All Time ODI XI

MN5

Pollock was an all time great. End of story. Some say he actually underachieved with the bat too which is a scary thought overall.

Chris B.

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Pollock was an all time great. End of story.
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That's not really the question, though. The question is whether he makes an all time best XI - under Sid's rules (which I have discounted a bit in some of my comments).
 
That's a pretty exacting standard - when you have people like Malcolm Marshall and Dennis Lillee barely rating a mention.

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="609423" data-time="1472265143">
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That's not really the question, though. The question is whether he makes an all time best XI - under Sid's rules (which I have discounted a bit in some of my comments).
 
That's a pretty exacting standard - when you have people like Malcolm Marshall and Dennis Lillee barely rating a mention.
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Google Marshalls ODI record. Pretty ordinary compared to his test record and he'd be in many first XIs in the longest version of the game. As for Lillee perhaps he's just a bit old for many on here to remember ?

Chris B.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="609438" data-time="1472268566">
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Google Marshalls ODI record. Pretty ordinary compared to his test record. As for Lillee perhaps he's just a bit old for many on here to remember ?
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Marshall probably never got to bowl against the tail in ODIs. :)
 
Lillee makes lots of "best of all time" teams, so picking from everyone's team for a "best ever" he'd go very close.
 
I'd agree with Sid that you need five specialist bowlers and you really have to pick four seamers and a spinner assuming an XI that can play on all surfaces.
 
The spinner pretty much has to be either Warnie or Murali, though statistically you can make a case for Saqlain, or if you wanted to bolster your batting you could play Afridi for his exceptional hitting power (but a pretty run of the mill bowler) - or a bit further down the pecking order Dan Vettori who could hold a bat.
 
For the four seamers, I'd make a list of the 20 best I've seen (which is pretty much all of them in ODI cricket). From that list, easily the best batsman is Imran (and he'd probably be in the top ten of the bowling list), so he would bat at seven in my team. 
 
I'd pick Wasim Akram because he's probably the best one day bowler I've seen and he has the added bonus of being a left armer.
 
I'd want one of the two West Indian giants - Garner or Ambrose - statistically you'd choose Garner, but I've got a feeling Ambrose was probably a better bowler - certainly much nastier, so leaving aside the "romance" of choosing the older guy, in a team playing for my life, I'd probably choose Amby.
 
So - one bowling spot left. An important question is whether Wasim, with a batting average of 16.5 is good enough to bat at 8 in an alltime team?
 
If he is, then you can pretty much go ahead and pick the next best bowler, for my money that would probably be Lillee. If he's not, then you're probably having a serious conversation about Pollock or Sir Richard Hadlee - Sir Paddles averaging 21 with bat and ball; Pollock 26 and 24.
 
The bowler who definitely doesn't make it from Sid's team - for me - is Kapil Dev.

Chris B.

Finishing this off...my best ever team is going to be:
 
Virender Sehwag
Sachin Tendulkar
Vivian Richards
Ricky Ponting
AB de Villiers (wk)
Michael Bevan
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim Akram
Dennis Lillee
Shane Warne
Curtley Ambrose
 
In my final analysis, that bowling attack is far more vicious than Sid's initial offering. :)
 
I'm going to open up with the hostility of Lillee and Akram, with a quick change to Ambrose and Imran is that doesn't work - Warnie to bowl the middle overs and Ambrose's yorkers and Akram's reverse swing at the death.
 
Sehwag and Sachin are going to get things started faster than Sid's Amla and Sachin - if Sehwag gets out early then that's just going to give Sir Viv more time with a big modern bat in his hand to wreak havoc.
 
Ponting was a bit of a tricky selection - could have gone for plenty including Kohli or Crowe - but, Punter is worth his shot.
 
AB is my keeper - his capacity to achieve incredible run rates gets him in ahead of Sangakkara's reliability, Dhoni's capacity to measure a chase, Gilly's ability to smack the ball - and Brendon as the best keeper.
 
And, finally, Bevan is my statistical choice. I still don't know how he achieved it - but, he was so much better than anyone else - Dhoni excepted - at pacing a chasse to win - and not getting out while doing so. 
 
