Draft: Selection: Impossible

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:eng: :bat: HERBERT SUTCLIFFE

Matthew Hayden might be my all-time favourite opening batter, but in terms of outright batting average, one man stands above the rest: Herbert Sutcliffe. At no point in his career did his batting average ever drop below 60, which to the best of my knowledge is completely unique in the history of Test cricket. And even that undersells how good he was: after 40 Test matches, he had made all 16 of his Test centuries, and was averaging 69.80 at that point. But he had also recently turned 38 years of age, and his remaining 14 Tests after that yielded an average of only 35.80 with a best innings of 86. To be clear, this is not a criticism of Sutcliffe for playing on while he continued to get selected: it's just how getting old is sometimes.

Sutcliffe's granite style is also perfect for the team I'm looking to build: I don't intend for the middle order to be shrinking violets, so it's good to have an anchor.

1. :eng: :bat: Herbert Sutcliffe
2. :aus: :bat: Matthew Hayden
3. :wi: :bat: Brian Lara
4.
5.
6.
7. :eng: :wk: Bob Taylor
8.
9. :wi: :bwl: Courtney Walsh
10. :aus: :bwl: Glenn McGrath
11.

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@icyman again
 
I do see that my batting is still wide empty so here is a man who will boost my batting stocks and open the innings, straight out of the 1940s-

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Arthur Robert Morris was part of Don Bradman's invincibles side touring England in 1948, and is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest openers from the 1900s. He scored 3533 runs at an average of 46.49 in 46 tests. In fact in the 1948 series which was Bradman's last, he outscored the legend himself with 696 runs to the Don's 503.




1. :aus: :bat: Arthur Morris
2.
3.
4.
5. :aus: :bat: Allan Border :c:
6.
7. :saf: :wk: Quinton de Kock
8. :pak: :ar: Wasim Akram
9. :sri: :bwl: Chaminda Vaas
10. :sri: :bwl: Rangana Herath
11.

@Welwyn
 
Time to steal an associate again!

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Playing for Oman is kind of a demerit when other people have The Don, The Dos and co in their teams. But there's plenty of reasons why I flipped my pick after telling Aislabie who it originally was going to be. Bilal has been lethal against a bunch of opponents with in theory more talented teams - he's taken five wicket hauls against Scotland and Namibia, and even when the team was thrashed by Sri Lanka, he was the only bowler to really hold his own. He also has played low level associate cricket, meaning he's equipped to bowl without much rest - he took 9/73 in two games held on back-to-back days in 2022, then 8/101 in another double header a month later.

Bilal is however a dog shite batsman, so he will be at 11.

1. :aus: :bat: Michael di Venuto
4. :saf: :ar: Clive Rice
5. :ned: :ar: Ryan ten Doeschate
6. :aus: :ar: David Hussey
9. :nzf: :bwl: Adam Milne
11. :oma: :bwl: Bilal Khan

@Yash.
 
Time to steal an associate again!

View attachment 292019

Playing for Oman is kind of a demerit when other people have The Don, The Dos and co in their teams. But there's plenty of reasons why I flipped my pick after telling Aislabie who it originally was going to be. Bilal has been lethal against a bunch of opponents with in theory more talented teams - he's taken five wicket hauls against Scotland and Namibia, and even when the team was thrashed by Sri Lanka, he was the only bowler to really hold his own. He also has played low level associate cricket, meaning he's equipped to bowl without much rest - he took 9/73 in two games held on back-to-back days in 2022, then 8/101 in another double header a month later.

Bilal is however a dog shite batsman, so he will be at 11.

1. :aus: :bat: Michael di Venuto
4. :saf: :ar: Clive Rice
5. :ned: :ar: Ryan ten Doeschate
6. :aus: :ar: David Hussey
9. :nzf: :bwl: Adam Milne
11. :oma: :bwl: Bilal Khan

@Yash.

Outstanding pick.
 
Time to steal an associate again!

View attachment 292019

Playing for Oman is kind of a demerit when other people have The Don, The Dos and co in their teams. But there's plenty of reasons why I flipped my pick after telling Aislabie who it originally was going to be. Bilal has been lethal against a bunch of opponents with in theory more talented teams - he's taken five wicket hauls against Scotland and Namibia, and even when the team was thrashed by Sri Lanka, he was the only bowler to really hold his own. He also has played low level associate cricket, meaning he's equipped to bowl without much rest - he took 9/73 in two games held on back-to-back days in 2022, then 8/101 in another double header a month later.

Bilal is however a dog shite batsman, so he will be at 11.

1. :aus: :bat: Michael di Venuto
4. :saf: :ar: Clive Rice
5. :ned: :ar: Ryan ten Doeschate
6. :aus: :ar: David Hussey
9. :nzf: :bwl: Adam Milne
11. :oma: :bwl: Bilal Khan

@Yash.
Legendary pick
 

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