Draft: The Pre-Twenty20 Draft

[Aislabie]

Trumper was a genius batsman, and the fifth-quickest scorer among those eligible in this draft, second-quickest if only specialist batsmen are considered

Well someone's been doing their Statsguru queries. I'd be interested to know what criteria you used to get these results though...

 

[CerealKiller]

Well someone's been doing their Statsguru queries. I'd be interested to know what criteria you used to get these results though...

Nope, SR for older players doesn't show up, just researched on Google and found an article with estimated SRs

 

[Aislabie]

Nope, SR for older players doesn't show up, just researched on Google and found an article with estimated SRs

You can still get strike rates based upon the data that is available; it's very incomplete, but most players do have sufficient sample sizes to get an educated idea. I have got a couple of more obscure picks lined up for later on with this in mind

 

[Bevab]

You can still get strike rates based upon the data that is available; it's very incomplete, but most players do have sufficient sample sizes to get an educated idea. I have got a couple of more obscure picks lined up for later on with this in mind

Cricket Captain is actually helpful in this regard, a lot of players have an approximate strike rate which gives you a fair idea of how they played back in the day.

@CerealKiller ah snap, Trumper would have been my pick now. It was a miracle that he wasn’t picked up earlier.

 

[CerealKiller]

@CerealKiller ah snap, Trumper would have been my pick now. It was a miracle that he wasn’t picked up earlier.

I guess we're even then

 

[Bevab]

Now that Trumper’s gone, I’m left to choose between two players and I’m going for the one in the niche role as I simply don’t want to lose him even if he isn’t the best pick I could possibly make.

People of PlanetCricket, meet..

Denis Lindsay
​

Wait, who?

Reasons for selection:

• The role of several players have changed over the years. We have seen more aggressive openers, pinch hitters, pacers and spinners with an increasing bag of tricks and also specialist fielders these days. Yet, the biggest change was seen in the role of the player donning the gloves.
• Back then, any player who could be a competent keeper was almost instantly selected, without much regard for their batting skills. This has obviously changed in the modern era, where the role of a keeper is to primarily be a batsman first and a keeper next. This is even more stark in T20s, where the likes of Rayudu and KL Rahul have kept wickets for their respective IPL franchises in recent times despite not being keepers primarily.
• It was quite difficult to pick a keeper then. Indeed, the most obvious choice was Kaluwitharana who played as a pinch hitter for Sri Lanka. But, he is ineligible as a result of playing five T20s.
• There are only three eligible players who even average 40 and above having played test cricket and kept wickets for more than 10 games. Lindsay was the most natural middle order batsman and most aggressive among them. A certain Windies legend happened to be there too, but he kept wickets for only his first 15 games before back problems forced him to relinquish the gloves. Of course, it is an entirely different prospect to keep wickets for five entire days of play and just 20 overs but would he be willing to play as a keeper when he probably was good enough to play as a pure batsman with a chronic injury? All of this ran contrary to my initial rule of minimising speculation regarding roles and playing style so I went with Lindsay.
• Lindsay’s career is most famous for his role in the maiden series win for South Africa versus the Aussies. Lindsay almost singlehandedly turned a potential disaster into one of his country’s brightest sporting moments before their apartheid ban.
• Lindsay first walked in with South Africa having lost 5 wickets for just 41 runs. He then scored 69 runs and took South Africa to a respectable 199.
• The second innings was when Lindsay proved his worth, as he struck 182 off just 227 deliveries with five sixes. He made his century in just one session, one of the few batsmen in test history to do so. Lindsay also took 8 catches in this game and didn’t concede a single bye.
• His fine form continued throughout the series. He scored 81 in the second innings despite batting with a bandaged head after a vicious blow to his forehead in the first innings. He scored a century in the third test when South Africa collapsed yet again (no other player even scored a century in the same game). It was in the fourth test that Lindsay proved his worth, as he scored almost 40% of his team’s runs in the first innings, scoring a 50 in just 48 minutes and his century an hour later. Lindsay wasn’t even needed in the final test as South Africa won with him not conceding a single bye yet again.
• In the end, Lindsay struck 606 runs over the entire series, still the record for a wicketkeeper during a series. His strike rate was estimated to be nearly 70 throughout the series, an outstanding record for a player of his era. Further, he only conceded six byes throughout the series, which is one of the lowest in test history too.
• Graeme Pollock, one of South Africa’s best wrote: "I don't think I have ever seen a batsman in such complete control... He loves to hook, but he would also go down the wicket to one of the quickies bowling with the new ball and hit the ball straight back over the bowler's head. That is something you don't expect to see in a Test match." Such natural aggression and intent is a perfect fit for T20s.
• It is unfortunate that Lindsay did not play more international games, as South Africa were banned when he was 30 and entering his prime. Apart from being an incredible keeper who did not concede a single bye in his last four games, Lindsay was also a mercurial talent with the bat who was way ahead of his times and would have been a superstar in the modern era. Unlike many of his compatriots, Lindsay did not play county cricket and we were truly deprived of seeing this talent shine on a bigger stage for a longer period.
• It is tough to say how his career would have been had he played more games due to his rather average record in other series’ but in his defence, he was playing either out of position or without the gloves. A comparison would be Bairstow who strangely seems to perform poorly/believe himself to be poor without the gloves or higher up the order despite being a competent test batsman himself when he plays in the middle order as the designated keeper.

Comparable modern T20 player:

A keeper batsman who loves counter attacking and is capable of driving and hooking well finding the middle of the bat easily? The closest I can think of is Jos Buttler who opens the batting in T20s these days.

