Your favourite XI from your county

[The Phantom Ram]

Seeing as the weather has disrupted todays county games how about we pick the best XI from our county, in the time we have followed them, along with an explanation as to why we have picked them. When we have a few we can rate whose is the best (including just the 2 eligible overseas players).

Michael Slater (Aus) - fantastic player and one of the best batsman I have witnessed, shame he finished early due to injury.
Peter Bowler - A travisty that this man never played for England. When Derbyshire has a good side (it did happen) he was our top man.
Kim Barnett (Eng) - Captain of the side and makes it in because of his occasional spin bowling as much as his batting.
John Morris (Eng) - Another part of Derbyshire good side of the late 80's early 90's. Bit tubby.
Chris Adams (Eng) - Yet another batsman who played for England while at Derbyshire, become a long serving captain at Sussex.
Dominic Cork (Eng) - Apparently nasty but I like that, he is my all time favourite Derbyshire player and I still like to see him do well.
Luke Sutton - Wicketkeeper, it was between him, Karl Krikken, Bernie Maher or Chris Marples. Bob Taylor was before my time.
Michael Holding (WI) - Wispering Death, still world class when we had him.
Phillip DeFreitas (Eng) - Fantastic player, although not quite an allrounder, we lost him to England duty a lot though.
Ole Mortensen - Danish pace bowler, amazingly accurate and economical, took a lot of wickets too.
Devon Malcolm (Eng) - Raw pace.

No spinner as Derbyshire haven't, from my memory ever had a decent spinner. Bit week on batting with Cork up at 6, but I defy anyone to have a better and more varied seam attack. Overseas player wise it was close for Azharuddin, Dean Jones and Di Venuto.

Your turn.

ps I might start a worst XI one soon.

[Andy Mellon]

Well, for Essex:

Graham Gooch - An obvious choice. A great Essex supporter as well as a fantastic player to watch
Ken McEwan - A fantasticly destructive batsman. Only saw him a couple of times on TV in One Day matches, but great to watch
Mark Waugh (Aus)- I've said before that he is the classiest batsman Australia have had in the last 20 years, it'd be churlish to exclude him from the Essex side. Pushes out Allan Border
Stuart Law (Eng qualified)- Single handedly kept the Essex batting firing during the 90s. Another great player to watch
Salim Malik (Pak)- A man not well liked in cricketing history these days, but I still loved to watch him bat. A marvellous stroke maker
Andy Flower (Holds UK Passport)- Another world class batsman who instantly commands a spot in the side
Ronnie Irani - Despite not being from Essex, he's stuck with us and supported us through thick and thin. Not a good captain, but a top grade county all rounder, who's scored lots of important runs in his time and taken a decent number of wickets. Easily pushes out Derek Pringle
Jamie Foster/Mike Garnham/Robert Rollins (keeper) - Can't decide which one. I probably rated Rollins most highly all-round, but Fozzie's still young and will probably trump Rollo in time.
Mark Illot - A great left armer at county level who took wickets for fun for Essex. Also a nice bloke
Neil Foster - Similar sort of standard to Illot, probably a bit better, but very unfortunate with injuries
Peter Such/John Childs - Both great for Essex (not great for England though!!). Always amusing to watch Suchy bat and bowl. Can't decide between them on ability

If you don't accept Stuart Law or Andy Flower, then I can replace them with Nasser Hussain, Brian Hardie or Paul Grayson. I left out Nasser because he saw Essex as a means to an end and didn't show us any respect when he retired from England.

[Notts Exile]

BC Broad - One half of the best opening partnership in the eighties
RT Robinson - The other half. There could have been no doubt about these two.
P Johnson - Unlucky to have missed out on an England cap. Hit the ball with real power.
DW Randall - A real entertainer, probably my favourite batsman to watch.
KP Pietersen - More consistent than any Notts batsman in my time, also great to watch.
CEB Rice - To captain the side, bat, bowl and field at slip. Had no equal in being able to do everything.
CMW Read - The best wicketkeeper in the past twenty years apart from Jack Russell.
CC Lewis - More natural talent than anyone I've ever seen, shame he was so enigmatic.
RJ Hadlee - The best bowler I've ever seen (and I include McGrath), could also bat a bit !
EE Hemmings - With a seam attack like this you need a spinner to tie one end down -0 and to hit the winning four !!!
RJ Sidebottom - Left armer adding variety, also much improved. Would open well with Hadlee.

