Cricket, lovely cricket

[Zodiac]

RIP Graham Dilley.

Hi all,

I'm sad to report that the former England fast bowler Graham Dilley has died aged 52, after a short illness. I'm sure that I speak for everyone here on the cricket thread in offering our deepest condolences to Graham's family and friends.

Best Wishes,
Zodiac.

[Adam Went]

Glenn McGrath made 63 once against New Zealand too.....great to watch if you're a supporter (I remember he had a couple of huge partnerships with Mike Hussey near the end of his career too, by which time had improved his batting average to a highly respectable 7) but there's not muuch worse for the opposition than a tail ender who clearly can't bat but yet still somehow manages to make runs and stick around.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

Phil: Jardine, in In Quest of the Ashes, regards Larwood as an all-rounder and he did score 98 in that series (32-33). Not bad for your no. 11!

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Adam Went]

Steven & Phil:

You've both nominated Alan Knott. Great player, but nothing on any of Rod Marsh, Ian Healy or Adam Gilchrist. It's not just about being great occasionally, it's about being great all of the time and standing up when your team needs you to stand up - Botham had flashes of brilliance but had long periods when he was fairly average as well.

I'm not going to attempt to go through the complete list you've both drawn up there, but i'll abbreviate it by saying that the only two who I would give any consideration to for the all time team would be Ken Barrington and W.G. Grace.

It's not about listing a few good players, it's about listing players who deserve to be in there and deserve to replace ones who are already in there. What about the others who missed out?

Let's not forget, aside from the few I named before, there's no Dennis Lillee.....no Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards.....no Aravinda de Silva....no Ricky Ponting.....

Any of those, and many others, could easily fit into that team. Anyway, at the end of the day, it's nothing to lose sleep over.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Phil Carter]

1. John Berry Hobbs (batsman and medium pace swing bowler, specialist cover point fieldsman)
2. Herbert Sutcliffe (batsman)
3. Patsy Hendren (batsman)
4. Wally Hammond (batsman and occasional bowler, slip fielder) (captain)
5. Gilbert Jessop (all rounder, batsman and fast medium bowler, specialist hitter and mid wicket fielder,, specialist throw from the boundary too, record sprint runner.. the list goes on and on with this man...)
6. Ian Terrance Botham (all rounder, batsman and fast bowler, specilaist slip and gully fielder)
7. Alan P.Knott (batsman and wicketkeeper)
8. Wilfred Rhodes (all rounder, specialist spin bowler, slip fielder)
9. Hedley Verity (Specialist spin bowler, batsman)
10.Sidney F.Barnes (Specialist Fast Bowler)
11.Harold Larwood (Specialist Fast Bowler)

Thats three specialist fast bowlers, two specialist spinners, 8 specialist batsmen, 2 cover bowlers, one specialist wicket keeper batsman, one batsmen with the most first class centuries ever, the top three batsmen with the highest batting averages ever, Jessop, the greatest hitter of a cricket ball ever, Hobbs and Rhodes reknowned for being the greatest partnership on a sticky wicket ever, Rhodes being reknowned for being the man who bowled the most overs and took the most wickets ever, Verity being a medium spinner of in-matched accuracy ever, The fastest Bowler ever, according to many in Larwood, and the most unplayable fast bowler ever, in Barnes. Botham, England's best all rounder ever. Specialist close fielders, cover point fielder, mid wicket fielder.

I make one possible exception. Tom Richardson instead of Botham on a flat track. He would bowl forever without tiring.


kindly


Phil

[Steven Russell]

Boycott
Gooch
Grace
Jessup
Barrington
Barnes
Knott
Underwood
Laker
Tyson
Larwood
Hammond
Hutton
Cook
Trott
Trueman
Rhodes
Hirst
Bedser (A)
Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Swann
Verity
Edrich (J)
Snow
Ames
Freeman
Evans
Atherton
Hussain
Stewart
Hendren
Gower


etc. etc. One or two of those might make it I think.

Best wishes,
Steve.

PS No doubt there are many I have missed and I look forward to having my list added to.

[Adam Went]

Monty:

I haven't been watching your series against India, but i'm surprised that you have, given that it's ODI cricket and that's for kids, is it not?
Besides, aren't India without some of their better players including Sachin and Zaheer Khan?

Which innings against SL are you talking about? The current one, where Philip Hughes has just scored a ton? Or the previous one where Mike Hussey scored a ton?

Face it, Monty, cricket is only popular in Pomgolia at the moment because your team have managed to string together a few wins. As soon as they start losing again everybody will be off the bandwagon and back to whinging.

As I said, no coincidence that the plummet in popularity of Test cricket has coincided with our fall from the top and your rise to the top. The boringess of your team is bringing everybody down.

So since Steven can't give me a straight answer, i'll ask you: Which Pommy player/s deserve to be in that list of the best ever team?

Cheers,
Adam.

[Monty]

Monty:

Chilling? Hardly.

It's no coincidence that the dramatic decline in popularity of test cricket has coincided with the rise in the rankings of England - their brand of boring, one-pace cricket is ruining our beloved game. The sooner we rise back to #1 the better it will be for everybody.

