature of the draft I guess.

I was so sure no one was gonna go for him that I didn't even prepare a back-up for him, so (mostly) on a whim, I'm gonna go with Prithvi Shaw. Between Him, Andy Ganteaume, Taslim Arif, Pieter van der Bijl and Tagenarine Chanderpaul - I had to go with the one who's got the best FC record. Man just scored 379 last month, so yeah.

I've also abandoned the idea of having Bradman at 4 and everyone around him at positions where they're significantly worse for some reason.

NMA XI

01. Victor Trumper (48 caps)
02. Prithvi Shaw (5 caps)
03. Don Bradman (52 caps)
04. Graeme Pollock (23 caps)
05. Aubrey Faulkner (25 caps)
06. Clyde Walcott (44 caps) †
07. Mike Procter (7 caps)
08. Pat Cummins (47 caps)
09. Hedley Verity (40 caps)
10. Sydney Barnes (27 caps)
11.

@ahmedleo414 is next, but...

Please skip me for now I'll pick when I have time

So I guess I'll make a double pick.

Spoiler

NMA XI

01. Victor Trumper (48 caps)
02. Prithvi Shaw (5 caps)
03. Don Bradman (52 caps)
04. Graeme Pollock (23 caps)
05. Aubrey Faulkner (25 caps)
06. Clyde Walcott (44 caps) †
07. Mike Procter (7 caps)
08. Bart King (0 caps)
09. Hedley Verity (40 caps)
10. Pat Cummins (47 caps)
11. Sydney Barnes (27 caps)

Bart King – the greatest North American cricketer of all time. That tail might be a little too long for my liking, and while I could've gone for [redacted] (thanks to @Aislabie's suggestion), I've opted to go with my initial pick because a quartet of Cummins, King, Barnes and Procter with Faulkner and Verity as my spinners is simply too delightful of an offering to pass on.

Would love a review of my team once the draft is done, because I'm super proud of the XI I've assembled. In spite of an initial blunder, changing direction halfway through and losing the opener for whom I had no backup. :shrug

You are next @Verified Enigma (I believe)