All Time Cricket Draft - The Draft

[KoopKicka]

Under review of the 3 players currently playing rule I have decided to lower that to 1 player. So 5-6 teams have already met that requirement. :)

Front page and our pick will be updated shortly. :)

[Torpedo10]

Under review of the 3 players currently playing rule I have decided to lower that to 1 player. So 5-6 teams have already met that requirement. :)

Front page and our pick will be updated shortly. :)

;D

[KoopKicka]

16th highest run getter, welcome Matthew Hayden

[Torpedo10]

16th highest run getter, welcome Matthew Hayden

>:(

[Chelskiman]

Seeing as I have Greenidge I should compliment him with Desmond Haynes.

[Jay]

Harold Larwood

[Shaggy]

Mohammad Yousuf

[Torpedo10]

I'll take Bill 'Tiger' O'Reilly

[Spinking]

The current player rule is very challenging!

Virender Sehwag

[AFEV]

I'm going to continue with write ups now...

Sydney Barnes

This man, in my opinion has is the best seam bowler of all time, and quite possible the best bowler ever to have played the game. This mans international record is simply unmatched - nobody even approaches his brilliance. Across his 13 year career he established himself as the main man to fear in an English bowling attack that also contained all time greats like Rhodes, Woolley and Foster.

In 27 matches he bagged a simply astonishing 24 5 wicket-innings, and had 7 10 tests in which he struck at least 10 times. His bowling average is just...unbelievable - 16.43. :o

Compare this to a Warne who averaged 25.41, or 22.72 from Muralitharan. His average is a class ABOVE 2 of the bowlers who are consistently mentioned in conversations about 'the best'.

His strike rate is similarly impressive - taking a wicket once every 41.6 deliveries.

A lot of people question whether he was truly a spectacular bowler, or simply a good bowler playing on spectacular pitches, so lets compare him to the men he bowled with - the guys who played on exactly the same pitches he did:

As I mentioned earlier, in his 27 test matches Syd got 24 5fors and 7 10 wicket matches. In those same 27 tests only 1 other player (Frank Woolley) got 10 in a single match, and he only did it a single time. The rest of his team combined managed just 17 5fors.

Across those 27 tests, England took a total of 475 wickets. Of those 475, Barnes took 189. Next best? 45. An absolutely massive margin.

He's a cut above isn't he? Not to mention 2 of those other bowlers were Frank Woolley and Wilfred Rhodes - 2 players who hold a fair few records in their own right.

It's a shame that off-field disagreements kept him out of the English team during the prime of his career, but once they came to their senses he proved his worth. An interesting stat I came across - At 54 years of age he was still taking international wickets! :o

Of course it isn't all about statistics, Barnes has commonly been regarded as the best ever by many who have seen him. His mastery of the art of seam bowling is (perhaps) only matched by Glenn McGrath. His control and skill was the stuff of legend, his cutters moved off the pitch so much you could easily mistake him as a spinner, his pace was surprising and his ability to lose or gain a yard of pace at will consistently tricked batsman and stole their wicket.

[tbagrocks]

Real sorry guys didn't realize it was my turn  :-[ Sid's player profile threw me off  ::)

Ray Lindwall

Ian Healy

[JBs-Hawks]

Quality pick in Lindwall.

[tbagrocks]

Quality pick in Lindwall.

Steal!  ;D

[JBs-Hawks]

There's one fast bowler I'd pick in front of him left but still a gun

[Spinking]

Need a keeper.

Rod Marsh