Team anant
Player | Batting Average | S/R | Bowling Average | Bowling S/R | Economy | Comments |
---|
Hayden | 43.8 | 78.96 | | | | ICC ODI Player of the year 2007 |
Watson | 40.54 | 90.44 | 31.79 | 38.4 | 4.95 | Batting average 45.14 as opener at S/R of 91.69 |
Ponting (capt) | 42.04 | 80.39 | | | | Part of the ODI Team of the year 5 times from 2004 to retirement |
Sangakkara | 41.99 | 78.86 | | | | Among the only 3 players to have scored 1000+ runs in 4 consecutive years |
Kallis | 44.36 | 72.89 | 31.79 | 31.79 | 4.84 | Highest difference in batting and bowling average for any player who has bowled in atleast 60 innings |
Matthews | 41.94 | 83.32 | 33.35 | 43.2 | 4.62 | 5th highest difference in batting-bowling average among players who have scored 1000+ runs and taken 100+ wickets |
Miller | 40.38 | 100.62 | | | | Among the 5 players who have a S/R of >100 and average >40 |
Jadeja | 31.88 | 85.96 | 36.57 | 44.7 | 4.89 | Got Sachin run out in that Hyderabad Innings, so won't write anything positive about him |
Kapil Dev | 23.79 | 95.07 | 27.45 | 44.2 | 3.71 | Among handful of players who averaged 20+ with bat and less than 30 with the ball |
Akram | 16.52 | 88.33 | 23.52 | 36.2 | 3.89 | The most successful pace bowler in ODI history, MOTM in 1992 WC final |
Narine | 11 | 82.31 | 26.46 | 38.4 | 4.12 | Among 7 spinners who have a S/R<40, Average<30 and Economy <4.5 |
Boult | 9.35 | 74.64 | 25.29 | 30.1 | 5.03 | Part of ODI Team of the year on 3 occassions |
Batting
Openers
Opening the batting for me would be a left hand right hand opening combination in Watson and Hayden. Both average close to 45 as openers and can pace their innings to perfection. Watson would assume the role of attacking in the powerplay overs while Hayden will just give him support from the other end.
Middle Order and Lower Middle Order
In Ponting, Kallis and Sanga, we have close to 40k ODI runs, 72 centuries, 261 half centuries and each of them has an incredible record of scoring a 50+ score once every 3-3.25 games.
Depending on pitch, the lineup would vary. On flat pitch, Kallis would sit out (as Ponting is more lethal here) whereas Ponting would sit out on a spinning track (Kallis averages 47 in India, Ponting 39.45 in India). On the faster track both shall play at the expense of Jadeja.
The guy replacing them would be Angelo Mathews. A player who averages 51.08 when batting at #5, and he averages a whopping 121.6 in India after playing 11 games. I’m not expecting Mathews to come in before the 35-40th over, like I said in the previous game, as he has Sanga and atleast one of Ponting and Kallis coming in before him.
Next in would be David Miller, who has an incredible S/R of 100.62 and averages 40+ despite scoring at such a rate.
Considering my MO will last till 40-42nd over irrespective of the bowling attack thanks to them being technically solid players, Miller can pair up with Mathews/Jadeja and go Boom Boom in the last few overs. Even if we do lose a wicket here, at #8 will come a very capable batsman in Kapil Dev. Captained the Indian side to the unlikeliest of WC wins in 1983, Dev is the only player who had a S/R of 90+ among all players who scored 1500+ runs and played their entire career before the turn of the century.
We have Wasim Akram coming in next, who might not have fulfilled his batting potential in ODIs, but still has 6 half centuries to his name.
Narine, while not having a great ODI record, has ability to hit the boundaries required as well in the worst case scenario.
Bowling
It would be an insult to introduce the greatest fast bowler in ODI history- Wasim Akram. The player who won Man of the match in the 1992 WC final and the only pacer to reach the 500 wicket mark.
In Trent Boult we have one of the most feared ODI bowlers of this generation. A brilliant disciplined bowler who can swing the ball both ways even on the most unresponsive pitches (This bit is by cricinfo and I seriously don’t know a lot about him as I just watch WC matches here and there). He’s played a significant role in taking New Zealand to two consecutive WC finals and could have won NZ the WC as well had the English feckers not had all the luck in the world.
On the pace bowling department front, we also have Kapil Dev who was one of the most disciplined bowlers of his generation and had lethal out-swingers
If that’s not enough, we can always call Kallis – arguably the greatest allrounder in ODI history (refer comments in the table) and Watson along with Mathews as well
On the spin department front, we have Narine – a bowler whose economy rate is just 4.12 in times when even an economy rate of 5 is considered pretty good! He can stop the flow of runs against the finest of batsmen and force the batsmen to make mistakes under such pressure.
Lastly, we have Sir Jadeja – a player who is handy with both bat and bowl. Can score runs at a great pace and can take wickets of both opponents as well as teammates!
