21st Century test match X1

McGrath never had to bowl to Ponting, Hayden, Waugh or all the other Australian legends

Tendulkar in 1998 at his peak smashed him and Lara at his peak in 1999 smashed him too

If more players attacked McGrath like this, he would've never had the record he had

English batsman would shiver at the thought of McGrath until Vaughan attacked him and then others in the England team followed suit, yesin 2005 McGrath was not playing in 2 matches but in the 3rd and 5th Test, he was nowhere near as effective as he was in the earlier years when he was getting Atherton and Stewart out in his sleep.

He was a great bowler, but he had some limitations that were not exposed. I loved Angus Fraser, he was accurate as hell and had a decent record, but he got exposed as he should've done. Same should've happened to McGrath

If I had Hayden, Ponting, Langer, Martyn, Waugh twins and Gilchrist in my batting line up, I bet I would win loads of games too.

Also maybe having the best leggie ever and 90+ Brett Lee and Gillespie in my side didn't hurt either

I would have Pietetsen to replace Tendulka in the OP's team.

Comparing fraser to mcgrath is like drawing analogy with day and night

comment by JustTrue (U13155)
posted 2 days, 2 hours ago
McGrath never had to bowl to Ponting, Hayden, Waugh or all the other Australian legends

Tendulkar in 1998 at his peak smashed him and Lara at his peak in 1999 smashed him too

If more players attacked McGrath like this, he would've never had the record he had

English batsman would shiver at the thought of McGrath until Vaughan attacked him and then others in the England team followed suit, yesin 2005 McGrath was not playing in 2 matches but in the 3rd and 5th Test, he was nowhere near as effective as he was in the earlier years when he was getting Atherton and Stewart out in his sleep.

He was a great bowler, but he had some limitations that were not exposed. I loved Angus Fraser, he was accurate as hell and had a decent record, but he got exposed as he should've done. Same should've happened to McGrath


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Tendulkar smashed Warne too....... Of course there are advantages playing for the best team in the world and being part of a world class bowling attack.

It helps bowlers massively when there is no weak link in your attack and when your batsman pile on a huge score. But, you still have to judge the player, whatever the circumstances, and its hard to fault Mgrath.

Mcgrath averaged on 21 per wicket in test cricket in India. No bowler got Lara out as many times as he did.No batsman dominated against him and he was successful where ever he played. No fast bowler has won as many MoM as he has in test cricket. Mcgrath has set standards and benchmarks. He is the the pedigree. He was very successful before lee and gillesspie, was man of the series in Ashes 97 in England and was largely responsible for dethroning then test champs windies in 95 test series.

You think McGrath was as good to watch as Wasim Akram and Malcolm Marshall which was what was originally said?

Secondly McGrath was in a very successful team and absolutely did NOT dethrone West Indies. Steve Waugh played Brilliantly in that series.

Before Gillespie and Lee, Warne was at his absolute best before his injuries. He won many, many games for Australia back then and McDermott and Hughes did too.

I’ve already explained he was a legend of a bowler, but I preferred others. Man of the Match awards are an absolute nonsense way to judge a cricketer. Every 2 years he played England who batted like rabbits in headlights against him. Thank God for Michael Vaughan

By the way, what did McGrath average in Pakistan? I’m sure Inzamam also smacked in around 98 it was it 99?

Bro, Mcgrath was not bad in that series in 98 either. He had Inzamam out thrice if umpire had not committed howler. He was the highest wicket taker in 95 and 99 series against windies that led Aus domination in test cricket. This guy never had a bad test series. Only one player in memory got top of him and thats Micheal Vaughan. A lot of world class players became his bunnies including Lara, Atherton. Agreed he was not even as half as exciting to watch as Akram but he is the greatest fast bowler since Marshall.

Lara was not his bunny but yes he got Lara out plenty of times, however in 1999, the way Lara hit McGrath, wow he really did a number on him. However, you are correct McGrath had many bunnies.

I love how McGrath targeted batsman before a series and got them out. He also could reverse the ball and developed a good slower ball, I think that’s a reason why he did so well in the subcontinent. He did perform everywhere and in ODIs, he was a brilliant bowler.

But I never felt that Australia dethroned West Indies in 1995 at all. Yes of course beating WI in WI was a MASSIVE moment in cricket, but a few months before they lost to Pakistan against Wasim, Waqar, Inzamam and Anwar. Pakistan were also world champions at the time.

So WI beat Pak, Pak beat Australia, Australia beat WI, it was a 3 horse race.

I feel Australia only really started dominating from 1999 onwards. Before 1999, South Africa were also dominating ODI cricket. Australia dominating after 1995 has always been a myth in my eyes. They were easily beaten by SL in the World Cup final in 1996 and also got beaten heavily in India in 1998.