Australian test team last 50 years

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What complete and utter biased rubbish.
I think a much more balanced side would look like this.

Jamie Cox
David Boon
Rick Ponting
Michael Di Venuto
George Bailey
Matthew Wade
Tim Paine
James Faulkner
Riley Meridith
Xavier Doherty
Ben Hilfenhaus
I'd go -
Cox
Hills
Boon
Ponting
Di Venuto
Young
Woolley
Butterworth
Doherty
Griffith
Hilfenhaus

Even then I'm not totally happy with it. The fast bowling is a bit thin.

When I pick "best of" XI's, I consider balance to be important, not just picking the best eleven players and juggling them around.

That's why I've put Hills in, he and Cox were formidable as an opening partnership. And also why I've got Young at 6 - he could hold that place on merit, but also provides something else the top 6 doesn't - a bowling option.

Woolley was a great keeper/batsman - I'd have him ahead of Paine, on batting alone. And no way would I have Meredith in there ahead of Griffith.

If you wanted to strengthen the bowling, you could drop Young, bring Woolley up to 6 and bring in Geeves (who would fit in nicely at 8, he was no mug with the bat) -
Cox
Hills
Boon
Ponting
Di Venuto
Woolley
Butterworth
Geeves
Doherty
Griffith
Hilfenhaus

I know Bailey misses out, but you can't fit them all in. Wade played most of his state cricket for Victoria, so that's my excuse for not including him. ;) And I've always preferred Butterworth over Faulkner for some reason.
 

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Hayden
Border (c)
Ponting
Smith
G. Chappell
S. Waugh
Gilchrist (wk)
Cummins
Warne (vc)
Lillee
McGrath

12th man : M Waugh


Comments:

No left armers, could include Johnson or Starc for balance
If you want more of a good bloke vibe and less of a campaigner vibe, then Boon at 2, Border 6 and give S Waugh the arse.
Border at 2 may surprise but he did bat there a bit and that man could bat any position.
Border our best captain ever, through dark times. Warne an underrated tactician as support.
Almost tempted to put Jones in as well for his courageous 1980s innings, maybe drop Haydos for stinking up the 2005 Ashes so much.
M Waugh for 12th man, second only to Ponting for fielding ability.
 
Matthew Hayden
Justin Langer
Ricky Ponting
Allan Border (c)
Steve Smith
Steve Waugh
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Mitchell Starc
Dennis Lillee
Glenn McGrath

12th Man - Greg Chappell/Pat Cummins
 
I'd go -
Cox
Hills
Boon
Ponting
Di Venuto
Young
Woolley
Butterworth
Doherty
Griffith
Hilfenhaus

Even then I'm not totally happy with it. The fast bowling is a bit thin.

When I pick "best of" XI's, I consider balance to be important, not just picking the best eleven players and juggling them around.

That's why I've put Hills in, he and Cox were formidable as an opening partnership. And also why I've got Young at 6 - he could hold that place on merit, but also provides something else the top 6 doesn't - a bowling option.

Woolley was a great keeper/batsman - I'd have him ahead of Paine, on batting alone. And no way would I have Meredith in there ahead of Griffith.

If you wanted to strengthen the bowling, you could drop Young, bring Woolley up to 6 and bring in Geeves (who would fit in nicely at 8, he was no mug with the bat) -
Cox
Hills
Boon
Ponting
Di Venuto
Woolley
Butterworth
Geeves
Doherty
Griffith
Hilfenhaus

I know Bailey misses out, but you can't fit them all in. Wade played most of his state cricket for Victoria, so that's my excuse for not including him. ;) And I've always preferred Butterworth over Faulkner for some reason.
Probably because Faulkner was a flash in the pan. Great start, helped a bit by pitches those two seasons or so, then got ruined by white ball stuff and started relying on bowling 80% slower balls.
That got to the point where he used it as a main weapon in long form cricket, no longer using swing, seam, and a regular line and length.

