Tag: Khaya Zondo

All Time XIs – Match Ups 64

The penultimate post in the analysis stage of this long series.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I created for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Today sees all the matches in which the Vs are alphabetically first, with them starting on 55 points out of 105. We then see the first match up in which the Ws are alphabetically first. The remaining match ups (W v Y, W v Z, X v Y, X v Z and Y v Z) will be covered in the final analysis post of this series, setting the stage for a grand finale post in which the teams are presented in reverse ranking order.

THE Vs V THE Ws

With the possible exception of Vandort vs Woolley in the number one slot the Ws win every batting match down to number seven (Woods’ batting average equates to about 35 in the modern era, though by the same token he is slightly behind Vaas as a bowler). Worrell outranks Vaughan as a skipper, the pace/ seam trios are hard to split – Vaas as stated outranks Woods, Whitty outranks Voce, but it is tricky to assess which of the two tall right arm quick bowlers, Van der Bijl or Willis was the greater. The spin honours definitely go to the Ws – Warne outranks Vogler by much more than Verity outranks Wardle and Wardle could turn the ball both ways, reducing Verity’s margin of superiority. Additionally, Woolley rates as a better third spinner than Vine (Woolley paid less than 20 a piece for his FC wickets. Thus the Ws have clear advantages in batting, captaincy and spin bowling, the wicket keepers are hard to separate and the Vs possibly have an advantage in pace/ seam bowling. I score this one Vs 1, Ws 4.

THE Vs V THE Xs

The only batting match up the Xs win is at number three, where Dexter definitely outranks Vaughan. The Vs have the better captain, the better pace/ seam attack and the better spin attack, though the Xs have the finer keeper. There can be only one scoreline: Vs 5, Xs 0.

THE Vs V THE Ys

The Vs have the better opening pair – Vandort’s test average exceeds Yardy’s FC average, while Vine batted in a more difficult era than M Young, more than making up for the latter’s slight advantage in the matter of averages. The Ys are comfortably clear at three and four, Vengsarkar outranks Yallop in the number five slot. Verreynne wins the batting match up against Yardley, and rates similarly to S Yousuf as keeper. S Yousuf wins the batting match up at seven, but Vaas is light years clear of Yardley as third seamer. Voce massively outranks U Yadav, while Van der Bijl v Younis is tough to call. Verity is way clear of J Young but I give P Yadav the verdict over Vogler. The Ys have the better batting, the Vs the better bowling. I reckon that the latter outweighs the former and score this one Vs 3, Ys 2.

THE Vs V THE Zs

The Vs boss the batting, have the better captain, a much stronger seam/ pace attack and better spinners. The Zs have no obvious area of superiority, leading to only one conceivable scoreline: Vs 5, Zs 0.

THE Vs FINAL SCORE

The Vs have scored 14 out of 20 points today to finish on 69 out of 125, 55.2% overall.

THE Ws V THE Xs

With the four points scored against the Vs, the Ws now have 92 points out of 110. The Ws are completely dominant in this one, with the sole exception of BoX outranking Watling as a keeper, leading to only one possible score: Ws 5, Xs 0.

THE Ws PROGRESS REPORT

The Ws now have 97 of a possible 115 points, 84.35% overall.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 38

Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another.

Welcome to the latest installment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Today sees the Is last four match ups, with that team currently on 11 out of 105 and then the Js take to the spotlight, of which more later. The T20 World Cup saw two cracking matches today – Sri Lanka won convincingly in the first match, and the India-Pakistan match was one of the most extraordinary matches ever seen. Pakistan scored 159-8 batting first, and India lost four early wickets in the reply before Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya shared an excellent partnership. In the closing stages Pakistan had a problem – they had one of their minor bowlers, Mohammad Nawaz with one over still to bowl, and gambled on bowling the fast bowlers through first and leaving him with the 20th over. When India needed 28 with eight balls remaining it looked to have worked, but Kohli hit sixes off the last two balls of the 19th and Nawaz had ‘only’ 16 to defend rather than 20+. Things went well for Nawaz initially and India needed 13 off the last three balls, and then calamity struck for Nawaz – he bowled a no-ball which was clouted for six, and then his next delivery was called wide and suddenly it was five needed off three balls. By the time the last ball was due to be bowled scores were level, and Ashwin, on strike, kept a cool head and took India across the line. Kohli, who had recovered from an awful start (12* off 21 balls) to finish on 82* was the only candidate for Player of the Match.

THE Is V THE Ws

The Ws win the batting match ups all the way down to number six, have the better skipper, absolutely dominate on the fast bowling front, and even outdo the Is in spin bowling, the latter’s strongest suit. There can be only one score: Is 0, Ws 5.

