I C Great Cricket Teams Set 3

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GREAT CRICKET TEAMS BACKGROUND NOTES All the players in the Great Teams in these three sets, seventeen teams in all, are carded to reproduce the form they displayed in the particular year in question. So when using the teams it is useful to know a little about the players’ performances that season. A little D-I-Y research is recommended but we will briefly summarise the teams for you here, highlighting any exceptional performances. GREAT CRICKET TEAMS (3) ENGLAND 1911/12 This was Plum Warner’s side that went to Australia and won back the Ashes 4 - 1 after losing the 1st Test at Sydney. Warner fell ill very early on in the tour and didn’t play in any of the Tests, Johnny Douglas taking over as skipper. Hobbs opened with Wilfred Rhodes (who bowled very few overs in the Tests, being used almost exclusively as a batsman), and both averaged over 50, with Frank Woolley and George Gunn close behind. This was a solid batting side with only four of the fourteen players carded averaging less than 25. The bowlers were quite useful too, Sydney Barnes, Johnny Douglas and Frank Foster all averaging under 24 with Frank Woolley providing good support. Bert Strudwick and ‘Tiger’ Smith were competent glovemen. Twice England scored over 500 and four times they bowled out Australia for under 200 despite eight English players, including skipper Douglas, making their debuts in this series. AUSTRALIA 1921/22 Warwick Armstrong led Australia to a 5 - 0 series win against England in 1920/21 and then brought his side over to England to win the five match series 3 - 0 before winning 1 - 0 in south Africa and having the best of the two drawn matches there. Nine wins and no defeats from 13 games is an impressive record in any era. Armstrong, Collins, McCartney, Ryder, and Gregory all averaged over 50 with the bat with McCartney, Kelleway, Gregory, Armstrong and Arthur Mailey the pick of the bowlers all backed up by two fine wicket keepers Bert Oldfield and ‘Sammy’ Carter. ENGLAND 1932/33 This was the English bodyline team under Douglas Jardine, a side that reduced the great Don Bradman to mere mortal status and won the Ashes series 4 - 1 in probably the most controversial fashion in cricket history. This was a strong batting side - Paynter, Hammond, Wyatt and Sutcliffe all averaged over 45 but the team will always be remembered for its bowlers, its fast bowlers mainly, Harold Larwood and Bill Voce in particular, two fine and genuinely fast bowlers with or without leg theory. Another fine fast bowler ‘Gubby’ Allen, refused to bowl bodyline but claimed 21 wickets in the series, while Hedley Verity’s slow left and brought the Aussies some gentle relief from the battery of English fast bowlers, but also 11 wickets and Walter Hammond wheeled away with his medium fast swingers and claimed no less than nine for himself. Bradman averaged a ‘mere’ 56.5, the Ashes were regained but was bodyline really necessary, was this English side strong enough to have won by conventional means? We will never know, but at least with this set you can test them out against some to the other ATG sides. (we cannot recreate ‘bodyline’ accurately without ‘tweaking’ the ‘International Cricket’ system (see our ‘Bodyline!’ extension set) but the English bowlers who used leg theory have been carded to bowl aggressively to try to simulate some of that style of play.) WEST INDIES 1966/67 Gary Sobers captained the West Indies tours to England and India, winning the series in England 3 - 1 with one drawn and in India 2 - 0 in a three match series. This was a West Indies side full of great batsmen with Sobers himself averaging over 100, Clive Lloyd and Seymour Nurse over 50 and Holford, Kanhai and Butcher 40 or more. Sobers was also top bowler despite the presence of Griffith, Hall and Gibbs. Five times in eight matches the West Indies topped 400 but only three times did they bowl the opposition out for less than 200 so their strength was obviously their batting. Holford debuted against England while Clive Lloyd played his first Test match in the series against India. INDIA 1971 Adjit Wadekar took a side full of spinners to the West Indies and won a tightly contested five match series 1 - 0 winning the 2nd Test in Port of Spain by 7 wickets. A three match series in England against Ray Illingworth’s side followed and again the result was 1 - 0 in India's favour, with a 4 wicket win at the Oval. Sunil Gavaskar emerged onto the test scene for the first time against the West Indies and he posted an average of 80 plus over the two series. Sardesai also scored heavily, supported by wicket keeper Farokh Engineer and Eknath Solkar. None of the bowlers produced exceptional figures but rarely has a country been able to call on such talented spinners as Venkataraghavan, Prasana, Bedi and Chandrasekhar. However, the side lacked a single pace bowler and this team is likely to struggle against some of the other ATG sides. NEW ZEALAND1986 New Zealand’s unexpected 1 - 0 home win in the three match series against Australia was followed by a similar result in England. Well captained by Jeremy Coney the side was dominated by the batting of martin Crowe and the all round brilliance of Richard Hadlee, ably supported by Coney and opener John Wright with the bat and John Bracewell (who also hit a maiden Test century) with the ball. While possibly the best of all new Zealand sides this team will also find life hard in this elevated company. INDIA 1998 India’s splendid 2 - 1 win over Australia was followed by a 0 - 1 defeat against New Zealand but this was a side full of brilliant batting talent, Tendulkar, Azharuddin, Dravid, Sidhu, backed by the superb leg spinner Anil Kumble. Laxman, Jadeta and Ganguly also played their part but the attack lacked real pace and the moderate Srinath was their best opening bowler. SOUTH AFRICA 1998 Drawing 1 - 1 with Pakistan and losing 1 - 2 in England this South African side may seem and odd choice for our ‘Great Teams’ series but they did beat Sri Lanka 2 - 0 and crushed the West Indies 5-0 and the team contained some fine batsmen in Cronje, Rhodes, Cullinan and Peter Kirsten and two of the really great pace bowlers in Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, plus two very good allrounders, Kallis and Klusener. AUSTRALIA 1999/2000 After a 2 - 2 drawn series in the West Indies and a 0 - 1 defeat by Sri Lanka Australia began a superb winning run, taking in seven consecutive victories against Zimbabwe, Pakistan and India. Runs came freely from Ponting, wicket keeper Gilchrist, Langer, Slater and Steve Waugh and no less than five bowlers, Lee, Miller, Fleming, McGrath and Gillespie, averaged 26 or below, and with Shane Warne and MacGill as back ups this was a side always likely to bowl out the opposition twice in a match. History will no doubt evaluate this Australian side in the context of the ATG teams but they must surely rank as one of the strongest Test squads of recent years.

ADDITIONAL NOTES Clive Lloyd appears as a minor player within the 1966/67 West Indies file. He did not play against England but made his debut in the following series in India. His 1966/67 card is included in the file but we have NOT placed him in the squad as he also appears in the West Indies 1984 team, which he captained. If you play a tournament involving both those West Indies sides Lloyd more properly belongs in the 1984 team, but if you wish him to play for the 1966/67 team against other sides you will need to add him to your squad for that year. Much the same applies to F R Brown, who is carded with the 1932/3 Bodyline England side (he did not play in any of the five Test matches) but is not included in the pre set squad as he more properly belongs in the 1953 side for which he appeared in the 2nd Test. Neil Harvey is also carded for both the 1948 and 1961 Australians. This is a more difficult situation as he was an important player on both tours. In 1948 he played in only two Tests but averaged 66, in 1961 he appeared in all five Tests and averaged 44. For these reasons we have included him in the squads for both years but you will need to decide in which team you want him to play if you run a competition which involves both these fine Australian teams. There are twenty one carded players for the 1998 South Africans and the game allows for squads of no more than twenty. In this case Andrew Hudson is omitted, you will need to substitute him if you want to play him. Lambourne Games September 2000