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Doug Walters picks his best ever World XI

19th November, 2014
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Who does cricket great Doug Walters regard as the best players he ever faced? (AAP Image/David Crosling)
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19th November, 2014
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Doug Walters was the ultimate batting excitement machine when he burst onto the Test scene in 1965 at 19 years of age.

Cricket lovers got an earlier taste of the Dungog-born all-rounder when he debuted for NSW against Wes Hall at 17, helping himself to a fearless 50.

He tripled that at the Gabba on his Test debut against England with 155, and made England pay again at the MCG in his second Test with 115.

I was lucky enough to be at both Tests, as well as at the SCG to see his superb 246 and 103 against the Windies in 1969, the first time any batsman had scored a double and a century in the same Test.

Add to those memorable digs the century in a session against England at the WACA, slamming Bob Willis for a massive six over midwicket off the last ball of the day, and his majestic 250 against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1977.

There was never a dull moment when Kevin Douglas Walters was on duty, scoring stand at attention boundaries, weedling out stubborn batsmen and breaking big partnerships with his nagging medium pacers, or taking great catches in the cordon or the country.

He was the fans’ favourite, best described by teammate Dennis Lillee:

“There will never be another like him. I never saw him throw a bat, never heard him say a bad word about anyone. He was so cool.”

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And Doug has never changed, he’s the same unflappable bloke he’s always been, with an acute sense of humour, which prompted me to ask him last week to name a team of the best cricketers he’s ever played against.

It reads like a Who’s Who of legends, with the exeption of Sri Lanka that earned Test status in 1984, three years after Doug retired.

West Indies
Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Wes Hall, Charlie Griffiths, Lance Gibbs, Roy Fredericks, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, and Joel Garner.

England
Geoff Boycott, Ken Barrington, Tom Graveney, Colin Cowdrey, John Edrich, Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, John Snow, Bob Willis, Ian Botham, and Tony Greig.

South Africa
Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, Peter Pollock, Denis Lindsay, Eddie Barlow, and Mike Procter.

India
Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Erapalli Prasanna, Bishen Bedi, Gundappa Viswanath, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan.

Pakistan
Imran Khan, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Mushtaq Mohammad, Wasim Bari, and Sarfraz Nawaz.

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New Zealand
Bevan Congdon, Glenn Turner, and Richard Hadlee.

Despite the talent on show, Doug took just five minutes to circle the names on the list. His selection policy was like his batting – get on with it.

The Doug Walters World XI:

(1) Geoff Boycott
(2) Barry Richards
(3) Graeme Pollock
(4) Viv Richards
(5) Gary Sobers
(6) Clive Lloyd (capt)
(7) Ian Botham
(8) Alan Knott
(9) Richard Hadlee
(10) Andy Roberts
(11) Derek Underwood
(12) Bishen Bedi

Thanks Doug Walters, that was one mighty interesting exercise.

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