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Who would win? The Allrounders XI versus the Traditional XI

A cricket ball. (Ed g2s, Wikimedia Commons)
Roar Pro
8th December, 2016
23

With a bit of conjecture and debate going on about the make up and balance of the Australian cricket team in it’s various formats, inevitably a lot of effort goes into those not-so-obvious selections of the allrounder type player.

To select one of Maxwell, Marsh or Faulkner, to name a few players currently in the mix, should require a great deal of thought as to which would serve their teams’ needs the best.

Having said that, most of the time, I believe truth is found in ludicrous hypotheticals as clarity somehow swims through the murky waters and into the light. So, join me as we explore the fantastical cricket match featuring the allrounders’ best XI and the traditional best XI.

Firstly, the Allrounders XI. Fairly simple, with two selection criteria… A) they have to warrant selection for their primary role, and B) that they have a “significant” second discipline (obviously subjective, but hey, let’s work with it). Without further ado, here is my Allrounders XI.

1 – Opener: Eddie Barlow (18,212 runs at 39.16 and 571 wickets at 24.14)*
2 – Opener: W.G Grace (54,896 runs at 39.55 and 2864 wickets at 17.99)*
3 – First drop: Walter Hammond (7,249 runs at 58.45 and 83 wickets at 37.80)
4 – Second drop: Jacques Kallis (13,289 runs at 55.37 and 292 wickets at 32.65)
5 – Middle order: Garfield Sobers (8032 runs at 57.78 and 235 wickets at 34.03)
6 – Middle order: Doug Walters (5357 runs at 48.26 and 49 wickets at 29.08)
7 – Wicket keeper: Adam Gilchrist (379 catches/37 stumpings and 5,570 runs at 47.6)
8 – Spinner: Richie Benaud (248 wickets at 27.03 and 2201 runs at 24.45) Captain
9 – Change bowler: Imran Khan (362 wickets at 22.81 and 3807 runs at 37.69)
10 – Opening bowler: Keith Miller (170 wickets at 22.97 and 2958 runs at 36.97)
11 – Opening bowler: Richard Hadlee (431 wickets at 22.29 and 3124 runs at 27.16)
*Denotes first class figures in lieu of short Test career
12th man: Jonty Rhodes, fieldsman extraordinaire.

Notable omissions: Kumar Sangakkara, Clyde Walcott and Andy Flower all average better runs than Gilchrist, but are lesser glovemen in my opinion – feel free to disagree – Jeff Dujon was the opposite.

Several more South Africans would probably have made the cut, Mike Procter and Clive Rice the most likely, if not for apartheid and now AB de Villiers, if he wanted to, could probably become the greatest allrounder ever (seriously, check out his bio, he is fantastic at everything).

It was a tough choice on the spinner position as none really stood out in the way Jacques Kallis does for his batting for instance. In a hypothetical match, if the pitch was turning I would imagine Benaud and Sobers to have to step up.

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Also Ian Botham and Kapil Dev should feel quite hard done by to not making the side as should Vinoo Mankad – batted every position and achieved the 2000/200 double.

Taking on the traditional XI, a good old fashioned six batsmen, one wicketkeeper and four bowlers affair, whereby the same criteria applies for A) they must warrant selection for their primary role, and alternatively B) should never be selected for their secondary skill.

1 – Opener: Sunil Gavaskar (10,122 runs at 51.12 and 1 wicket at 206)
2 – Opener: Herbert Sutcliffe (4,555 runs at 60.73 and no wickets)
3 – First drop: Don Bradman (6996 runs at 99.94 and 2 wickets at 36) Captain
4 – Second drop: Brian Lara (11,953 runs at 52.88 and no wickets)
5 – Middle order: Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs at 52.31 and 1 wicket at 39)
6 – Middle order: Inzaman Ul-haq (8,830 runs at 49.6 and no wickets)
7 – Gloveman: Alan Knott (269 dismissals and 4389 runs at 32.75)
8 – Spinner: Muttiah Muralithuran (800 wickets at 22.72 and 1,256 runs at 11.67)
9 – Change bowler: Waqar Younis (373 wickets at 23.56 and 1010 runs at 10.20)
10 – Opening bowler: Courtney Walsh (519 wickets at 24.44 and 936 runs at 7.54)
11 – Opening bowler: Glenn Mcgrath (563 wickets at 21.64 and 641 runs at 7.36)

12th man – Irrelavent as he can neither bat nor bowl, and shouldn’t have been selected for his fielding.

Notable omissions: Len Hutton, apparently a Test bowling average of 77.33 is simply too good for an opener. Likewise, Sachin Tendulkar with his 46 Test wickets really hurt his chances of making this fictional XI .

Joel Garner was also hard to leave out, but horses for courses, his 12.44 average is getting a little up there and the cumulative ducks from Walsh and McGrath were too hard to ignore.

This team on paper is incredibly strong, however I think any injury would really hamstring this side. Similarly, simply waiting off the good bowlers would mean an absolute feast of runs against the part-timers.

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So, those are the teams. I tried to pick a balanced team for each XI (as much as was possible), and obviously some players have been left out and some players are a bit out of position, so feel free to swap players in and out at your own leisure.

My thoughts after putting these team lists together are that any one of these players from either team would walk into any current side.

Also, I perceived a comparative lack of leadership in the traditional XI compared to the Allrounders (comparative being a key word) and the lack of a “true” spin bowling allrounder in the likes of world’s best (Benaud just edging out mankind on bowling stats). So, who do you think would win?

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