Which is the strongest XI?

[King Pietersen]

Shiva's averaged over 100 in his last 2 years of Test Cricket. Chanderpaul > Yousuf. I win the draft. :cool:

 

[Dare]

Shiva's averaged over 100 in his last 2 years of Test Cricket. Chanderpaul > Yousuf. I win the draft. :cool:

Shiv and Yousuf are both the same in a way. Both had career changing experiences. Shiv was always struggling in the beginning of his career because of his foot problem but when he had it removed he became one of the best.

for Yousuf it was religion and after that he started putting up better numbers.

 

[manee]

What can I say. The ranking of my middle order just happens to help me win by half a point. If I was going to be unbiased I'd drop half a point off my team. But then I'd have to knock half a point off Manee's bowling attack, for having a guy called Fanie in the team. Either way I win

That is not his real name, King.

manee added 0 Minutes and 33 Seconds later...

Shiv and Yousuf are both the same in a way. Both had career changing experiences. Shiv was always struggling in the beginning of his career because of his foot problem but when he had it removed he became one of the best.

for Yousuf it was religion and after that he started putting up better numbers.

I'm not sure it was a foot problem, I think he is just in sublime form.

manee added 2 Minutes and 5 Seconds later...

Bowling Attack: De Villiers and Harbhajan let the bowling attack down a little, with Harbhajan's record outside India not being fantastic and De Villiers having not played that many games. But Steyn, McGrath and Flintoff bring it back. Steyn and McGrath being 2 superb new ball bowlers, with Flintoff a key exponent of reverse swing. Those 3 are strong, but a little let down by the other 2.7/10

You are overly harsh to Harbhajan Singh, imo. He has turned a corner as of late and had just taken 6 wickets in an innings in New Zealand, hardly renowned for being spinner friendly. De Villiers limited Test record is helped by the fact that he has one of the great FC records in a system containing Test cricketers and the fact that he could pull together such strong statistics despite debuting at 29.

 

[Dare]

I'm not sure it was a foot problem, I think he is just in sublime form.

From 1994 to the end of 99 Shiv Averaged 40 with 2 centuries. Since he had the bone removed in 2000 Shiv averages 54 with 19 centuries and 34 fifties.

 

[manee]

Completely skewed statistics by 2007-9, nowhere near 2000, infact, 2001 was one of his worst years. If we look at the year-by-year averages, that is evident.

2000 - 40.72
2001 - 25.16
2002 - 66.56
2003 - 41.35
2004 - 47.66
2005 - 56.70
2006 - 34.11
2007 - 111.60
2008 - 101.00
2009 - 59.80

 

[nightprowler10]

Ended up voting for team 4. I really like the balance of the team.

 

[Dare]

Completely skewed statistics by 2007-9, nowhere near 2000, infact, 2001 was one of his worst years. If we look at the year-by-year averages, that is evident.

2000 - 40.72
2001 - 25.16
2002 - 66.56
2003 - 41.35
2004 - 47.66
2005 - 56.70
2006 - 34.11
2007 - 111.60
2008 - 101.00
2009 - 59.80

take out 2007-2009 and he still averages 49, compared to the 40 from 94-2000.
I'm sure the surgery isn't the only thing responsible for his great form but it has allot to do with it.

 

[angryangy]

I assume Team 3 is working on the 4 captain theory?

 

[Dare]

I assume Team 3 is working on the 4 captain theory?

ahhaha no Smith is the captain but for some reason ben didn't put it in.

 

[aussie_ben91]

I'm just going to dotpoint the mistakes King Pietersen's made.

- There is noway that Herschelle Gibbs & Justin Langer are even remotely close to Mark Taylor & Matthew Hayden
- Gary Kirsten & Saeed Anwar are a better Opening combination then Langer & Gibbs
- Mark Waugh is a better batsman then Younis Khan
- Bond is not overrated? His actually one of the better bowlers in the draft, when onsong he is unplayable
- There is no way that Pollock was a better bowler then Allan Donald

Here is a better way of ranking the best team. Note, I compared the best bowlers in each team do eachother and I compared the allrounders to the allrounders.

