World XI- Greatest Team of all time

[Punk Rooster]

1. S Gavaskar (I)
2.
3. Sir D Bradman (Aus)
4. R Ponting (Aus)
5. S Tendulkar (I)
6. Sir G Sobers (WI)
7. A Gilchrist (Aus)
8. R Hadlee (NZ)
9. S Warne (Aus)
10. M Marshall (WI)
11. D Lillee (Aus)

let the conjecture begin...

[Booney]

1.Haynes
2.Greenidge

5.S.Waugh

7.Gilchrist
8.Hadlee


11.Ambrose

IMH (young)O

[am Bays]

Ahh this one is too hard for me, too many great cricketrs to miss out....

Jack Hobbs opening???

[Punk Rooster]

as stated on another thread, Gilchrist is the best (opinion only) batsmen to keep wicket- do we select the best 'keeper (in it's own right), or select Gilchrist for his batting alone?
A 'keeper who never missed a chance would turn in their grave over the (Gilchrist) missed stumping in Melbourne...

[rod_rooster]

Not sure about Greenidge and Haynes opening. The best pair for sure but individually there may have been better opening batsmen. If given the opportunity to say have a Gavaskar with Hobbs who knows how good they could have turned out as an opening combination. Just one of many examples.

Really there are a few guys who walk in the rest is just personal opinion and will differ as to how much people have seen each palyer play. For instance i think Ponting should get in there but his best spot is 3 and that is automatically taken by Bradman (that i don't think anyone could possibly argue with).

Automatic selections would probably be Bradman, Sobers and Warne. Not sure too many people would leave these three out but as for the rest there would be a lot of conjecture. It would take me a long time to decide on my final line up and i doubt i'd ever be entirely happy with it. So many players to fit into 11 spots with so little seperating them.

[Snaggletooth Tiger]

The Awesome West Indies of the Eighties would have a few inductees...
Clive Lloyd 'Supercat'
Viv Richards
Desmond Haynes
Courtney Walsh
Geoffrey Dujon
Gordon Greenidge
Michael Holding
'Big Bird' Joel Garner
("But wait, there's more!":- quote Tim Shaw)
Some of their more recent team members
Curtly Ambrose
& Brian Lara

[rod_rooster]

The Awesome West Indies of the Eighties would have a few inductees...
Clive Lloyd 'Supercat'
Viv Richards
Desmond Haynes
Courtney Walsh
Geoffrey Dujon
Gordon Greenidge
Michael Holding
'Big Bird' Joel Garner
("But wait, there's more!":- quote Tim Shaw)
Some of their more recent team members
Curtly Ambrose
& Brian Lara

So in a best ever 11 you'd have 10 all those 10?

Yes all are good candidates which is why it would be so hard to narrow it down to just 11 from all the greats who have played.

[Punk Rooster]

The Awesome West Indies of the Eighties would have a few inductees...
Clive Lloyd 'Supercat'
Viv Richards
Desmond Haynes
Courtney Walsh
Geoffrey Dujon
Gordon Greenidge
Michael Holding
'Big Bird' Joel Garner
("But wait, there's more!":- quote Tim Shaw)
Some of their more recent team members
Curtly Ambrose
& Brian Lara

As would the current batch of awesome Aussies...

The Windies faced a very inexperienced Aussie bowling attack when smashing us all over the park on Aussie soil...
Not denying them their dues, but let's look at the whole picture.

[another grub]

Grahamn Manou to keep and open in my team.

[rod_rooster]

Grahamn Manou to keep and open in my team.

He should captain as well

[mal]

Well by popular demand, MALS superteam world XI best ever

1 B. RICHARDS
2 S. GAVASKAR
3 D. BRADMAN
4 V. RICHARDS
5 G. POLLOCK
6 G. SOBERS
7 A. GILCHRIST
8 I. KHAN
9 R. HADLEE
10 S. WARNE
11 D. LILLIE

12 G. CHAPPELL

with all due respect I left out some fantastic players

TRUMPER/MILLER/MCGRATH/PONTING/THOMPSON/S.WAUGH/BORDER/PONSFORD/ J GREGORY
DAVIDSON/LINDWALL/R.BENAUD/GRIMMETT/ORIELLY/MARSH/ERNIE JONES/THOMSON/
SPOFFORTH/HUSSEY/HILL/I CHAPPELL/WALTERS/

