Thanks Ananth for the update... looks stunning...

Special thanks to Sumant...grt job mate...

Few of my observations....:-)

1. Current stability in the South African test team... they featured in 11 player as well..now the current team is in 10 - 7 player list as well... this is really unique...

2. No brainer...WI of 80's and 90's and Aussies of Late 90's and 00's are in the list with more players...a sign of solidity ... worth another mention and admiration...Cricket will miss that kinda team for sometime...

3. Fav fast bowlers in the last 20 years Ambi and Walsh...hold the record for most test matches together for fast bowlers...Hats off...bow of head for their fitness, ability and talent...

4. Next in line for fast bowler which is more astonishing is Kallis and Pollock... for an alrounder Kallis fitness is very close to Kapil...

5. McGrath and Warne...this is the most lethal combo to me in the last 20 years...

Contd...

Warne and Mcgrath... to draw some reference to previous analysis by Ananth... they both have more than 4.5 wickets per test match and so in 104 test matches...they have literally acounted for 10 wickets... this is a phenominal record.. Tough to another hunting expedition in pair...batsman enjoy the honeymoon :-)

5. My favourite Ntini deserves another mention...big salute to his fitness and ability as he playing his 101st test...3 genuine fast bowler and 6 fast bowler overall to achieve this feat...

6. SL team is like India's. A set of players form the pillars and other rotate around them. Murali and Kumble are alike solid as steel, Batting middleorder quite stable and solid...bowling always an area of concern... Vaas is an exception with Srinath and Zaheer doing similar roles for India...the similarity is really striking...

7. Pak team with only one feature with >50 tests together is perfect relection of instability. All 11 players would be past captains...:-)

Contd..

Notable absentees in the top list..

1. Mr. Allan Border..did not feature in top positions of any list...

2. Gavaskar ...except 11 player combination..no other mention...

both these players absence is quite interesting as they have played really high # of test matches...

...interesting to note

thanks guys,to answer Sesha's Question:
Gavaskar,Vengsarkar with 94 and Border,Boon with 89 are their bests.

If you look at the group of 4 players playing together. It seems that every country has an entry since 1995 except pakistan and west indies. Could this be due to cavalier selection or a general downturn in the teams fortunes. Not looking to start any fights here. Just opinions.....
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Ashwath
As lonng as you express your opinion in a civil and acceptable manner, which you have done, no one should have any problems.
Both teams have gone through periods of uncertainty and instability. West Indies have virtually gone off the cricket map (although the showing against Australia and T&T in CL09 have kindled hopes of a Caribbean revival). Pakistan have been beset with problems on and off the pitch. A team with wonderfully talented players, it is regrettable and a great loss to world cricket they have not been able to give their best. Is there a more talented youngster than Umar Akmal anywhere or a better all-rounder in the making than Md. Aamer. I wish them all the best in future.
Ananth:
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This is very interesting stuff and great analysis by Anant. From an Indian perspective, it highlights the weakness of the pace attack which has prevented the team from doing better than what it has. Even at the 6 player level, we do not have a pace bowler or all rounder in the list.
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Madhu
The Indian pace bowler selection has almost always been a musical chair event. Just as everyone thought Ishant would form the backbone for a few years he has failed miserably. So we still do not have a settled pace attack unless otherwise Sreesanth's current good behaviour is not a mirage and Zaheer Khan is free of injuries for couple of years.
Ananth:
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i want to know the records of 5 members together of Indian team(individual)recods
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Atul
I suggest you get this from Cricinfo Stats section.
Ananth:
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Agreee with Mr Ananth. Not since Sachin have we seen a batsman of such talent as Umer Akmal. But of more significance to Pakistan, the 2 As, Asif & Aamir, look to be as potent as the 2 Ws. If only they can get around to picking Sohail Tanvir, it will be as good an attack as any in Pakistan History.And they also need 2 or 3 decent batsmen, at least a Ramiz/Sohail/Ijaz if not Inzy/Malik/ Anwar. And if Yousuf & Younus can have graceful exits there'll be more than adequate opportunity to hand over the baton to Umer & Co.
WRT the post,how many tests Vishvanath & Gavaskar played together? It is difficult to think of both having missed a test from 1971 (Eng) to 1983 (Pak). Which pair lasted the longest..? Tendulkar & Kumble (1990 to 2008)? or Richards & Greenidge (1974 to 1991)?
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Shankar
I will accept your statement on Umar Akmal if you change Tendulkar to Lara. I find it difficult to accept that after 5 tests one can say that he is more talented than Lara.
I agree that Sohail Tanvir is a must. He has been a wicket-taking bowler in all forms of the game.
Vishwanath and Gavaskar played together in 84 tests.
I do not understand your last query. In both no of tests (122 vs 99) and years (19 vs 18) the Indian pair has outlasted the West Indian pair.
Ananth:
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In the list of two players together - Greenidge and Haynes need a mention because they were there together for 89 tests. A great article.

Though not the ideal place to discuss the topic, In response to Shankar..After Sachin there are Lara, Inzy, Ponting, Sehwag... who are genius when it comes to batting....Umar is promising and one of the best raw talent..so was Mohd Ashraful (statistically now one of the worst batsman..refer one of Ananth's previous article)... As a batsman he has a long long way to go - temperment, technique (that guy does not leave balls...shd learn the art to make it big in tests).... A man to watch out for future...

Mohd.Ameer is a serious world class talent already... he is more precious being a fast bowler and the art is endangered...I'm waiting for Wasim bhai to teach him the tricks and voila the next Wasim/McGrath...

On a personal note..One talent (sheer talent alone) who is as good as Umar if not better is Rohit Sharma...the day he gets the appetite for big scores he is next Sachin...(Nostradamus :-))
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Sesha
The problem is going to be that Rohit would be pushed every which way between Test/ODI/T20/IPL matches and he is unlikely to know whether he should go, come or stay. The signs are already there.
I would give some credence to your statement when he completes 3 relevant test 100s.
Ananth:
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I'd agree with Sesha about Aamer and add Roach's name as another serious prospect. Anyone who can dominate Ponting the way he did earlier this summer has a great future for the taking. No one who saw the way he bowled would have believed that he only took seven wickets that series.

As to the article, an interesting twist would be the most prolific combinations, for example the most common opening pairs, most common top threes and so on, then the most common opening bowling pairs, most common seam attacks and so on. Saying that the Waughs, Warne and McGrath played 68 times together is interesting, but I'm also interested in how many times Ponting, the Waughs and Martyn played together, or the most common West Indian pace battery.
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Marcus
It is not very easy to classify the players as specialist groups. I specifically requested Sumant to restrict to only the top-3 of each country. My reading,, and I maybe wrong, that he could easily produce the top-10 for each country, even more for the top countries, and send the Excel or text file to me. I can upload that to the site and give interested people the link to download and study at leisure.
Ananth:
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To all readers:
Sumant has created an update of his tables. Instead of showing the top-3 he has created top-10 for each country. The tables are too long to be posted in this article. Hence I have uploaded the same to the thirdslip.com site. Readers can download the same by clicking on the same here or in the main article.

To view/download the updated tables (.xls file) Sumanth has created (top-10 for each country instead of top-3), please click here. You might have to download/save and view.

To view/download the updated tables (.txt file) Sumanth has created (top-10 for each country instead of top-3), please click here. You might have to download/save and view.