1966-85 World Test XI

Pick two Openers for 1966-85 World Test XI

*** Please only pick TWO players *** (votes are public so votes in excess of 2 will be excluded)

This is a 5-day Poll to pick the Two Openers for the best “1966-85 World Test XI”

Opener Nominees (Only records during 1966-85 are considered)

Dennis Amiss (RHB): 50 Tests, 3612 runs @ 46.30 (11/11) ------ [3276 @ 53.70 as Opener]
Geoff Boycott (RHB): 93 Tests, 7129 runs @ 47.84 (20/36) ------ [7106 @ 48.34]
Roy Fredericks (LHB): 59 Tests, 4334 runs @ 42.49 (8/26) ------ [4329 @ 42.86]
Sunil Gavaskar (RHB): 111 Tests, 9020 runs @ 50.67 (31/39) ------ [8579 @ 49.87]
Gordon Greenidge (RHB): 66 Tests, 4816 runs @ 49.14 (12/26) ----- [4816 @ 49.14]
Desmond Haynes (RHB): 54 Tests, 3234 runs @ 39.92 (7/20) ---- [3234 @ 39.92]
Bill Lawry (LHB): 35 Tests, 2618 runs @ 45.13 (7/12) ----- [2618 @ 45.13]
Mudasser Nazar (RHB): 55 Tests, 3352 runs @ 42.43 (8/15) ----- [3050 @ 40.66]
Ian Redpath (RHB): 56 Tests, 4281 runs @ 44.59 (8/29) ----- [2279 @ 46.51]
Glenn Turner (RHB): 41 Tests, 2991 runs @ 44.64 (7/14) ----- [2828 @ 45.61]
Kepler Wessels (LHB): 24 Tests, 1761 runs @ 42.95 (4/9) ---- [1066 @ 39.48]

Please see main thread here: http://forum.cricketweb.net/showthread.php?t=18842&page=14

Sunny and Greenidge for mine.

Matt79 said:

Sunny and Greenidge for mine.

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Same here, though it was a tough decision between Greenidge and Boycott

I went with Gavaskar and Boycott. Gavaskar was easy to choose but the other openers spot for me was between Boycott and Greenidge. I went with Boycott because he scored a greater amount of runs and centuries at a similar average to Greenidge.

oz_fan said:

I went with Boycott because he scored a greater amount of runs and centuries at a similar average to Greenidge.

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Yeah, but you should have read this first

Brooding and massively destructive, the power of Gordon Greenidge's strokeplay on any given day appeared to bear a direct relationship to the degree that he limped when running between the wickets. In such a mood he didn't run much anyway and his brutal unbeaten 214 at Lord's in 1984, to set up a nine-wicket win after England had had the temerity to declare, is considered one of the great innings. He was a superb technician, who learned solid defensive techniques on the pudding pitches of his childhood in England and then allied them to an uninhibited Caribbean heritage. Attacking was in his genes. Never in the game has there been a more withering and dismissive square-cut, nor a more willing and able hooker and puller, but he drove mightily too on both sides of the wicket.

Boycott and Gavaskar batting together may be an issue, because otherwise those two are who I was thinking of. But they'd essentially be playing the same role, not that I believe a successful opening partnership always requires an aggressive batsman, but these two were both rocks, great rocks, but rocks none the less.

I'll go Gavaskar and Greenidge for that reason.

Just in case people don't know who Roy Fredericks is, I thought I'd add the following which I found to be very interesting:

Roy Fredericks was one of the handful of batsmen who distinguished themselves by counter-attacking the great pace bowlers of the 1970s. He is remembered best for his blazing performance at Perth in 1975-76, when he raced to one of the most astonishing of all Test centuries. This series was eventually won 5-1 by Australia, with Lillee and Thomson at full pelt. But in the second Test, on an incredibly fast WACA pitch, Fredericks took them on in amazing fashion. The harder they banged the ball in, the harder he cut and hooked. Into the second morning, he opened what might have been a diffident reply to Australia's 329: at lunch West Indies were 130 for one off 14 eight-ball overs; the 200 came up in the 22nd. Fredericks went on to reach a hundred from 71 balls and, though he grew tired, turned it into a match-winning 169. This was merely a distillation of his entire career. "There has," as Mike Selvey wrote, "probably never been a better or more willing exponent of the hook."

Gavaskar cause he's Gavaskar.
Boycotts cause he's a crazy old lovable Yorkie.

Nine total voters, 8 voted for Gavaskar.

Gotta ask, what was your reasoning behind voting for Greenidge and Haynes cameel over Gavaskar and one of them?

silentstriker said:

Nine total voters, 8 voted for Gavaskar.

Gotta ask, what was your reasoning behind voting for Greenidge and Haynes cameel over Gavaskar and one of them?

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I'm assuming because Greenidge and Haynes is an all-time great Opening combination, which sounds like a pretty good reason to me

some people like to pick partnerships I'm guessing

aussie tragic said:

I'm assuming because Greenidge and Haynes is an all-time great Opening combination

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Thats like voting for every batsman who ever batted with Bradman because him + bradman would be an all time greatest batting combination.

Gavaskar and Greenidge for me.

aussie tragic said:

I think Greenidge and Haynes is a little better than Bradman and Fleetwood Smith

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Their combined average is greater.

But certainly it would hold true for any top five batsman who batted with the Don.

You're too quick SS, I deleted my post as you stated "batsman" while I quoted Bowler so I was going to do some more research. However with Bradman's 99.94 average, unless Greenidge and Haynes averaged over 100 (which they didn't) I guess my argument is doomed

aussie tragic said:

You're too quick SS, I deleted my post as you stated "batsman" while I quoted Bowler so I was going to do some more research. However with Bradman's 99.94 average, unless Greenidge and Haynes averaged over 100 (which they didn't) I guess my argument is doomed

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I'm like a snail on steroids.

I guess the question is, and I voted for Gavaskar and Greenidge btw, would Greenidge's average have been as high if he'd played with someone like Sunny rather than Fredricks then Haynes. Some players do bring out the best in each other.

Matt79 said:

I guess the question is, and I voted for Gavaskar and Greenidge btw, would Greenidge's average have been as high if he'd played with someone like Sunny rather than Fredricks then Haynes. Some players do bring out the best in each other.

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Yea, that might be the case when dealing with decent or good batsman, but the great ones can do it regardless of who is at the other end.

Sunny pretty much carried the Indian batting lineup. No doubt Greenidge could have done the same, had he been cursed and had been born in India.

It's always going to be hypothetical isn't it tho? Greenidge probably would have been as effective if the rest of the team were crap, but equally he might have been merely good or v. good rather than apparently great. We can guess but we can never know. Its like working out what proportion of their success McGrath and Warne owe to each other.

I think without the weight of the team on his back, and with Greenidge or Fredericks at the other end, Gavaskar may have tried to play a few more shots and probably got out a lot more