Best current Test XI - draft selection

[MadAsHell 4,212]

I want to argue this. As your indescretion was the most recent, I reckon your puck should fall at the end.

It effectively becomes another round of picks (round 12) and as the order reverses after round 11 my pick would fall first.

[H_T 3,049]

Haha, champagne comedy there 45HG.

No I'm happy to wait. I'll have pick 89 and Django picks 90 & 91 if that makes sense to everyone?

Mate, good statement earlier.

Fwiw I hadn't noted Rogue's take prior to my selection. We made the posts around the time. I wasn't aware of Ryder's situation either until reading his post.

Whilst it is unfortunate for you, I think given Rogue's info he's certainly not on the Test radar anytime soon and it looks doubtful he will return given the comments.

It's not a country breach, it's unfortunate circumstances, upon consultation with the ME commission and deliberation of your 'please explain'. Your pick will take place after titan_uranus' final pick given your acknowledgement.

We're clearly participating for sheep stations here.....

Apologise for the wait, been travelling.

[H_T 3,049]

Fark.....maybe just have Ryder....lol.

[MadAsHell 4,212]

Mate, good statement earlier.

Fwiw I hadn't noted Rogue's take prior to my selection. We made the posts around the time. I wasn't aware of Ryder's situation either until reading his post.

Whilst it is unfortunate for you, I think given Rogue's info he's certainly not on the Test radar anytime soon and it looks doubtful he will return given the comments.

It's not a country breach, it's unfortunate circumstances, upon consultation with the ME commission and deliberation of your 'please explain'. Your pick will take place after titan_uranus' final pick given your acknowledgement.

We're clearly participating for sheep stations here.....

Apologise for the wait, been travelling.

Haha, all good H_T cheers.

It's all good, if it causes less drama I can wait till 91. Either way Django has certain countries he has to pick from as do I and they don't clash so no dramas really.

[H_T 3,049]

Haha, all good H_T cheers.

It's all good, if it causes less drama I can wait till 91. Either way Django has certain countries he has to pick from as do I and they don't clash so no dramas really.

Ok. Well if that is the case and there is no clash, go last pick, no big deal right?

Thank [censored] for that....

Titan....pick away.

[H_T 3,049]

Final 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 - A.Mendis (SL) - 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 - 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 - U.Akmal (Pak) - Django

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

pick 84 - A.Barath (WI) - Biffen

pick 85 - K.Pollard (WI) - Macca

pick 86 - C.Munro (NZ) - Tall Defence

pick 87 - M.Henriques (Aust) - H_T

pick 88 - D.Brownlie (NZ) - titan_uranus

[Little Richard 6,265]

Haha sorry guys, I wasn't completely serious. Take it whenever.

[MadAsHell 4,212]

No worries Django, you take Picks 89 & 90 and I'll come in at 91, there's an order out now.

Over to you Titan_Uranus....

[titan_uranus 25,020]

From left field slightly:

Pick 88 - Dean Brownlie (NZ)

He's the highest ranked batsmen (who isn't Bangladeshi) remaining. His stats are equal or better than any other remaining batsmen, and he recently managed a 100 and 50 in four innings against South Africa, in South Africa. He also looked decent enough against us last summer. I'll take that for 88.

[45HG 1,557]

I'll take that for 88.

And to think that you could've had Cale Morton!

[Little Richard 6,265]

So to clarify, am I up now or is it TD?

[Little Richard 6,265]

Sorry, just saw the order.

Ah shoot, I'm about to jump on a plane and I'll be away for three weeks, alright if I make my selections when I return?

[MadAsHell 4,212]

So to clarify, am I up now or is it TD?

Your up Django with your two picks, one from Pakistan & Sri Lanka and then it's my Pick.

[MadAsHell 4,212]

Sorry, just saw the order.

Ah shoot, I'm about to jump on a plane and I'll be away for three weeks, alright if I make my selections when I return?

Don't tell me we're three picks away from finishing up and we're now delayed for three weeks.

[Macca 17,013]

Sorry, just saw the order.

Ah shoot, I'm about to jump on a plane and I'll be away for three weeks, alright if I make my selections when I return?

Don't tell me we're three picks away from finishing up and we're now delayed for three weeks.

I don't mind . It'll give half my blokes a chance to either regain some form or overcome injury. Pollard could make his Test debut, Watto will be rolling his arm over and Zaheer and Yuvraj will be back in the Indian team !!!

Do you wanna make that a couple of months, Django ?!!

[Little Richard 6,265]

Haha just kidding.

89. Ajantha Mendis SL

I need a tick to think about Pakistan.

[MadAsHell 4,212]

Haha just kidding.

89. Ajantha Mendis SL

I need a tick to think about Pakistan.

Well played sir.

[45HG 1,557]

Consternation.

Watching one of your key bowlers bowl one of your own batsmen...

[Little Richard 6,265]

90. Umar Akmal (Pak).

Anyone remember him? Debuted at 18 or 19 and starred straight away, very classy batsman. Form has left him a bit the last couple of seasons but only 22 now so expecting him back in the Pakistani line up soon. Brother of Kamran, ex keeper.

