Best current Test XI - draft selection

[Rogue 585]

Haha, he'll probably come out and smack us around in the upcoming series now.

[H_T 3,042]

NEW UPDATE:

Round One

pick 1 - Jacques Kallis (RSA) - Rogue

pick 2 - Michael Clarke (Aust) - thepassenger

pick 3 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL) - 45HG16

pick 4 - David Warner (Aust) - Biffen

pick 5 - Hashim Amla (RSA) - Macca

pick 6 - Alistair Cook (England) - Tall Defence

pick 7 - Dale Steyn (RSA) - H_T

pick 8 - Rangana Herath (SL) - titan_uranus

Round Two

pick 9 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) - titan_uranus

pick 10 - AB de Villiers (RSA) - H_T

pick 11 - Morne Morkel (RSA) - Tall Defence

pick 12 - Saeed Ajmal (Pak) - Macca

pick 13 - Mahela Jayawardene - (SL) - Biffen

pick 14 - Vernon Philander (RSA) - 45HG16

pick 15 - Jimmy Anderson (Eng) - thepassenger

pick 16 - Graeme Swann (Eng) - Rogue

Round Three

pick 17 - Peter Siddle (Aust) - Rogue

pick 18 - MS Dhoni (Ind) - thepassenger

pick 19 - Kevin Pietersen (Eng) - 45HG16

pick 20 - James Pattinson (Aust) - Biffen

pick 21 - Matt Prior (Eng) - Macca

pick 22 - Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind) - Tall Defence

pick 23 - Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) - H_T

pick 24 - Steven Finn (Eng) - titan_uranus

Round Four

pick 25 - Mohammed Hafeez (Pak) - titan_uranus

pick 26 - Jonathan Trott (Eng) - H_T

pick 27 - Virender Sehwag (India) - Tall Defence

pick 28 - Graeme Smith (RSA) - Macca

pick 29 - Stuart Broad (Eng) - Biffen

pick 30 - Pragyan Ojha (Ind) - 45HG16

pick 31 - Ross Taylor (NZ) - thepassenger

pick 32 - Kemar Roach (WI) - Rogue

Round Five

pick 33 - Chris Gayle (WI) - Rogue

pick 34 - Darren Bravo (WI) - thepassenger

pick 35 - Azhar Ali (Pak) - 45HG16

pick 36 - Ishant Sharma (Ind) - Biffen

pick 37 - Daniel Vettori (NZ) - Macca

pick 38 - Younis Khan (Pak) - Tall Defence

pick 39 - Mitchell Starc (Aust) - H_T

pick 40 - Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind) - titan_uranus

Round Six

pick 41 - Alviro Petersen (RSA) - titan_uranus

pick 42 - Tillerkaratne Dilshan (SL) - H_T

pick 43 - Abdur Rehman (Pakistan) - Tall Defence

pick 44 - Shane Watson (Aus) - Macca

pick 45 - Brendan McCullum (NZ) - Biffen

pick 46 - Tim Southee (NZ) - 45HG16

pick 47 - Mitchell Johnson (Aust) - the passenger

pick 48 - Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) - Rogue

Round Seven

pick 49 - Chandimal (SL) - Rogue

pick 50 - Gautam Gambhir (Ind) - the passenger

pick 51 - Ben Hilfenhaus (Aust) - 45HG16

pick 52 - Biffen

pick 53 - Macca

pick 54 - Tall Defence

pick 55 - H_T

pick 56 - titan_uranus

Nice to see my man Dale Steyn rip the Paki's apart with 6/8 off 8.1 overs. Not to mention M.Starc's continuation of his hot streak summer yesterday at the WACA in the ODI....

Biff?

[Rogue 585]

The suspense is killing me

[Biffen 12,937]

Sorry guys-real life is killing me-glad to be back .

Just going to flick through cricinf... er my memory ,and ponder my decision a few mins .

I have to be the worst selector Australia has had sine Hilditch.

[Biffen 12,937]

Asad Shafiq (Former Nth India)

[Macca 16,741]

Tim Bresnan (Eng)

[Rogue 585]

Asad Shafiq (Former Nth India)

No prolems, Biffen. Solid Pakistani choice.

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Round 7, Pick 54

Matthew Wade (Australia)

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/230193.html

Not many good keeper batsmen left after Rouge swept on Chandimal who I was hoping might be available a bit later so I felt the need to secure my gloveman now. Gives me the option of batting him at 6 or 7.

[Rogue 585]

Round 7, Pick 54

Matthew Wade (Australia)

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/230193.html

Not many good keeper batsmen left after Rouge swept on Chandimal who I was hoping might be available a bit later so I felt the need to secure my gloveman now. Gives me the option of batting him at 6 or 7.

Ooh, I had Chandimal in mind from the beginning and wasn't sure how long I could leave it; sounds like I wasn't the only one with my eye on the exciting young keeper batsman from Sri Lanka.

Wade's a solid get though; I was curious to see how far he'd fall and still might have picked him up later on if no one else had snapped him up.