BATTING (Top 7)

Graeme Smith > Gary Kirsten > Mark Taylor > Justin Langer > Gautam Gambhir
Matthew Hayden > Saeed Anwar > Virender Sehwag > Herschelle Gibbs > Andrew Strauss
Ricky Ponting > Rahul Dravid > Jacques Kallis > Michael Hussey > Younis Khan
Sachin Tendulkar > Kevin Pietersen > Inzamam-ul-Haq > Mohammad Yousuf > Mahela Jayawardene
Brian Lara > Steve Waugh > Shivnarine Chanderpaul > VVS Laxman > Michael Clarke
Andy Flower > Kumar Sangakkara > Mark Waugh > Adam Gilchrist > Damien Martyn
Alec Stewart > AB de Villiers > Chris Cairns > Andrew Flintoff > Daniel Vettori

Team 1: 1 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 15
Team 2: 3 + 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 5 = 26
Team 3: 5 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 5 + 5 + 1 = 21
Team 4: 2 + 2 + 1 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 20
Team 5: 4 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 23

WICKETKEEPERS.

Adam Gilchrist > Kumar Sangakkara > Alec Stewart > Andy Flower > AB de Villiers

Team 1: 1 + 15 = 16
Team 2: 3 + 26 = 29
Team 3: 2 + 21 = 23
Team 4: 4 + 20 = 24
Team 5: 5 + 23 = 28

ALLROUNDERS.

Jacques Kallis > Andrew Flintoff > Chris Cairns > Daniel Vettori

Team 1: 0 + 16 = 16
Team 2: 4 + 29 = 33
Team 3: 1 + 23 = 24
Team 4: 2 + 24 = 26
Team 5: 3 + 28 = 31

BOWLING.

Shane Warne > Curtly Ambrose > Glenn McGrath > Allan Donald > Shaun Pollock
Muttiah Muralitharan > Courtney Walsh > Waqar Younis > Anil Kumble > Dale Steyn
Wasim Akram > Shane Bond > Shoaib Akhtar > Fanie de Villiers > Makhaya Ntini
Jason Gillespie > Ian Bishop > Chaminda Vaas > Harbhajan Singh > Stuart MacGil
Andrew Flintoff > Chris Cairns > Daniel Vettori > Jacques Kallis

Team 1: 5 + 5 + 5 + 4 = 19
Team 2: 2 + 2 + 4 + 5 + 1 = 14
Team 3: 4 + 4 + 1 + 3 + 2 = 14
Team 4: 1 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 3 = 11
Team 5: 3 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 12

END SCORE.

Team 1: 15 + 1 + 0 + 19 = 35
Team 2: 26 + 3 + 4 + 14 = 47
Team 3: 21 + 2 + 1 + 14 = 38
Team 4: 20 + 4 + 2 + 11 = 37
Team 5: 23 + 5 + 3 + 12 = 43

 

[ali_ed2001]

Nice analysis Ben, but I think Andy Flower is not a better batsman than Sangakkara or Mark Waugh..

 

[Dare]

I think ben gave more points to Flower because Sanga averaged in the 40s as a WK, Sanga without the gloves is arguably a better batsman but with both players keeping Flower is a bit better.

Also anyone notice that 42 of Bonds 79 test wickets came against the 3 weakest teams of 2000s, WI, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Also anyone notice that 42 of Bonds 79 test wickets came against the 3 weakest teams of 2000s, WI, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

That's true. Brian Lara was Shane Bond's bunny.

 

[Dare]

That's true. Brian Lara was Shane Bond's bunny.

Yea I guess that can be said, what was it 3 times in 4 tests?

 

[manee]

I think it is time to call this one. No more votes appear to be being cast.