THE Is V THE Xs

The Is are for once ahead on batting, neither side has much pace bowling, though MaX Walker is the best single practitioner on either side, and the Is are a bit ahead on spin bowling. As against that BoX claims the keeping honours and less far below Imtiaz Ahmed in batting than the figures suggest – the best batter of BoX’s era, Fuller Pilch, averaged less than 20 in FC cricket. This is a tough one to call, but I think the presence of MaX Walker just swings it the way of the Xs – Is 2, Xs 3.

THE Is V THE Ys

The Is have the better opening pair, with T Iqbal the class act of the four players concerned. The Ys win the 3,4 and 5 slots. Iremonger at six outranks Yardley in both departments, S Yousuf wins the keeping honours by more than Imtiaz Ahmed wins the batting order. The Ys dominate the bowling, with even their pace attack outranking that of the Is and the spin attack being of similar standards. I think the Ys are winning this quite comfortably: Is 1, Ys 4.

THE Is V THE Zs

The Zs have marginally the stronger top six, but none of their front line bowlers can do anything significant with the bat. The Zs have the better new ball bowlers, the Is the better spinners. Illingworth rates higher as a skipper than Zaman. I think the all round skills of Iremonger and the higher standard of the Is spinners plus Illingworth’s captaincy swing it their way: Is 3, Zs 2.

THE Is FINAL RESULTS

The Is have scored 6 points out of 20 today and finish with 17 out of 125, 13.6% overall.

THE Js V THE Ks

The Js have 24.5 of a possible 45 points in the bank as they take the spotlight.

The Js have the better top three, the Ks are stronger batting wise in positions three through seven, but Jupp and Johnson partly compensate for that. The Ks have the better fast bowling, although the left arms of Johnson and Johnston give the Js extra variation. The Js with Jupp’s off spin, Jayasuriya and Johnston in his slower style have a better balance spin combo than the Ks. I think the Ks have this, but the Js are far from negligible: Js 2, Ks 3.

THE Js PROGRESS REPORT

The Js have 26.5 of a possible 55 points, 48.18%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 31

Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another.

Welcome to the latest instalment jn my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I created for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Today we finish the Gs, who are currently on 72 of a possible 105 points and see the H’s move into the spotlight, with 20 of a possible 35 points from the encounters in which they are alphabetically second banked.

THE Gs V THE Ws

The Gs have the better opening pair, though by much less than the raw figures suggest – Woolley and Worrell is a right/ left handed combo, whereas Gavaskar and Greenidge were both right handed. Also Woolley began before WWI, so faced some very rough pitches in his early days, while Worrell achieved his successes in test cricket’s lowest and slowest scoring period. Weekes was definitely the better number three, though by less than raw figures suggest – had they played on the same surfaces Weekes would probably have been about 10 per innings ahead of Grace. Walcott and Waugh win the number four and five match ups. Gilchrist wins his match up against Watling. Whitty and Willis have a small advantage as a new ball pair of Garner and Geary, especially given Whitty’s left arm, and while Gregory was the finer batter, Woods wins the bowling element of the fast bowling all rounders match up. Warne and Grimmett is a clash of leg spinning titans, but the diminutive Kiwi born Aussie of yesteryear took more wickets per match than Warne and had a better average – and there were plenty of big scorers around in the 1920s and 1930s. Wardle, probably being used mainly in his left arm wrist spin style as this is a bigger contrast to leg spin than left arm orthodox outranks Gibbs. The best sixth bowling option is close between Grace and Woolley, but the Ws have an accredited seventh bowler in Worrell. This contest is close on batting, features two ace skippers (I just give Worrell the verdict in that department), is close on keeping, the Ws are ahead on pace bowling and more comfortably ahead on spin bowling. The Ws are significantly clear in view of the depth and variety of their bowling, but we are not in whitewash territory: Gs 1, Ws 4.

THE Gs V THE Xs

The Gs have much stronger batting, an overwhelming superiority in pace bowling, a clear superiority in spin bowling and the better captain. BoX probably outranks Gilchrist as a keeper, but this is hugely one-sided: Gs 5, Xs 0.

THE Gs V THE Ys

The Gs have the better opening pair, the Ys the better number three, though not by much – playing Younis Khan’s era Grace would probably have averaged not far short of 50. M Yousuf outranks Gower in the number four slot, but Yallop is outranked by Graveney. Gilchrist wins the keepers match up hands down, while Gregory beats Yardley in both departments. Geary outranks U Yadav, Garner outranks W Younis. The Gs also win the spin match ups. The Gs have somewhat better batting, the better captain, the better keeper and a much better bowling unit – Grace as sixth bowler for the Gs certainly outranks the Ys fifth bowler, Yardley, as indeed does Gregory, who may also outrank U Yadav as a bowler. There is no circumstance in which the Ys can make a dent in the Gs: Gs 5, Ys 0.

