Which letter of the alphabet could field the strongest test team?

The B team would take some beating.

Boycott
Bailey
Bradman
Barrington
Border
Botham
Boucher (wk)
Benaud (capt)
A Bedser
Barnes
Bedi

Very strong on the all rounder front - as well as Botham, Bailey and Benaud could have had Eddie Barlow (SA) as well as Keith Boyce (WI).

Strauss
Smith
Sehwag
Sangakkara (wk, captain)
Samaraweera
Sarwan
Y Singh
H Singh
Swann
Steyn
Southee

I only used players that I have seen play and considering I've only been watching cricket the last few years I didn't have a lot of room to work with.
I didn't want to pick Southee but couldn't really think of another S, Sharma I suppose but I'm not a fan. Also if I could have Shakib he would be there.

im giving this a bit of research

G, H, S, T and W look promising

meh getting tired, some teams not completed

G:

Gooch
Gayle
Gibbs
Gower
Gatting
Grace
Greig
Gilchrist
Gough
Giles
Garner

H

Hutton
Hayden
Hussain
Hammond
Hussey
Haddin
Holding

S

Sehwag
Smith
Slater
Stewart
Sangakara
Sarwan
Sobers
Swann
Southee
Singh
Steyn

T

Trescothick
Tendulkar
Trott
Thorpe
Trueman
Tait

T was progressing nicely as well

H's

Hobbs
Hayden
Hutton(c)
Hammond
Headley
Harvey
Healey(wk)
Hadlee
Horden
Hall
Holding

W's

Woodfull
Washbrook
Weekes
Worell
Walcott
Waugh(c)
Waite(wk)
Wasim Akram
Warne
Waqar Younis
Walsh

M's

Morris
Mitchell
May(c)
Mohammed Yousuf
Martyn
McCabe
Miller
Marsh(wk)
Marshall
Muralitharan
McGrath

T's

Trescothick
Turner
Trott
Tendulkar
Trumper
Thorpe
Tate
Taylor(wk)
Trueman
Tayfield
Thompson

[quote="hodge"]meh getting tired, some teams not completed

G:

Gooch
Gayle
Gibbs
Gower
Gatting
Grace
Greig
Gilchrist
Gough
Giles
Garner
/quote]

Hodge, Corporal et al - I came up with this team of ''G men'' before I saw Hodge's XI above. Mine is from 1960s onwards:

Greenidge (Gordon)

Gavaskar

Gooch

Gower

Gomes

Greig

Gilchrist

Goddard

Garner

Griffith

Gibbs

Bench: Graveney, Greenidge (Geoff), Grout, Gillespie, Gleeson. I forgot about Gayle.

Catering: Gatting

A's

Amiss
Attapatu
Amla
Armanath
Azharuddin
Ames(wk)
Armstrong(c)
Allen
Ambrose
Adcock
Alderman

[quote="guildfordbat"]

hodge wrote:meh getting tired, some teams not completed

G:

Gooch
Gayle
Gibbs
Gower
Gatting
Grace
Greig
Gilchrist
Gough
Giles
Garner
/quote]

Hodge, Corporal et al - I came up with this team of ''G men'' before I saw Hodge's XI above. Mine is from 1960s onwards:

Greenidge (Gordon)

Gavaskar

Gooch

Gower

Gomes

Greig

Gilchrist

Goddard

Garner

Griffith

Gibbs

Bench: Graveney, Greenidge (Geoff), Grout, Gillespie, Gleeson. I forgot about Gayle.

Catering: Gatting

and i forgot Gavaskar what good is stick cricket if i cant remember him from the legends team!! wanted a better spinner though

hodge wrote:

and i forgot Gavaskar what good is stick cricket if i cant remember him from the legends team!! wanted a better spinner though

Hodge - just to clarify, my Gibbs is Lance Gibbs (WI) to cover the spin option. I'm sure yours is Herschelle Gibbs (SA).

