H_T

No news is good news, Redleg. Or is it?.....

I think Serena Williams is a certainty to win the Open. She served 95/96% of first serves in. Wow. Unheard of these days. The Fed Express and Murray - can't split them, leaning towards Roger.

My god, what a match between Djokovic and Warinker last night. 5hr match.

That's right Macca, any order you wish, bowler, batsman, keeper, spinner, country etc. Apologies TD if it wasn't clear enough. Biffen is up...

Your side must contain one player from each of the Test nations giving you 8 players. To make up your Best XI you get an additional 3 players from any country - but you can only have a maximum of 2 from one country.So I cannot select another Sth African. Hope this clears it up.

Ok. That concludes Round One and we've started Round 2. Thanks titan_uranus....Here's a summary of the picks to date: - Round One pick 1 - Jacques Kallis (Sth Africa) - Rogue pick 2 - Michael Clarke (Aust) - thepassenger pick 3 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL) - 45HG16 pick 4 - David Warner (Aust) - Biffen pick 5 - Hashim Amla (Sth Africa) - Macca pick 6 - Alistair Cook (England) - Tall Defence pick 7 - Dale Steyn (Sth Africa) - H_T pick 8 - Rangana Herath (SL) - titan_uranus Round Two pick 9 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) - titan_uranus Round 2 pick no.10 pick 10 - AB de Villiers (Sth Africa)

Welcome back TD, well timed I must say, I was about to invite an emergency. Good pick too... Round 1, pick no.7 Dale Steyn (Sth Africa)

I know you can add more WJ. Great reading. I want to know how you get free from your chairs on the love boat to get your hands on the cassette.....

They've clearly been meeting our expectations for the last week. I'm expecting dribs and drabs right up until the bell rings.

Tall Defence...you're up.. pick 6...

Best XI participants were locked away, the draft pick order was determined by numbers out of a bowl (unfortunately there was no official to witness the draw; so you will have to take me on trust ), here is the draft order as follows for the first round: - Tall Defence - drew pick no.6 45HG16 - drew pick no.3 Rogue - drew pick no.1 H_T - drew pick no.7 Macca - drew pick no.5 Biffen - drew pick no.4 titan_uranus - drew pick no.8 thepassenger - drew pick no.2 So the order is as follows for Round 1: 1 - Rogue 2 - thepassenger 3 - 45HG16 4 - Biffen 5 - Macca 6 - Tall Defence 7 - H_T 8 - titan_uranus There will be 88 picks all up (11 per team). *Each round the order will reverse. ie. Round 2 will commence with pick 9 - titan_uranus and so on, and will reverse back to original order in Round 3. And so on. You must have one player from each of the Test cricketing nations in no particular order including: - England Australia South Africa India Pakistan New Zealand West Indies Sri Lanka So there is 8 players in your team. Finalise your team with three other Test players - these players can come from any of the above nations, although the maximum players from one country in your team must be two. Select in any order. Please post next to your selection the country he represents in brackets. Every now and then I'll post a summary of selections - I'll try and do one post for each round or one every page of the thread. To make it easier for everyone to see rather than clicking on previous pages, etc. Ok, so Rogue off you go with pick no.1... Round 1 - Pick no.1....

It's a drafting game, but I may try and organise an independant panel of judges and get their opinion on the finished teams at the completion of the draft. We'll see.

Don't worry we'll get there eventually. Just check in occassionally. Enjoy.

You can start with anyone, no.11 or opening Bat or keeper...or even a spinner. That's what makes it interesting.....strategy. Do you fill your top 6 quickly? Or do you get your bowling attack strong first up? Neglecting bats or bowlers may weaken your side... from memory those who played it last time found their last couple of picks difficult, because there's only do many quality players around. You're left scraping the bottom of the barrel in some instances. Will get it up soon.

Ha! Yours was pretty good from memory. 45's and t_u's were pretty good IIRC.

Scanning the posts I don't think I did. But it is current international players. That's a good side anyway for all times sake^. I was going to ask what about Lillee, but Holding or whispering death is a good selection.

Please note: above post was edited to include new info.

Best XI participants are locked away: - Tall Defence 45HG16 Rogue H_T Macca Biffen titan_uranus thepassenger I'll do it soon; start it later tonight. Keep an eye out for the Best XI thread here in the other sports forum. As I stated in that post I'll draw picks for everyone and we'll get a start. There's no time limit until complete, we have all the summer. I'm guessing we'll have it done before the Aust Open finishes anyway. I think the last one took just under 2 weeks. There will be 88 picks all up (11 per team). Each round the order will reverse. I've remembered from last time there are limitations. I'll stipulate the limitations in the OP of the thread. ie. You must have one player from each of the Test cricketing nations including: - England Australia South Africa India Pakistan New Zealand West Indies Sri Lanka So there is 8 players in your team. Finalise your team with three other Test players - these players can come from any of the above nations, although the maximum players from one country in your team must be two. It's a pity the old thread is not around anymore it would have been a great reference and good for the new particpants to have a look at. Enjoy.

Warning Biff. There's to be nothing said here in relation to the inquisition. Including the commando's running the show. Otherwise Redleg would have you strung up whilst sitting on a banana lounge with his favourite smoothie and a lei around his neck..it's a good thing he is currently out of range on the love boat.

titan_uranus and anyone else, are you interested in the following....(as posted before Christmas): Entrants to date: -Tall Defence 45HG16 Rogue H_T Macca Biffen Spots filling up. How about it? Axis of Bob ? titan_uranus ? the passenger? dee-luded? ... ...

I think the commuting to and from London during the BBL has taken it's toll and fried his brain (not that it required that much..). Found speeding in excess of 160km/h, fined for swearing, suspended for his petulant and appalling behaviour. Perhaps he has felt the rigours of weekly botox injections? I'm no expert.... Stick with Liz, Warnie. You're looking more and more like your wax work at Maddam Tussauds in London each day.

You get much energy out of bananas.

I think we should expect a little something everyday in the lead up to the meet and greet session. It's the nature of the beast. Enjoy your cruise Redleg/WJ.

HNY all. Attended the 3rd days play at the Boxing Day's Test and whilst it was disappointing day as far as how little cricket there was, it was pleasing to see a win and the performances of Johnson and Bird with the ball. Sad to see Hussey go, however it may just be a good call by MH to go out in good form, leaving a series in India to introduce and blood a player who can gain some experience and perhaps confidence before the Ashes. Unfortunately for Australia we'll miss a very handy middle order player who ultimately occupies the crease and ticks the scoreboard over and produces partnerships. Big shoes to fill no doubt. Also sad to see Greigy pass away. RIP TG. "Oh, blow it owt your orse, Bull"

....Awaiting for confirmation of a change to the title.... The No Tanking No B$ thread.....