England’s batting woes go well beyond 1-2-3
Much has been written of England’s current top-order batting woes, with some saying the occupants of slots one, two and three are perhaps the…
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Much has been written of England’s current top-order batting woes, with some saying the occupants of slots one, two and three are perhaps the…
Carrying on from my previous article analysing Australia’s teams of the decades, I am now turning my attention to England. This proved to be…
Having read the recent article selecting Australia’s seven best XIs, I wondered what would happen if I followed this line of thought and applied…
Due to the lack of an all rounder I couldn’t fit Malcolm in. The other options were playing him instead of Tufnell and using Hick’s as a fill-in spinner (which probably would have worked in England of Australia) or playing Stewart as keeper instead of Russell which would have left Caddick at number 7.
England's teams of the decade – 1930s to 2010s
Just for reference – performance information for 2010-2019
Tests/ Wkt/ Avge/SR /10WM/5WI –
Starc 56 /240 / 27.09 / 48.2 / 2 /13 –
Cummins 29 / 139 / 21.93 / 47.2 / 1 /5 –
Harris 27 / 113 / 23.52 / 50.7 / 0 /5 –
Johnson 43 / 176 / 28.68 / 50.1 / 2 /8
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Laird was a left-field choice. His 3 WSC centuries showed he had ability and got him into the early-80’s test team in which he was solid if unspectacular, as was most of his competition. Marsh had the longer career and more stand-out performances but didn’t scream “pick-me” like a Hayden or a Warner so I went with personal preference.
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
I originally started including an age range in the criteria but then I got to the England teams and found myself in a little bit of a hole with players like Gooch, for example, who peaked in the 90’s when he was in his late 30’s and Boycott who was similar. Then Anderson and Broad just added to my woes. Whatever system is used will never be perfect but will always be interesting and enjoyable to critique.
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
With each team covering a 10 year period it was just about finding a way of getting some of the players into the team. With the quality of players available sometimes it was difficult. Most did bat lower down on occasions.
Hassett’s double inclusion was an oversight, however it does back-up your point that some players would have made two or more teams. It would however have been less challenging and less fun doing it that way
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Harris would definitely have been in if he had stayed fit and played more tests. He was so unlucky with injuries and without them I think he would have been a test regular for years
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Went with Phillips just to balance the batting. Rixon and Zoehrer were definitely far better keepers. The Paine/Haddin choice was difficult and one I would love to re-visit in a couple of years just to see if Paine maintains his average.
Warne and McGrath have amazing numbers in both decades, but, sadly for MacGill, it just wouldn’t have felt right not to have Warne in that 00’s team.
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
I intended to include the 20’s too but had to stop somewhere. I wanted to include Kippax simply because my grandfather saw him play during the 1930 Ashes tour and said he was incredible, but went with Fingleton on weight of runs and average.
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Picking Hassett twice was an error. I had originally not included the 40’s due to the limited number of tests but as I was doing the England teams I realised that Hutton, Compton, Edrich etc would all have been at their peaks so decided to have a crack at the 40’s for Australia too
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
I was trying to avoid picking a player twice (although I somehow managed to duplicate Hassett). It was a coin toss between Laird and Marsh with Marsh having a far longer test career, but Laird’s selection was based more on his showing in WSC and better test average
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Most of Australia’s test bowlers in that decade were too much for England and any other team they faced
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Thanks. My biggest takeaway from this was how consistently strong Australia are and just how many stand-out players there have been over the decades. For England there will be a lot more contentious selections
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
Included him in that decade as 22 of his 27 tests were played there. I agree about him being unlucky and deserving earlier selection. He would have walked into any other test team in the 90’s or 00’s and the Australian team in any other era. He was phenomenal during his time at Yorkshire averaging 68.76 across his career there. If he’d been a Yorkshireman he would have played 100 tests.
Australia’s teams of the decade - 1930s to 2010s
39.1% of Hoggard’s wickets were top 3 batsmen and 5 of his 7 five wicket innings were overseas. He slipped under the radar because he wasn’t as fast or as intimidating as the likes of Harmison, but he was a very good bowler
England's teams of the decade – 1930s to 2010s