Test XI of the year?

First topic message reminder :

Morning all

Not sure if we have done this one yet, but something I just saw on Twitter made me think who I'd pick in mine.

1. Alastair Cook
2.
3. Rahul Dravid (c)
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Dwayne Bravo
6. Ian Bell
7. Matt Prior (wk)
8. Tim Bresnan
9. Dale Steyn
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. James Anderson

So, I need some help with my other opener. Watson would be nice to give a bowling option, but he just hasn't scored enough runs this year. Considered Taufeeq Umar but the opposition has been poor despite a couple of good scores. Gambhir hasn't done a great deal either, has he? Difficult one.

Fairly England dominated, but that makes sense given their collective domination of world cricket in 2011, I guess.

Let me know your thoughts, your suggestions for another opener, and your own sides.

Cheers

i would quite like to see Jeetan patel given another go. Vettori wont be around forever, patel played a bit for warwickshire played well, and he has bowled well..

Patel has signed for Warks again this coming season - a good cricketer.

Unfortunately Patel was awful in Zimbabwe a couple of months back, so may have blotted his copybook with the selectors

i noticed that, he is inconsistent, however giving a long run in the side i think he can do well.

What a debut year Vernon Philander is having in test cricket? One more good test, he should be right in there. For me, he has done pretty well already to consider him for the XI of the year, the only issue is that all his wickets have come in home conditions. But then, 4 fifers in 3 matches, he's on to something special, at least for now!.

After the fresh rounds of test matches involving Bangladesh-Pakistan, and SA-SL, I've made some changes.
I'll have Philander in place of Bresnan, and taking into consideration the fact that Saeed Ajmal has been the leading wicket taker of the year, I'll have him in place of Swann.
So again,
Alastair Cook,
Graeme Smith(If Taufeeq Umar gets a big score against Bangladesh, and Smith fails in the rest of the Lanka series, by the year end, this can change).
Rahul Dravid.
Kumar Sangakkara.
Michael Clarke(Clarke is not on top of the year's run chart, but he played some real splendid innings this year. His 151 against SA for me, is the knock of the year by a long way).
Ian Bell.
Matt Prior.
Vernon Philander.
Dale Steyn.
James Anderson.
Saeed Ajmal.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote: We don´t do well against genuine pace or good spin bowling. We produce medium pacers like sheep in NZ.

Does that tell us something about the Aussies?


Any team that doesnt start from Ian Bell this year is riduclous. Id suggesting wating toll the 31st to write the list though, theres several Safricans with a borderline case.

Yep, Belly has been the finest player in world cricket this year, and by some distance.

Shakib Al Hasan, with his splendid performance in the ongoing test against Pakistan, has put his name up for consideration, as the all-rounder of the XI.
If room is made for him in the 11, then it has to be a 5 man attack with a batter dropped. If Shakib can come up with something special in the 2nd innings of Pakistan, he has a chance to make it in my XI, possibily ahead of Michael Clarke.
But Bangladesh are going down, and Pakistan might be chasing a gettable total in the last session of the match.

I think 50 wickets at a healthy this year makes Ajmal a must for the team, even if he has faced rubbish oposition its quite some acheivement.

Yeah I'd definitely go with Ajmal as the sole spinner, despite the opposition being poor has has bowled very well. England certainly need to beware of that doosra, it is a beauty.

Swann has been very disappointing against the top sides to be honest.

It's difficult, shanky, he hasn't had any good pitches to bowl on really in Test cricket this year.

Also, our pace battery have blasted everyone out, so the batsmen have almost seen Swann as a way out and thus acted more aggressively against him in the odd overs where he has been used. It is rare that he has had to bowl a long spell this year.

I was talking in general.

So was I, as this is a Test XI thread.

Cook
Smith
Dravid
Sangakarra
Bell
Clarke
Prior
Bresnan
Steyn
Anderson
Ajmal

Cook
Dravid
Sanga
KP
Bell
Clarke
Prior
Bresnan
Steyn
Anderson
Ajmal

Broad would have been in but was poor against SL.

Cant argue too much with that chaps but Id wait for the SA game, could lead to revisions.