[H_T 3,042]

Round 7, pick 55 - Martin Guptill (NZ)

Completes my opening batsmen combo with Dilshan. A regular opening bat for NZ who will compliment my strong middle order..

There's not much left now at NZ.

Over to titan_uranus for the next 2 picks.

[45HG 1,539]

If you're seriously talking up Guptill I give up. There's supporting your choices but then there's just being silly. Will he compliment your strong middle order because they're good at cricket and he's not?

TD - if you're batting Wade at 6 you should just stop now (note; that is more intended as a word advice to Australian selectors, but still applies).

[H_T 3,042]

If you're seriously talking up Guptill I give up. There's supporting your choices but then there's just being silly. Will he compliment your strong middle order because they're good at cricket and he's not?

TD - if you're batting Wade at 6 you should just stop now (note; that is more intended as a word advice to Australian selectors, but still applies).

It's called talking it up 45HG.

Come in spinner.

[Rogue 585]

Haha, boom!

H_T, I have to agree with 45's sentiment. That said, Guptill is probably performing slightly better than Tendulkar is these days

Come in spinner indeed...

[H_T 3,042]

I actually laughed out loud at that reply.

Edit: Perhaps I should have included a silly emoticon or a tongue-in -cheek sign, reading back I'm not sure how you guys have taken me ...

I thought the line about "not much left now in NZ" was pretty good..

[Macca 16,741]

If only our footballers were as competitive as some of you blokes.

An endless run of flags would ensue ...

Who are the 'mystery' adjudicators? And can they be 'influenced'? Can gifts be given 'a la' the IOC ?

Edited February 5, 2013 by Macca

[H_T 3,042]

If only our footballers were as competitive as some of you blokes.

An endless run of flags would ensue ...

Who are the 'mystery' adjudicators? And can they be 'influenced'? Can gifts be given 'a la' the IOC ?

Perhaps someone who has frequented the cricket thread. I'll have to put my feelers out and see if we can entice someone...tbc

[Nasher 33,607]

Round 7, pick 55 - Martin Guptill (NZ)

Eww. We'll have to start calling you Barry, H_T.

[MadAsHell 4,209]

If you're seriously talking up Guptill I give up. There's supporting your choices but then there's just being silly. Will he compliment your strong middle order because they're good at cricket and he's not?

TD - if you're batting Wade at 6 you should just stop now (note; that is more intended as a word advice to Australian selectors, but still applies).

In all my years 45HG I don't know if I've ever been insulted as bad as that! hehe.

Let's not forget I have Ashwin who apart from being a good spin bowler has a test batting average of 45 and his first class batting average is 38 so it's not as though he's just been lucky for 12 tests.

I'd be more concerned 45 about finding a bowler who can deliver it at more then 130kmh if I were you.

Edit: Spelling

Edited February 5, 2013 by Tall Defence

[H_T 3,042]

Is it against the spirit to suggest players when I'm not in the game? If I were looking to get a Kiwi in to the side, I'd be looking <snip - Rogue>

He's an opener and I needed a kiwi. The other spots I have left didn't quite suit given what I have to still pick up (or what I have in mind...).

Btw, want to be judge at the conclusion?

Edited February 6, 2013 by Rogue
I removed Nasher's post, hence the edit

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Is it against the spirit to suggest players when I'm not in the game? If I were looking to get a Kiwi in to the side, I'd be looking <snip - Rogue>

Ssshhhh.... Edited February 6, 2013 by Rogue
I removed Nasher's post, hence the edit

[Rogue 585]

I do think it's best that we don't have poster suggesting players. Maybe the next person is going to pick X player anyway, but you'd be annoyed if you had your eye on players who keep getting pulled out from under you because of recommendations. Feel free to comment once they've been picked up, though!

[Little Richard 6,219]

I do think it's best that we don't have poster suggesting players. Maybe the next person is going to pick X player anyway, but you'd be annoyed if you had your eye on players who keep getting pulled out from under you because of recommendations. Feel free to comment once they've been picked up, though!

I've still got a couple of gems in the works which I hope others have missed/forgotten about and I don't want that ruined! My team is struggling enough.

[H_T 3,042]

I've still got a couple of gems in the works which I hope others have missed/forgotten about and I don't want that ruined! My team is struggling enough.

We may be thinking of the same couple of gems....

[Nasher 33,607]

I do think it's best that we don't have poster suggesting players. Maybe the next person is going to pick X player anyway, but you'd be annoyed if you had your eye on players who keep getting pulled out from under you because of recommendations. Feel free to comment once they've been picked up, though!

Technically I didn't name names.

Nonetheless, the bottom of the barrell hasn't been reached yet re: NZ. (Can I say that?)

[Rogue 585]

We may be thinking of the same couple of gems....

Me three.

Nonetheless, the bottom of the barrell hasn't been reached yet re: NZ. (Can I say that?)

You sure can.

However, I think the bottom was scraped from the NZ barrel by H_T :D