Draft: The Panesar Draft

[Aislabie]

1. Vijay Merchant
2. Stewie Dempster

Oh good lord that's absolutely devastating. I'd been hoping that Merchant could be my next pick while everyone went for all-rounders, but if I really wanted him I should have picked him up when I had the chance.

 

[CerealKiller]

I didn’t even look for batsmen a lot, quickly picked Law because I remembered him from the other drafts, but wanted to shore up my bowling attack first

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Because he's got the batting order all wrong. This makes more sense:

1. Aakash Chopra (U)
2. Monkey Hornby (U)
3. Shreyas Iyer (0 caps)
4. Amol Muzumdar (0 caps)
5. ?
6. ?
7. Alec Douglas-Home (U)
8. Harold Larwood (21 caps)
9. ?
10. Bill Bell (U)
11. Ranjan Das (U)

Was torn between Muzumdar and Iyer at three and four, but good lord just open with Hornby - he was an opener.

I just saw his bowling record and he has done well in that department as well. If that is a rule then I am fine with Hornby opening. And Iyer played as opener in early years as far as I remember.

 

[Aislabie]

I just saw his bowling record and he has done well in that department as well. If that is a rule then I am fine with Hornby opening. And Iyer played as opener in early years as far as I remember.

11 wickets in 437 first-class matches. He's not a bowling option! As for batting order follow your dreams, I just think it's the best use of the players you have but I'm not right about everything

 

[Master Bates]

I'm not right about everything

[DOUBLEPOST=1587657176][/DOUBLEPOST]

Stewie Dempster

was not impressed by his FC average plus I have someone even better!

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Rajinder Goel
​

Rajinder Goel is a former cricketer who holds the record for most wickets in Ranji Trophy, India's premier first class competition, despite which he was never selected to play for India. A left armspinner, he represented Patiala, Southern Punjab, Delhi and Haryana in domestic cricket between 1958-1985. Goel has more first class wickets than Shane Warne's test wickets which further talks about the quality he had. The presence of Bhagwat Chandresekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Venkatraghavan and Prasanna meant that he just couldn't fit into the national side. Goel had become such a big name in the domestic arena that once Bedi was asked that was he really as good as Goel ?

Spoiler: Stats

Stats | Matches | Runs | Average | Top Score| Balls Bowled| Runs | Wickets | BBI | Average | Economy | SR | 5w | 10w
First-Class | 157 | 1,037 |9.34| 44 | 39,781 | 13,940 | 750 | 8/55 | 18.58 | 2.10 | 53.00 | 59 | 18 |

@Nilay_60 's XI

Aakash Chopra (U)
A.N. Hornby (U)
Shreyas Iyer (0)
Amol Muzumdar (0)


Alec Douglas-Home (U)
Harold Larwood (21)
Bill Bell (U)
Ranjan Das (U)
Rajinder Goel (0)

@El Loco

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Vijay Merchant

Shi... That was my next pick.

 

[Bevab]

Oh good lord that's absolutely devastating. I'd been hoping that Merchant could be my next pick while everyone went for all-rounders, but if I really wanted him I should have picked him up when I had the chance.

Haha I expected either you or @Nilay_60 to pick Merchant up due to his local knowledge. Was certainly lucky that someone with a significant record as his managed to pass under the radar.

 

[Bevab]

was not impressed by his FC average plus I have someone even better!

In defense of Dempster, his first class average is pulled down from his Wellington stint for whom he averaged 35. However, I could find only one other New Zealand player who had an average in the same mid 30s in the 1920s and that player was nowhere near as good for the Black Caps which might indicate that their playing conditions were not really conducive to batting. For Leicestershire he averaged 49 with eighteen hundreds and fourteen fifties indicating a good conversion rate and all of this was despite him barely receiving any proper formal coaching until he was an established cricketer touring England and being often taken away on Cahn's personal side's tours whose stats I'm not sure are included in first-class category (maybe @Aislabie with his cricketarchive knowledge could help).

Most importantly, the Black Caps side was barely any good back then (a South African team that was just around forty years old on the test scene with just three series victories out of seventeen had comprehensively defeated them in two matches) and Dempster still averaged in the 60s. There is a reason why Hitz called him among the top six batsmen of his time and why many consider him the country's greatest batsman even now (although Williamson might have a thing to say about that).

Will be interesting to see who you come up with as I myself had last minute thoughts over Dempster when I realised a couple of other openers were still available.[DOUBLEPOST=1587672609][/DOUBLEPOST]

Rajinder Goel

@Nilay_60 's XI

Aakash Chopra (U)
A.N. Hornby (U)
Shreyas Iyer (0)
Amol Muzumdar (0)


Alec Douglas-Home (U)
Harold Larwood (21)
Rajinder Goel (0)
Bill Bell (U)
Ranjan Das (U)

@El Loco

Another great pick!

