Edgar Allan Pillow
Ero-Sennin
........Team Moby..................................Team 12Oz.............
01. Sir Alastair Cook..................|........Bill Lawry
02. Virender Sehwag.................|........Vijay Merchant
03. Sir Vivian Richards...............|........George Headley
04. Stan McCabe.......................|.........Everton Weekes
05. Greg Chappell......................|........Mahela Jayawardene
06. Baron Learie Constantine.......|........Tony Greig
07. Godfrey Evans (wk)..............|........Kapil Dev C
08. Richie Benaud (c).................|........Bert Oldfield WK
09. Arthur Gilligan......................|........Mitchell Johnson
10. Sir Wes Hall.........................|........Ian Bishop
11. Sir Curtly Ambrose...............|........Muttiah Muralitharan
TEAM MOBY:
England's greatest run scorer, an absolute machine scoring over 12k runs averaging over 45 with 33 centuries and 57 50s, Cook has been the mainstay at the top of the English batting order in the modern era. Utterly reliable to see off the new ball, stay at the crease for ages and go on to score massive innings putting a huge price on his wicket.
Complementing him on the other end is the swashbuckling Sehwag, over 8k runs in his name averaging almost 50, including 23 tons and two massive triple tons. Sehwag will tonk any bowling attack on a batting surface and has the ability to kill the game in a session or two if allowed to let loose.
At no. 3, is the GOAT of batting with swagger, none other than Vivian Richards. The West Indian great stands with over 8k runs averaging over 50 including 24 tons, in an era dominated by the greatest fast bowlers. Needless to say he's the leader of this batting unit and the man we aim to revolve the innings around.
At no. 4, comes in a man who made Bradman envious with his batting ability. Stan McCabe, amassed 2.7k runs averaging 48 being a part of the Bradman's side that toured England in 32-33. A rare name to come out of the bodyline series with 385 runs @ 43, McCabe's greatest innings came when the team needed him the most, often on surfaces where no one else was able to get going and made his presence invaluable as a batsman against the toughest attacks. He did all that with incredible style and grace, making him one of the greatest Australian batsmen of all time.
At no. 5, is Greg Chappell. Similar to Viv, his greatest feats came in the era that was dominated by incredible fast bowlers, in his case including the West Indies pace battery. Chappell is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, getting over 7k runs averaging almost 54!! including 24 tons. Able to handle any amount of hostile bowling and able to smash them to pieces, he will be a standout presence in that middle order alongside Viv and McCabe.
In Godfrey Evans, we have the greatest wicket keeper of all time as per Wisden. A GOAT in that category, valuable to keep against Benaud's trickery as well as the pace and bounce of Hall and Ambrose.
First change will be Arthur Gilligan, a lightening quick bowler who was honoured as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 24, he will provide the all out pace option not giving the batsmen any rest.
The spin option is one of the greatest spinners of all time in Richie Benaud. With almost 250 wickets @ 27 and an economy of 2.1, Benaud was the lynchpin of the 1950s Aussie generation both as a leader and as their leg spinner.
Benaud was not a large spinner of the ball, but he was known for his ability to extract substantial bounce from the surface. In addition to his accurate probing consistency, he possessed a well-disguised googly and topspinner which tricked many batsmen and yielded him many wickets. In his later career, he added the flipper, a combination of the googly and top spinner which was passed to him by Bruce Dooland. Coupled with his subtle variations in flight and angle of the delivery, he kept the batsman under constant pressure. Benaud had the tendency to bowl around the wicket at a time when he was one of the first players to do so; it had an influence on spin bowlers like Shane Warne and Ashley Giles. Benaud was regarded as one of the finest close-fielders of his era, either at gully or in a silly position. As a batsman, he was tall and lithe, known for his hitting power, in particular his lofted driving ability from the front foot.
Learie Constantine will be the fifth bowler, providing his electric pace option. With Viv Richards and Sehwag providing the support as the slower bowlers. Greg Chappell can provide handy medium pace as well if needed.
Team 12Oz
1: Bill Lawry
2: Vijay Merchant
3: George Headley
4: Everton Weekes
5: Mahela Jayawardene
6: Tony Greig
7: Kapil Dev C
8: Bert Oldfield WK
9: Mitchell Johnson
10: Ian Bishop
11: Muttiah Muralitharan
-The greatest wicket-taking spinner in cricket in Murali, a brutal R-L new ball quick partnership in Bishop and Johnson, beautifully dangerous line and length from Kapil and a fine fifth option in Greig.
