Welcome to the Final of the Test Cricket Draft game between @Mani and @2mufc0 . These teams will be involved in 3 game series in 1. A flat track 2. A green track aiding swing 3. A slow track aiding spin Teams Team Mani Geoffrey Boycott Mathew Hayden Rahul Dravid Vivian Richards Allan Border Clive Lloyd Quinton de kock Richard Hadlee Wasim Akram Curtly Ambrose Saqlain Mushtaq Team 2mufc0 1. Justin Langer 2. Marcus Trescothick 3. Ricky Ponting 4. Sachin Tendulkar 5. Javed Miandad 6. Adam Gilchrist 7. Imran Khan 8. Ravichandran Ashwin 9. Malcolm Marshall 10. Allan Donald 11. Glenn McGrath
Team Mani Write up Test team with best batting lineup like the one follow below will win you the test matches and all the great teams in the history had superior batting lineup followed up with good bowling. Batting opens with G.Boycott/M.Hayden(With Superior technique of G.Boycott and flamboyant batting of M.Hayden) I got the best opening combo out of the two team and are in the best position to see through the new ball attack which means my one down batsmen is not exposed to new ball early in the game. R.Dravid(The Wall) - Plays the specialist position No.3,arguably there is no better batsmen than R.Dravid to play in this position so perfectly. Sir Viv Richards (The King) - He would take guard, and then, head tilted back slightly and cudding his gum, he would walk a few paces down the pitch to tap it while looking the bowler in the eye. It was calculated menace and magnificent theatre from arguably the most devastating batsman of all time. A.Border/C.Lloyd -Two finest left hand batsmen equally good at playing pace and spin bowling and their records speak for themselves. LMO-(Q D Kock /R.Hadlee /W.Akram) Arguably best LMO batting line in the draft,who can bat till No.9,never to forget Wasim got his double ton batting at No.9. Bowling wins test matches,with superior bowling and combination of attack spearheaded by Wasim,Hadlee and Ambrose,3 premium strike bowler which much variety I got better chance to win this 3 match series. Spin Duo-(Saqlain Mushtaq & N.Lyon) Tricky customers who can bowl with at most accuracy at any kind of Wicket. Most of the batsmen’s(G.Boycott/Viv Richards/A.Border/C.Lloyd/R.Hadlee/W.Akram)in my team has lead there teams and knows the responsibilities which means they can produce the responsible innings and lead the team in different stages of the game as it requires. C.Lloyd as Captain, No better man utilise his resources better that C.Lloyd and he's my captain who can steer this team to victory.
Team 2mufc0 Team and roles: 1. Justin Langer 2. Marcus Trescothick 3. Ricky Ponting 4. Sachin Tendulkar 5. Javed Miandad 6. Adam Gilchrist (w/k) 7. Imran Khan (all rounder) 8. Ravichandran Ashwin (bowling allrounder) 9. Malcolm Marshall 10. Allan Donald 11. Glenn McGrath Batting Complimentary opening partnership one aggressive and one more defensive a perfect combination Strong top/middle order, all no. 3-5 GOAT category I have bolstered my top/middle order by bringing in Ricky Ponting AND the Little Master aka the Master Blaster aka the GOAT test batsman Sachin. The best w/k batsman of all time in Adam Gilchrist, able to win matches by himself. Resilient and powerful lower order with Gilchrist/Imran and the dogged Ashwin. Test centurions up to no.8 Also Malcolm Marshall was no mug with the bat either and is able to contribute, so my team bats very deep. Bowling The GOAT test fast bowler McGrath, made all the top batsmen his bunnies partnered with another GOAT Donald. Both complimentary with different styles and guarantee early wickets. Malcolm Marshall rated by many experts as the best fast bowler of all time. He was a different type of bowler than the other pacers so will bring some variation to the attack. Imran Khan comes in for Watson, a massive massive upgrade. With these 4 pacers it's only a matter of time before they take a wicket. All 4 of these bowlers are GOAT's and proven in all conditions, it's hard to see any batting lineup trying to contain them. All average less than 22. Supported by spin wicket taking machine Ravi Ashwin, has taken 300 wickets in no time breaking many records on the way. With an avg of 25 it really is incredible esp in the era he is playing in where pitches most of the time favour batsmen.
Great team by Mani, but i think my team has the advantage in one key area, his 4th bowler is Saqlain while mine is Imran Khan, secondly his 5th bowlers are part timers while Ashwin is a full time bowler.
Good Luck mate You too have build an solid team mate. I think key difference between both team is the batting, I got proper batting it starts with openers,I got solid openers followed by brilliant middle order and lower middle order. Trescothick,no I don’t want to put him in all time final team secondly your LMO batting is bit on lower side,once Imran goes it’s a tail that my bowlers have to deal with. Plus you don’t have the second spinner for the spinner friendly pitch,where as I got Saqlain and Lyon against your Ashwin.
