It's a World Cricket XI with a mysterious twist

Ludicrously late, but haven't seen this topic before. English test player Tom Graveney played for Qld across a few seasons in the late 60's/early 70's, at a pretty advanced age cricket wise. Botham had a decent season for Qld without quite being at his best. Started well but faded a bit - overall 11 games, 646 runs at 34, 7 fifties; 29 wickets at 27.75; 18 catches. You're not going to get dropped with those numbers.

David Hookes died in January 2004. So one has to remember that when Hookes made his assessment, Collingwood wasn't nearly the player that he now is. Darren Pattinson was born in England but grew up in Australia. He had already played for Victoria when he was plucked from obscurity to play for England. It is still reasonable to suspect that this mysterious selection was to some extent motivated by a desire to make him ineligible for Australia. My point is that Darren Pattinson should not be seen as a foreigner who has played for Victoria. Rather, he should be seen as an Australian who has played for England. Darren's brother James is 11 years younger, was born in Australia, played for Australia U19, and according to my spies in Melbourne is a super prospect who is likely to become a formidable pace bowler for Australia. The Pattinson parents may have been born in England but their boys are Australian.

groan..... I've just seen David's comment DIRECTLY below mine; way to scroll down, Brett.....

Vastly underrated player, Paul Collingwood, I'd pick him in my team every day of the week and twice on Saturdays.... And Greg, hasn't Darren Patterson played for Victoria since his one Test for England anyway??

Oops, that was a bad miss. I mean forgetting Botham. Thank you Greg for pointing out it out. Also enjoyed your Hookes - Collingwood story, Greg.

It's a surprise to have got to the end of this thread and realize that no-one has mentioned Sir Ian Botham, who had a season at Queensland with his great mate AB. It was a poor season, but that doesn't change that Beefy is eligible for Kersi's World XI, and really would have to be selected.

"To this day Victoria has never selected a non-eligible Australian player in its Shield team (as far as I’m aware)." Paul Collingwood played several seasons of Melbourne grade cricket while David Hookes was at the helm for Victoria. Collingwood, a fringe England player at the time, was eligible for Victorian selection. Whenever Hookes was asked about this, he would respond "The reason I don't pick him is not because he's English. It's purely because he's not good enough." One wonders what Hookes would say to this now. I suspect it would be "He's still not good enough to play for Victoria"! And he may have a point. Just at look at the way Andy Flower flopped at South Australia. Australian first-class cricket has always proven a very difficult environment for foreigners, even the most highly credentialed ones. That is why Barry Richards' season for South Australia is so amazing: not just of itself, but also because he did it as a foreigner. Sir Donald Bradman, the man who got Richards to South Australia, chose Richards in his best XI of all time, and said that his season for South Australia was a major reason for this.

Kersi, The WA front-line attack that Barry Richards demolished in his 356 run innings were all past or future test players. Graham McKenzie & Laurie Mayne had toured India & South Africa in 1969/70, while Dennis Lillee would make his test debut in 1970/71. He had also toured NZ with the Australian B team in early 1970. Tony Lock was then around 42-43, but had played as a replacement for England in the Caribbean as recently as 1967/68. He flew in as a replacement after Fred Titmus lost some toes in a boating accident. Anyway, a pretty decent bowling line-up to demolish for 325 runs in a single day. There's an amusing story sideline to the day's events. Richards had scored 7 & 44no in his first encounter against WA in Adelaide. Anyway in Perth, after Richards had swung & missed a few times at the beginning of the day, keeper Rod Marsh remarked to first slipper John Inverarity, "I think he's over-rated, & can't bat much". Or something like that. After Richards hit Lillee for one final 4 to end the day on 325no, & the players began walking off the field, Inverarity with quick recall of the comment made at the beginning of the day, turned to Marsh, & with great understatement said, "I think he can bat a bit".....

Watching Michael Holding training in the University nets in Hobart was a sight to behold for a young cricket player... Apparenlty his work in the night clubs was a sight to beholf also but I was too young to see that. Jack Simmons was a massive contributor to Tassie cricket. Part of the Gilette Cup winning side of the 78-79, from memory. Now that was a big day! Helped dull the summer's pain of being flogged 5-1 in the tests by Boycott and co. Great side!

Thank you, Sheek and David for your additions. Lancashire's Jack Simmons also played for Tasmania but he was not a Test cricketer. Let me feature four well-known imports who were outstanding in Sheffield Shield cricket starting with Garry Sobers, one of the greatest in the game. The West Indian side of 1960-61 was the most popular to tour Australia. Sir Donald Bradman was so impressed with Sobers that he encouraged him to play the following season as it would rekindle interest in the Sheffield Shield. With Wes Hall and Rohan Kanhai playing for other states, the Sheffield Shield enjoyed its best trading year since Bradman. Sobers’ brilliant all-round skill was demonstrated in a match against New South Wales at the Adelaide Oval. In the 2nd innings for South Australia Sobers scored a magnificent 251 against an attack boasting Alan Davidson and Richie Benaud. He then proceeded to crash through the NSW top and middle order dismissing Ian Craig, Norm O’Neill, Bob Simpson and Neil Harvey, finishing with figures of 6 for 72. Sobers scored a century and took 5 wickets in an innings against NSW on three separate occasions. In 1962-63 Sobers returned to South Australia and proceeded to become the first player to do the double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets in an Australian domestic season, a feat he repeated the following season. In all, he took 137 wickets at 26.02. Barry Richards played for S Australia in 1970-71 and had a brilliant season scoring 1538 at a Bradmanesque average of 109.86, top score 356 (including an incredible 325 in a day) vs. WA against an attack of Graham McKenzie, Dennis Lillee and Tony Lock. Off the last ball of the day he casually strolled down the wicket to hit Lillee straight to the sight screen for four. South Australia won the Sheffield Shield that year and Bradman included him in his all time greatest eleven. Tony Lock came to Western Australia in 1962-63 after being omitted from the M.C.C squad to tour Australia. He captured 316 wickets from 1962-71 for WA at 24.59 with 7-53 as his best. Joel Garner took 55 wickets at 17.74 for SA in 1982-83, his best being 7-78.