-A conservative, solid L-R pair of openers in Lawry and Merchant, who will hang around to dull the ball nicely for...
-two ATG West Indians Headley and Weekes and a modern great (for me as a modern cricket fan my favourite batsman to watch) Mahela to pile the runs on.
-We bat almost the whole way down, with Greig and Kapil fine accomplished batsmen, Oldfield a bruised Bodyline veteran and a very capable tail in Johnson and Bishop.
Bowling:
The greatest and most prolific spinner cricket has known. Of course I love Warne and find him more interesting to watch but for pure effectiveness on most surfaces you can look no further than Murali, with 800 wickets coming at less than 23 runs apiece across an 18 year Test career.
MM- Overs-7339.5 Wickets-800 Average-22.72 Economy-2.47 S/R-55
The question marks over my new ball quicks should be discussed from the outset. Severe back injuries cruelly curtailed Bishop’s time at the top and Johnson could be erratic and expensive, but when they were both on-song they were unplayable; both capable of yorkers, brutal bouncers and finding the outside edge during spells of torrid bowling. They were equally likely to hurt and terrify batsmen as they were to get them walking bowled, caught or leg before. Indeed were it not for spinal injuries truncating and ultimately ending his career it is very possible we’d be talking about Bishop in the same breath as Marshall, Holding, Ambrose and the rest given his imposing 6ft 5in frame, top class cricketing brain and beguilingly skilful bowling technique.
IB- Overs-1401.1 Wickets-161 Average-24.27 Economy-2.78 S/R-52
MJ- Overs-2666.5 Wickets-313 Average-28.4 Economy-3.33 S/R-51.1
Famously the first Indian to get his countrymen interested in using the new ball for wicket-taking, Kapil will be first change in match two but could open the bowling in the other two matches with his superb line and length and potent out-swing. Along with Murali he will be a steadying hand in my bowling attack while also being more than able to take wickets himself. Later in the innings look out for the in-swinging yorker Kapil developed to send tail lenders on their way.
KD- Overs-4623.2 Wickets-434 Average-29.64 Economy-2.78 S/R-63.9
Normally a front line bowler Greig is a superb fifth option, steady in his economy and wicket-taking while deliciously unpredictable in the way he conducts himself on the cricket field. Though not known for searing pace delivering from a height of 6ft 6in gave Greig the chance to catch batsmen off-guard with natural bounce as well as occasional pacy off-spin (notably in the Caribbean in ’74). He was also a master of cricketing dark arts; with sledging, antics and instances of less-than-gentlemanly behaviour on and off the field, not to mention his bravery and skill, making Greig a man you wanted to play with rather than against.
TG- Overs-1556.2 Wickets-141 Average-32.2 Economy-2.77 S/R-69.5
Keeping:
A quiet man who let his prestigious skill behind the stumps do the talking, Oldfield is perhaps the pick of the earliest generation of great wicketkeepers. Described by the Aussie newspapers The Age as:
“... a textbook ‘keeper, dapper and trim in feature, spotlessly attired, and with superb reflex response, [he] could flick a bail from its groove as a dandy might whisk a speck of snuff from his jacket”
and thusly by Don Bradman:
“I played with Oldfield through a considerable portion of his career, and many times have marvelled at his skill. There was about his work a polish far transcending that of the others. Never any suggestion of an early movement — feet always right — hands in perfect position, and remarkable speed while stumping – especially on the leg-side, off a medium-pace bowler.”
Oldfield’s haul of 52 stumpings remains an all-time test record (music to the ears of Murali) and his dexterity behind the stumps and great aversion to conceding byes will also please my quicks.
Batting:
1: Bill Lawry (5k @ 47.15)
2: Vijay Merchant (859 in 18 inns. @ 47.72)
3: George Headley (2k in 40 inns. @ 60.83)
4: Everton Weekes (4k in 81 inns. @ 58.61)
5: Mahela Jayawardene (11k @ 49.84)
6: Tony Greig (3k @ 40.43)
7: Kapil Dev (5k @ 31)
8: Bert Oldfield (1k @ 22.65)
9: Mitchell Johnson (2k @ 22.2)
10: Ian Bishop (600 @ 12.15)
Lawry- The ‘corpse with pads on’ will be hard to shift, and while occupying the crease the left hander will score runs with aplomb and dull the new ball
Innings-123 Runs-5234 Average-47.15 High Score-210 100s-13 50s-27
Merchant- A pioneer of batting technique, Merchant’s superb first class numbers (71.64 in 150 matches, second only to Bradman) could not be matched in a shallow sample size of just ten Tests, all played in England over two tours. Nevertheless he is widely regarded a great batsman, overlooked for a tour of England for political rather than cricketing reasons in 1932, it was not for nothing that the English cricketer and polymath CB Fry made the politically incorrect observation of Merchant: "Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener”!