Cheers mate. I think we both have our weaker players, like De Kock for your team. As for the spinner I trust my fast bowlers to be just as effective on the spin wickets. But saying that on a spinning wicket Ashwin would be better than Saqi and Lyon.
Gone with 2mufc. As last game, that bowling foursome will absolutely tear any batting line up apart and Mani's is no exception. With the best batsman of this timeline in ther team, I'd have to give them the edge. But mainly the bowling, that amazingly enough edges out Mani's.
Coming to spin wkt,my bowlers would be attacking at both end where as you don’t even have part time spinner to support Ashwin. Saqlain is on different level mate he the one who gave different dimensions to the off spin bowling,he’s way more artistic than Ashwin ever would be along with Lyon who is successful in both flat wicket and turning track would be hard to deal with in spinning track or in flat track.
As ODI bowler Saqi wipes the floor with Ashwin, but in test matches Ashwin has a much superior avg, s/r and wickets per match, he's a much better spinner in this format. I followed all of Saqlains career the second half of it he completely fell of a cliff and i think mainly because batsmen adjusted to his doosra and the emergence of flat wickets. He declined so much that someone like Kaneria took his spot.
It can be argued Mani's batting is better but imo its not significantly better. I mean I've got the greatest test batsman in my team and the second best bat of his era at no. 3. Then the likes of Langer, Miandad and Gilchrist to support.
We are speaking about peak Saqlain on the spin wkt,have seen Saqlain play in India against top batting line up comprise of Dravid/Sachin/Laxmann and Ganguly who are top players of spin and still had no clue who on how to deal with him.He came up with the match figure of 20 wkts in two Test if I’m not wrong. Also our comparison has to be between bowler vs batting line up. My batsmen starting from Hayden/Dravid/Viv Richards /Border /C.Lloyd all five are top players of spin bowling. Hayden’s,who has some 3 double centuries in sub continent teams C.Lloyd who averages 75.00 in India against spin attack comprise of Bedi/Prasanna/Chandra. Never want to say about Viv Richards,he was brutal against spinners.
Went with @2mufc0 for his sheer depth in both batting and bowling. In Imran Khan and Ashwin he has two legitimate all rounders. I feel Mani has the better opening batsmen but 2Mufc0has better lower order. The gap in quality of wicket keepers is pretty big as well imo.
I know Saqlain was class but he was finished in test matches halfway through his career. Ashwin has run though every test team in spinning conditions and the stats back this up and is still going strong . My batsman aren't too shabby against spin either, Sachin was one of the few batsmen who dominated Warne and Murali , Miandad has a great record in the sub continent and Gilchrist and Langer always battered Pakistan, the Hobart test is a good example, and one where Saqlain played in.
Was more in ODIs even then you couldn't say he was a main bowler. He was hardly used in tests has 32 wickets at an average of 61.
Wouldn't label him as a main bowler at any point in his career. A part time spin option, sure, but you have enough of that in Mushtaq and Lyon.
That’s why I said peak performance that is counted in this draft than the whole career of the player,Saqlain had some close 5 year at his peak If I’m not wrong,Sachin dominated Mutali and Warne but not peak Saqlain. Gilchrist and Langer we are speaking about happened in Hobart and not in any Indian sub continent as we speak about spinner and spinner friendly pitches. How good your other batsmen’s against spin attack. Also you never answered about spin at either end at spin friendly track.
To be honest mate I have full confidence in my fast bowlers who were great in all conditions, their record always the same no matter where they played that u don't need a second spinner. You've pretty much won this anyway so congratulations, the batting must have swayed a lot more voters.
My argument on second spinner is on spinner friendly pitches,you got quality pace attack yes I got technically better batsman to deal with it. No match is not won yet as you can see few more hours to go.
I see Mani winning the spin pitch, and 2mufc0 winning the pace track. The question is who is more likely to take twenty wickets on a flat track, and I think 2mufc0 shades it there.
A lack of fifth bowler isn't an issue in tests. Especially when 3 of your 4 bowlers can bowl long spells. 2mu's biggest advantage is Imran. He adds so much to both the bowling and batting its hard to match up to the depth in both aspects. That said, his opening is severely under-strength for a match of this caliber. Voters in such drafts tend to under-estimate batsmen simply because the pool for legendary bowlers is smaller. Its not like, as some poster above put it, a bowling would go through someone's batting because they're the best of all time. There are batsmen known for nullifying equally good attacks. Its a shame that Warne and Murli aren't in this Will vote in a while.