THE Gs V THE Zs

The only match up the Zs arguably win is the keeping element of Zulqarnain Haider/ Gilchrist. For the rest it is the Gs all the way: Gs 5, Zs 0.

THE Gs FINAL SCORE

The Gs have scored 16 of a possible 20 points today, moving them up to 88 out of 125 points in total, 70.40% overall.

THE Hs V THE Is

The Hs utterly dominate the batting, winning all of the top six match ups, though the Is do just win at nos 7 and 8. Healy is the finer keeper, Illingworth probably outranks Hutton as a captain. Hadlee and Holding massively outrank Islam and Ireland as a new ball pairing, though Iremonger would outrank Hammond as third seamer. Ironmonger outranks Herath with the ball but Harmer outranks Illingworth is an off spinner. There can be only one result here: Hs 5, Is 0.

THE Hs SO FAR

The Hs now have 25 of a possible 40 points, 62.5%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before my usual sign off, here is a link to a crowdfunder on behalf of the West Norfolk Autism Group.

All Time XIs – Match Ups 15

Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I picked for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Also some photographs.

Welcome to the latest installment in my extended analysis of how the teams I created for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. This post features a ‘changing of the guard’ – the Cs occupy the hot seat at the beginning, and then we start the Ds. The Cs start today with 33 out of 115 points.

THE Cs V THE Ys

The Cs definitely have the stronger opening pair, nos 3,4 and 5 are very close, with Younis Khan outpointing I Chappell to the same extent that G Chappell outpoints Yallop. Norman Yardley outbats Constantine but loses the bowling element of their match up. Also, Chappelli is the better captain. S Yousuf outbats Carter but is out kept by the Aussie. Cummins and Croft have to be ranked above Younis and U Yadav as a new ball pair. Jack Young comfortably outmatches Cornwall as a finger spinner, while P Yadav vs Chandrasekhar is an even contest. The Ys have a marginal batting advantage, and win the spin bowling, but the pace bowling advantage is strongly with the Cs, and I think that will count for more than anything else and accordingly score this one: Cs 3, Ys 2.

THE Cs V THE Zs

The Cs dominate the top batting, with only Cowdrey arguably losing his match up against I Zadran. Zulch outbats Constantine, but does not offer a serious bowling option. Carter wins the wicket keeping match up, and Zaheer Khan and Monde Zondeki are way behind Cummins and Croft in the fast bowling stakes, while Constantine is the only back up pace option available to either side. The Zs probably win the spin department, but I don’t see that making much difference to the outcome of this one: Cs 4, Zs 1.

THE Cs FINAL SCORE

The Cs finish with 40 out of 125 points, a total score of 32%, comfortably bottom out of the three XIs who have been fully under the spotlight so far.

THE Ds V THE Es

The Cs have one solid pro and one genius opening the batting, one of the greatest number threes of all time, two legendary stroke makers at four and five, and a number six whose record at the top level suffered because his elevations was massively delayed by his personal circumstances and who still had a fine record. Dujon was an excellent keeper and a stylish batter, their pace trio is awesome, with Daniel probably third seamer behind an opening pair of Davidson and Donald, and they have a great spinner who was unlucky to overlap with two even greater ones of the same type – Wilfred Rhodes and Colin Blythe. The Es have two left handed battlers to open the batting, a number three who is less far behind his opposite number than figures suggest on two counts – 1)Dravid batted in an easier era for batting than Bill Edrich, and 2) Edrich lost six prime years to WWII, in which he distinguished himself as a flying ace. Emmett and R Edwards are undoubtedly well behind Donnelly and Duleepsinhji, and Endean is beaten by D’Oliveira. Dujon wins the batting element of his match up against Evans, but the Englishman was an even greater keeper than the West Indian. The Es have a left/ right opening pair of pacers, and a couple of crafty slower bowlers in Evans and Ecclestone. Evans v Daniel is not strictly a match up since they were very different types of bowler, and it is hard to say who would be preferable. I rank Ecclestone ahead of Dennett as a slow left armer. The Ds are ahead on batting, the Es may be ahead on front line bowling, but the Ds have an extra option in D’Oliveira. I score this one as Ds 3, Es 2.

THE Ds V THE Fs

The Ds have a marginal advantage when it comes to the opening pair, and Dravid rates above Flower as a number three. Donnelly beats Fletcher confortably, and Duleepsinhji beats Faulkner with the bat, but as against that Faulkner offers a bowling option. The Ds are stronger with the bat at nos 6,7 and 8, but the Fs have the potential of useful contributions from Flowers at 9. The Fs boss the bowling, Foster, Freeman and Ferris being at least as good a pace combo as Davidson, Donald and Daniel, and the Fs having three front line spin options to the Ds 1. I expect the Fs to win this comfortably and score it Ds 1, Fs 4.