Innings-18 Runs-859 Average-47.72 High Score-154 100s-3 50s-3
Headley- For mine the greatest number three in the draft, big words given his opposite number in this very game, ‘The Black Bradman’ had everything. A mammoth innings of 344 not out against an England touring XI was called ‘the perfect innings’ while his best Test knock was a mere 270 not out. The stroke play, the power, the selection of shots, according to the likes of Clarrie Grimmet and Don ‘The White Headley’ Bradman, has rarely been seen in cricket before or since and we have the Second World War to blame for robing us of even more of Headley’s greatness. The below four part ESPN series on Headley is well worth your time:
Innings-40 Runs-2190 Average-60.83 High Score-270* 100s-10 50s-5
Weekes- According to Clyde Walcott Weekes is the best batsmen of the ‘Three Ws’, while his record of 4455 runs at 58.61, including a monstrous 207 in Port-Of-Spain versus India in 1953, speaks for itself. A player of ridiculous power coupled with fine wrists, a full selection of shots and the ability to play off the back foot and chase slow bowlers down the pitch, Weekes is up there with the great number fours the game has seen.
Innings-81 Runs-4455 Average-58.61 High Score-207 100s-15 50s-19
Mahela- My favourite modern batsman to watch, his mastery of shot selection and the ease with which he dealt with spin bowling throughout his career mark him out. His 374 as part of the all-time greatest third wicket stand versus South Africa in 2006 is of course a highlight, though the innings that stands out to me is his 180 versus England in 2012, who were the world’s number one test team, in which Mahela had to dig deep to score runs as partners came and went.
Innings-252 Runs-11814 Average-49.84 High Score-374 100s-34 50s-50
Greig- A fine lower-middle order batsman, Greig’s tall frame gives him fantastic reach which he combined with fine batting bonafides. His highest total of 148, scored against the likes of Roberts, Sobers and Gibbs in Barbados, is testament to his skill and grit with willow in hand.
Innings-93 Runs-3599 Average-40.43 High Score-148 100s-8 50s-20
Kapil- An accomplished lower-middle order batsman, Kapil had fine technique matched by his dogged determination at the crease. Two examples of his guts came in two of his most eye-catching innings, both away from home with India in dire circumstances. In 1990 Kapil hit four consecutive sixes at Lord’s to avoid the follow-on, finishing unbeaten on 77, while two years he arrived at the crease with India 31/6, before facing down Donald, Schultz and McMillan in Port Elizabeth to score 129, adding respectability to a card on which the next best Indian score was 17.
Innings-184 Runs-5248 Average-31.05 High Score-163 100s-8 50s-27
Oldfield- A no-nonsense batsman of goat temperament, Oldfield is a veteran of Bodyline, having had his skull fractured by Harold Larwood in the 30s. His experience and competency in facing fast aggressive bowling is an asset to my lower order.
Innings-80 Runs-1427 Average-22.65 High Score-65* 50s-4
Johnson- A fine lower-order batsman with a sole hundred to his name, a superb unbeaten 123 in a team hugely outgunned by the South Africans in Cape Town, and eleven fifties Johnson has it in his locker to add key runs down the order.
Innings-109 Runs-2065 Average-22.2 High Score-123* 100s-1 50s-11
Bishop- Once shared the second-top score of a West Indian innings with Shiv Chanderpaul and did most of his test batting at number eight. Not a prolific scorer though by no means a bunny.
Innings-63 Runs-632 Average-12.15 High Score-48
01. Sir Alastair Cook..................|........Bill Lawry
02. Virender Sehwag.................|........Vijay Merchant
03. Sir Vivian Richards...............|........George Headley
04. Stan McCabe.......................|.........Everton Weekes
05. Greg Chappell......................|........Mahela Jayawardene
06. Baron Learie Constantine.......|........Tony Greig
07. Godfrey Evans (wk)..............|........Kapil Dev C
08. Richie Benaud (c).................|........Bert Oldfield WK
09. Arthur Gilligan......................|........Mitchell Johnson
10. Sir Wes Hall.........................|........Ian Bishop
11. Sir Curtly Ambrose...............|........Muttiah Muralitharan
TEAM MOBY:
