CMS Test XI of last 50 Years- third seamer/second spinner.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Either of these two is a good choice for me.

[Gingerfinch]

I personally have never seen the best of Steyn, so would never vote for him, though I won't argue if he gets the nod.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Richards
Lara
Tendulkar
Sobers
Gilchrist
Warne

Marshall
McGrath

So the extra bowler fits into this side.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I personally have never seen the best of Steyn, so would never vote for him, though I won't argue if he gets the nod.

The Superhuman Steyn averages 31.6 against England, making them his least successful team to play against. He averages 27 against the Aussies, and either side of 20 against everyone else. Even so, his ball to Michael Vaughan in 2004 was one of the most memorable deliveries I've seen. His seven wickets at the Oval when SA made 637-2 was an extremely impressive performance, after sitting out some of the first innings injured. He's the preeminent bowler of his time by a much wider margin than anyone else can even remotely claim in the last fifty years. His rate of taking wickets is more comparable to bowlers on the uncertain pitches of the pre WWI era than his contemporaries.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Akram's place in the team looks unlikely so have changed to Sir Richard.

Wasim's back.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Must be some Lancashire fans about... The Warks fans will be voting for Steyn I expect.

[braveneutral]

Need a vote to drop of Steyn so I can get Wasim in.

[Durhamfootman]

a pity for Ambrose, though. the last of the great west indian bowlers

[Durhamfootman]

no place for the guy with more test wickets than anyone in the history of the game.

All about perception, I suppose

reputation is all

[Arthur Crabtree]

If you just went on wickets taken though, Walsh and Kapil Dev would be in the side.

Good night for Pakistan. Wasim takes the lead and a vote for Shoaib Akhtar. Just a few hours left. Steyn set to just miss out again.

[Gingerfinch]

If you just went on wickets taken though, Walsh and Kapil Dev would be in the side.

Good night for Pakistan. Wasim takes the lead and a vote for Shoaib Akhtar. Just a few hours left. Steyn set to just miss out again.

Murali does have a good average as well, unlike Dev, and to a lesser extent, Walsh.

[Arthur Crabtree]

People will say that runs were easier or harder to get in different eras, but only three runs separate every decade since WWI apart from the fifties, when runs were harder to come by. That last stat doesn't feel like it fits with the image I have of that decade, when I imagine May and Compton batting all day in their neckerchiefs and caps. Maybe it had something to do with increased tours for emerging Test nations, like Pakistan and India?

Clearly, this is a very broad brush in many ways. I'll break it down by continent after I've had a cup of tea. But when people downrate batters of the noughties, or urate the bowlers because of so called chief executive pitches, they only have a very limited point.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

[Arthur Crabtree]

If you just went on wickets taken though, Walsh and Kapil Dev would be in the side.

Good night for Pakistan. Wasim takes the lead and a vote for Shoaib Akhtar. Just a few hours left. Steyn set to just miss out again.

Murali does have a good average as well, unlike Dev, and to a lesser extent, Walsh.

Fair enough. Can't pretend there isn't an issue with Murali, much as I wish there wasn't. But it is a divisive issue, and neither side of the divide has given him their vote.

[Gingerfinch]

If you just went on wickets taken though, Walsh and Kapil Dev would be in the side.

Good night for Pakistan. Wasim takes the lead and a vote for Shoaib Akhtar. Just a few hours left. Steyn set to just miss out again.

Murali does have a good average as well, unlike Dev, and to a lesser extent, Walsh.

Fair enough. Can't pretend there isn't an issue with Murali, much as I wish there wasn't. But it is a divisive issue, and neither side of the divide has given him their vote.

Hard to get in ahead of Shane. I would have picked him if a batter had got the number six spot.

He'd definitely make it into the 2nd XI.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not according to this. Underwood is second spinner.

Though maybe you'd have to hide Deadly in the field.

And McGrath.

It's not a great fielding side, Viv aside. I don't know about Sobers.