Wisden World XI

[whythelongface]

What are your thoughts on the greatest World XI marking the 150th anniversary of the Wisden Cricketer's Almanac.

To me some surprises.

Alan Knott - is he really the best keeper of all time? He was good behind the stumps and his batting was ok - but the best of all time really?

Don't know enough about Hobbs and Grace, but Grace with an average of 32.29 makes the team.

Bradman; Tendulkar; Richards; Sobers; Akram; Warne; Marshall - all pick themselves IMO.

Barnes - again don't know enough about him but his record speaks for itself so can't complain.

There of course are a number of players that could consider themselves unlucky including Miller; Lara; Chappell (G); Lindwall to name but a few.


WISDEN WORLD XI:
1. Jack Hobbs (England, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1909) 61 Tests, 5,410 runs at 56.94
2. W. G. Grace (England, CY 1896) 22 Tests, 1,098 runs at 32.29
3. Don Bradman (Australia, CY 1931, capt) 52 Tests, 6,996 runs at 99.94)
4. Sachin Tendulkar (India, CY 1997) 198 Tests, 15,837 runs at 53.86
5. Vivian Richards (West Indies, CY 1977) 121 Tests, 8,540 runs at 50.23
6. Garry Sobers (West Indies, CY 1964) 93 Tests, 8,032 runs at 57.78, 235 wickets at 34.03
7. Alan Knott (England, CY 1970, wkt) 95 Tests, 4,389 runs at 32.75, 250 catches, 19 stumpings
8. Wasim Akram (Pakistan, CY 1993) 104 Tests, 414 wickets at 23.62
9. Shane Warne (Australia, CY 1994) 145 Tests, 708 wickets at 25.41
10. Malcolm Marshall (West Indies, CY 1983) 81 Tests, 376 wickets at 20.94
11. Sydney Barnes (England, CY 1910) 27 Tests, 189 wickets at 16.43.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/don-bradman-and-shane-warne-named-in-wisdens-alltime-xi-20131024-2w2fp.html

These lists always make for great debates.

[GVGjr]

Re: Wisden World XI

I have debated this with a few mates for years.

Marshall is a bit of a surprise for me. Great cricketer but was he better than Garner or Hadlee with the ball? If Marshall plays then he bats ahead of Warne.

The batting average of Grace works against his inclusion in my opinion.

Barnes should be there. The only question about his outstanding record is did he benefit greatly from wickets that weren't covered? From what I have read he wasn't much quicker than a medium pacer but they couldn't play him.

Murali vs Warne is an interesting debate.

Sobers bowling of both spin and pace is a huge advantage to a side as was his fielding.

Knott was an outstanding keeper and while there might be a number of better keepers from a batting perspective his glove work makes it difficult to replace him.

A number of unlucky quick bowlers.
Hadlee - As much as I couldn't stand him I think I'd have him ahead of Marshall.
Garner - A huge threat on every type of track with his bouncers and yorkers. A great contrast to Akram swing
Waqar Younis - Brilliant swing bowler.
Imran Khan - Very quick in his day
Dev - Lone pace bowler on unfriendly tracks. His record is terrific.
Lillee - Brilliantly quick and a great bowling mind. Probably didn't have the yorker required to clean up the tail consistently.

[Sedat]

Re: Wisden World XI

A number of unlucky quick bowlers.
Hadlee - As much as I couldn't stand him I think I'd have him ahead of Marshall.
Garner - A huge threat on every type of track with his bouncers and yorkers. A great contrast to Akram swing
Waqar Younis - Brilliant swing bowler.
Imran Khan - Very quick in his day
Dev - Lone pace bowler on unfriendly tracks. His record is terrific.
Lillee - Brilliantly quick and a great bowling mind. Probably didn't have the yorker required to clean up the tail consistently.

I'd add Curtly and McGrath to the list of unlucky pacemen. Not only did both of them achieve amazing averages but they were also very unlucky, repeatedly beating the bat time and again. Curtly's spell of 7/1 at the WACA in 1993 is the best spell of bowling I've ever seen.

Marshall probably gets in because he was such a gun on all surfaces and conditions - probably the best fast bowler in history on slow spinning tracks. Also he was courageous as anything - not sure if anyone else has seen the fantastic documentary on the history of West Indies cricket called 'Fire in Babylon', but in it Marshall broke his left hand against England in the mid 80's, had his arm in a plaster cast but still proceeded to bowl down thunderbolts and collect a bag of wickets. Amazingly he also came in to bat one-handed in that test, plaster cast in left hand notwithstanding.

[1eyedog]

Re: Wisden World XI

I have debated this with a few mates for years.

Marshall is a bit of a surprise for me. Great cricketer but was he better than Garner or Hadlee with the ball? If Marshall plays then he bats ahead of Warne.

The batting average of Grace works against his inclusion in my opinion.

Barnes should be there. The only question about his outstanding record is did he benefit greatly from wickets that weren't covered? From what I have read he wasn't much quicker than a medium pacer but they couldn't play him.