01. Sir Alastair Cook
02. Virender Sehwag
..03. Sir Vivian Richards
04. Stan McCabe......
05. Greg Chappell....
...........06. Baron Learie Constantine
...07. Godfrey Evans (wk)
08. Richie Benaud (c)
09. Arthur Gilligan....
10. Sir Wes Hall........
..11. Sir Curtly Ambrose
02. Virender Sehwag
..03. Sir Vivian Richards
04. Stan McCabe......
05. Greg Chappell....
...........06. Baron Learie Constantine
...07. Godfrey Evans (wk)
08. Richie Benaud (c)
09. Arthur Gilligan....
10. Sir Wes Hall........
..11. Sir Curtly Ambrose
The Openers
England's greatest run scorer, an absolute machine scoring over 12k runs averaging over 45 with 33 centuries and 57 50s, Cook has been the mainstay at the top of the English batting order in the modern era. Utterly reliable to see off the new ball, stay at the crease for ages and go on to score massive innings putting a huge price on his wicket.
Complementing him on the other end is the swashbuckling Sehwag, over 8k runs in his name averaging almost 50, including 23 tons and two massive triple tons. Sehwag will tonk any bowling attack on a batting surface and has the ability to kill the game in a session or two if allowed to let loose.
The Middle Order
At no. 3, is the GOAT of batting with swagger, none other than Vivian Richards. The West Indian great stands with over 8k runs averaging over 50 including 24 tons, in an era dominated by the greatest fast bowlers. Needless to say he's the leader of this batting unit and the man we aim to revolve the innings around.
At no. 4, comes in a man who made Bradman envious with his batting ability. Stan McCabe, amassed 2.7k runs averaging 48 being a part of the Bradman's side that toured England in 32-33. A rare name to come out of the bodyline series with 385 runs @ 43, McCabe's greatest innings came when the team needed him the most, often on surfaces where no one else was able to get going and made his presence invaluable as a batsman against the toughest attacks. He did all that with incredible style and grace, making him one of the greatest Australian batsmen of all time.
At no. 5, is Greg Chappell. Similar to Viv, his greatest feats came in the era that was dominated by incredible fast bowlers, in his case including the West Indies pace battery. Chappell is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, getting over 7k runs averaging almost 54!! including 24 tons. Able to handle any amount of hostile bowling and able to smash them to pieces, he will be a standout presence in that middle order alongside Viv and McCabe.
The Lower Order
It has to be said that with that kind of batting order above, the batting ability of the lower order will be rather academic. However, we still have a man known to have created the style of West Indies batting, Learie Constantine who can come in and smash a few boundaries in quick time. In Benaud, there is a more than capable batsman who scored over 2k runs averaging almost 25 and well capable of holding the crease. With Evans and Gilligan completing the lower order, the tail has enough in it to add some valuable scores to the likely high scores from the batting talent above them, or see off time if that is the requirement on the pitch.
In Godfrey Evans, we have the greatest wicket keeper of all time as per Wisden. A GOAT in that category, valuable to keep against Benaud's trickery as well as the pace and bounce of Hall and Ambrose.
The Bowling
Opening the bowling will be the West Indies due of Curtly Ambrose and Wes Hall. Two deadly accurate, wicket taking machines will make the life of any opening pair hell. Ambrose 405 wickets averaging less than 21 and a SR less than 55. Hall has almost 200 wickets with a similar SR. Both spearheaded their bowling attacks and alongside each other will be a force of nature to be reckoned with. Neither gave any runs away, with economies of 2.3 from Ambrose being highly miserly.
First change will be Arthur Gilligan, a lightening quick bowler who was honoured as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 24, he will provide the all out pace option not giving the batsmen any rest.
The spin option is one of the greatest spinners of all time in Richie Benaud. With almost 250 wickets @ 27 and an economy of 2.1, Benaud was the lynchpin of the 1950s Aussie generation both as a leader and as their leg spinner.
Benaud was not a large spinner of the ball, but he was known for his ability to extract substantial bounce from the surface. In addition to his accurate probing consistency, he possessed a well-disguised googly and topspinner which tricked many batsmen and yielded him many wickets. In his later career, he added the flipper, a combination of the googly and top spinner which was passed to him by Bruce Dooland. Coupled with his subtle variations in flight and angle of the delivery, he kept the batsman under constant pressure. Benaud had the tendency to bowl around the wicket at a time when he was one of the first players to do so; it had an influence on spin bowlers like Shane Warne and Ashley Giles. Benaud was regarded as one of the finest close-fielders of his era, either at gully or in a silly position. As a batsman, he was tall and lithe, known for his hitting power, in particular his lofted driving ability from the front foot.