I'm not keen on Divva. To my eye, he was always the sort of guy where if you fed his strength you could get him out for a quick 20-30. Put in a gully and two backward points, he always cut at chest to throat height. He hit it well, but always at a catchable height. Feed the strength, he would score quickly but give chances along the way.

Danny Buckingham perhaps. Him and Boon between the wickets, moving at the speed of lard.

And, yes, the Xman is the spinner. Which is sad, Tassie has been a full time Shield side for 40 years now (1982/3 was the first full time season I think, half seasons for a few years before that) and has not produced anything better than a decent limited overs spinner.
 
Hayden
Warner
Ponting
Smith
G.Chappell
Border (c)
Gilchrist
Cummins
Warne
Lillee
McGrath


S.Waugh 12th man.

Nailed it.

Ponting, Smith, Chappell pick themselves
Lillee, McGrath, Cummins pick themselves
Gilchrist & Warne pick themselves
Hayden picks himself
It leaves a middle order batting spot which I can't split Border & Waugh and would be ideal if one of them could open.
That's the best XI players.

Warner gets the other opening position for me and would be the only debatable position in the side. You could throw a blanket over another handful of players for this position, however no one has a mortgage on this spot as of yet.
 
Hussey is unlucky he only got into the test team at age 30. That he won't be considered in the best test team.

He could have been there in the middle during 2005 ashes series and it might have been a different result as he dominated the white ball series before the ashes from memory.

As had a strong ODI resume for 12-18 months before his Test debut.

Give him another 10-15 tests he probably would have scored 23/24 test hundreds.

He still finish his career average above 50 after 79 tests which is great effort.

Only 8 players have played 50 or more tests for Australia and averaged more then 50 and Huss is one of those ranked 5th.
 
Hussey is unlucky he only got into the test team at age 30. That he won't be considered in the best test team.

He could have been there in the middle during 2005 ashes series and it might have been a different result as he dominated the white ball series before the ashes from memory.

As had a strong ODI resume for 12-18 months before his Test debut.

Give him another 10-15 tests he probably would have scored 23/24 test hundreds.

He still finish his career average above 50 after 79 tests which is great effort.

Only 8 players have played 50 or more tests for Australia and averaged more then 50 and Huss is one of those ranked 5th.

yeah, spot on.

if i am taking out 'current active players' then hussey is in !

this was my team prior to the emergence of Smith, Cummins, Warner


M.Hussey (Warner) - again, debatable but Hussey has opened, and still has the edge on other candidates
Hayden
Ponting
G.Chappell
Border
S.Waugh (Smith in @ 4 with Chappell & Border sliding down 1)
Gilchrist
Warne
Gillespie (Cummins)
Lillee
McGrath
 

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Warner
Taylor c
Ponting
Chappell
Border
Gilchrist
Healy
Johnson
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

The obvious difference to most is Healy as keeper. He is the best keeper of the last 50 years, therefore he should get that spot. Was decent with the bat averaging 27 and did it against some great bowling attacks. Sure Gilchrist wasn't a specialist batsman but an average of 47 at his SR of 80 is good enough to play at 6. In this hypothetical team coming in at 6 rather than 7 may make him an even bigger threat with the bat.

McGrath and Lillee pick themselves as the top 2 pacemen and plenty could've been the 3rd but for variety I picked Johnson over Starc as the left armer. If Bruce Reids body allowed him to play 60 or 70 Tests I reckon he could've been automatic with the other 2 pacemen.
 
Hussey is unlucky he only got into the test team at age 30. That he won't be considered in the best test team.

He could have been there in the middle during 2005 ashes series and it might have been a different result as he dominated the white ball series before the ashes from memory.

As had a strong ODI resume for 12-18 months before his Test debut.

Give him another 10-15 tests he probably would have scored 23/24 test hundreds.

He still finish his career average above 50 after 79 tests which is great effort.

Only 8 players have played 50 or more tests for Australia and averaged more then 50 and Huss is one of those ranked 5th.
Was gonna ask are you too young to have seen Clarke play. turns out he retired 3 years after Hussey, lol.


Take Hussey if we're playing at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, anywhere else I'd probably go Clarke.