DB, Thanks for that. Like my music, I don't pay the same attention to Shield cricket that I did in the 80s..... !!!

Sheek, Victoria have picked Darren Pattinson, who won't be eligible for Australia again for another 4 years I think, since he played a Test for England in 2008.

Kersi, I only came upon this after the 4pm deadline. However, you could have had your specialist keeper as Alan Knott played for Tassie in 1969/70 (admittedly before they received Sheffield Shield admission in 1977/78). Also, Lance Gibbs played the same season with South Australia while the leading 15 Aussies were in India & South Africa. Admittedly, he had a very poor season. Barry Richards had a mega-season for SA in 1970/71. He was hoping to get some first-hand knowledge of Aussie conditions & players before South Africa's tour in 1971/72, which tragically from a sporting viewpoint, was called off. Anyway, Richards hit a century against every other state as well as the touring Englishmen. He was particularly harsh on the Englishmen, hitting 224 & 146 (two separate matches). He also hit 356 against WA; 178 against NSW; 155 against Qld & 105 against Vic. For the Australian season in 10 first class matches, he hit 1,538 runs at an average of 109.85, with 6 centuries & 3 half-centuries. This is one reason why people like me unhesitantly nominate him as the best opener from all countries in the past 40 years. Did you know Andy Roberts in 1976/77 was the first non-Australian to represent NSW? To this day Victoria has never selected a non-eligible Australian player in its Shield team (as far as I'm aware). The reason why so many Windies have played Sheffield Shield is because it fitted in with their own season. They usually went straight from Australian Sheffield Shield to Caribbean Shell Shield (or its variations). South Australia have tended to benefit most from overseas players. Apart from the afore-mentioned Richards & Gary Sobers, who scored a stack of runs & took a stack of wickets with SA in the mid-60s, Joel Garner was also supreme in 1982/83. In 8 matches, Garner took a whopping 55 wickets at 17.75, including 4 x 5/fors in an innings & 2 x 10/fors in a match. His best bowling was 7/78. Imran Khan also had an outstanding season with NSW in 1984/85. While Englishman Tony Lock is credited with giving WA the confidence that led them to becoming the dominant cricket state in the 70s & 80s. Kepler Wessels was also outstanding during his 7 seasons with Queensland. Kersi, the Sri Lankan leg-spinner Malcolm Francke was a team mate of Surti's at Qld in the early 70s. Although by that time I think he was eligible for Aussie selection.

Off-hand, I can think of the recent Zimbabweans - Murray Goodwin (with WA either side of his time playing for Zim), Sean Ervine (WA), Andy Flower (SA). Chaos: if you dig up their player profiles on CricketArchive, click on 'list of matches and more detailed statistics', and then on the next page there's a line saying 'First-class record for each team batting and fielding and bowling'.

Can you get their Shield statistics?

You are all correct. My team along with the 12th man and reserves are Test cricketers who have played first-class cricket for different Australian States in Sheffield Shield / Pura Cup. Garry Sobers, Barry Richards, Joel Garner, Younus Khan, Jeff Crowe and Gladstone Small for South Australia; Wes Hall, Viv Richards, Majid Khan, Kepler Wessels, Alvin Kallicharran, Graeme Hick and Rusi Surti for Queensland; Imran Khan and Andy Roberts for NSW; Rohan Kanhai, Tony Lock and Colin Milburn for Western Australia and Michael Holding, Richard Hadlee, Winston Davis and John Hampshire for Tasmania. Surti became the first bowler to take a hat-trick for Queensland in Sh. Sh. Gayle, Afridi, Muralitharan, Malinga and Mendis do not qualify because they played only Twenty20 cricket for Australian States. Overseas Test cricketers who played only grade cricket in Australia (namely England’s Mike Gatting, West Indian Desmond Haynes and Gus Logie among others) are not considered for selection. Roarers, have I missed any overseas Test cricketer who played Sheffield Shield / Pura Cup? Why as many as nine out of 22 (41%) were from the Windies? And why has the import all but discontinued?

I reckon David has it. Didn't Hadlee play for Tasmania?

David and Vinay, It will be revealed at 4pm today.

Kersi,this is even too esoteric for me. I can only think as David barry does that they all played SS. But I am not sure about Majid Khan and michael holding. Tony Lock I know settled down in WA and Barry Richards also. I do not think Richard hadlee played SS. Or could it be they have all scored a Test fifty. or they have all captained their country? I think you have stumped me.

They're all foreigners (well sort of, in Wessels' case) to have played Sheffield Shield cricket.