THE Ds V THE Gs

The Ds have the edge in batting, though by less than it seems at first glance, the Ds also have the better pace attack, with only Garner in the same class as their trio. The Gs have a significant advantage in the spin bowling department, and they have the redoubtable WG as skipper. I still make the Ds favourites and score this one Ds 3, Gs 2.

THE Ds PROGRESS REPORT

The Ds had 8 points out of 15 from their three previous encounters. They are now on 15 points out of 30, exactly 50%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – The Letter Z

Continuing my exploration of the all time XIs theme with a look at the letter Z.

I continue my exploration of the all time XIs theme with a team of players whose names begin with Z. I included Zaheer Abbas in the As, and in keeping with my policy that no one will feature is two XIs in this trip through the alphabet I therefore do not select him today. Other omissions can wait until the Honourable Mentions section.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan). A left handed opening batter with a magnificent ODI record, a respectable test record and a good FC average.
  2. Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan). A right handed opening batter, currently averaging 44 test cricket, and with a good FC record.
  3. Zubayr Hamza (South Africa). A right handed top order batter who averages 48 in FC cricket, though he has not been successful at test level as yet.
  4. Najibullah Zadran (Afghanistan). His opportunities at test level have been limited to date, but he has a fine record in limited overs cricket, and I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.
  5. Khaya Zondo (South Africa). Has an excellent FC batting record, though has not yet been given the opportunity to prove himself at the highest level.
  6. Billy Zulch (South Africa). A right handed batter and occasional right arm medium pacer, he averaged 30 in test cricket when SA were a struggling outfit, had a good FC record.
  7. +Zulqarnain Haider (Pakistan). An innings of 88 in what proved to be his only test (he fled Pakistan in fear of his own safety) underlined his skill with the bat and he was a fine keeper as well.
  8. Monde Zondeki (South Africa). A right arm fast bowler who took his test wickets at 25 a piece.
  9. Zia Ur Rehman (Afghanistan). A left arm orthodox spinner who takes his FC wickets at 19 a piece, but has yet to be given a chance at test level. Afghanistan have amazing strength in depth in the spin bowling department, and his test opportunity may never arrive.
  10. Zaheer Khan (India). A left arm fast medium bowler, his test average of 32 looks on the high side, but he rarely had much in the way of pace support (India having strength in depth in the pace bowling department is a recent phenomenon).
  11. Zahir Khan (Afghanistan). A left arm wrist spinner who claims his FC wickets at 21 a piece and bowled respectably in his three tests, though seven wickets at 34 a piece is a record that needs improvement.

This XI has a solid batting unit, a good keeper who can bat and four varied bowlers. It is a pity that the back up seam options are limited to Ibrahim Zadran and Billy Zulch, neither of whom could be classed as front line bowlers, but Zaheer Khan, Zondeki, Zia Ur Rehman and Zahir Khan should function fairly well as a main bowling attack.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

The main rival to Fakhar Zaman as left handed opener was Hazratullah Zazai of Afghanistan, but though he has a respectable FC record he has yet to be picked for a test match. No right handed opener comes remotely close to challenging Ibrahim Zadran – while his test average of 44.50 comes from only eight innings at that level (no not outs to boost the average), his first class average of 41 comes from a much larger sample size and confirms his class. He averages about 18 runs an innings more than Zak Crawley at test level and 12 an innings more than the proven failure who happens to be a management favourite manages even at FC level.

Bas Zuiderent of the Netherlands played a fine innings against England in the 1996 World Cup, but overall his record is quite ordinary. Saif Zaib is an alleged batting all rounder, but his FC averages at the moment are the wrong way round – 22 with the bat and 31 with the ball. Tim Zoehrer was Zulqarnain’s rival for the gauntlets, but he had such a poor series in the 1986-7 Ashes that spectators at the MCG of all places were heard expressing the opinion that even the New South Welshman Greg Dyer would be in improvement on him (of course they really wanted their own Dimattina to get the job).

Mohammed Zanhar, a Sri Lankan leg spinner, took his FC wickets at 25 a piece, but only played 10 matches at that level. Adam Zampa has a great record in limited overs cricket, but his FC wickets come at massively pricey 48 runs a piece. Two fast bowlers, Dawlat Zadran of Afghanistan and Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka (who once took a hat trick with his first three balls of a test match) entered my thoughts but neither had that great an overall record. Zak Chappell is expensive even at first class level, and is nearly as far short of meriting serious consideration as the other Zak I have mentioned in passing.

While I regret the absence of a genuine all rounder that omission could only be rectified by outright cheating, using a nickname to avail myself of ‘Zulu’ Klusener.

PHOTOGRAPHS

We have finished our cricketing journey through the letter Z and all that is left is my usual sign off…