Hypothetical Cricket Match

[TiffToff88]

As i sit here on my lunch break watching the depressing, yet inevitable crumbling of the England Cricket team, a thought popped into my head:

 

Which team would win a match between a team of the 11 best bowlers in the world Vs the 11 Best batsmen?

 

There would be a lot of factors that would affect the answer, such as the conditions of the pitch and the format of the game, but still an interesting concept.

 

Does anyone who knows a bit more about the finer details of cricket fancy analysing the hypothetical match for me?

 

EDIT:

Lets assume, inspired by the ashes, that the game is a test match. According to the ICC player rankings, the current best XI teams would look like this:

 

BOWLING XI:

1. Cummins - Aus

2. Rabada - SA

3. Anderson - Eng

4. Philander - SA

5. Jadeja - Ind

6. Wagner - NZ

7. Boult - NZ

8. Abbas - Pak

9. Holder - WI

10. Ashwin - Ind

11. Roach - WI

 

BATTING XI:

1. Kholi - Ind

2. Smith - Aus

3. Williamson - NZ

4. Pujara - Ind

5. Nicholls - NZ

6. Markram - SA

7. de Kock - SA

8. Karunaratne - SL

9. Root - Eng

10. du Plessis - SA

11. Warner - Aus

[Voll Blau]

Bowlers, because genuine rabbits with the bat are few and far between these days.

[Guest MattP]

The batsmen would win imo. The 11 best batsmen would make a hell of a lot of runs against any attack. 

 

Plus guys like Kallis, Root etc get in the team who have taken a few hundred test wickets themselves. 

 

A lot of the best bowlers in the World can't hold a bat and would eventually get themselves out as they wouldn't have the focus of ability to bat for long periods.

 

Even Ali Cook got a wicket bowling once to Ishant Sharma

[TiffToff88]

Just now, MattP said:

The batsmen would win imo. The 11 best batsmen would make a hell of a lot of runs against any attack. 

 

Plus guys like Kallis, Root etc get in the team who have taken a few hundred test wickets themselves. 

 

A lot of the best bowlers in the World can't hold a bat and would eventually get themselves out as they wouldn't have the focus of ability to bat for long periods.

 

Even Ali Cook got a wicket bowling once to Ishant Sharma

But how many of the best batsmen in the world can bowl? The best bowlers in the world still have experience in batting against the best bowlers, in this match they would be batting against part time bowlers at best.

[Guest MattP]

3 minutes ago, TiffToff88 said:

But how many of the best batsmen in the world can bowl? The best bowlers in the world still have experience in batting against the best bowlers, in this match they would be batting against part time bowlers at best.

Not many, but me and you throwing down a few pies would still get players like Bumrah, Anderson, Rabada, Boult etc out.

 

Williamson, Smith, Root all have taken test match wickets. 

 

I'd fancy a go at some of England's batsmen at the minute

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Who's going to keep wicket for the bowlers?

[TheSomersetFox]

Well according to the Test rankings you'd have:

 

Kohli

Smith

Williamson

Pujara

Nicholls

Markram

De Kock

Karunaratne

Root

Du Plessis 

Warner

 

Vs.

 

Cummins

Rabada

Anderson

Philander

Jadeja

Wagner

Boult

Abbas

Holder

Ashwin

Roach

 

 

I feel like the batsmen would win, but it's a good question. No ****ing idea tbh

 

 

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Depends on the pitch/conditions.

[RowlattsFox]

Draw.

 

I think the batsmen would win more often than not. Bowlers would get themselves out slogging to any bowler. A couple of all-rounders there though who could score plenty of runs. Bowlers would have better chance in 20/20s and ODIs.

[Bobby Hundreds]

21 minutes ago, Goober said:

Well according to the Test rankings you'd have:

 

Kohli

Smith

Williamson

Pujara

Nicholls

Markram

De Kock

Karunaratne

Root

Du Plessis 

Warner

 

Vs.

 

Cummins

Rabada

Anderson

Philander

Jadeja

Wagner

Boult

Abbas

Holder

Ashwin

Roach

 

 

I feel like the batsmen would win, but it's a good question. No ****ing idea tbh

 

 

 

Jadeja and Holder would get tons every game  

[Guest MattP]

2 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Jadeja and Holder would get tons every game  

They might but as soon as you've got through them two it's Ashwin batting at number three

[Guest MattP]

Don't show that to Joe Root either or he'll start fanticising at coming in at number nine for England - if he does he might get a bit of time against the old ball.