The last round of test matches for the year starts tomorrow. I think Vernon Philander is in with a fine chance to make the XI with another good performance.
Those who haven't picked Sangakkara, will have to rethink, if he produce the goods in the last match of the year, as already, he has had a fine run in 2011.
Another player who can force his way in with a good performance for many, is Jacques Kallis. He started the year against the Indians in fine style, but was a bit too inconsistent with both bat and ball in the Australia series, and didn't start the Lanka series with an impactful performance, although his bowling improved considerably. A good all-round showing from Kallis should see him challenging someone like Michael Clarke in my side, of course Clarke too is set to play in the last rounds of test matches for the year.

msp83 wrote:The last round of test matches for the year starts tomorrow. I think Vernon Philander is in with a fine chance to make the XI with another good performance.
Those who haven't picked Sangakkara, will have to rethink, if he produce the goods in the last match of the year, as already, he has had a fine run in 2011. Another player who can force his way in with a good performance for many, is Jacques Kallis. He started the year against the Indians in fine style, but was a bit too inconsistent with both bat and ball in the Australia series, and didn't start the Lanka series with an impactful performance, although his bowling improved considerably. A good all-round showing from Kallis should see him challenging someone like Michael Clarke in my side, of course Clarke too is set to play in the last rounds of test matches for the year.

Poor in England,SA and an OK home series against Oz at home.The only good series that he had was against Pakistan.
Clarke is averaging early 40s I reckon.Seems silly to leave out a man with a Test double hundred and a 175 this year with an average of 73 for these blokes.

Of course Shanky, You know I am a great supporter of KP and since he came back to form in fine style this year, he is indeed a prime contenter.
But then, KP didn't have the best of times towards the latter part of the Ashes, and didn't make a big score against Lanka, although he got couple of good knocks. Sangakkara, did manage a hundred in England to save a match.
But I concede that he has had an up and down year, and unless he produces the goods in the last innings of the year(he's 28 not out at the moment) I'll have KP, or even Shakib Al Hasan in his place.
Clarke too, didn't produce a substantial knock against India, and a good knock from Sangakkara still may leave an opening for Pietersen to come in.
A match winning innings from Sachin Tendulkar can put his name in among the contenters, although he didn't have as good a year as he had in 2010.
Before people say things on that, Tendulkar scored a fine hundred to start the year, and even in England he scored knocks of 91, 56, and a few other unconverted starts. He scored 94 and 76 against West Indies, and scored a fine 73 at the MCG in the first innings. Still with an outside chance.

Could have a sort of "bat-off" between Sangakkara and SRT over the next 18 hours

Early advantage there for Sanga, gets to 50, and SL lead is going up!.

m@tt wrote:

Gregers wrote:Surely Trott over KP is a given? Trott has been constantly excellent this year in tests

Trott: 365 runs at 40.55 over 9 innings. 1x200, 2x50.
KP: 731 runs at 73.10 over 11 innings. 1x200, 1x100, 4x50.

Gregers

How about a team that is made up from one player per country, with an additional wild card from any team?

Watson (Aus)
Dravid (Ind)
Sangakarra (SL)
Kallis (SA)
Taylor B. (Zim)
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)
Prior (Eng)
Vettori (NZ)
Rampaul (WI)
Anderson (Eng)
Ajmal (Pak)

Cook
Hafeez
Dravid
Sangakkara
Bell
Al Hasan
Prior
Steyn
Z Khan
Anderson
Ajmal

Sangakkara scores a potentialy match winning 2nd innings ton to get back to form and finish the year on a high note.
So he stays, in my test XI of the year, at 4. He scored hundreds against all oppositions he played this year, hasn't he?
In my XI, only one position remains with a questionmark attached to it. Michael Clarke's failure in the MCG test has to be taken into account, particularly as someone like Kevin Pietersen has the big hundreds and lots of runs, and someone like Shakib Al Hasan has got all-round claims. Michael Hussey has had a good time of it during most of the year, and if he produces something special, he should be in with a chance, as is the case with Sachin Tendulkar.

Ian, that's an interesting way of doing it. Very difficult to choose between Bell and Anderson for England, of course, but you've done a fine job.

So the year is done, and my final test xi of the year.
Alastair Cook.
Taufeeq Umar.
Rahul Dravid.
Kumar Sangakkara.
Kevin Pietersen.
Ian Bell.
Matt Prior.
Vernon Philander.
Dale Steyn.
James Anderson.
Saeed Ajmal. .