That's quite a decent fielding side and the batting line up's as strong as anything around. The likes of Stephen Fleming, Chris Cairns, Jimmy Adams, Franklyn Stephenson, Stuart MacGill and David Hussey are unlucky to miss out as foreigners. Jason Gallian, Mark Ealham, Darren Bicknell etc could all have got in. I am biased towards those from the eighties side that was so good.

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

Well, for Essex:

Graham Gooch - An obvious choice. A great Essex supporter as well as a fantastic player to watch
Ken McEwan - A fantasticly destructive batsman. Only saw him a couple of times on TV in One Day matches, but great to watch
Mark Waugh (Aus)- I've said before that he is the classiest batsman Australia have had in the last 20 years, it'd be churlish to exclude him from the Essex side. Pushes out Allan Border
Stuart Law (Eng qualified)- Single handedly kept the Essex batting firing during the 90s. Another great player to watch
Salim Malik (Pak)- A man not well liked in cricketing history these days, but I still loved to watch him bat. A marvellous stroke maker
Andy Flower (Holds UK Passport)- Another world class batsman who instantly commands a spot in the side
Ronnie Irani - Despite not being from Essex, he's stuck with us and supported us through thick and thin. Not a good captain, but a top grade county all rounder, who's scored lots of important runs in his time and taken a decent number of wickets. Easily pushes out Derek Pringle
Jamie Foster/Mike Garnham/Robert Rollins (keeper) - Can't decide which one. I probably rated Rollins most highly all-round, but Fozzie's still young and will probably trump Rollo in time.
Mark Illot - A great left armer at county level who took wickets for fun for Essex. Also a nice bloke
Neil Foster - Similar sort of standard to Illot, probably a bit better, but very unfortunate with injuries
Peter Such/John Childs - Both great for Essex (not great for England though!!). Always amusing to watch Suchy bat and bowl. Can't decide between them on ability

If you don't accept Stuart Law or Andy Flower, then I can replace them with Nasser Hussain, Brian Hardie or Paul Grayson. I left out Nasser because he saw Essex as a means to an end and didn't show us any respect when he retired from England.

Fantastically strong batting line up thanks to the creative inclusion of Flower and Law but do you think you would take 20 wickets in a game with a bowling line up of Foster, Illot, Irani and Such? Just 4 bowers with Irani in the part time catorgory?

Would swapping Irani for Pringle strengthen your bowling, I became a big fan of Pringle during the later stages of his England career (against the WI?)

Can't say I know much about Ken McEwan but to have a place in your team - ahead of the likes of Stephenson and (there must be others) he must be some player and aren't you a bit harsh on Such's England career (37 wickets @ 33.57 in 11 tests).

[The Phantom Ram]

My Derbyshire side, apart from Holding who pre dated and Sutton who came afterwards played together in one good side. It highlights where Derbyshire went wrong when you consider the players that left the county to enjoy success elsewhere (which is still rare in county cricket)

This shows some of the players that left the side and what they did in first class cricket the season they left us.


John Morris (to Durham in 1994) - 1433 runs at 42.14
Peter Bowler (to Somerset in 1995) - 1619 runs at 53.96
Chris Adams (to Sussex in 1998) - 1174 runs at 41.92
Devon Malcolm (to Northants in 1998) - 40 wickets at 33.27
Kim Barnett (to Gloucs in 1999) - 727 runs at 29.08 (he did improve an average 45, 44 & 53 in the next 3 years)
Phillip DeFreitas (to Leicestershire in 2000) - 677 runs at 45.13 and 33 wickets at 33.48
Dominic Cork (to Lancashire 2004) - 437 runs at 24.27 & 38 wickets at 30.10

We lost these players without ever replacing them. Has any other county experienced such key losses?

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by Notts Exile

BC Broad - One half of the best opening partnership in the eighties
RT Robinson - The other half. There could have been no doubt about these two.
P Johnson - Unlucky to have missed out on an England cap. Hit the ball with real power.
DW Randall - A real entertainer, probably my favourite batsman to watch.
KP Pietersen - More consistent than any Notts batsman in my time, also great to watch.
CEB Rice - To captain the side, bat, bowl and field at slip. Had no equal in being able to do everything.
CMW Read - The best wicketkeeper in the past twenty years apart from Jack Russell.
CC Lewis - More natural talent than anyone I've ever seen, shame he was so enigmatic.
RJ Hadlee - The best bowler I've ever seen (and I include McGrath), could also bat a bit !
EE Hemmings - With a seam attack like this you need a spinner to tie one end down -0 and to hit the winning four !!!
RJ Sidebottom - Left armer adding variety, also much improved. Would open well with Hadlee.