Learie Constantine will be the fifth bowler, providing his electric pace option. With Viv Richards and Sehwag providing the support as the slower bowlers. Greg Chappell can provide handy medium pace as well if needed.
Team 12Oz
1: Bill Lawry
2: Vijay Merchant
3: George Headley
4: Everton Weekes
5: Mahela Jayawardene
6: Tony Greig
7: Kapil Dev C
8: Bert Oldfield WK
9: Mitchell Johnson
10: Ian Bishop
11: Muttiah Muralitharan
-The greatest wicket-taking spinner in cricket in Murali, a brutal R-L new ball quick partnership in Bishop and Johnson, beautifully dangerous line and length from Kapil and a fine fifth option in Greig.
-A conservative, solid L-R pair of openers in Lawry and Merchant, who will hang around to dull the ball nicely for...
-two ATG West Indians Headley and Weekes and a modern great (for me as a modern cricket fan my favourite batsman to watch) Mahela to pile the runs on.
-We bat almost the whole way down, with Greig and Kapil fine accomplished batsmen, Oldfield a bruised Bodyline veteran and a very capable tail in Johnson and Bishop.
Bowling:
The greatest and most prolific spinner cricket has known. Of course I love Warne and find him more interesting to watch but for pure effectiveness on most surfaces you can look no further than Murali, with 800 wickets coming at less than 23 runs apiece across an 18 year Test career.
MM- Overs-7339.5 Wickets-800 Average-22.72 Economy-2.47 S/R-55
The question marks over my new ball quicks should be discussed from the outset. Severe back injuries cruelly curtailed Bishop’s time at the top and Johnson could be erratic and expensive, but when they were both on-song they were unplayable; both capable of yorkers, brutal bouncers and finding the outside edge during spells of torrid bowling. They were equally likely to hurt and terrify batsmen as they were to get them walking bowled, caught or leg before. Indeed were it not for spinal injuries truncating and ultimately ending his career it is very possible we’d be talking about Bishop in the same breath as Marshall, Holding, Ambrose and the rest given his imposing 6ft 5in frame, top class cricketing brain and beguilingly skilful bowling technique.
IB- Overs-1401.1 Wickets-161 Average-24.27 Economy-2.78 S/R-52
MJ- Overs-2666.5 Wickets-313 Average-28.4 Economy-3.33 S/R-51.1
Famously the first Indian to get his countrymen interested in using the new ball for wicket-taking, Kapil will be first change in match two but could open the bowling in the other two matches with his superb line and length and potent out-swing. Along with Murali he will be a steadying hand in my bowling attack while also being more than able to take wickets himself. Later in the innings look out for the in-swinging yorker Kapil developed to send tail lenders on their way.
KD- Overs-4623.2 Wickets-434 Average-29.64 Economy-2.78 S/R-63.9
Normally a front line bowler Greig is a superb fifth option, steady in his economy and wicket-taking while deliciously unpredictable in the way he conducts himself on the cricket field. Though not known for searing pace delivering from a height of 6ft 6in gave Greig the chance to catch batsmen off-guard with natural bounce as well as occasional pacy off-spin (notably in the Caribbean in ’74). He was also a master of cricketing dark arts; with sledging, antics and instances of less-than-gentlemanly behaviour on and off the field, not to mention his bravery and skill, making Greig a man you wanted to play with rather than against.
TG- Overs-1556.2 Wickets-141 Average-32.2 Economy-2.77 S/R-69.5
Keeping:
A quiet man who let his prestigious skill behind the stumps do the talking, Oldfield is perhaps the pick of the earliest generation of great wicketkeepers. Described by the Aussie newspapers The Age as:
“... a textbook ‘keeper, dapper and trim in feature, spotlessly attired, and with superb reflex response, [he] could flick a bail from its groove as a dandy might whisk a speck of snuff from his jacket”
and thusly by Don Bradman:
“I played with Oldfield through a considerable portion of his career, and many times have marvelled at his skill. There was about his work a polish far transcending that of the others. Never any suggestion of an early movement — feet always right — hands in perfect position, and remarkable speed while stumping – especially on the leg-side, off a medium-pace bowler.”
Oldfield’s haul of 52 stumpings remains an all-time test record (music to the ears of Murali) and his dexterity behind the stumps and great aversion to conceding byes will also please my quicks.