Role in the team:

Lindsay thrived in the middle order for South Africa and struggled in the top order, so it makes sense to have him where he played best. Alternatively, he could very well be one of those players that played down the order in test cricket but opened the batting in T20s to take advantage of the powerplay. For now, I will keep him at 6 where he is expected to provide late flourishes with boundaries like he did in his peak, but might change his position depending on future picks.


1.
2. S. Anwar
3.
4.
5.
6. D. Lindsay
7. K. Dev
8.
9.
10.
11. J. Garner

@Rebel2k19 your turn mate.

 

[Aislabie]

A very bold pick there, and I see why you've gone for him. There aren't many attacking wicket-keeper batsmen available from before the Twenty20 era, and you have certainly picked one of the very best available. Personally I plan to pick more of a Michael Bates style wicket-keeper, because I believe that a magical catch or stumping can completely change a game and I just don't know enough about Lindsay to be sure if he was an especially good gloveman or not

 

[Bevab]

A very bold pick there, and I see why you've gone for him. There aren't many attacking wicket-keeper batsmen available from before the Twenty20 era, and you have certainly picked one of the very best available. Personally I plan to pick more of a Michael Bates style wicket-keeper, because I believe that a magical catch or stumping can completely change a game and I just don't know enough about Lindsay to be sure if he was an especially good gloveman or not

Lindsay was pretty much the only aggressive keeper batsman who also had the numbers on paper to back his aggression available who was also decent with the bat and had international pedigree. It certainly is a bold pick and one that I wouldn’t have made had there been more time to look up for another player or if Trumper was available. Reading more about him actually made me pick him too, the man seemed like a force of nature in the way he almost singlehandedly won South Africa an entire series versus a heavyweight Australian side.

As for the keeping aspect, Lindsay has one of the lowest byes per game record in test history. His lack of games aids him here but he also took an incredible 24 catches in the famous series versus Australia and has generally been described as one of the most agile keepers.

The Independent also calls him the trailblazer for someone like Gilchrist. That is some of the highest praise you could pay to a keeper batsman. You could throw Lindsay from the 60s into the current era like Dev and find that he barely has any issues adapting unlike most other keeper batsmen of the past who would need to play either more aggressively or do more than the role of a pinch hitter.

 

[Aislabie]

Hats off; this is why I love draft threads that run like this - you get to learn so much more about players.

 

[blockerdave]

Fantastic pick, and you've nicked my keeper ha ha

 

[Gaurav_7]

Farokh Engineer
​

When Indian batsmen ducked under 'life threatening' bouncers, one man saw them as scoring opportunities. Such was his swagger, Farokh Engineer was way ahead of his time. He changed the way the Indians approached a game of cricket while batting. The very first poster boy of Indian cricket! He had it in him to take on best of the best bowling lineups.

When he hooked Wes Hall for a six, Hall's mother met Engineer and said there are hardly any batsmen who could do that. Such was Engineer's aggression. In a match against the mighty West Indies, Engineer was sent to open the innings where he plundered 92 runs before lunch. After lunch he soon brought up his maiden Test hundred with a huge six!

They say Farokh Engineer would probably have been a marquee player in IPL if he was born in the right era. India were 125 for 5 at The Oval after England put up 355, and Engineer’s 59 was crucial to take them to 284. He later saw India home with 28 not out during the final chase. It was a quick fire knock. Engineer was the actual swashbuckler of Indian cricket and someone who revolutionised the batting with his hitting and dasher attitude.

He will be a perfect partner for Greenidge as another opener. But there is more. He was also one of the best WKs of the time as is evidenced by the fact of him being selected in the Rest of the World squad thrice! He kept wickets for the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna, and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar with ease. His agility made him the first choice WK for India in the 60s and 70s.

Gordon Greenidge
Farokh Engineer
Viv Richards
Keith Miller

 

[blockerdave]

Top choice... that's my first 2 keeper choices gone. I've got 2 more in the pocket, think one is vulnerable to being picked beforehand but the other is hopefully safe.

 

[Aislabie]

@Villain up next

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Farokh Engineer
​

When Indian batsmen ducked under 'life threatening' bouncers, one man saw them as scoring opportunities. Such was his swagger, Farokh Engineer was way ahead of his time. He changed the way the Indians approached a game of cricket while batting. The very first poster boy of Indian cricket! He had it in him to take on best of the best bowling lineups.

When he hooked Wes Hall for a six, Hall's mother met Engineer and said there are hardly any batsmen who could do that. Such was Engineer's aggression. In a match against the mighty West Indies, Engineer was sent to open the innings where he plundered 92 runs before lunch. After lunch he soon brought up his maiden Test hundred with a huge six!

They say Farokh Engineer would probably have been a marquee player in IPL if he was born in the right era. India were 125 for 5 at The Oval after England put up 355, and Engineer’s 59 was crucial to take them to 284. He later saw India home with 28 not out during the final chase. It was a quick fire knock. Engineer was the actual swashbuckler of Indian cricket and someone who revolutionised the batting with his hitting and dasher attitude.

He will be a perfect partner for Greenidge as another opener. But there is more. He was also one of the best WKs of the time as is evidenced by the fact of him being selected in the Rest of the World squad thrice! He kept wickets for the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna, and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar with ease. His agility made him the first choice WK for India in the 60s and 70s.

Gordon Greenidge
Farokh Engineer
Viv Richards
Keith Miller

Isn't Rishabh Pant the only player to hit a 100 as a Wicket-keeper batsman for India outside Asia ? Correct me if wrong.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Isn't Rishabh Pant the only player to hit a 100 as a Wicket-keeper batsman for India outside Asia ? Correct me if wrong.

The hundred Engineer hit against WI was in Madras.