best ever test 11

[Ken Gargett]

there will, inevitably, be no agreement on this at all, but here is a team i reckon could beat all comers.

hobbs

barry richards

bradman

g pollock

s smith

sobers

gilchrist (i think healy and knott better keepers but gilly could change a game)

warnie

lillee

ambrose

wasim akram (12th is mcgrath and happy to have him in for any of the quicks, bar lillee).

 

if anyone thinks they have a better team, knock yourselves out.

[JohnS]

Hard, nigh on impossible, to argue against Ken. In fact, Alastair Cook's timing and placement in his 244 not out in the 4th test at the MCG last week brought me back memories of Pollock and Sobers at their best (on YouTube).

[Ken Gargett]

9 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Hard, nigh on impossible, to argue against Ken. In fact, Alastair Cook's timing and placement in his 244 not out in the 4th test at the MCG last week brought me back memories of Pollock and Sobers at their best (on YouTube).

john, was chatting to mates, new years eve, about the famous double wicket cricket series back in 68? i was a very young kid but dad and his best mate, ken archer, took me and murray (ken's son and a good mate). among the teams that day - trueman and milburn; lawry and walters; chappell and mckenzie; griffith and kanhai. the final - it was a knock-out over the day - came down to hall and sobers v the pollock brothers. wow! only time i saw pollock live (saw sobers a few times). the pollocks won it. i remember both dad and ken telling us to watch pollock and how he placed the ball. exquisite. a superstar.

[JohnS]

I've seen some amazing Pollock innings in England where it seems that he is just toying with the fielders. What is even more extraordinary is his custom of taking the ball at the top of the bounce and driving through the line off the back foot...that takes incredible skill. And, I know Sobers did likewise.

By the way @Ken Gargett, Ken Archer? The Queensland who played for Australia, as did his brother Ron and is now Australia's oldest living Test Cricketer? (What an) Absolute legend!

[Ken Gargett]

2 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I've seen some amazing Pollock innings in England where it seems that he is just toying with the fielders. What is even more extraordinary is his custom of taking the ball at the top of the bounce and driving through the line off the back foot...that takes incredible skill. And, I know Sobers did likewise.

By the way @Ken Gargett, Ken Archer? The Queensland who played for Australia, as did his brother Ron and is now Australia's oldest living Test Cricketer? (What an) Absolute legend!

he is indeed. as he says, better than the alternative.

i've known ken since i was born. godfather to my sister and i think his wife, also still with us, is godmother to my other sister. still keep in touch with him. sister visiting him next week as we have a special photo for him for his 90th.

nicest guy you'll ever meet. but he came from that era where you really had to decide how much cricket you could afford. ken bailed out to go into radio and managed 4BC in brizzy and then 2UE in sydney. and then i think he sat on the govt advisory board. ron, younger brother, was always considered the better cricketer. i was talking to his widow a year or so ago (she passed away a month ago) and brizzy being the small world, she is the sister of one of my best mate's wife's mother. she told me ron retired at the age of 23. unthinkable now. he was to be the replacement for keith miller but also copped some injuries. he went on to run channel 10 for many years, up here.

that was the curse of sportsmen back then. sport or career. the old man (and no, the level of ability certainly didn't run in the family) was picked in the shield squad but had to decline as was studying law. he could have also been a tennis player - won the school championship beating a guy who went on to play davis cup for australia and who made a career in tennis. but there was just no money in it and little future, unless you were a bradman.

when i was a kid at school, i was captain of one of the underage teams when they decided on a father/son match. we thought that was terrific. we were about 12 or 13 and i remember that were were seriously cocky about this. no chance a bunch of old blokes were going to beat us. bad enough that my old man flogged us around the park but that was nothing to what ken archer did to us. i remember him just flicking sixes. and i have not mentioned that we had another kid in my team who was out from england while his dad played a bit. tim graveney. again, i don't think he would dispute that the ability did not quite flow into the next generation. so after ken, we then had tom graveney. there were a lot of very un-cocky kids who had their arses handed to them. i can still remember the amusement of the old blokes when they learnt that we actually thought we'd beat them.

[99call]

On 03/01/2018 at 11:28 PM, Ken Gargett said:

warnie

Was interesting to see the team you put together Ken, brought a question to mind

I was at old trafford as a 13yr old for "The Ball of the Century", and even at that young age I could sense the utter shock in the crowd, at how this tubby 20 something?  had seemingly turned the cricket world on its head. Something about it just didn't make sense, he came across as a very 'un serious' unfit show pony, but the truth was as we all came to understand, was his cricket was 'super serious"

My question is two fold.

A, do you think Warnie is the most talented cricketer in the team you picked?, and

B, Do you think a bowling attack has to be picked on whats the most destructive partnership as opposed to who's the most destructing bowler individually?. i.e Although Ambrose might nudge it seen individually. a combination of Mcgrath and Warne seemed to just mentally destroy batsmen. Warne's control of flight/big turn, and Mcgrath's brutally consistent length, always seemed superior as a collective, than any other bowling partnership.

