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Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:03 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
As I think, was Rob Bailey. Poor fella. Played four Tests, all against WI.

Actually, he didn't play in Kingston, but was apart of the classic England performance in Port of Spain when England were robbed (pun intended) by WI bowling 7 overs an hour.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:06 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Mark Lathwell is normally a shoo in for the nineties side.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:48 pm
by Durhamfootman
Arthur Crabtree wrote: Pattinson might fit that category, but I feel so sorry for him that I turned blind eye.

Gawd bless him.... talk about being caught in the middle of a power struggle

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:36 pm
by ianp1970
Gingerfinch wrote:
Arthur Crabtree wrote:
Gingerfinch wrote:I'll try an 80's team.

Wilf Slack
Tim Curtis
Paul Terry
Chris Smith
Colin Cowdrey
David Capel
SteveRhodes
John Childs
AlanIgglesden
John Agnew
Les Taylor


At first glance I suspect that's an unimprovable, ATG bad side. With the eighties, you not only get players out of their depth in international cricket spun into the side by desperate selectors on the whim of the merest scent of form, but they are likely to be unfit and overweight too.


I did think of adding Mark Nicholas.


There's almost enough players, not including any one-cap wonders, for a competitive 'A' versus 'B'

Cook
Curtis
Larkins
Terry
Fairbrother
Cowdrey
Capel
Bairstow
Thomas
Jarvis
Pocock

Slack
Butcher
Athey
Woolmer
Smith
Greig
Pringle
French
Agnew
Radford
Childs

Or should that be a noncompetitive A v B :coat

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:26 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Can't remember Curtis.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:30 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Tim Curtis of Worcs. Remember now. Got whitewashed by WI. Got a feeling he got injured by a short ball.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:34 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Looking him up. Featured in two series, v WI in 88 and Aus in 89. That'd be while the SA rebels were missing. Two pastings. 4-0 and 4-0.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:55 am
by bigfluffylemon
I thought you could probably do this for any team, but no, actually, England seem to be something special. I tried doing it for an Australia 2010s team, and couldn't get XI names (although I left out one test wonders, as it's really hard to get an accurate picture)

Rob Quiney
Nic Maddinson
Trent Copeland
Moises Henriques
Michael Beer
Xavier Doherty
Alex Doolan
Jon Holland

It's a bit bowler heavy. Australia doesn't seem to have the issue England does with batsmen (other than keepers since Haddin left) - most players who are selected make runs, at least at home.

So to round out, a few that weren't utter failures, but not particular successes either

Mitch Marsh
George Bailey
Peter Nevill

Twelfth man
Glen Maxwell (jury is still somewhat out)

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:29 am
by Arthur Crabtree
Aussies in the eighties must be do-able. I'll have a go later.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:31 am
by Arthur Crabtree
No Wade for the Aussies in the teens?

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:43 am
by sussexpob
Australia 2000's is an impossible job. In the batting you have three candidates, North/Hughes and Cameron White. But White was picked to bat at 8 as a spinning option in India, so to pick him as a batter seems harsh. Hughes died before we seen the end, and also like North, ends up with a very high average in this decade alone. You could throw in Shane Watson, but his all round stats are better than Stokes, and he answered the call of the lack of a viable opener to play out of position, when really he was a batting allrounder 7 positions too high. White and Watson have excelled in limited overs internationals. If this is an format examination, neither are troubling our thoughts.

Brad Williams, poor test match record, low 20s average in a surprising amount of ODIs. He saves himself. Same is said of Bracken, who was a main component of a team that dominated world cups in the era, despite looking toothless in the test arena. Nathan Hauritz is not making my list, I thought there was real talent there myself, never got the backing he deserved, and performed relatively well regardless. It seems harsh to put Shaun Tait here, a hulking quick bowler who's body gave out early, and who limited himself to the art of being really good in T20s and ODIs, where his record is right up there with the best. Clint MacKay is another who had limited tests, but went on to become a ODI lynchpin for a while. Gerald Manou had one test where he was not out for 21.

In the end, we are left with spinners, the only compelling case for being put on this list.

Brice McGain would be a candidate for an all time, any team, any era. Anyone who witnessed that one test he played in would realise quickly he was, lets face it, completely and utterly useless. He's quickly followed by Krezja, who took wickets, but only because India were busy slogging him out the park. You got the feeling he'd pick up a 5 for in any 600/700 all out, but if teams really focused on batting against him and showed him respect, it was more likely 0/300 in an innings of a 1000 runs. Beau Casson looked terrible. Brad Hogg looked toothless, but he gets the ODI pass for being a stalwart in that format.

Other than that, we go back to the 90s rehashes. The Bichel's (fine ODI player, and his comeback in the 2000s was very creditable after a disastrous first international period), the Blewetts, the Kasper's, the Elliotts..... None of these make a compelling case, they were all good players who just failed to excel in an excellent team, none leave test cricket in shame.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:59 am
by bigfluffylemon
Arthur Crabtree wrote:No Wade for the Aussies in the teens?


It was close, but Wade has two test match centuries, so he's not a complete disaster. Nevill has a top score of 66. And Wade's a reasonably handy ODI player too, even if he's been struggling in tests of late. So for me he doesn't quite make it into the worst team.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 4:07 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Fair enough. My impression of Wade is mainly from his recent recall.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 7:29 pm
by Gingerfinch
Arthur Crabtree wrote:Aussies in the eighties must be do-able. I'll have a go later.


I can think of a few poor ones but am struggling to make a really bad team.

Re: All Time Bad Teams.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:21 pm
by Arthur Crabtree
Maybe more so in the Packer era. But if you look back at even quite unsuccessful Aussies, they still have surprisingly good stats.

Julien Wiener
John Dyson
Martin Kent
Mike Valetta
Dirk Wellham
Greg Ritchie
Simon O'Donnell
Greg Dyer
Dave Gilbert
Tom Hogan
Graeme Beard
Chris Matthews

Surely no one remembers Roger Woolley and Robbie Kerr?