Here is an interesting exercise. I try to come up with 4 different teams to play 5-day cricket consisting of current players only but these are not your usual World X1 teams - their selection criteria are quite different and hopefully, very interesting.
I have tried to keep the teams disjoint, so while some of the players might fit in more than one team I have put them in the team that they fit best in and put in other players more suited in the other team.
My first team will consist of cricketers who are not very elegant, not superstars nor have outstanding career records. Yet, they are tough fighters and you can bet they will fight every team you put up against them by sheer bloody-mindedness and determination. These are the ones who have often performed rescue acts, while letting others hog the limelight.
So here goes:
THE FIGHTERS
Justin Langer
Andrew Strauss
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain)
Paul Collingwood
Jacques Rudolph
Mohammad Kaif
Kamran Akmal
Abdul Razzaq
Ashley Giles
Rana Naved
Matthew Hoggard
My second team is the team of the most supremely gifted elegant players. These may not have career records as outstanding as some of their peers but have often delighted crowds with their fantastic artistic skills. Well this list also includes a couple of names (note fast bowlers, wicketkeepers) who may not conventionally make the list, but it is so much more difficult to talk of these in terms of art than just batsmen so I have allowed myself the luxury of including some cricketers with supreme skills in their field.
THE ARTISTS
Salman Butt
Marwan Atapattu (captain)
Yousouf Youhana
Mahela Jayawardene
VVS Laxman
Damien Martyn
Andrew Flintoff
Irfan Pathan
Tatenda Taibu (Difficult to classify a wicket-keeper batsman as an artist but whatever)
Shane Warne
Shane Bond
Now come the power merchants. They too do not rewrite the record books nor are they necessarily a delight to the eye. But they are great entertainers in their own right in that they can be brutal.
THE BRUTES
Virender Sehwag (captain)
Chris Gayle
Kevin Pietersen
Shahid Afridi
Andrew Symonds
Jacob Oram
Mahendra Dhoni
Brett Lee
Shoaib Akhtar
Steve Harmison (or Ntini ? Lost for a choice here)
Anil Kumble (as close to powerful as a spinner can get)
And now the World Beaters. The record holders. The prolific run scorers and wicket takers. The one with the greatest averages.
THE CHAMPIONS
Matthew Hayden
Rahul Dravid (captain, opener (SORRY) had to fit in 4 other players)
Ricky Ponting
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist
Shaun Pollock
Chaminda Vaas
Muttaiah Muralitharan
Glenn McGrath
Even after asking Dravid to open I still cannot accomodate Inzy !! Wow that's the only team that I faced a problem of plenty. Also I put Dravid ahead as captain over Ponting. Whew ! Eagerly awaiting your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, better balance ideas ...
8 comments:
Interesting teams, although I expected Yuvraj Singh to make it to the Artists' team, and Freddie is easily more a Brute than an Artist, certainly ahead of Jacob Oram.
U havent picked warne and kumble in the champions team.Thats really strange.They both are the top 2 spinners in world cricket who pick up wickets against good teams.Muralitharan plays mostly at home.He was not that effective against india in india.He is not too effective against aus in aus.Sri lanka play more often against teams like bangladesh than india and aus.Warne is the best spinner in world cricket and kumble comes after him.Also their actions are clean.They do not controversial actions like murali.
Hey Atul and Anand
Thanks for your inputs. I didnt think of Yuvraj above the 4 players who were already established. Well Im sure in a few years time he might figure in this list. Freddie, I believe has skills with the ball hence put him in the artists. Otherwise it is quite difficult to find artisitc fast bowlers ... well there was a time when wasim and waqar were around ... and donald ... but not now.
anand, i have picked warne in the Artists team and Kumble in the Brutes Team. I am sure definitely Warne and possibly Kumble could have made it to the Champions Team too but as I said I have tried to achieve balance. So Murali for eg. would definitely not be a power spinner or an artistic one. While Warne is definitely artistic. In fact it is an open question whether Warne will be remembered for his great record or for his supreme art ? I would tend to think the latter and certainly hope so.
Also I wanted to keep the teams non-overlapping so we could actually picture them in our minds playing against each other !
idlivada
The connotation of fighters I use is slightly negative as in
a) they dont have great career records
b) they have limited talent
c) they are not the most attractive to watch
dravid does not satisfy either. on the other hand with an average of 58+ he is definitely a champion of champions.
Hey...
Its an interesting selection... but a brief thought.. i think there is something wrong if the following players do not make any of the 4 teams:
Grame Smith (maybe artist replacing Flintoff, who can replace Jacob Oram in the Brutes)
Mark Boucher (maybe artist again replacing Taibu)
Inzamam (replacing Butt in Artists and Laxman opening :)
Ntini (replacing Youhana/J'dene in artists.. looks like a bowler short there too)
Let me know what you think about these thoughts
Also, would love to fit in Md. Ashraful somewhere among artists
Hi Nirav
Well first of all we have to agree that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and hence there can be and should be lot of disagreements on the selection of the Artists' team in particular.
So I can understand all of your selections and I really agree with some (though not all) of them. However even after considering them I think I'd stick with my team while completely respecting your selections also.
For me, I don't find Graeme Smith's batting that elegant, I don't think Boucher is that much different than Taibu nor do I think Ntini is that beautiful a bowler. Of course with bowlers it is pretty difficult but I think Flintoff, Bond, Pathan, Warne should make a fine combination for the artists.
Then Inzy yeah, I was very sad to leave out - in fact he can come close in a lot of those teams - Artists champions as well as Brutes because he is so versatile. So maybe yeah if I were to do it again I would accomodate him there.
Same with Ashraful - I am a huge fan of the bloke and was tempted to put him in artists but VVS, Jayawardene, Youhana and Martyn just took over those 4 spots.
Anyway thanks for the very pertinent observations.
Hey, I repeat...you should seriously think about cricketing career... :o)
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