With a better memory, I would have put Herschelle on the bench in place of Geoff Greenidge. Many would probably argue that Herschelle should be ahead of Gomes (WI) for a place in my middle order but I always thought Gomes did such a valuable job in being the straightman to the other West Indian entertainers.

Brilliant thread, i'm doing mine. S or B look's the strongest though.

The W's have got a fearsome bowling attack (Hoggy Bear)

I will add Ian Bell to the subs bench for the B team! One slight weakness in B team is a second opener. Not sure that Mark Butcher would quite qualify as world class - or rolling back the decades, Alan Butcher, or even further, Brian Bolus... There's got to be a decent opener called Brown somewhere....

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:The B team would take some beating.

Boycott
Bailey
Bradman
Barrington
Border
Botham
Boucher (wk)
Benaud (capt)
A Bedser
Barnes
Bedi

Very strong on the all rounder front - as well as Botham, Bailey and Benaud could have had Eddie Barlow (SA) as well as Keith Boyce (WI).

Corporal - thought you would have gone on extended patrol by now. Hope Mrs Humblebucket isn't still trying to locate the Owzat!

I completely agree that your B team would take some beating.

However, with Boycs and Bailey opening plus Barrington at number four, in order to win you might need a timeless test!

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:The W's have got a fearsome bowling attack (Hoggy Bear)

I will add Ian Bell to the subs bench for the B team! One slight weakness in B team is a second opener. Not sure that Mark Butcher would quite qualify as world class - or rolling back the decades, Alan Butcher, or even further, Brian Bolus... There's got to be a decent opener called Brown somewhere....

Try Sid Barnes the Aussie opener.
Only played 13 tests but averaged over 60 (over 70 when he opened)

I wonder who would win between the two Bs if you had one with B as the start of the first name and the other team made up of B surnames. I'd say your one there would be very hard to beat though.

Barney92 wrote:I wonder who would win between the two Bs if you had one with B as the start of the first name and the other team made up of B surnames. I'd say your one there would be very hard to beat though.

Bishen Bedi would have his work cut out for sure!

Right I am off on patrol now Guildford

Brian Barwick?!!

Alviro Petersen
Bill Ponsford
Ricky Ponting
Kevin Pietersen
Graham Pollock
Mike Procter
Matt Prior
Shaun Pollock
Wayne Parnell
Venkatesh Prasad
Monty Panesar

Good team of Ps, GG.

I would though prefer Prasanna to Monty Panesar.

I have an 'M' team of:

Hanif Mohammed
Arthur Morris
PBH May
Miandad
Salim Malik
Marsh
Mankad
Marshall
Murali
McGrath

Which is, let's face it, a pretty amazing attack.

Or, an 'H' team with:

Hobbs
Hutton
Headley
Hammond
Haynes
Harvey
Healy
Hadlee
Holding
Hall
Hughes

Which must be the strongest 'letter team' batting lineup, although Merv Hughes in there is possible clutching at straws, very good player though he was.

Jeremy Beadle - two fine teams.

You've got so much confidence in your ''Ms'' that you've only chosen ten players! If you are looking for another, you could do a lot worse than Keith Miller.

Marvan Atapattu
Shahid Afridi
Hasim Amla
Mohammed Azharuddin
Zaheer Abbas
Nathan Astle
Gerry Alexander
Wasim Akram
James Anderson
Shoaib Akhtar
Curtly Ambrose

Thought you'd have done Gs GG.
I'll have a go in your stead:

Greenidge
Gavaskar
Gooch
Gower
Grace WG (c)
Greig T
Gilchrist(wk)
Gillespie
Grimmett
Gough
Garner


and may I humbly suggest Amiss, Atherton, Ames, Armstrong, Adcock and Appleyard for consideration for the 'A-Team'?

