Best current Test XI - draft selection

[H_T 3,042]

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 - Asad Shafiq (Pak) - Biffen

pick 53 - Tim Bresnan (Eng) - Macca

pick 54 - Matthew Wade (Aust) - Tall Defence

pick 55 - Martin Guptill (NZ) - H_T

pick 56 - Ian Bell (Eng) - titan_uranus

Round Eight

pick 57 - Jackson Bird (Aust) - titan_uranus

pick 58 - Monty Panesar (Eng) - H_T

pick 59 - DJ Bravo (WI) - Tall Defence

pick 60 - T.Samaraweera (SL) - Macca

pick 61 - R.Sarwan (WI) - Biffen

pick 62 - T.Best (WI) - 45HG

pick 63 - H.Singh (Ind) - Django

pick 64 - V.Kohli (Ind) - Rogue

Round Nine

pick 65 - P.Hughes (Aust) - Rogue

pick 66 - F.du Plessis (RSA) - Django

pick 67 - K.Williamson (NZ) - 45HG

pick 68 - J.P. Duminy (RSA) - Biffen

pick 69 - Z.Khan (Ind) - Macca

pick 70 - A.Matthews (SL) - Tall Defence

pick 71 - M.Samuels (WI) - H_T

pick 72 - B.Haddin (Aust) - titan_uranus

Round Ten

pick 73 - T.Boult (NZ) - titan_uranus

pick 74 - J.Khan (Pak) - H_T

pick 75 - (TD)

pick 76 - (Macca)

pick 77 - (Biffen)

pick 78 - (45HG)

pick 79 - (Django)

pick 80 - (Rogue)

Round Eleven - Final Round

[45HG 1,539]

To answer the Q HT, I was in Europe for a month loving life and now I've back and started teaching prep.

Probably no use apologising to you lot, but I feel like I've let the standard down (i.e. nfi that I already had 4 bowlers!). Kohli popped into mind about two weeks ago but just slipped the brain, amazing indeed. Good get Rogue.

[H_T 3,042]

To answer the Q HT, I was in Europe for a month loving life and now I've back and started teaching prep.

Good stuff. The kids good to date?

Did you get to any sport events whilst in Europe?

[45HG 1,539]

Good stuff. The kids good to date?

Did you get to any sport events whilst in Europe?

Yeah good bunch thanks mate.

Kane Williamson (NZ)

[Biffen 12,937]

This could be my Achilles heel.

J. P Duminy (Zaffers)

[Macca 16,741]

Zaheer Khan (India)

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Zaheer Khan (India)

Good pick up at such a late pick Macca, I had a feeling that's who you were going to take.

Round 9, Pick 70

Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka)

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49764.html

I know his bio says he's an allrounder, but I reckon he's more a batsman who can bowl some handy medium pace. Up there with Shane Watson with a horrible conversion rate of 50's to 100's. 11 fifties and only 1 century. But I think he's got his best cricket ahead of him and he even has a better batting average then Watson.

[Nasher 33,607]

Yeah good bunch thanks mate.

Kane Williamson (NZ)

Yaaayyyyyy! Finally.

[Nasher 33,607]

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 to a certain 22 year old batsman with 3 centuries and 5 fifties to his name in his 20 tests, and a match winning unbeaten century against SA recently in an ODI.

Not proven yet at Test level yet, but definitely has a higher potential than a plodder like Guptill.

Here's the post of mine that Rogue moderator deleted

[Nasher 33,607]

And just to go for the hattrick of consecutive posts - I'm also happy to put my hand up for judging. I promise to judge with the impartialty of the AFL in a tanking inquiry and the integrity of a Pakistani fast bowler. Please leave any bribes in unmarked brown paper bags - thanks.

[H_T 3,042]

And just to go for the hattrick of consecutive posts - I'm also happy to put my hand up for judging. I promise to judge with the impartialty of the AFL in a tanking inquiry and the integrity of a Pakistani fast bowler. Please leave any bribes in unmarked brown paper bags - thanks.

Appreciate that Nasher, thanks.

Ooh my pick....(wont be long guys).

Round 9 pick 71 - Marlon Samuels (WI)

Has recovered well from his throwing the bat at Warnie incident during the Big Bash...lol and his last start 260 in a Test against Bangladesh.

It was a toss up between him and another who I actually selected last Best XI two years ago. Mums the word. Some may recall.

Over to you Mr.Uranus.

[Little Richard 6,219]

Appreciate that Nasher, thanks.Ooh my pick....(wont be long guys).Round 9 pick 71 - Marlon Samuels (WI)Has recovered well from his throwing the bat at Warnie incident during the Big Bash...lol and his last start 260 in a Test against Bangladesh.It was a toss up between him and another who I actually selected last Best XI two years ago. Mums the word. Some may recall.Over to you Mr.Uranus.