Shit, Clarkes 151 on debut would be in Husseys top 3 scores.
 
Was gonna ask are you too young to have seen Clarke play. turns out he retired 3 years after Hussey, lol.


Take Hussey if we're playing at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, anywhere else I'd probably go Clarke.

s**t, Clarkes 151 on debut would be in Husseys top 3 scores.
A lot of 100s hussey scored he ran out of batting partners and was batting with the tail.

I reckon he was one of the best batters that have navigated situations with the tail. And squeezed as many runs as possible out of an innings.

Boxing Day 2005 with McGrath
Adelaide 2005 with Macgill
Sydney test with Siddle against Pakistan to secure a famous win.

Are a couple that come to mind.
 
Was gonna ask are you too young to have seen Clarke play. turns out he retired 3 years after Hussey, lol.


Take Hussey if we're playing at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, anywhere else I'd probably go Clarke.

s**t, Clarkes 151 on debut would be in Husseys top 3 scores.

Hussey and Clarke about level for me really.
 
A lot of 100s hussey scored he ran out of batting partners and was batting with the tail.

I reckon he was one of the best batters that have navigated situations with the tail. And squeezed as many runs as possible out of an innings.

Boxing Day 2005 with McGrath
Adelaide 2005 with Macgill
Sydney test with Siddle against Pakistan to secure a famous win.

Are a couple that come to mind.

Yep he was like Bevan at ODI level, but at both ODI and test level.

Also a gun T20 player, super player.
 
Langer with Warner
S Waugh with G chappell
Starc with Cummins

Rest of side same
Being a Carlton supporter, I understand your willingness to forgive cheaters after all your last premiership was won thanks to cheating the salary cap :D but I will never select Warner in a team because the mastermind of "sandpapergate" is the biggest cheat in Australia Cricket history.

I relegated Chappell to 12th man because he is a cheat as well, just ask the Kiwi's. ;)

And I selected Starc over Cummins because he is a leftie and every great team needs a leftie. We are better than 90% of you.:D
 
Warner
Taylor c
Ponting
Chappell
Border
Gilchrist
Healy
Johnson
Warne
Lillee
McGrath

The obvious difference to most is Healy as keeper. He is the best keeper of the last 50 years, therefore he should get that spot. Was decent with the bat averaging 27 and did it against some great bowling attacks. Sure Gilchrist wasn't a specialist batsman but an average of 47 at his SR of 80 is good enough to play at 6. In this hypothetical team coming in at 6 rather than 7 may make him an even bigger threat with the bat.

McGrath and Lillee pick themselves as the top 2 pacemen and plenty could've been the 3rd but for variety I picked Johnson over Starc as the left armer. If Bruce Reids body allowed him to play 60 or 70 Tests I reckon he could've been automatic with the other 2 pacemen.

i can live with your taylor (a captain) and johnson (a left armer) selections as that's your choice , mind you i'd have haydos and cummins.

but surely smith comes in for healy !!!!
 
Being a Carlton supporter, I understand your willingness to forgive cheaters after all your last premiership was won thanks to cheating the salary cap :D but I will never select Warner in a team because the mastermind of "sandpapergate" is the biggest cheat in Australia Cricket history.

I relegated Chappell to 12th man because he is a cheat as well, just ask the Kiwi's. ;)

And I selected Starc over Cummins because he is a leftie and every great team needs a leftie. We are better than 90% of you.:D

We were never done for salary cap cheating in 95!

I’m a leftie too!
 
Being a Carlton supporter, I understand your willingness to forgive cheaters after all your last premiership was won thanks to cheating the salary cap :D but I will never select Warner in a team because the mastermind of "sandpapergate" is the biggest cheat in Australia Cricket history.

I relegated Chappell to 12th man because he is a cheat as well, just ask the Kiwi's. ;)

And I selected Starc over Cummins because he is a leftie and every great team needs a leftie. We are better than 90% of you.:D
You dont like cheats but you have Marseille in your list of teams .
 

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Australian test team last 50 years

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