That is some side, even if I am a Derbyshire fan. I take it Rice counts as your second overseas star? Was he classed as such when he played for you? I would have thought that Hadlee (who was one of my favourite all time players) would bat above Lewis and maybe even Read? The batting speaks for itself but would you say Lewis - very talented but not much end product and Sidebottom would be your weakness, has there been anyone else?. Still with Hadlee and Hemmings plus Rice as a 5th bowler adds class. It was a big call to leave Stephenson out, didn't he do the all-rounders double in 1987 or 88?

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Ram

...but do you think you would take 20 wickets in a game with a bowling line up of Foster, Illot, Irani and Such? Just 4 bowers with Irani in the part time catorgory?

Would swapping Irani for Pringle strengthen your bowling, I became a big fan of Pringle during the later stages of his England career (against the WI?)

Can't say I know much about Ken McEwan but to have a place in your team - ahead of the likes of Stephenson and (there must be others) he must be some player and aren't you a bit harsh on Such's England career (37 wickets @ 33.57 in 11 tests).

Well, I think Foster, Illot, Irani, Such is a pretty strong county line up. Personally, I'd say Irani's bowling is of a similar standard to Pringle's, and Irani is a better batsman. I think the problem with the bowling might be that it might struggle against some of these 'best line-ups' but I still think it'd be good enough. Obviously, I could put in Kasprowicz, but that would be based on current reputation rather than how he played for Essex. Mark Waugh and Graham Gooch can fill in with additional bowling duties.

Thinking about Ken McEwan... He might actually be a Saffer.... I'll just check

Yes, he was a Saffer, but in the days of Apartheid, so never had the chance to play test cricket

http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/conte...yer/46510.html

He scored 26,628 runs at 41.73 with 74 hundreds and 122 fifties, and was also a more than useful keeper. Robin Jackman included McEwan in his South African team of the 80s. McEwan was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1978. I'm guessing that I'll have to drop him for Brian Hardie though, as this now gives me 3 overseas players.

Actually, I'll swap Salim Malik for Nasser Hussain, keep McEwan, and put him as keeper and swap Foster/Garnham/Rollins for Derek Pringle. Bowling problems solved, and overseas players problem solved.

Gooch (c), McEwan (wk), Waugh, Law, Hussain, Flower, Irani, Pringle, N. Foster, Illot, Such

A team that bats all the way down to Neil Foster

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

Personally, I'd say Irani's bowling is of a similar standard to Pringle's, and Irani is a better batsman.

Bowling wise Pringle has a first class career of 295 games with 761 wickets at 26.58 whereas Irani has 207 first class appearances with 339 wickets at 29.51.

Batting wise Pringle has 9243 runs @ 28.26 including 10 hundreds compared to Irani with 11483 @ 38.92 in 23 hundreds.

I never knew Irani was such a batsman, he must have been a fantastic county allrounder when he could still bowl.

[greg]

Yorkshire's team is fairly easy since the mid 80's.

Moxon steady and reliable opener shame he had brittle fingers.
Vaughan quality international player
Lehmann by far the best overseas player we have had.
Byas captained the Championship team so has to be in
Jacques heavy runscorer
White useful England all-rounder
Blakey not any option but him really
Dawson only real spin option,picked for balanced attack
Gough don't need to say
Hoggard Quality bowler
Silverwood When fit was very good in his younger days.Not fit often enough though


Give it another year and Bresnan may take Silverwood's place.Tendulkar was omitted because he hardly scored a run.

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by greg

Yorkshire's team is fairly easy since the mid 80's.

Moxon steady and reliable opener shame he had brittle fingers.
Vaughan quality international player
Lehmann by far the best overseas player we have had.
Byas captained the Championship team so has to be in
Jacques heavy runscorer
White useful England all-rounder
Blakey not any option but him really
Dawson only real spin option,picked for balanced attack
Gough don't need to say
Hoggard Quality bowler
Silverwood When fit was very good in his younger days.Not fit often enough though


Give it another year and Bresnan may take Silverwood's place.Tendulkar was omitted because he hardly scored a run.

I'm suprised given Yorkshire performance and reputation that the XI is not any stronger. It doesn't look a great XI to me. Was it hard to pick?