HOBBS/SUTCLIFFE/HAMMOND/LARWOOD/TRUEMAN/BOTHAM/BRAUND/WG GRACE/KNOTT
LAKER/TYSON/DEXTER/PIETERSON/RICHARDSON

GARNER/HOLDING/ROBERTS/WEEKES/WORRALL/MARSHALL/AMBROSE/HALL/VALENTINE/LARA
LLYOLD/DUJON/GRENIDGE/HAYNES/WALCOTT/KANHAI

AKRAM/WAQAR/QADIR

KALLIS/PROCTOR/S POLLOCK/DONALD/

TURNER/M.CROWE

MURALI

TENDULKAR/BEDI/DEV

_________________________________________________________________________


BEST BATSMAN : BRADMAN by a minute
BEST ALLROUNDER : SOBERS easily
BEST BOWLER : LILLIE but a few get near or a couple just above
BEST FIELDSMAN: RHODES but there are plenty that might be better
BEST CATCHER : G CHAPPELL but plenty of good ones
BEST CAPTAIN : JARDINE love him or hate him the bodyline series was a great victory.
BEST KEEPER BATSMAN: GILchrist well named no doubt the best batsman.
BEST KEEPER[gloves+ bat] KNOTT but plenty of good ones

[rod_rooster]

Well by popular demand, MALS superteam world XI best ever

1 B. RICHARDS
2 S. GAVASKAR
3 D. BRADMAN
4 V. RICHARDS
5 G. POLLOCK
6 G. SOBERS
7 A. GILCHRIST
8 I. KHAN
9 R. HADLEE
10 S. WARNE
11 D. LILLIE

12 G. CHAPPELL

with all due respect I left out some fantastic players

TRUMPER/MILLER/MCGRATH/PONTING/THOMPSON/S.WAUGH/BORDER/PONSFORD/ J GREGORY
DAVIDSON/LINDWALL/R.BENAUD/GRIMMETT/ORIELLY/MARSH/ERNIE JONES/THOMSON/
SPOFFORTH/HUSSEY/HILL/I CHAPPELL/WALTERS/

HOBBS/SUTCLIFFE/HAMMOND/LARWOOD/TRUEMAN/BOTHAM/BRAUND/WG GRACE/KNOTT
LAKER/TYSON/DEXTER/PIETERSON/RICHARDSON

GARNER/HOLDING/ROBERTS/WEEKES/WORRALL/MARSHALL/AMBROSE/HALL/VALENTINE/LARA
LLYOLD/DUJON/GRENIDGE/HAYNES/WALCOTT/KANHAI

AKRAM/WAQAR/QADIR

KALLIS/PROCTOR/S POLLOCK/DONALD/

TURNER/M.CROWE

MURALI

TENDULKAR/BEDI/DEV

_________________________________________________________________________


BEST BATSMAN : BRADMAN by a minute
BEST ALLROUNDER : SOBERS easily
BEST BOWLER : LILLIE but a few get near or a couple just above
BEST FIELDSMAN: RHODES but there are plenty that might be better
BEST CATCHER : G CHAPPELL but plenty of good ones
BEST CAPTAIN : JARDINE love him or hate him the bodyline series was a great victory.
BEST KEEPER BATSMAN: GILchrist well named no doubt the best batsman.
BEST KEEPER[gloves+ bat] KNOTT but plenty of good ones

Great post mal. Don't agree with your team but so many factors need to be analysed when finalising a side like that. I need more time to think about it but from your side those that definitely wouldn't have in my team would be:

1. B. Richards - Yes a great talent but never had the opportunity to prove it over period of time.
2. G. Pollock - see 1.
3. V. Richards - what a superstar he was but his job was made easier with the fact that no matter what score the West Indies posted the bowlers could defend it.
4. Lillee - Personally i think McGrath is a better bowler. If i needed a wicket to save my life i'd ask Glenn McGrath over Lillee every day of the week.

Now as for the rest you have opted for allrounders in Khan and Hadlee. You seem to have a fascination with allrounders. Why so? No way in the world Hadlee and Khan are in the best 4 fast bowlers to play the game. Yes very good bowlers but surely in a greatest ever side you wouldn't be relying on an allrounder to make runs? Would be like thinking Shane Watson was a decent cricketer


In your defence you did include this line:

with all due respect I left out some fantastic players

Unfortunately you included:

MURALI

[am Bays]

A bloke plays four tests and he is better than Ponsford, Hobbs, Sutcliff, Greenidge and Haynes???

FWIW I wouldn't have Hussey or Pietersen in contention either...Christ Gower should be in contention before KP...