Murali vs Warne is an interesting debate.

Sobers bowling of both spin and pace is a huge advantage to a side as was his fielding.

Knott was an outstanding keeper and while there might be a number of better keepers from a batting perspective his glove work makes it difficult to replace him.

A number of unlucky quick bowlers.
Hadlee - As much as I couldn't stand him I think I'd have him ahead of Marshall.
Garner - A huge threat on every type of track with his bouncers and yorkers. A great contrast to Akram swing
Waqar Younis - Brilliant swing bowler.
Imran Khan - Very quick in his day
Dev - Lone pace bowler on unfriendly tracks. His record is terrific.
Lillee - Brilliantly quick and a great bowling mind. Probably didn't have the yorker required to clean up the tail consistently.

Lots of good discussion points and agree that Akram and Garner would have caused some serious problems.

Thought Sunny Gavaskar might have been a show as an opener rather than Grace?

Dale Steyn will go close to taking Marshall's spot by the time he retires.

[Twodogs]

Re: Wisden World XI

Until Knott could prove he could stand over the stumps to a spinner of Warne's (oreven MacGill's) quality and not make a mess if it I'd have Gilchrist every day. I know that Knott was a quality 'keeper but he never kept to a quality leggie.

[Scraggers]

Re: Wisden World XI

Surprised Murali isn't there ... but at the expense of Warne, I'd choose Shane every day of the week and twice on the Sabbath. Warnie was a game changer; I don't consider Murali to be the same.

[GVGjr]

Re: Wisden World XI

You could put together a brilliant 2nd 11 from players that missed out

I'll let people ponder the batting but Lara would be a certainty

Kallis could certainly be the all rounder.
Gilchrist the keeper
Hadlee, Lillee, Garner, Dev, Waqar, Khan, Ambrose and McGrath as the pace bowlers
Murali as the spinner

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: Wisden World XI

I would definitely pay to see a match between those two sides.

[lemmon]

Re: Wisden World XI

I like the Grace selection, the stories of his dominance and fame are legendary. The first true superstar of the game, 54,000 first class runs and 2800 wickets at 18 is incredible. An average of 34 isn't bad when considering that Victor Trumper who would be in my all time Aussie XI and for some was second only to Bradman averaged 38.

[Twodogs]

Re: Wisden World XI

You could put together a brilliant 2nd 11 from players that missed out

I'll let people ponder the batting but Lara would be a certainty

Kallis could certainly be the all rounder.
Gilchrist the keeper
Hadlee, Lillee, Garner, Dev, Waqar, Khan, Ambrose and McGrath as the pace bowlers
Murali as the spinner

Off the top of my head:

Matthew Hayden
Bert Sutcliffe
Wally Hammond
Jacques Kallis
?
Adam Gilchrist
Imran Khan.
Kapil Dev
Waqar Younis
Dennis Lillee
Murili.

I would definitely pay to see a match between those two sides.

Yep!

[lemmon]

Re: Wisden World XI

Until Knott could prove he could stand over the stumps to a spinner of Warne's (oreven MacGill's) quality and not make a mess if it I'd have Gilchrist every day. I know that Knott was a quality 'keeper but he never kept to a quality leggie.

Did keep to Derek Underwood for Kent on slippery county pitches, no mean feat. I would go Gilchrist too but does Don Tallon come into consideration purely for his keeping? Kept to Tiger O'Reilly, Lindwall and Miller. Not sure if he was around through Clarrie Grimmet or Alan Davidson though. Bradman considered him the best

[westdog54]

Re: Wisden World XI

Off the top of my head:

Matthew Hayden
Bert Sutcliffe
Wally Hammond
Jacques Kallis
?
Adam Gilchrist
Imran Khan.
Kapil Dev
Waqar Younis
Dennis Lillee
Murili.

No Hadlee? No Lara?

I know it was off the top of your head, but bloody hell!!

I reckon Greenidge is unlucky to miss an openers spot in the '2nd XI'.

[GVGjr]

Re: Wisden World XI

Off the top of my head:

Matthew Hayden
Bert Sutcliffe
Wally Hammond
Jacques Kallis
?
Adam Gilchrist
Imran Khan.
Kapil Dev
Waqar Younis
Dennis Lillee
Murili

You're missing some very good players players but no Hadlee and Garner is hard to swallow.

That team would take a bit of bowling out with Dev at 8.

[Mantis]

Re: Wisden World XI

You're missing some very good players players but no Hadlee and Garner is hard to swallow.

Slightly different eras, but I have Ambrose ahead of Garner... His record speaks for itself.

[GVGjr]

Re: Wisden World XI

Slightly different eras, but I have Ambrose ahead of Garner... His record speaks for itself.

I'm a huge admirer of Garners bowling. One of the hardest bowlers to hit.
Ambrose was great but I'd have Garner in before him.
In a slightly weaker team bowling wise Garner would have stood out even more.