Batting:
1: Bill Lawry (5k @ 47.15)
2: Vijay Merchant (859 in 18 inns. @ 47.72)
3: George Headley (2k in 40 inns. @ 60.83)
4: Everton Weekes (4k in 81 inns. @ 58.61)
5: Mahela Jayawardene (11k @ 49.84)
6: Tony Greig (3k @ 40.43)
7: Kapil Dev (5k @ 31)
8: Bert Oldfield (1k @ 22.65)
9: Mitchell Johnson (2k @ 22.2)
10: Ian Bishop (600 @ 12.15)
Lawry- The ‘corpse with pads on’ will be hard to shift, and while occupying the crease the left hander will score runs with aplomb and dull the new ball
Innings-123 Runs-5234 Average-47.15 High Score-210 100s-13 50s-27
Merchant- A pioneer of batting technique, Merchant’s superb first class numbers (71.64 in 150 matches, second only to Bradman) could not be matched in a shallow sample size of just ten Tests, all played in England over two tours. Nevertheless he is widely regarded a great batsman, overlooked for a tour of England for political rather than cricketing reasons in 1932, it was not for nothing that the English cricketer and polymath CB Fry made the politically incorrect observation of Merchant: "Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener”!
Innings-18 Runs-859 Average-47.72 High Score-154 100s-3 50s-3
Headley- For mine the greatest number three in the draft, big words given his opposite number in this very game, ‘The Black Bradman’ had everything. A mammoth innings of 344 not out against an England touring XI was called ‘the perfect innings’ while his best Test knock was a mere 270 not out. The stroke play, the power, the selection of shots, according to the likes of Clarrie Grimmet and Don ‘The White Headley’ Bradman, has rarely been seen in cricket before or since and we have the Second World War to blame for robing us of even more of Headley’s greatness. The below four part ESPN series on Headley is well worth your time:
Weekes- According to Clyde Walcott Weekes is the best batsmen of the ‘Three Ws’, while his record of 4455 runs at 58.61, including a monstrous 207 in Port-Of-Spain versus India in 1953, speaks for itself. A player of ridiculous power coupled with fine wrists, a full selection of shots and the ability to play off the back foot and chase slow bowlers down the pitch, Weekes is up there with the great number fours the game has seen.
Innings-81 Runs-4455 Average-58.61 High Score-207 100s-15 50s-19
Mahela- My favourite modern batsman to watch, his mastery of shot selection and the ease with which he dealt with spin bowling throughout his career mark him out. His 374 as part of the all-time greatest third wicket stand versus South Africa in 2006 is of course a highlight, though the innings that stands out to me is his 180 versus England in 2012, who were the world’s number one test team, in which Mahela had to dig deep to score runs as partners came and went.
Innings-252 Runs-11814 Average-49.84 High Score-374 100s-34 50s-50
Greig- A fine lower-middle order batsman, Greig’s tall frame gives him fantastic reach which he combined with fine batting bonafides. His highest total of 148, scored against the likes of Roberts, Sobers and Gibbs in Barbados, is testament to his skill and grit with willow in hand.
Innings-93 Runs-3599 Average-40.43 High Score-148 100s-8 50s-20
Kapil- An accomplished lower-middle order batsman, Kapil had fine technique matched by his dogged determination at the crease. Two examples of his guts came in two of his most eye-catching innings, both away from home with India in dire circumstances. In 1990 Kapil hit four consecutive sixes at Lord’s to avoid the follow-on, finishing unbeaten on 77, while two years he arrived at the crease with India 31/6, before facing down Donald, Schultz and McMillan in Port Elizabeth to score 129, adding respectability to a card on which the next best Indian score was 17.
Innings-184 Runs-5248 Average-31.05 High Score-163 100s-8 50s-27
Oldfield- A no-nonsense batsman of goat temperament, Oldfield is a veteran of Bodyline, having had his skull fractured by Harold Larwood in the 30s. His experience and competency in facing fast aggressive bowling is an asset to my lower order.
Innings-80 Runs-1427 Average-22.65 High Score-65* 50s-4
Johnson- A fine lower-order batsman with a sole hundred to his name, a superb unbeaten 123 in a team hugely outgunned by the South Africans in Cape Town, and eleven fifties Johnson has it in his locker to add key runs down the order.
Innings-109 Runs-2065 Average-22.2 High Score-123* 100s-1 50s-11
Bishop- Once shared the second-top score of a West Indian innings with Shiv Chanderpaul and did most of his test batting at number eight. Not a prolific scorer though by no means a bunny.
Innings-63 Runs-632 Average-12.15 High Score-48