You ruined my perfect top order HT! Great pick up though.

[H_T 3,042]

You ruined my perfect top order HT! Great pick up though.

Thanks.

Btw Django I have just noticed you have 3 Indians in your side!

The OP states that you can only have a maximum of two players from one country (8 players - one from each country plus 3 more players from any country). Your last Indian you picked up was Harbhajan Singh.

What we will have to do is put H.Singh back in the pool of players yet to be picked up.

You can re-select your pick as the last pick of the Draft. ie. Not altering the current order.

[Macca 16,741]

Good pick up at such a late pick Macca, I had a feeling that's who you were going to take.

Round 9, Pick 70

Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka)

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49764.html

I know his bio says he's an allrounder, but I reckon he's more a batsman who can bowl some handy medium pace. Up there with Shane Watson with a horrible conversion rate of 50's to 100's. 11 fifties and only 1 century. But I think he's got his best cricket ahead of him and he even has a better batting average then Watson.

Angelo is a reasonably good player but Watto seems to cop a bit amongst a number of Aussie fans. I don't share that thinking and when he is fit, he adds a lot to our team. (he just needs to stay fit !!!) Considering the dearth of decent all rounders in world cricket I was surprised he got through to pick 44.

Watson averages 37 with the bat and 30 with the ball. He's very good in the slips and is the Australian Vice-Captain. I was thinking that 'Rogue' might have grabbed him as well as Kallis. (that might have left the rest of us with only 4 genuine front line bowlers each)

Watto will be back at the bowling crease sooner or later though I agree that he should concentrate on his batting only (for the time being)

I'll take Watto over Angelo any day of the week, 'TD' !

Edited February 12, 2013 by Macca

[Little Richard 6,219]

Thanks.

Btw Django I have just noticed you have 3 Indians in your side!

The OP states that you can only have a maximum of two players from one country (8 players - one from each country plus 3 more players from any country). Your last Indian you picked up was Harbhajan Singh.

What we will have to do is put H.Singh back in the pool of players yet to be picked up.

You can re-select your pick as the last pick of the Draft. ie. Not altering the current order.

Ah whoops

[Biffen 12,937]

Ah whoops

Hoping our footy teams cop a similar slap on the wrist for our lack of effort in the face of adversity back in 2009.

[Little Richard 6,219]

Hoping our footy teams cop a similar slap on the wrist for our lack of effort in the face of adversity back in 2009.

Slap on the wrist? These Stalinist measures will see my team crippled

[H_T 3,042]

Slap on the wrist? These Stalinist measures will see my team crippled

You'll be ok. There's still some spinners around.

[H_T 3,042]

Over to you Mr.Uranus.

[Little Richard 6,219]

You'll be ok. There's still some spinners around.

Nah spinners are for fools. Four pronged pace attack is the way ahead.

[H_T 3,042]

Nah spinners are for fools. Four pronged pace attack is the way ahead.

Haha. That's the spirit.

[Little Richard 6,219]

Haha. That's the spirit.

But sadly in my next four picks I won't be grabbing Marshall, Benjamin, Walsh and Ambrose

[Rogue 585]

Still some good batting talent left late in the draft with Kohli, Duminy and Samuels all going recently.

I think TD is right on Matthews being more of a batsman who is handy with the ball, and his figures bear that out; Matthews has a bowling average of 70 (strike rate of 138)! In comparison, Gayle's bowling average is 42 (strike rate of 96). Matthews also has a pretty mediocre away record with the bat.

Macca, since Watson himself has said that he wants to be selected as a batsman only I put him in that basket. I think you're right re: Watson over Matthews though, if/when Watson is available to bowl.

PS. Bad luck with breaching the country cap, Django.

[Macca 16,741]

Still some good batting talent left late in the draft with Kohli, Duminy and Samuels all going recently.I think TD is right on Matthews being more of a batsman who is handy with the ball, and his figures bear that out; Matthews has a bowling average of 70 (strike rate of 138)! In comparison, Gayle's bowling average is 42 (strike rate of 96). He also has a pretty mediocre away record with the bat.Macca, since Watson himself has said that he wants to be selected as a batsman only I put him in that basket. I think you're right re: Watson over Matthews though, if/when Watson is available to bowl.PS. Bad luck with breaching the country cap, Django.

'

Ha! By the time we get this all done, Watto will be bowling again anyway ...

Besides, don't believe everything you read in the papers 'Rogue'. Especially those 'broadsheets!' :-)

[Rogue 585]

Ha! By the time we get this all done, Watto will be bowling again anyway ...

Haha, possibly.