Rik E Boy wrote:Since 1975
1. M Hayden: Selects himself - Haydos just imposes himself in the minds of opening bowlers who were trying to do the reverse.
2. J Langer: At one stage I believe he was the best bat in the world. Well ahead of Tubby and Boonie for the openers gig.
3. R Ponting: Probably still the second best bat we've ever had but if he's still getting selected then he'll be back behind Greg.
4. G Chappell: Simply brilliant during an age of West Indian giants and good English teams as well.
5. A Border: More guts than I have ever seen in any Cricketer. Australian Cricket owes him so much. Stood up to the Windies in 1984. Enough said!
6. S Waugh: Waugh learnt from the master and I admire the way he always sought (and attained) improvement. A giant in Australian Cricket.
7. A Gilchrist: A batting freak who could demolish the attack and was handy with the gloves too. Australia's best ever allrounder.
8. S Warne (c): Simply the best spinner I have ever seen.
9. D Lillee: The best fast bowler I have ever seen. Nothing can compare to the mighty DK with the roar of a packed MCG behind him.
10. J Thomson: With Lillee, Warnie and McGrath in the line up you could just turn Thommo loose on the poor batsmen. Anyone who can bowl at 166 is a potent weapon.
11. G McGrath: Competitive, Consistent and Brilliant. We knew we had a gun in Glen and we are now lost without him and Warnie.
12th M Waugh: Poetry in motion is M Waugh. Not the guy I'd pick to bat for my life but certainly a guy I'd pay to watch bat..and did!
These players are selected at their peak, not Chappel during that run of outs or Thomson after his shoulder injury or the Punter we have now. There is brilliance and grit in equal measure. I made Warne captain as I believe he is one of the premier minds in Cricket and the best captain we never had. I think he would have been a brilliant captain. Players unlucky to miss out are M Waugh, I Chappell, J Gillespie and R Marsh.
If you reckon that's hard try doing a World XI..here's mine
1. G Greenidge
2. D Haynes
3. V Richards
4. S Tendulkar
5. B Lara
6. I Botham
7. R Hadlee
8. A Knott
9. W Akram
10. M Marshall
11. C Ambrose
12th I Khan
Cripes there's some absolute guns missing out in J Garner, M Holding, A Roberts, C Lloyd, A Donald, D Gower, R Dravid, K Dev, S Jayasuria, A De Silva, M Crowe and many more. I wonder who would make the safooty World XI of all time if we voted on it. I reckon some of the older guys I have in there would miss out due to the average age of our posters...which would be younger than me.
regards,
REB
REB, your Aussie line up is difficult to argue with, I would have gone with Tubby for Lang, really the rest of the batting (IMO) picks itself. Same for the bowling DK, SKW & Pidge pick themselves, Thommo at his peak - all day every day, perhaps longevity of career I would plumb for Dizzy, he would have got around 400 if not for back and broken leg.
Now the World 11 - you have had a brain fade. No spinners, where is the chucker, has almost has to be the first picked. Kallis - arguably the greatest allrounder since Sir Gary, openers well if Sonny is not a walk up start, I'm an Indian taxi driver. I understand why you have put Knott in there, but well past his best 75 onwards which is where you drew the line. Any chance there might be an Aussie or two in the World 11. Gilchrist - as the package, all day every day, Warne, Ponting. Not sure you need 5 allrounders, don't sit on the fence, pick one and go with him.