Cheers,
Adam.

Worse case of verbal diarrhea Ive ever seen.

You obviously havent seen the current standard we have hit. Did you see the amount of runs we blitzed again India? You've forgotten how we blew you away?

Having endured your innings against Sri Lanka, mundane is giving it too much credit.

Awful, woeful and utterly to blame for the lack of interest in your country. Whereas in my country, your Motherland, basically the Lords of your manor, its thriving.

Wonder why?

Oh yeah, our team is sh*t hot....yours simply is not. Not even tepid.

Monty

[Adam Went]

Steven:

Clearly you don't understand Australianisms.....here, to call somebody an idiot is a term of endearment. In fact, if I walked up to Monty, grabbed him in a headlock and said "What's up, c**kface?" - that, too, would be a term of endearment. Maybe.

I don't have to nominate England players for the all time best test eleven because better judges than me have already done so.

Read: "I can't nominate a single England player who deserves to be in that list without making myself look stupid in the process."

Face it, Steven, England have had a lot of good players over the years, but many of them - i.e. Botham - were only occasional performers. The true mark of greatness is being able to single-handedly bring crowds through the gates and perform at a high level game after game after game.

It's no different to the team you've got now - in all seriousness here, they are a very good team, but as far as I can see there are no standout players, no superstars in that team.....just a team of good players who do a good job. Would you agree?

If there is a player or players who you feel should be on that list for England, then go ahead, speak up and name them! I don't care what the selected judges thing, I want to know what YOU think!

Monty:

Chilling? Hardly.

It's no coincidence that the dramatic decline in popularity of test cricket has coincided with the rise in the rankings of England - their brand of boring, one-pace cricket is ruining our beloved game. The sooner we rise back to #1 the better it will be for everybody.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Monty]

England are the best team in the world.

Nothing phases us.

Chilling aint it?

Monty

[Steven Russell]

Twenty years ago is recent history to me. Certainly it is recent compared to the whole history of cricket. The fact that I've been out of nappies for more than five years and have learned how to shave does not entitle you to call me an idiot. (However, there are legitimate reasons if you only knew me better).

I don't have to nominate England players for the all time best test eleven because better judges than me have already done so.

Number one test team in the world, Adam. Suck it up.

Away from the internet for a week or so now so talk to you soon.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Adam Went]

Monty:

Two centuries in a row from Mike Hussey doesn't phase you? Wasn't long ago at all that you lot were writing him and Ricky off....

Are you also saying that players like Sangakkara and Jayawardene are no good?

I bet the UN are kicking themselves that they didn't try and nab them for their own team when they were a bit younger, ala Eoin Morgan.

Steven:

Apart from Bradman, whose omission would have made the thing truly laughable, all the rest are either still playing or recently retired. This is a good team but no way can it be the best of all time.

I will concede that there's a couple of players in there who don't deserve to be - especially Sehwag at the top, what the hell is up with that?

BUT....recently retired? Ambrose and Akram haven't played for at least a decade, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar are probably more like 20 years.... you idiot.

I would have thought a few SA's/NZ's would have been in there.....amongst Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Allan Donald, Martin Crowe, Richard Hadlee, etc....can't fit everyone though

You still haven't answered my question though. Which English player(s) will you honestly say deserve a spot in that all time best team?

PS Come on, Adam! I don't know much about research but this was p!ss easy to check and get my facts straight. Or does your Aussie bias actually extend so far as to make four into five?

But Steven, I don't need to look it up, when i've got you to look it up for me....thanks mate.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

There were FOUR Australians, four Indians, two West Indians, and a Pakistani:

Sehwag
Gavaskar
Bradman
Tendulkar
Lara
Kapil Dev
Gilchrist
Warne
Akram
Ambrose
McGrath

Apart from Bradman, whose omission would have made the thing truly laughable, all the rest are either still playing or recently retired. This is a good team but no way can it be the best of all time.

Best wishes,
Steve.

PS Come on, Adam! I don't know much about research but this was p!ss easy to check and get my facts straight. Or does your Aussie bias actually extend so far as to make four into five?

[Monty]

Awww, its nice to know you have a team you can play against who is on the same low level as yours.

Gives you a little hope.

I watched a bit yesterday and must say, I aint worried.

So go and find a sheep to 'play' with whilst the big boys are talking. And wipe yer mouth, you've vegimite all round it...wait, that's not vegimite....that's Bullshi....

You do talk a lot of it.

Monty

[Adam Went]

Steven:

Nonsense. I don't even know what the final result of the best team ever was, but if there's 5 Australians (not sub-continental), and allowing 2-3 for other teams like South Africa and New Zealand (not sub-continental), then the vast majority of the team is not sub-continental, is it? If there's only 11 players in a team then you can't fit everybody, Steven....

Let me put this to you: Which English player/players would YOU have put in the best XI of all time?

I don't have a clue what the sud evaders are up to at the moment, are they even playing cricket at the moment? I know we are, and are in the process of handing Sri Lanka's collective arses to them....

Cheers,
Adam.