Best current Test XI - draft selection

[Biffen 12,824]

Not thinking of his uncle John are you? His old man only played a few tests I think.

Over there, you can never be sue of the difference eh?

[H_T 3,032]

Just quietly, Philander is a star. I don't think he should try and 'boost his pace' later in the innings though.

If it ain't broke don't fix it and with Philander's injury history I don't think his captain should be pushing him towards another injury through over exertion.

Yeah, I see in that article they admit his niggle injuries remain a concern.

Good bowler nevertheless just quietly.

[Rogue 585]

Pick 80

Taufeeq Umar (Pak)

A good opener, Test average of ~39; he's a steal at 80.

Pick 81

Mark Gillespie (NZ)

Excellent strike rate (39) and an average under 30. NZ's Ryan Harris.

[Nasher 33,607]

Pick 81

Mark Gillespie (NZ)

Excellent strike rate (39) and an average under 30. NZ's Ryan Harris.

For both his bowling prowess and his ability to stay on the park.

Edit: Also a late bloomer like Harris. The similarities are noticeable now that you point it out.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Nasher

[Little Richard 6,213]

82. Kieran Powell (West Indies).

[45HG 1,539]

Bah! Rage against Django!

[MadAsHell 4,209]

82. Kieran Powell (West Indies).

Bah! Rage against Django!

Haha, I don't know this for a fact, but I have a feeling that Macca may have been thinking the same thing when Django made that selection.

[H_T 3,032]

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 - Django (to be picked/completed after last pick - after pick 88 - of draft)

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 - R.Harris (Aust) - Tall Defence

pick 76 - Y.Singh (Ind) - Macca

pick 77 - J.Root (Eng) - Biffen

pick 78 - E.Cowan (Aust) - 45HG

pick 79 - D.Bracewell (NZ) - Django

pick 80 - T.Umar (Pak) - Rogue

Round Eleven - Final Round

pick 81 - M.Gillespie (NZ) - Rogue

*pick 82 - Django (to be picked/completed after last pick - after pick 88 - of draft)

pick 83 - J.Rudolph (SA) - 45HG

pick 84 - (Biffen)

pick 85 - (Macca)

pick 86 - (Tall Defence)

pick 87 - (H_T)

pick 88 - (titan_uranus)

*Country cap breach

pick 63 - (Django)]

*Country cap breach #2

pick 82 - (Django)

Edited February 22, 2013 by H_T
Added 45HG's post

[H_T 3,032]

Rogue the first to complete his team.

Interesting last round selections to come.

[Little Richard 6,213]

Bah! Rage against Django!

Haha, in need of an opener 45?

[45HG 1,539]

Haha, in need of an opener 45?

Is it too narcissistic to think you did that just to spite me?

Jacques Rudolph (SA)

[Little Richard 6,213]

Is it too narcissistic to think you did that just to spite me? Jacques Rudolph (SA)

Never! Haha I was actually going to take him a couple of rounds ago but thought he might slip a bit more. Looks like I grabbed him at the right time!

Between Powell, Darren Bravo, Narine and a few other guys, the Windies are building a very talented (very) young side. Will be interesting to see how they develop in the next few years. Could they become a strong test nation again? Or continue to flop in every match longer than 20 overs?

Edited February 21, 2013 by Django

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Haha, in need of an opener 45?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Django, but I just realised looking at your team that you'd already selected 2 players from India (Gambhir & Dhoni), New Zealand (Taylor & Bracewell) and Australia (Clarke & Johnson). Meaning that you can't select Powell as you've already selected two players from 3 countries and you already have Darren Bravo for West Indies.

You don't have anyone from Sri Lanka or Pakistan yet so you need to select payers from there. I'm assuming that means that Powell has to g back into the pool and 45 may get to have his pick again depending on H_T's decision, you might have two country breach picks at the end now....

[Rogue 585]

Powell has to g back into the pool and 45 may get to have his pick again

That sounds fair to me.

Definitely have to choose at least one player from each team, because that's one of the restrictions that makes these selections devilishly difficult at times.

[H_T 3,032]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Django, but I just realised looking at your team that you'd already selected 2 players from India (Gambhir & Dhoni), New Zealand (Taylor & Bracewell) and Australia (Clarke & Johnson). Meaning that you can't select Powell as you've already selected two players from 3 countries and you already have Darren Bravo for West Indies.