Why I win
Bowling Variations- We have all sorts of bowlers – left arm, right arm, guys who can swing, guys who possess raw pace, spinner against whom batsmen still struggle and 4 of the finest all rounders in the game to help the team out. Considering Akram’s 46% of total wickets are top order batsmen, Boult’s 45% of total wickets are top order batsmen, Dev’s 40% wickets are top order batsmen, I’d expect his middle order exposed fairly soon. Compare this to 12Oz’s bowlers – 41% for Lillee, 46% Lee, 41% Malinga, and we have a clear advantage.
Openers – I get that Ganguly and Gilchrist were great openers, but they aren’t as good as mine. Statistically, its not even a competition, and even if we do the eye test, Gilchrist just wasn’t that consistent all things considered and Ganguly had a fair few weaknesses. With 2 short balls allowed in an over, I believe he can be dismissed early.
Batting Discipline – Even if I take into account the fact that 12Oz has Lillee, Malinga and Lee, we have some of the best batsmen of all time in our ranks to tackle them. Our scoring rate wouldn’t be high, but even if we can score at 4.5-5 RPO against them and not lose wickets, we can accelerate against the likes of Yuvraj, Shakib, Srinath/Amir/Holder as they aren’t exactly tough to handle.
With his 2 openers gone, he has to rely on just Yousuf to take the side to a decent total – Jaya, as much as I like him- averaged 33 in ODIs. Stokes, Yuvraj, Shakib aren’t exactly the guys you want on the pitch before the 30-35th over.
Spinners – Before into the stats I was quite certain that the spinners in this competition would rank like Shakib>Narine>Jadeja>>Yuvraj.
However, Shakib’s stats seem to be heavily padded due to the games that these guys play vs Zimbabwe, Ireland and other associate nations, along with the fact that most of the games he’s played were at home. If we exclude the associate countries, Shakib’s average goes from a very convincing 30.21 to 37.74 (which is what Jadeja averages vs test playing nations btw). Narine, meanwhile averages 26.56 vs test playing nations.
Captain – having 2 of the greatest ODI captains of all time and 4 players who have won multiple WCs should definitely help with the mentality. The winning mentality in my side and the experience of big games would help my side get over the line in crunch situations – having cnuts in Ponting and Hayden will also help.
Team 12 OunceEpilogue
Batting
Adam Gilchrist wk L-
Innings: 287 Runs: 9619 Avg: 35.89 S/R: 96.94 50s- 55 100s- 16
Sourav Ganguly c L-
Innings- 311 Runs- 11363 Avg- 41.02 S/R- 73.71 50s- 72 100s-22
Shakib Al Hasan L-
Innings: 194 Runs: 6323 Avg: 37.86 S/R: 82.75 50s- 47 100s- 9
Mahela Jayawardene R-
Innings: 448 Runs: 12650 Avg: 33.37 S/R: 78.96 50s- 77 100s- 19
Mohammad Yousuf R-
Innings: 273 Runs: 9720 Avg: 41.71 S/R: 52.39 50s- 64 100s- 15
Ben Stokes L-
Innings: 81 Runs: 2682 Avg: 40.63 S/R: 93.94 50s- 20 100s- 3
Yuvraj Singh L-
Innings: 278 Runs: 8701 Avg: 36.55 S/R: 87.67 50s- 52 100s- 14
Mohammad Amir L-
Innings: 30 Runs: 363 Avg: 18.15 S/R: 81.75 50s- 2
Brett Lee R-
Innings: 110 Runs: 1176 Avg: 17.81 S/R: 83.58 50s- 3
Dennis Lillee R-
Innings: 34 Runs: 240 Avg: 9.23 S/R: 75 50s- 1
Lasith Malinga R-
Innings: 119 Runs: 567 Avg: 6.83 S/R: 74.5 50s- 1
Bowling
Brett Lee R-
Matches-221 Wkts-380 Avg-23.36 SR-29.4 4w-14 5w-9
Lasith Malinga R-
Matches-226 Wkts-388 Avg-28.8 SR-32.3 4w-11 5w-8
Dennis Lillee R-
Matches-63 Wkts-103 Avg-20.82 SR-34.8 4w-5 5w-1
Mohammad Amir L-
Matches-61 Wkts-81 Avg-29.62 SR-37.1 4w-1 5w-1
Shakib Al Hasan LO-
Matches-206 Wkts-260 Avg-30.21 SR-40.4 4w-8 5w-2
Yuvraj Singh LO-
Matches-161 Wkts-111 Avg-38.68 SR-45.4 4w-2 5w-1
Sourav Ganguly R-
Matches- 311 Wickets- 100 Avg- 38.49 S/R- 45.61 4w-1 5w-2
Ben Stokes R-
Matches-95 Wkts-70 Avg-41.71 SR-41.6 4w-1 5w-1
- Superb openers who get us going
- Solid middle order to keep us ticking
- Shakib is promoted to 3 where he starred recently for his country
- Game-changer in Stokes at 6, ahead of a Yuvraj able to take the shackles completely off in a finishing role
- Long batting with Amir and Lee
- Fantastic opening pair in Lee and Lillee
- Great change in Malinga and a fine modern day left hand quick in Amir. Great death bowling from Malinga
- Top class modern offie in Shakib
- Some fine bowling options outside of the core bowlers in Yuvraj, Dada and Stokes