The Alphabet Game

[ianp1970]

Gavaskar
Greenidge
Gooch
Gower
Graveney
Greig
Gilchrist
Gough
Gillespie
Garner
Grimmett

looks to be a decent playing XI

[Dr Cricket]

Haven't seen Graveney bat or even heard of him but any people agree if Ganguly should replace him.
both got similar averages and Ganguly did bat at number 5-6.
Very strong team though.
even the 2nd 11 should have a strong batting line up.

[rich1uk]

i think there is an argument for it, as you say there isn't a huge difference in their averages altho graveney did play in the era of uncovered pitches

i'm not fussy either way tbh, i dont think either are "must picks"

[Dr Cricket]

true about uncovered pitches but then in his time, the opposition wasn't the strongest.
only really Australia was probably strong at that time.
Ganguly probably played at the strongest time for Test cricket in terms of Bowlers.
could go either way.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Agree that the two are hard to separate, but not so much that Graveney played at an easier time. The noughties was one of the best times to bat in terms of pitches, and BD were a side that many players boosted their average against, Zimbabwe too. And the fifties and sixties was a time of good WI and SA attacks (as well as Australia), and touring India was tough. For me, the seventies and eighties was the era of the best bowling attacks. Maybe the nineties.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Looking up some stats, Trevor Goddard and Charlie Griffith might be considered for Goughie's place, but three wickets per Test undermine their better averages. Though Goddard hs a good record as an all rounder.

Roy Griffith had a good start to his Test career but became more or less unpickable because of disciplinary problems. Not whistling, but deliberately no balling beamers from eighteen yards and assaulting the opposition with a stump. There's a rumour on Wiki that he produced a knife on his captain when sent home from India. Ferociously fast.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The best other batters stats wise are openers, in H.Gibbs, Gayle and Gambhir, who aren't going to get past the top three we have.

Among bowlers, Goddard's 26 average is impressive, but as an all rounder, he doesn't stack up as well as Greig, and as a strike bowler, his SR of 90+ rules him out. Indian leggie Subhash Gupte averages under 30 but is way behind Grimmett.

Personally I'm going Graveney over Ganguly on stats. In the context of the two decades they played in, Graveney has the better standing compared with his contemporaries, and his average is two points better, which is actually quite a lot. I'm not sure Ganguly was one of the better bats of his era. He did well against England, but his best record was against BD (TG's record isn't inflated b runs against NZ, the BD of his time). Looking at the two decades after 1990, Ganguly has the 54th best average of his contemporaries, whereas Graveney is 21st in the two decades after 1950. Both played in eras generally good for batters.

Against that, in those 20 years, there are five batters grouping under 60 in the Graveney era, rather than the best players grouping around the mid 50s of the Ganguly era. Both have a legendary status in their own countries.

But ultimately I'm going on the vibe. Which might be influenced by inevitable home media bias.

[Arthur Crabtree]

H will be the best team yet.

[braveneutral]

Would Hanif Mohammad be H or M?

[Arthur Crabtree]

M. He wouldn't get on the bench for the H team though.

I've got Ul-Haq as a U as well.

[braveneutral]

M. He wouldn't get on the bench for the H team though.

I've got Ul-Haq as a U as well.

Both of them?

[braveneutral]

MoYo/YoYo a Y or a Y?

[Arthur Crabtree]

That's next year.

[Alviro Patterson]

Richard Hadlee
Peter Handscomb
Graeme Hick
Haseeb Hameed
Len Hutton
Travis Head
Gavin Hamilton
Michael Holding
Jason Holder
Dean Headley
Rangana Herath

Plucked out of my head after 3 cans of Crabbies Scottish Raspberry Ginger Ale

[Arthur Crabtree]

Handscom wearing the gloves?