Greatest ODI XI of all-time

[Arthur Crabtree]

If he's playing he won't be commentating.

[rich1uk]

If he's playing he won't be commentating.

very true

on that basis he gets my vote

[Gingerfinch]

How did Gower get in my team? Oh yes, elegance

Lamb has a better average than I thought he would have. Never forget the 18 from a Bruce Reid over in 1987. Not many overs went for 18 in those days.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Freddie's got a slightly worse average than Morgan, at a slightly better SR, and he was a bowler.

[KipperJohn]

Derek Underwood - List A 411 matches 572 wickets Average 19.40 Econ 3.35 SR 34.6 Bb 8/31 4wkts 25 5 wkts 8

Ted Dexter - 'In the tour match between the MCC and an Australian XI Dexter hit 102 in 110 minutes, including 2 sixes and 13 fours. John Woodcock of The Times wrote "I doubt if it is possible to hit a cricket ball any harder than Dexter did today. Melbourne is a huge ground and no one who hits a six here is likely to forget it. Against Veivers, an off-spinner, Dexter twice cleared the sight screen, once by a good 20 yards. At the Adelaide Oval Dexter included "a six from a gigantic hit onto the roof of the stand – one of the biggest hits ever seen at the ground. He was the main draw in the England team and over a million spectators came to see the tourists, the most since 1936–37.'

Anyone who could brutally smack around the likes of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths is not to be dismissed lightly- he also enjoyed the big occasion, gambling and horse racing. Probably one of the best cricketer/golfer's ever seen.

Dexter would be in my English team just because of the way he played the game which was dismissive and probably ahead of his time - a reason I didn't like him that much! England could do with that right now.

[braveneutral]

Saj?

[Arthur Crabtree]

The modern bats aren't heavy. They have a lot of wood in them but they aren't pressed. I think in the eighties, players used heavy bats. I'm not sure it works to say old time batters couldn't have used them. Clearly plenty could have, it just wasn't an option for them.

Modern bats are pressed and hence they have good stroke. The other reason for machine pressing is avoiding trouble of hand knocking.one more reason for pressing bat is to remove air within wood.Now pressed bats are also cheap.Many club cricketers also using it.

I've looked this up Adi, and it seems the bats being used are unpressed, which is what I remember the commentators calling them. Try a search.

I picked it up. What magic did it hold? Was it real? The handle was thick, the blade bone-white. It was a handsome thing, but then so were lots of bats. What set it apart was the contrast between the overall feeling of size and power and the weightlessness of its pick-up. It was almost as if the wood wasn't willow at all, but balsa or some other drier, less dense substance.

From an article on bats on cricinfo.

In the days of Botham or Clive Lloyd, for example, who had a three-and-a-half pound bat - that's a hefty lump of willow. Nowadays bats are big but they are light, as you found with Kohli's. And what we're up against is the belief that a big bat is more powerful than a bat of the same weight that's smaller, which it isn't. That's against the laws of physics

The older bats like the Jumbo and the Magnum that this new design was starting to dwarf were solid and heavy. The new bats had greater size but their density was different. The moisture content was lower, the pressing less firm, and wood shaved from the shoulders and the first few inches of the bat allowed more for the middle and on the edges.

Sorry about the long quotes.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 87773.html

[meninblue]

The modern bats aren't heavy. They have a lot of wood in them but they aren't pressed. I think in the eighties, players used heavy bats. I'm not sure it works to say old time batters couldn't have used them. Clearly plenty could have, it just wasn't an option for them.

Modern bats are pressed and hence they have good stroke. The other reason for machine pressing is avoiding trouble of hand knocking.one more reason for pressing bat is to remove air within wood.Now pressed bats are also cheap.Many club cricketers also using it.

I've looked this up Adi, and it seems the bats being used are unpressed, which is what I remember the commentators calling them. Try a search.

I picked it up. What magic did it hold? Was it real? The handle was thick, the blade bone-white. It was a handsome thing, but then so were lots of bats. What set it apart was the contrast between the overall feeling of size and power and the weightlessness of its pick-up. It was almost as if the wood wasn't willow at all, but balsa or some other drier, less dense substance.

From an article on bats on cricinfo.

In the days of Botham or Clive Lloyd, for example, who had a three-and-a-half pound bat - that's a hefty lump of willow. Nowadays bats are big but they are light, as you found with Kohli's. And what we're up against is the belief that a big bat is more powerful than a bat of the same weight that's smaller, which it isn't. That's against the laws of physics

The older bats like the Jumbo and the Magnum that this new design was starting to dwarf were solid and heavy. The new bats had greater size but their density was different.[The moisture content was lower, the pressing less firm, and wood shaved from the shoulders and the first few inches of the bat allowed more for the middle and on the edges.

Sorry about the long quotes.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 87773.html

Thank you. I did not knew that international cricketers do not prefer pressed bats. Actually i thought they were being preferred by international cricketers. So it seems that this pressed bats category is perhaps targeted for club cricketers and other level cricketers market segment.

[sussexpob]

Interesting article that. I think it sums up my belief, that the scores we see nowadays are more inclined to psychology rather then physical difference. Another interesting point is the fact that people forget how much fitter and pumped your average batter is from other generations

[Arthur Crabtree]

At the risk of busting everyone's banalmeter, here is an ABC ODI side, in a plausible batting order (I had to bend that to get an i in there). They've all played in the format.

Hashim Amla
Ian Botham
Martin Crowe
AB deVilliers
Deon Ebrahim
Andrew Flintoff
Adam Gilchrist
Richard Hadlee
Mohammad Irfan
Mitchell Johnson
Anil Kumble.

[sussexpob]

At the risk of busting everyone's banalmeter, here is an ABC ODI side, in a plausible batting order (I had to bend that to get an i in there). They've all played in the format.

Hashim Amla
Ian Botham
Martin Crowe
AB deVilliers
Deon Ebrahim
Andrew Flintoff
Adam Gilchrist
Richard Hadlee
Mohammad Irfan
Mitchell Johnson
Anil Kumble.

Saleem Elahi over Ebrahim..... ??

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes. I don't remember him at all, but he has a better record.

Got to keep Ebrahim though if I make it into A-K from eleven different countries.

[sussexpob]

Yes. I don't remember him at all, but he has a better record.

Got to keep Ebrahim though if I make it into A-K from eleven different countries.

Nope.... Craig Ervine if you need a Zimbabwean

[Gingerfinch]

Just attempted a L-? team. gave up at U

[rich1uk]

Just attempted a L-? team. gave up at U

shaun udal ?