[Nalis]

I thought this was going to be a classic FT thread about a cricket team made up of current footballers and why....

[Guest MattP]

1 minute ago, Nalis said:

I thought this was going to be a classic FT thread about a cricket team made up of current footballers and why....

What would the Leicester batting order be?

 

Vardy (Our ferrit, Warner style, a total.nuisance for the opposition)

Perez (Our new opener not quite fitting in yet,)

Barnes (young, big runs at county level, inexcusably shoved at number three because Maddison wants to be at 4)

Maddison (Pietersen, fancy player, gets his kit thrown off the balcony by Evans, hated by all)

Ricardo (Buttler, capable of brilliant attacking but defensive technique often under question)

Evans (Paul Collingwood, solid, dependable, so important and no one notices)

Tielemens (solid all rounder, missed when he's gone)

Kasper (chirpy keeper, articulate confident sledger)

Ndidi - (tall and pacey opening the bowling, can take 5-17 or 0-110, wild radar)

Soyuncu (we break him as well, a Turkish Ryan Sidebottom)

Chilwell (left arm spin, no one else for the job, hates the sport)

 

God this is depressing and I'm clearly bored.

[spacemunky]

I can see it going one of two ways. Either or really, when it all comes down to it. I guess whoever gives 110% will walk away victorious. As for the loser, there's always tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

I have no clue about cricket 

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, MattP said:

What would the Leicester batting order be?

 

Vardy (Our ferrit, Warner style, a total.nuisance for the opposition)

Perez (Our new opener not quite fitting in yet,)

Barnes (young, big runs at county level, inexcusably shoved at number three because Maddison wants to be at 4)

Maddison (Pietersen, fancy player, gets his kit thrown off the balcony by Evans, hated by all)

Ricardo (Buttler, capable of brilliant attacking but defensive technique often under question)

Evans (Paul Collingwood, solid, dependable, so important and no one notices)

Tielemens (solid all rounder, missed when he's gone)

Kasper (chirpy keeper, articulate confident sledger)

Ndidi - (tall and pacey opening the bowling, can take 5-17 or 0-110, wild radar)

Soyuncu (we break him as well, a Turkish Ryan Sidebottom)

Chilwell (left arm spin, no one else for the job, hates the sport)

 

God this is depressing and I'm clearly bored.

Slimani would be our opening batsman - they'd never get him out.

[Guest MattP]

1 minute ago, FIF said:

Slimani would be our opening batsman - they'd never get him out.

Plus if the ball hit him on the chin he probably wouldn't notice.

[Mark_w]

4 hours ago, MattP said:

What would the Leicester batting order be?

 

Vardy (Our ferrit, Warner style, a total.nuisance for the opposition)

Perez (Our new opener not quite fitting in yet,)

Barnes (young, big runs at county level, inexcusably shoved at number three because Maddison wants to be at 4)

Maddison (Pietersen, fancy player, gets his kit thrown off the balcony by Evans, hated by all)

Ricardo (Buttler, capable of brilliant attacking but defensive technique often under question)

Evans (Paul Collingwood, solid, dependable, so important and no one notices)

Tielemens (solid all rounder, missed when he's gone)

Kasper (chirpy keeper, articulate confident sledger)

Ndidi - (tall and pacey opening the bowling, can take 5-17 or 0-110, wild radar)

Soyuncu (we break him as well, a Turkish Ryan Sidebottom)

Chilwell (left arm spin, no one else for the job, hates the sport)

 

God this is depressing and I'm clearly bored.

Vardy is our best bowler, he's definitely not disciplined enough to open the batting. Don't be weird.

[ScouseFox]

pretty sure chilwell was actually a really good cricketer 

[Collymore]

Can't believe Chris Gayle hasn't been mentioned in the batting side!

[HybridFox]

7 hours ago, FIF said:

Slimani would be our opening batsman - they'd never get him out.

Can just imagine him playing defensive shots and leaves, much to the annoyance of the crowd 

[Voll Blau]

On 23/08/2019 at 22:41, ScouseFox said:

pretty sure chilwell was actually a really good cricketer 

Yeah, Northants age group player till he gave it up for football at around 16. There was footage last year of him, Albrighton and a few others having a game at Belvoir Drive.