[Biffen 12,944]

90. Umar Akmal (Pak).

Anyone remember him? Debuted at 18 or 19 and starred straight away, very classy batsman. Form has left him a bit the last couple of seasons but only 22 now so expecting him back in the Pakistani line up soon. Brother of Kamran, ex keeper.

I remember the duck walking off the ground with him about 5 games in a row on Channel Nine.

[Little Richard 6,265]

I remember the duck walking off the ground with him about 5 games in a row on Channel Nine.

Got starts in most games in that series, still a healthy career average at about 36. Good enough.

[MadAsHell 4,212]

From left field slightly:

Pick 88 - Dean Brownlie (NZ)

He's the highest ranked batsmen (who isn't Bangladeshi) remaining. His stats are equal or better than any other remaining batsmen, and he recently managed a 100 and 50 in four innings against South Africa, in South Africa. He also looked decent enough against us last summer. I'll take that for 88.

Dam it Titan, haha. Good pick I must say.

Ineligible Player Breach Pick 91

Colin Munro (New Zealand)

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/232359.html

Just made his test debut in New Zealand's last test in South Africa and currently has an average of 7.5 after scores of 0 & 15 but he has a first class batting average of over 53 and in the recently completed first class season in New Zealand he came 16th in leading run scorer when only playing 4 out of a possible 10 games (missed the others on NZ squad duty) with 623 runs at an average of 124.60.

In the mould of Jesse Ryder he's a hard hitting middle order batsman who bowls handy medium pace, so in effect I don't think I've missed out on anything with having Munro instead of Ryder and on their first class form it's actually an upgrade.

So my XI reads:

TESTS RUNS BATTING AVG WICKETS BOWLING AVG BOWLING S/RATE

(Eng) Alastair Cook* Left Hand Bat 87 7117 49.42 - - -

(Ind) Virender Sehwag Right Hand Bat/Right Hand Offspin 102 8559 50.05 40 47.35 93.2

(Pak) Younis Khan Right Hand Bat/Right Hand Legspin 81 6705 51.18 8 54.62 90.7

(Sri) Angelo Mathews Right Hand Bat/Right Hand Medium Pace 31 1668 39.71 11 70.45 135.8

(NZ) Colin Munro Left Hand Bat/Right Hand Medium Pace 1(17) 15 (1123) 7.50 (53.47) 2 (28) 20 (31) 54.0 (62.4)

(Aus) +Matthew Wade Keeper/Left Hand Bat 9 510 42.50 - - -

(WI) Dwayne Bravo Allrounder: Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Fast 40 2200 31.42 86 39.83 75.1

(Ind) Ravichandran Ashwin Right Arm Offspin/Right Arm Bat 12 596 45.84 63 32.41 63.2

(Aus) Ryan Harris Right Arm Fast/Right Hand Bat 12 212 17.66 47 23.63 49.1

(Pak) Abdul Rehman Left Arm Orthodox/Left Hand Bat 17 289 15.21 81 28.40 66.0

(RSA) Morne Morkel Right Arm Fast/Left Hand Bat 49 657 13.68 175 29.97 55.1

* = Captain, + = Keeper, () = First class averages for player who's played fewer then 5 tests and hasn't had opportunity to establish themselves.

I'm pretty happy with my XI, my 4 main bowlers and my all rounder combined average 19.65 wickets between them a test which addresses your main need of needing to take 20 wickets a match. On top of that I've got part time bowlers of Sehwag, Mathews & Munro will help support my five main bolwers and with Munro & Mathews both bowling medium pace that comes in handy if Harris were to break down as he often does. I'd give Morkel and Harris the new ball, Morkel with his extra height, bounce and pace and Harris with his skiddy action at over 140km/h will complement eachother well. Bravo first change bowler with his outswingers in the 130k's range and then the twin spin of Ashwin with his right arm off breaks and Rehman his left arm orthodox.

I've got two batsmen who average above 50 (3 if you include Munro in first class cricket) and then Cook, Wade and Ashwin who all average in the 40's and Mathews & Bravo with averages with the bat in the 30's. Cook obviously gets the captains gig and I think it's fair to say that I've got the best opening combination of all the 8 teams picked with the worlds best opening batsman at the moment in Cook and the most destructive opening batsman of the last 10 years in Sehwag.

I'll be interested to see how everyone elses teams stack up and balance out.

Edit: Cook/Sehwag opening combo.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Tall Defence

[H_T 3,049]

Final 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 - A.Mendis (SL) - 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 - 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 - U.Akmal (Pak) - Django

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

pick 84 - A.Barath (WI) - Biffen

pick 85 - K.Pollard (WI) - Macca

pick 86 - C.Munro (NZ) - Tall Defence

pick 87 - M.Henriques (Aust) - H_T

pick 88 - D.Brownlie (NZ) - titan_uranus

[H_T 3,049]

Well done guys, drafting is complete!

You're welcome put all your players listed as a team if you want (it will make it easier for Nasher), with perhaps a summary of your players averages and/or why you put them in your BestXI.

There's some great sides chosen. As you can see it becomes interesting through the later rounds seeing what has gone and what others have left to pick.

[Biffen 12,944]

My XI has a bit of depth I reckon .

Warner

Barath

Jayawardene

Root

Shafiq

Sarwan

Duminy

Mc Cullum

Broad

Pattinson

Sharma