GG wrote:Marvan Atapattu
Shahid Afridi
Hasim Amla
Mohammed Azharuddin
Zaheer Abbas
Nathan Astle
Gerry Alexander
Wasim Akram
James Anderson
Shoaib Akhtar
Curtly Ambrose

W

1) Shane Watson
2) Frank Worral
3) Mark Waugh
4) Steve Waugh (c)
5) Everton Weekes
6) Mark Wallace
7) Clyde Walcott
8) Chris Woakes
9) Wasim (Akram)
10) Shane Warne
11) Waqar (Younis)

Don't have a front line wickie but thought W was quite a challenge!

Gregers wrote:W

1) Shane Watson
2) Frank Worral
3) Mark Waugh
4) Steve Waugh (c)
5) Everton Weekes
6) Mark Wallace
7) Clyde Walcott
8) Chris Woakes
9) Wasim (Akram)
10) Shane Warne
11) Waqar (Younis)

Don't have a front line wickie but thought W was quite a challenge!

Courtney Walsh?
Bill Woodfull?
Cyril Washbrook?

John Waite, the South African 'keeper of the 50s and 60s could fill the keepers role.

How did I forget Walsh!?

No C's yet.

A Cook
M Crowe
Chanderpaul
M Clarke
Cowdrey (not Graham or Chris)
C Cairns
Chandreshaker
S Clark


That's why.

Cs

Alistair Cook
Ian Chappell(c)
Colin Cowdrey
Dennis Compton
Greg Chappell
Martin Crowe
Chris Cairns
Jock Cameron(wk)
Dominic Cork
Colin Croft
Bhagwath Chandrasekhar

Chappell

One of the most famous names in Cricket.

Has anyone done D?

'Stewie' Dempster
Tillakarantne Dilshan
Raul Dravid
Ted Dexter
Martin Donelly
AB de Villiers
MS Dhoni(WK/C)
Alan Davidson
Graham Dilley
Alan Donald
Dilip Doshi

The Don

Thought I'd ressurect this thread with a couple of new teams.

Ls

Langer, Justin
Lawry, Bill
Lara, Brian
Lehmann, Darren
Laxman, VVS
Lindsay, Denis(wk)
Lindwall, Ray
Larwood, Harold
Laker, Jim
Lillee, Dennis
Lock, Tony

Js
Jackson, Archie
Jayasuriya, Sanath
Jones, Dean
Jayawardene, Mahela
Jardine, Douglas(c)
Jackson, F.S.
Jayawardene, Prasanna(wk)
Johnson, Mitchell
Johnson, Ian
Johnston, Bill
Jones, Simon

The K Team:

Gary Kirsten
Simon Katich
Jacques Kallis
Rohan Kanhai
Kapil Dev
Imran Khan
Alan Knott
Lance Kluesner
Anil Kumble
James Kirtley
Michael Kasprowicz

An "R" Team:

Barry Richards
Peter Richardson
Richie Richardson
Viv Richards
Mark Ramprakesh
Wifred Rhodes
Jack Russell
Andy Roberts
Athol Rowan
Sonny Ramadhin
Harold Rhodes
12th Man (fielding) Derek Randall
12th Man (beers) Fred Rumsey

kwinigolfer wrote:An "R" Team:

12th Man (fielding) Derek Randall
12th Man (beers) Fred Rumsey

12th Man (close catching) Graham Roope

Thank you Corporal, very good point; Dick Richardson very close behind.

Kirsten, G
Kanhai
Kirsten, P
Younis Khan
Kallis
Kallicharran
Imran Khan
Knott
Kumble
Zaheer Khan
Kaneria

Elliott M
Engineer
Edrich J
Edrich W
Endean
Edwards (Ross)
Evans
Edmonds
Emburey
Edwards (Fidel)
...........I need another fast bowler ...so I will go with a player I'd never heard of from CMJ's Who's Who :
Ehtesham-ud-din (!) - he apparently played five Tests for Pakistan and took 16 wickets at 23.43 so he'll have to do...

Not the strongest team perhaps but ...

