Dream Team

[The Great DonTalon]

good team benny: Matthew is a top player but i decided to go with greenidge ..althought he has only one ton in AUS ..in his last test thereon that 88-89 tour.

you have botham before sobers..are u losing it ?

i'd have lara before sachin...way beter plaer and gets bigs scores as well.

I say no to jeff thompson ( only 200 test wkts) but plenty of pace.

good pics benny but i have a few disagreements .


kudos

[Rachael]

Nice team, Don: bit of a WI bias there.. but I don't think ANYONE could seriously challenge the worth of Gordon Greenidge, IVA Richards, Everton Weekes, Sir Garry Sobers, Malcolm Marshall or Michael Holding. Bradman's obvious, as is Warne, and Gilchrist makes a pretty unanswerable case. I thought you might go with Richardson but even Benaud went with Gavaskar.

Lillee strikes me as the surprise pick for you: I thought you might have Ambrose or one of the other WI quicks in there.

[The Great DonTalon]

top picks rachael

[The Great DonTalon]

I wanted to replace weekes with another lad from another country but Everton has a great record....I may have put the very underated Dilip Vengsarkar in that spot..no one ever talks abot him but he was class....Hidden between Sunny and Sachin.

[Rachael]

Dilip Vengsarkar had a highest PWC rating of 846.. which is pretty damned awesome without really being in the same bracket as the likes of Weekes (one of only 14 players to break 900).. and is undermined by being something of a one-off towards the end of his career. Not surprised you rate him though: his peak co-incides with a fantastic three Test run against the WI in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata :-)

The Wisden profile is complimentary:

Originally Posted by Wisden

From the late 70s to the late 80s, Vengsarkar was among the best batsmen in the country and, during a purple patch in the 80s, he was very nearly the leading player in the world. From 1986 to 1988, in 16 Tests, he scored eight hundreds. Vengsarkar's best known feat of course is being the first to score three hundreds against England at Lord's. A superb player of the drive, Vengsarkar could also pull effortlessly and hook fearlessly. With Sunil Gavaskar he holds the Indian record for the second wicket in Tests - 344 unbroken against West Indies at Calcutta in 1978-79.

Other WI who top the PWC batting ratings include (obviously) Sir Viv and Lara... but also Walcott and Headley... whose reign at the top appears to have been cruelly interupted by the war (not that it held him back: appears to have been a top player for about 20 years!).

ps. I agree on Botham vs. Sobers as a no 6: there is no way on earth that Botham was the better no 6. If you wanted a bowler who could also bat at 7.. and someone especially suited to English conditions... then the case for Botham grows... but as Benaud points out.. when you want a batting all-rounder at 6 it's Sobers (chased by Kapil Dev).. and when you want a bowling all rounder at no 7 you want Imran Khan or that man Hadlee