In the final analysis, the reason why my team will beat Sid's is that I've got more genuine bastards in my team - especially the bowlers. Where he's picked nice guys like Polly, Big Bird, Murali, and Kapil - I've gone for the arseholes - Lillee, Imran, Warnie and Amby.
 
It's going to be a terrible and unforeseen knockout!!!!

No Quarter

It would be interesting to see what the bowlers/batsmens averages were like if we had the "best two ODI XIs" playing each other over a number of games. Suddenly a 30 average in both disciplines would be a bloody good effort. I mean even the best batsmen would struggle against those lineups.

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="610221" data-time="1472377069">
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Finishing this off...my best ever team is going to be:
 
Virender Sehwag
Sachin Tendulkar
Vivian Richards
Ricky Ponting
AB de Villiers (wk)
Michael Bevan
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim Akram
Dennis Lillee
Shane Warne
Curtley Ambrose
 
In my final analysis, that bowling attack is far more vicious than Sid's initial offering. :)
 
I'm going to open up with the hostility of Lillee and Akram, with a quick change to Ambrose and Imran is that doesn't work - Warnie to bowl the middle overs and Ambrose's yorkers and Akram's reverse swing at the death.
 
Sehwag and Sachin are going to get things started faster than Sid's Amla and Sachin - if Sehwag gets out early then that's just going to give Sir Viv more time with a big modern bat in his hand to wreak havoc.
 
Ponting was a bit of a tricky selection - could have gone for plenty including Kohli or Crowe - but, Punter is worth his shot.
 
AB is my keeper - his capacity to achieve incredible run rates gets him in ahead of Sangakkara's reliability, Dhoni's capacity to measure a chase, Gilly's ability to smack the ball - and Brendon as the best keeper.
 
And, finally, Bevan is my statistical choice. I still don't know how he achieved it - but, he was so much better than anyone else - Dhoni excepted - at pacing a chasse to win - and not getting out while doing so. 
 
In the final analysis, the reason why my team will beat Sid's is that I've got more genuine bastards in my team - especially the bowlers. Where he's picked nice guys like Polly, Big Bird, Murali, and Kapil - I've gone for the arseholes - Lillee, Imran, Warnie and Amby.
 
It's going to be a terrible and unforeseen knockout!!!! :)
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Bevans failure to be a test great is a real mystery to me. Sure there were some outstanding batsmen in his era but his first class stats indicate he should have been a hell of a lot better than he was. I could easily see him averaging 50+ ( helped by lots of not outs but still....) after the top order did the damage......

Chris B.

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Bevans failure to be a test great is a real mystery to me. Sure there were some outstanding batsmen in his era but his first class stats indicate he should have been a hell of a lot better than he was. I could easily see him averaging 50+ ( helped by lots of not outs but still....) after the top order did the damage......
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Supposedly, they decided he had a weakness against the short ball. Mainly, I think he had a very poor 1997, so they dropped him, and by the time he was ready to come back they didn't need him. Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Waugh, Martyn, Waugh, Gilly - not much room for giving someone a second chance.
 
There were a bunch of Aussie batsman around that time that we probably would have given eye teeth for, who couldn't make their team - Slater, Elliott, Bevan, Blewett, Martin Love....

mariner4life

Brad Hodge
 
those guys must look at the current team with dismay

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="610705" data-time="1472516758">Brad Hodge 
those guys must look at the current team with dismay</blockquote>
Then, after a moment of wistfulness, shrug and dive back into the pools of IPL money they're getting as old fluffybunnies

MN5

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="610693" data-time="1472514532">
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Supposedly, they decided he had a weakness against the short ball. Mainly, I think he had a very poor 1997, so they dropped him, and by the time he was ready to come back they didn't need him. Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Waugh, Martyn, Waugh, Gilly - not much room for giving someone a second chance.
 
There were a bunch of Aussie batsman around that time that we probably would have given eye teeth for, who couldn't make their team - Slater, Elliott, Bevan, Blewett, Martin Love....
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A few commentators said that Matthew Hayden should emigrate to NZ to get a chance cos there was no way he was gonna get in ahead of Tubs and Slats, as good as those two were though he set the bar even higher.

The Silver Fern

All Time ODI XI