Draft: The Pre-Twenty20 Draft

[Master Bates]

@Aislabie ?

 

[Villain]

Sorry for the inconvenience caused, been busy and was dealing with fever. I think @Sinister One could've made the pick but he didn't so I'll post my pick in a while.

 

[Master Bates]

Sir Andy Roberts

Write up later

@Villain @Aislabie

 

[Villain]

Sir Jack Hobbs
Cricket's most prolific batsman, with over 60,000 runs in his FC career at an average of a bit over 50 that also includes over 190 centuries and 270+ half centuries. A record that could never be broken. He was a top order batsman, he could bat brilliantly on worst possible pitches and has a fantastic Test record as well even though he only played 61 Test matches. Age was not a factor for him, so many of his hundreds came after he was over 40. People compared Bradman with him who of course has a way better record but Sir Hobbs was known to be better on bad pitches. He'll open the batting for the team. ​

 

[Villain]

@Aislabie can pick next.

 

[Aislabie]

Overall Pick #43: Bob Appleyard

Profile
Bob Appleyard's cricket career started late, not being selected for Yorkshire until he was 27 years old. This wasn't because of a lack of ability, it was because he wasn't playing cricket at all. By the age of seven, his mother had left the household; by the time he was fifteen, his father, stepmother and three sisters had died as a result of a gas leak. Shortly after that, World War Two broke out. After that, he had to support himself and earn a living, which left little time for cricket until he was spotted bowling in the nets at Bramall Lane. After finally breaking into the first-class game in dramatic fashion (by taking 200 wickets in his first full season in 1951), he suffered another setback when he was struck down with tuberculosis that was expected to be terminal. Instead of dying, Appleyard returned to the Yorkshire side for the 1954 season, in which he took 154 wickets and made his Test debut. His career also came to an end far earlier than it should have owing to a severe shoulder injury, but in just five full seasons of cricket, the legendary Appleyard took 708 first-class wickets at 15.48, including 31 Test wickets at 17.87. He was near-impossibly difficult to score off, as reflected by a career economy rate of just over two runs per over.

Comparable T20 Player
Appleyard's method was to bowl at roughly medium pace, while using his fingers to spin the ball both ways. A quick arm action made this exceptionally difficult to pick, rather like Rashid Khan.

Finest Performances
Normally I would pick a stand-out innings or match, but honestly the stand-out performance has to be returning from tuberculosis to dismantle county cricket again.

Role in the Team
Bob Appleyard is my main spinner; he will take on the Rashid Khan role of bowling quick spin that turns both ways, later on in the innings when batsmen are attacking him.

Aislabie's XI so far:
1. Colin Milburn (Pick #35)
2. Don Bradman (Pick #3)
3. Zaheer Abbas (Pick #12)
4.
5. Leslie Ames (Pick #36)
6. Mike Procter (Pick #27)
7.
8.
9.
10. Sydney Barnes (Pick #16)
11. Bob Appleyard (Pick #43)

Next pick:
@CerealKiller

 

[blockerdave]

I confess I'd never heard of Appleyard, but he sounds some player as well as someone who must have broken a lot of mirrors to get such luck.

 

[blockerdave]

I mean, I'll be okay with players never to play Twenty20 so long as it's common sense. Michael Bevan was a pre-T20 player even though he kept going a little way past 2003, but Haseeb Hameed would not really be an appropriate pick. I'll edit the OP to make it clearer before we get going.

just clarifying on this - it's ok if a player retired after T20 was a thing (so post-2003) as long as they played the bulk of their career before that, and they never actually played a T20 match?

 

[Aislabie]

just clarifying on this - it's ok if a player retired after T20 was a thing (so post-2003) as long as they played the bulk of their career before that, and they never actually played a T20 match?

Spot on, such a player would be fine. Taking a common-sense approach, and such a player would definitely be a "pre-Twenty20" player

 

[CerealKiller]

Malcolm Marshall
Malcolm Marshall is arguably the greatest West Indian fast bowler ever, having taken 376 Test wickets at 20.94 runs apiece, which is the lowest average for anyone with over 200 wickets. He generated fearsome pace with his bowling action, and had a very dangerous bouncer, which rose sharply from just short of a good length. In seven successive Test series from 1982/83 to 1985/86 he took 21 or more wickets each time, in the last five of them averaging under 20.
He was also a very dangerous lower order batsman, having notched up 10 Test fifties and 7 hundreds in domestic cricket.
His role in the team will be to open and close the innings with the ball, and strike a few blows with the bat whenever needed.
Without comparing their skill, the modern player most similar to him is Kagiso Rabada.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Graeme Pollock
2. Victor Trumper
3.
4. Stan McCabe
5. Imran Khan
6.
7. Alan Davidson
8. Malcolm Marshall
9.
10. Bill O'Reilly
11.

@Sinister One

 

[blockerdave]

Malcolm Marshall
Malcolm Marshall is arguably the greatest West Indian fast bowler ever, having taken 376 Test wickets at 20.94 runs apiece, which is the lowest average for anyone with over 200 wickets. He generated fearsome pace with his bowling action, and had a very dangerous bouncer, which rose sharply from just short of a good length. In seven successive Test series from 1982/83 to 1985/86 he took 21 or more wickets each time, in the last five of them averaging under 20.
He was also a very dangerous lower order batsman, having notched up 10 Test fifties and 7 hundreds in domestic cricket.
His role in the team will be to open and close the innings with the ball, and strike a few blows with the bat whenever needed.
Without comparing their skill, the modern player most similar to him is Kagiso Rabada.

CerealKiller's XI
1. Graeme Pollock
2. Victor Trumper
3.
4. Stan McCabe
5. Imran Khan
6.
7. Alan Davidson
8. Malcolm Marshall
9.
10. Bill O'Reilly
11.

@Sinister One

tremendous pick

 

[Aislabie]

@Sinister One is now late, despite thanking @CerealKiller's pick.

@Villain can now pick

 

[Villain]

Steve Waugh
Captain of the most dominant Australian team who won the 1999 WorldCup, winning was a habit for his team. There is no doubt he'll be captaining my side. 7569 runs at a strike rate of 75.9 in ODIs. At the start of his career he was also a medium pacer who could bowl well at the death which earned him the tag 'Iceman'. His aggressive style of captaincy and providing stability in the middle-order during pressure situations will be his key role in the team.​

 

[Villain]

My team so far:
Villain's XI
Sir Jack Hobbs
Steve Waugh
Aravinda De Silva
Michael Bevan
Ian Healy
Sir Ian Botham
Sir Curtly Ambrose

 

[Aislabie]

@Rebel2k19