 

[Aislabie]

Haha I expected either you or @Nilay_60 to pick Merchant up due to his local knowledge. Was certainly lucky that someone with a significant record as his managed to pass under the radar.

Yeah, I even had a PM chain with Dave debating whether I should go for Merchant or Alley. Ultimately decided there were other great batsmen, but no other 75 15 all-rounders knocking about the place

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Haha I expected either you or @Nilay_60 to pick Merchant up due to his local knowledge. Was certainly lucky that someone with a significant record as his managed to pass under the radar.

Merchant was the first batsman I searched out for only to find out I spent overly on Larwood. Actually would've eaten up my caps limit if I did so.

 

[El Loco]

Right, I've got 16 tests remaining to play with but I think it's worth blowing 15 of them on this pick.
Ranjitsinhji, one of finest batsmen of all-time and the inventor of the late-cut, leg glance and back-foot defence.

1.
2. Ajay Sharma
3. Ranjitsinhji
4. Vinod Kambli
5. Phil Mead
6. John Langridge
7.
8. Brijal Patel
9. Pankaj Singh
10. Alfred Luseno
11. Chris Martin

@Na Maloom Afraad

 

[Bevab]

Right, I've got 16 tests remaining to play with but I think it's worth blowing 15 of them on this pick.
Ranjitsinhji, one of finest openers of all-time and the inventor of the late-cut, leg glance and back-foot defence.

1. Ranjitsinhji
2. Ajay Sharma
3. Vinod Kambli
4. Phil Mead
5. John Langridge
6.
7.
8. Brijal Patel
9. Pankaj Singh
10. Alfred Luseno
11. Chris Martin

@Na Maloom Afraad

Ranji was a wonderfully creative player but I'm not sure if he opened internationally.

 

[El Loco]

Ranji was a wonderfully creative player but I'm not sure if he opened internationally.

Yeah what I wrote was admittedly a bit mis-informed

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

NMA's PANESAR XI

Jim Parks Sr. ( 1)
Graeme Pollock ( 23)
Aubrey Faulkner ( 25)
Robert Whyte (UD)
Bart King ( 0)
Kyle Mills (UD)
Rony Stanyforth (UD)
Sridharan Jeganathan (UD)
Mark Lawrence (UD)

TEST CAPS USED (49/50)

Actually quite surprised that Aubrey Faulkner has not been picked yet. One of the greatest all-rounders, and a much-needed addition in my team. A fantastic batsman and bowler, filling out two roles in one spot. His stats speak for themselves. I spent 25 out of my 26 remaining caps on him, but I think it's well worth it.

|Matches|Innings|Not outs|

RUNS

|

HS

|Average|100s|50s

Tests |25|47|4| 1,754 |204|40.79|4|8

- First-Class - |118|197|23| - 6,366 - | - 204 - |36.58|13|32

|Matches|Innings|Wickets|BBI|Average|5Ws|10Ws

Tests |25|43| 82 |7/84|26.58|4|0

- First-Class - |118| | 449 | - 7/26 - |17.42|33|8

"One of the greatest allrounders and arguably - despite an unorthodox and extraordinary grip of the bat - the best of coaches. His pupils included Ian Peebles and ET KIllick. He made a double-hundred against Australia at Melbourne in 1910-11; but was this a finer feat than his 6 for 17 in the third Test ever played at Leeds? Some would say, rather, that he accomplished nothing better than his 153 followed by 6 for 64 against the Australians at the Saffrons, Eastbourne in 1921."

"One of the earliest exponents of the googly, he differed from other bowlers of that type because of his ability to send down quite a fast ball, almost a yorker, and when at his best, with faultless length, skill in turning the ball either way and a puzzling variation of flight he proved too much for some of the world's greatest batsmen."

"Many will remember his fine bowling at Leeds in 1907 when, playing for South Africa in the second Test match of that series against England, he dismissed six men in the course of eleven overs for 17 runs. His career was full of remarkable performances. In that same season of 1907 he, in all matches for the South Africans, scored 1,288 runs and took seventy-three wickets."

"He was probably at his best in 1909-10 when his doings with both bat and ball against the English team were magnificent. When South Africa visited Australia in the season of 1910-11, Faulkner headed the Test match batting averages with 732 runs and an average of 73.20. In all matches during that tour he scored 2,080 runs, taking sixty wickets, and in the Test match at Melbourne he hit a splendid 204."

"After settling down in England he had a great season in club cricket in Nottinghamshire, making twelve hundreds in scoring 2,868 runs with an average of 84.35, besides taking 218 wickets, including all ten in an innings on two occasions. Still, his finest innings in this country was at Eastbourne in 1921 when by a wonderful 153 against the Australians."

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@CerealKiller, you're up