 

[luv2fly]

Hey Ken, good news!  The "land of the free" does not have a dog in this and therefore we do not have the final word!

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, 99call said:

Was interesting to see the team you put together Ken, brought a question to mind

I was at old trafford as a 13yr old for "The Ball of the Century", and even at that young age I could sense the utter shock in the crowd, at how this tubby 20 something?  had seemingly turned the cricket world on its head. Something about it just didn't make sense, he came across as a very 'un serious' unfit show pony, but the truth was as we all came to understand, was his cricket was 'super serious"

My question is two fold.

A, do you think Warnie is the most talented cricketer in the team you picked?, and

B, Do you think a bowling attack has to be picked on whats the most destructive partnership as opposed to who's the most destructing bowler individually?. i.e Although Ambrose might nudge it seen individually. a combination of Mcgrath and Warne seemed to just mentally destroy batsmen. Warne's control of flight/big turn, and Mcgrath's brutally consistent length, always seemed superior as a collective, than any other bowling partnership.

 

interesting stuff.

i waited up that night to see warnie bowl. was keen to see how he'd go (you may recall that in the warm-up game, he'd gone for about 1-200 as graeme hick flogged him everywhere, unaware that border had instructed him to bowl slow leggies with little turn, in the slot, as he wanted to give nothing away and it worked perfectly with hick reporting back that warnie was no threat). i didn't have to wait long.

obviously they are all talented but some get there more on hard work - i'd suggest smith one of those. i would say no. as bats, richards and pollock were super talented but there are two guys that stand out as the most talented there. 1. bradman. 2. daylight.

but the other, for me, is sobers. people laugh about smith batting at 8 and 9 in his first test. sobers was at 11 in his first test or first class game. forget which. sobers was a magnificent batsman. he could open the bowling or bowl spin - both at a very high level. he was brilliant as a close fielder and also in the deep. the bloke could do it all. i have no doubt that if you tossed him the gloves, he succeed there.

good question about individuals or pairs. i think both mcgrath and warnie were fortunate the other was there but had warnie bowled with ambrose, lillee, miller, botham etc, i think you'd have got the same result.

[Ken Gargett]

7 minutes ago, luv2fly said:

Hey Ken, good news!  The "land of the free" does not have a dog in this and therefore we do not have the final word!

i doubt that will stop many trying!!

[luv2fly]

Just now, Ken Gargett said:

i doubt that will stop many trying!!

You are a fun man Ken.  Good fun busting some tackle!

[99call]

7 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

border had instructed him to bowl slow leggies

Thats just not cricket!!!.   Jeese, you know a team is good when they are indulging in misdirection and hijinks

What was your thoughts on Malcolm Marshall? Re the best 11? I can only just about remember him. At the time him seaming utterly terrifying. and his strike rate (I'm now reading) is still the best of anyone who's got over 200wkts

[Ken Gargett]

16 minutes ago, 99call said:

Thats just not cricket!!!.   Jeese, you know a team is good when they are indulging in misdirection and hijinks

What was your thoughts on Malcolm Marshall? Re the best 11? I can only just about remember him. At the time him seaming utterly terrifying. and his strike rate (I'm now reading) is still the best of anyone who's got over 200wkts

brilliant. toss a coin with ambrose. i went with ambrose as when he got angry and decided to wipe a team out, he was awesome. but happy with either. there are quite a few quicks who challenge.

[99call]

1 minute ago, Ken Gargett said:

brilliant. toss a coin with ambrose. i went with ambrose as when he got angry and decided to wipe a team out, he was awesome. but happy with either. there are quite a few quicks who challenge.

wait a minute! I've just watched some of Malcom's one handed batting on youtube (which seems to be his default technique). I can't see him making the tail wag. A shame.  Quite shocking looking back, how many of the bowlers thought they had zero responsibility to make runs.

[Ken Gargett]

28 minutes ago, 99call said:

wait a minute! I've just watched some of Malcom's one handed batting on youtube (which seems to be his default technique). I can't see him making the tail wag. A shame.  Quite shocking looking back, how many of the bowlers thought they had zero responsibility to make runs.

i remember the old mn telling me a story lindwall told him - basically a lot of the late tailenders, both sides but especially county cricket, felt scoring runs not in the job description. in one game on the 48 tour, lindwall removed a tailender's leg stump, because the bloke simply could not reach the ball. rather than face lindwall, he'd backed up so far to leg that the stumps were gone!

[westg]

Smiths last 18 months have been terrific...at times against some d grade teams....especially right now..I think the next 4 or 5 years may determine his spot in your team Ken...That said...I would replace him with Sachin ,Viv  or Lara..