Roar Guru
Joined February 2013
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Used to post unregistered under another name for 2 years before realising that you could register. Shows how good I am at this technology stuff.
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Now that I have completed my series of articles on All Time XIs by the alphabet, I thought it would be worthwhile opening the decision on which team is best to you Roarers.
We finish with the Ws. As expected, this team is immensely strong and probably the most thrilling of all the teams.
After a three month hiatus while I wasted my long service leave watching the Australian cricket team in England, then held my breath for the current series, it’s time to finish the Alphabet XI series given there are only two teams to go.
There were some big decisions to be made in compiling this team. Which tearaway – the Terror or Typhoon?; which Hugh, Tayfield or Trumble?; where do I bat Trumper?; and how many of the 17 Taylors to have played Tests do I pick?
This team should be strong given the deep talent pool to choose from. However I did find it hard to compile given the number of similarly high quality openers and spinners and surprisingly few middle order options.
With the pairs of Richards (and sons) and Russells, as well as other high quality players, the ‘R’ Team is perhaps best described as ‘light heavyweight”’– strong and powerful but just below a few of the others. Still, this is a very strong team.
We are coming round the bend now, with the home straight in sight. This is the supercomposite team including all the letters that you love getting in Scrabble but wouldn’t like to pick a team from .
The P Team is an interesting one in that there are five or six current international cricketers who might reasonably earn a spot in the team by the time their careers have ended.
This is my first composite team and as you’ll see, perhaps it needed a few more letters to make it more competitive.
We have back to back heavyweights with the ‘M’ Team looking every bit as strong as the ‘L’ Team (noting there are more ‘M’s who have played Test cricket than any other letter):
With some of the composite teams coming up, we are now past the half way mark of this marathon. To date, the B Team and the H Team are the stand outs and it’s fair to say that they won’t be challenged by the K Team.
The all time ;J’ Team is next and as you can see the Jayawardenes and Johnsons are doing a good job of keeping up with the Jones’.
OK, from the dizzy heights of the ‘G’ and ‘H’ teams, we are now stepping back into the third division – the all-time ‘I’ XI (from a total of 35 ‘Is’ to have played Test cricket).
We are now moving on to one of the real heavyweight teams which a number of high quality players aren’t able to make. My all-time H team:
Our lucky seventh team and one with a raft of strong candidates. My XI is:
I had to take a bit of a break from this exercise after struggling to put an E team together, but I am now back on board. My All Time F Team is:
I’ll admit it, the team is stronger than I thought it would be after I struggled with the openers. There is enough quality with bat and ball to give most teams a run for their money. 1. Joe Darling (c) Aus, LHB, 34 Tests (21 capt), 1657 runs at 28.57, 3 100s Darling’s average should […]
For my next instalment of the All time alphabetical teams, I am going to list the team and bios in a single longer article.
I am a bit suspicious of “character” being a KPI now. It is a nothing word and inevitably will be an excuse to pick favourites or not to pick people you don’t like personally.
What sort of character are we talking about. Someone like Shane Warne has a pretty dubious characteristics in his personal life. And he freely admits sniping against team mates. Would any of these disqualify him in the new world?
Cricket Australia release cultural review findings: 42 recommendations put forward in wake of ball-tampering scandal
I think it is pretty clear that Howard has been sacrificed.
Cricket Australia release cultural review findings: 42 recommendations put forward in wake of ball-tampering scandal
Couldn’t agree more Julian.
I was lucky enough to attend the 1999 Davis Cup final in Nice. It is comfortably the best tennis experience I have ever had (I’ve been to Wimbledon and the Aust Open) and in the top few experiences across all sports.
I always encourage anyone I know is a tennis fan to go to a Davis Cup (ideally a final) once in their life. Sadly, it now looks too late for that.
Davis Cup: Officially the Little River Band of tennis
I guess we still don’t know all the facts but the Smith penalty is excessive I reckon. He has been upfront and contrite about it all whereas Warner seems to have gone the other way.
Yet his penalty is effectively greater given he has also been stripped of the captaincy.
CONFIRMED: Cricket Australia hands down lengthy suspensions to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft
Agree. I really hope Pandya gets to the ton – it will be a remarkable effort given the opposition and pitch.
Usman Khawaja wills himself back to form
Well like it or not, the captain, coach and selectors get to decide.
Nathan Lyon's not ending international careers this summer. It's Steve Smith
Speaking of openers, who the hell is going to open for Aust in the South Africa series?
Alastair Cook surges ahead as Test cricket's leading opener
Actually the memorable moment in the Peter Who tests wasn’t so much Taylor’s debut but when Sleep took that last wicket to finally win a test, it felt like we had won the World Cup. Which in fact we did a few months later. And the following year we beat NZ (thanks to Mike Whitney’s batting heroics!), the year after that we performed well against the Windies (including Border’s 11 wickets!) and 6 months after that we were destroying England in the 1989 Ashes.
So my very strong sense was that that Sleep wicket was the like the first rays of sunlight after the darkness of the mid 80s.
Three of the SCG's most memorable Test moments
I guess Smith could have been honest and just said that Maxwell fails the “no d1ckheads” selection criteria.
Nathan Lyon's not ending international careers this summer. It's Steve Smith
If Haddin catches Joe Root early on Day 1 on the 2015 Ashes series we win that series.
And who did Smith drop in India earlier this year that probably cost as the series there? Was it Pujara?
Dropped catches hurt, some devastate
Disappointed that you missed my call of the year just before lunch on Day 2:
Looks like a pitch that Cook might grind out a decent score on.
Golden Moments: How Roarers saw the Fourth Ashes Test as told through their comments
I guess if he were the first to do it, no one else could be. But it doesn’t even seem that that is the case.
Alastair Cook can set an unbreakable record today
Highest score in a Melbourne Test. Ross Taylor got 290 odd at the WACA a couple of years ago.
Why did so many write off Alastair Cook?
That and Phil Hughes’ death.
BBL Big Bash live scores, blog, highlights: Melbourne Renegades vs Perth Scorchers
What a dreadful days work from Australia. Lazy and disinterested for the most part.
Great stuff from England though.
The Ashes Boxing Day Test live scores, blog, highlights: Australia vs England Day 2
Looks like a pitch that Cook might grind out a decent score on.
The Ashes Boxing Day Test live scores, blog, highlights: Australia vs England Day 2
Well they had want to sort it out quickly – Rabada, Philander, Morkel and maybe Steyn if fit are going to be a bit more of a challenge than the England attack.
Bancroft and Khawaja in danger of being dropped from an unbeaten side
Harris himself admits that he didn’t really take cricket seriously until too late. Such a shame.
Ashes to Ashes: Would Mitchell Johnson's Ashes team beat Mitchell Starc's?
Mitch had a series for the ages but one man band is harsh. Harris took 22 wickets at 19 – a stand out series performance in any other series. As for the batting, 4 Australian batsmen scored 2 tons in the series, not including Haddin who topped the averages.
Ashes to Ashes: Would Mitchell Johnson's Ashes team beat Mitchell Starc's?
Sometimes you wonder if the Australian cricket captain’s real name isn’t also Cameron.
Count 'em down: Australia's top ten sporting moments of 2017
A list of the “Nervous Nineties” would be interesting. Some of the All Time Greats ended up there (Sobers, Ambrose and Gilchrist to name a few).
A look at cricket's 100 Test men