I'm leaving the Q's for someone else

Steve Elworthy was a useful bowler

For the F's, some useful allrounders in there:

Grant Flower
Roy Fredericks
Stephen Fleming (c)
C.B. Fry
Andy Flower (wk)
Peter Fulton
Neil Fairbrother
Andrew Flintoff
Percy Fender/Chuck Fleetwood-Smith (struggling for spinners)
Damien Fleming
Angus Fraser

Kiwi,
I was just assembling some "F"'s, but would definitely have added Tich Freeman as a front-line spinner.
No chance of squeezing a Fletcher or two, Jack Flavell or Les Favell in?

And playing around with this one, an NZ "family" H test team

Walter Hadlee (c)
Phil Horne
Matt Horne
Geoff Howarth
Chris Harris
Zinzan Harris
Richard Hadlee
Matthew Hart
Robbie Hart (wk)
Dayle Hadlee
Hedley Howarth

Barry Hadlee played ODIs and not tests, while Ben Harris only maged 1st class cricket.

That team would have to play on a nice low slow NZ track to be even remotely competive admittedly (Zin and Chris Harris as 3rd and 4th seamers )

Reckon the Aitches 'ave a pretty good team, what with Hobbs, Hutton, Hendren and Hammond in the batting.
How about this for an M side
Arthur Morris
Mushtaq Mohammed
Peter May
Phil Mead
Javed Miandad
Keith Miller
Rod Marsh
Malcolm Marshall
Graham McKenzie
Glenn McGrath
Murali

kwinigolfer wrote:Kiwi,
I was just assembling some "F"'s, but would definitely have added Tich Freeman as a front-line spinner.
No chance of squeezing a Fletcher or two, Jack Flavell or Les Favell in?

I considered Duncan Fletcher, but the only Flavell I'd heard of was Kirsty (who scored the 1st women's test double ton). Neil Foster, James Franklin and Dilhara Fernando were worth a look as backup seamers, while if Andy Flower played as a batsman I'd add Bruce French.

Cheers for the Freeman tip, added.

Grant Flower
Roy Fredericks
Stephen Fleming (c)
C.B. Fry
Andy Flower (wk)
Peter Fulton
Neil Fairbrother
Andrew Flintoff
Tich Freeman
Damien Fleming
Angus Fraser

The first sighting I've seen of Phillip Mead since I've been viewing the cricket board!
Pity you've no room for Roy Marshall, sirfred.

PS: Kiwi,
Kenneth Farnes would also have been a terrific fast bowling choice, said to be approaching Larwood speed but died in WWII.

Just a case of remembering everybody. I originally couldn't think, even, of Murali. You really need long lists of achievers in front of you. Am working - and struggling - on a V team at the moment but off the top of my head have only come up with
Michael Vaughan
Viswanath
Venkat
Maharajah of Vizianagram (which sounds like a crossword clue)

praps we could chuck in Johnny Vaughan, Norman Vaughan and practically anyone else called Vaughan.

Ooh. Have been able to come up with
Bill Voce
Hedley Verity

so the bowling at least won't be too bad.

sirfredperry wrote:Just a case of remembering everybody. I originally couldn't think, even, of Murali. You really need long lists of achievers in front of you. Am working - and struggling - on a V team at the moment but off the top of my head have only come up with
Michael Vaughan
Viswanath
Venkat
Maharajah of Vizianagram (which sounds like a crossword clue)

praps we could chuck in Johnny Vaughan, Norman Vaughan and practically anyone else called Vaughan.

Dan Vettori, Alf Valentine, Hedley Verrity.

Not a bad spin attack.

Lou Vincent, Giff and Graeme Vivian from NZ, must be a few "Van --"s from SA, Mike Valletta from Aus.

Tough job that one

Our posts crossed after the Verity inclusion. Shucks, I should have thought of Vettori and Valentine, but it's the batting that needs bolstering and I'm not sure the guys you've dug up can cut the mustard.

Just remembered van Geloven who used to play county cricket in the 60s and, of course, there's vincent van der Bjwl (spelling?) . If you think V is difficult what about Q or X. Did Xerxes play cricket?