At least you've got the guts to name a side, I'm a soft c*&k just criticising...

So here i go....

Gavaskar
Hobbs
Bradman
Richards
G Pollock
Sobers
Healy
Akram
Warne
Marshall
Lillee

R Ponting

Going for the best keeper, if the top six can't get 400 between them I'll go he....

[mal]

Sir Jack Hobbs had a long and distinguised career and I so nearly
included him in the line up.
There is a tendency to include a player in my generation[Barry Richards]
beacuse I saw how good he was.
His 4 tests were awesome, and that season of cricket he played for South Australia
was as good as you would want to see.[and I saw several innings]
In Perth a very good batsman Ian Chappell was outscored by Barry.
Barry scored 300 in a Sheffield Shield day, I doubt if that has been done[maybe the Don ?]
I left out Victor Trumper, many in his generation said he was the best, with that
extravagent backlift, but the only time I saw him was in photos.

Imran Khan + Richard Hadlee bowled in a golden era of world cricket 70-80s
Khan was the best inswing bowler I have ever seen.
Hadlee is the 2nd best leg cutter/outswing bowler after Lillie
Imran was a good batsman, Hadlee a great late order hitter
There might be a speciallist bowler like Mcgrath who might have superceded
my allrounders by a marginal amount, but these two were superior batsman.

What I didnt have was a West Indian quick in the 12 but they shared a workload
and quite often equalled in wickets taken.

I know REB will join in, sadly Ricky I had no spot for Henriques.

[am Bays]

I know B richards four test were awesome but M Taylors first 8 test produced 900 test runs at an average of 60 +, then his powers waned...that may have happened to richards. He was a prolific score in county cricket but then so was G Hick....

One of the tragedies of Aparthaid was that the South African side of the 70s, (B Richards, C Rice, G Pollock, P Pollock, E Barlow, G Le Roux, M Procter, P van der Bilj, and T Greig (wouldn't have had to leave)) never played our 70s side or the West Indies side of 70s.

Would have been great cricket

[Punk Rooster]

Mal, you've named 3 all-rounders... an extravegance, perhaps?

[Magpiespower]

Len Hutton (England)
Sunil Gavaskar (India)
Don Bradman (Australia)
Garry Sobers (West Indies)
Viv Richards (West Indies)
Walter Hammond (England)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Richard Hadlee (New Zealand)
Shane Warne (Australia)
Dennis Lillee (Australia)
Syd Barnes (England)

[Magpiespower]

Australia
Bill Ponsford
Arthur Morris
Don Bradman (c)
Victor Trumper
Greg Chappell
Neil Harvey
Adam Gilchrist
Keith Miller
Ray Lindwall
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee

England
Jack Hobbs
Herbert Sutcliffe
Len Hutton
Walter Hammond (c)
Denis Compton
Ken Barrington
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
Jim Laker
Fred Trueman
Syd Barnes

West Indies
Gordon Greenidge
Frank Worrell (c)
Viv Richards
Garry Sobers
Everton Weekes
George Headley
Jeff Dujon
Malcolm Marshall
Michael Holding
Joel Garner
Curtley Ambrose

[mal]

Mal, you've named 3 all-rounders... an extravegance, perhaps?

PUNK
Khan + Hadlee were great bowlers, who could make my team on thier bowling talents.
If I had to group the fast bowlers there was about a dozen who I considered
in my superteam, these 2 got the nod because of their batting capabilities.
My third allrounder Sobers[named after you + Wedgie] picks himself.

MAG.
Magpiespower, your selection of Syd Barnes was a terrific pick.
I have read many old books on cricket[my hobby] and the bowling feats of this
man about 100 years ago were exceptional.
Has been described as one of Englands greatest bowlers.

[Adelaide Hawk]

I know B richards four test were awesome but M Taylors first 8 test produced 900 test runs at an average of 60 +, then his powers waned...that may have happened to richards.

I saw several big innings from Barry Richards when he was here in 1970-71, and he was the best batsman I'd ever seen. I saw him in WSC 7 years later, and he was still the best batsman I have ever seen. He'd lost nothing, If anything, he was an even better player.

Sir Donald Bradman once said Barry Richards was the only player he'd seen who could have matched Bradman's Test average. His timing was supurb, he never struck the ball, he guided it. And he used to play the most majetic flat bat pull over mid on that just had to be seen to be believed. And his sweep shot wasn't a flurry of pads and bat, it was a simple flick of the wrists and away it went for 4.

Make no mistake about it. Richards was a wonderful batsman.