I think its a bit much to include Philander, he only played 3 matches. If youre having him in how come Marchant de Lange misses out?
Or Bresnan with a batting average of 63 and bowling average 19?
Broad batting average 74 bowling average 22?
Id actually be tempted to have both of those ahead of Anderson. Or you could even take a five bowlers lineup with them in.

fact is that England have been by far the standout team of this year. Their team almost to a man has performed consistently at the highest level. Aside from a few guys like Sangakarra and Ajmal the team should be England heavy.

msp83

Bell is too low at six there - he's long since outgrown that position. As arguably the test batsman of the year, he should have his pick.

msp83 wrote:So the year is done, and my final test xi of the year.
Alastair Cook.
Taufeeq Umar.
Rahul Dravid.
Kumar Sangakkara.
Kevin Pietersen.
Ian Bell.
Matt Prior.
Vernon Philander.
Dale Steyn.
James Anderson.
Saeed Ajmal. .

Would have Sehwag for Umar,Broad for Philander.Broad might have been inconsistent but he was the guy who singlehandedly changed matches against India at Lord's and Trent Bridge when the match was slipping away from us.Not every Tom,Dick and Harry can do that.Broad is a special talent.I can clearly see your case for Philander and I respect that but I just dont think 3 good Tests on 3 green tops against inexperienced line ups are half as good as Broad's heroics against arguably the best batting line up in the world on pitches which although assisted the bowlers were flatter than the green tops in SA.If you feel Broad has been inconsistent what about Brezzie Lad?
Apart from that its hard to argue with your team after Sanga's maiden hundred in SA.

Broad missed out on the latter parts of the Ashes, and was pretty ordanary against SL. He was superb against England, but unlike Philander, he has had inconsistent moments.
Bresnan, and even Broad has strong claims, but I think Philander who is not experienced like the other 2 performed superbly in all his 3 test matches, offered lots of control and lots of wickets, fifers in all the test matches he played, is something special.
Bell has had lots of his success at 6, although in the post-Collingwood era he has been batting at 5. But in my lineup there Dravid, arguably the 2nd best number 3 of all times, there is Sangakkara who again has had success batting in the top order, and Kevin Pietersen bats ahead of Bell in the England lineup as well.

Cricinfo have released their XI of 2011:

01 Alastair Cook
02 Mohammad Hafeez
03 Rahul Dravid
04 Kevin Pietersen
05 Ian Bell
06 Darren Bravo
07 Matt Prior
08 Stuart Broad
09 Dale Steyn
10 Saeed Ajmal
11 James Anderson

You really can't make much of a case for the South Africans, they haven't really played enough tests.

dwayne bravo??

surely it should be darren bravo....

Taufeeq
Cook
Bell
KP
Misbah (c)
Shakib
Prior (w)
Philander
Bresnan
Ajmal
Anderson

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:We definitely need a player like Mark Richardson who can anchor the innings. McCullum should be with Vettori down the order in case we need to fight a rearguard action or when we need to fight a rearguard action!

At least the arrival of Bracewell has given us more bowling actions. I fear though Steyn will roast us for dinner. We don´t do well against genuine pace or good spin bowling. We produce medium pacers like sheep in NZ.

But surely NZ must have somewhere in the domestic scene at least 1 bowler who is above medium pace, if not out and out fast then just fast medium at least.

gboycottnut wrote:

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:We definitely need a player like Mark Richardson who can anchor the innings. McCullum should be with Vettori down the order in case we need to fight a rearguard action or when we need to fight a rearguard action!

At least the arrival of Bracewell has given us more bowling actions. I fear though Steyn will roast us for dinner. We don´t do well against genuine pace or good spin bowling. We produce medium pacers like sheep in NZ.

But surely NZ must have somewhere in the domestic scene at least 1 bowler who is above medium pace, if not out and out fast then just fast medium at least.

Sadly for NZ Cricket (but thankfully for the All Blacks) Israel Dagg decided to put becoming the world's best fullback ahead of becoming a star tearaway fast bowler - apparently he was very sharp bowling in youth cricket. In NZ conditions you don't have to bowl express pace to get wickets, so it's rare for the super-quicks to develop, as they tend to be more prone to injuries. So you see plenty of guys bowling at 130km/h (~80mph), but very few pushing up over 140km/h (approaching 90mph).