You don't have anyone from Sri Lanka or Pakistan yet so you need to select payers from there. I'm assuming that means that Powell has to g back into the pool and 45 may get to have his pick again depending on H_T's decision, you might have two country breach picks at the end now....

That's correct TD. Good pick-up.

* Powell back in to pool.

* You have two picks remaining Django and they must be one from Pakistan and one from Sri Lanka. The two teams you are yet to pick from. You have already used up two selections from 3 countries...as per opening post and TD's post.

* This pick will be at the end with your other pick.

* 45HG you can pick again if you wish or keep Rudolph. That's up to you.

*Biffen can you please wait until 45HG has confirmed his pick, before you commence your pick.

Edited February 22, 2013 by H_T

[H_T 3,032]

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 - Django (to be picked/completed after last pick - after pick 88 - of draft)

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 - R.Harris (Aust) - Tall Defence

pick 76 - Y.Singh (Ind) - Macca

pick 77 - J.Root (Eng) - Biffen

pick 78 - E.Cowan (Aust) - 45HG

pick 79 - D.Bracewell (NZ) - Django

pick 80 - T.Umar (Pak) - Rogue

Round Eleven - Final Round

pick 81 - M.Gillespie (NZ) - Rogue

*pick 82 - Django (to be picked/completed after last pick - after pick 88 - of draft)

pick 83 - K.Powell (WI) - 45HG

pick 84 - (Biffen)

pick 85 - (Macca)

pick 86 - (Tall Defence)

pick 87 - (H_T)

pick 88 - (titan_uranus)

*Country cap breach

pick 63 - (Django)]

*Country cap breach #2

pick 82 - (Django)

Update^^

As per previous post guys....

*45HG please confirm your pick regarding previous posts.

*Django - you need to pick from Sri Lanka and Pakistan with your two remaining picks at the end.

*Biffen please wait after 45HG has confirmed Powell / Rudolph.

Edited February 22, 2013 by H_T

[Little Richard 6,213]

F***, I hate these rules

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Sorry this is a bit late - been on the AFL investigation thread ... it's a bit of a read ...

Round 1 - pick no.5

Hashim Amla (Sth Africa)

There's my Proteas pick gone

Cool idea this one, HT. There's a lot of tactics involved .

That sounds fair to me.

Definitely have to choose at least one player from each team, because that's one of the restrictions that makes these selections devilishly difficult at times.

F***, I hate these rules

As mentioned in some of the other posts, there's a fair few tactics involved, it's very easy fall into the trap of forgetting about a nation or two, I know myself and another person have to pick a player from a certain nation with our final picks.

Don't feel to bad thoug Django, there's still some decent players left from both nations who will probably still be available at your last two picks. You just may need to go with a 4 pronged pace attack and use Clarke & Du Plessis as your spinners part time.

Edit: Spelling

Edited February 22, 2013 by Tall Defence

[H_T 3,032]

F***, I hate these rules

Sorry bud, they're the rules.

Must have one from each country (as in OP) plus 3 (others - but no more than two from same country).

[Little Richard 6,213]

Sorry bud, they're the rules. Must have one from each country (as in OP) plus 3 (others - but no more than two from same country).

Haha no sweat, my lack of concentration usually means I don't read the fine print. These are the consequences!

[45HG 1,539]

I feel a bit bad about it but I'd like to choose Powell and I suppose he'd have been there all being equal. Sorry Django.

[H_T 3,032]

I feel a bit bad about it but I'd like to choose Powell and I suppose he'd have been there all being equal. Sorry Django.

I'll make the amendment.

Biff, your turn.

[Little Richard 6,213]

I feel a bit bad about it but I'd like to choose Powell and I suppose he'd have been there all being equal. Sorry Django.

No apologies necessary, I'll just have to pull out two gems at the end! Ideas are percolating...

[Biffen 12,824]

Dinesh Chandimal(SL)

Pick 84.

Future Captain of SL

[Rogue 585]

Averages 41 and is Sri Lankas best young batting talent.

All this from a natural keeper who couldn't score until he was 17.

Already captain of the T20 side.

Oh, and I picked him rounds ago