We’re playing a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI using Cricket Captain’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode.

Here’s what happened on day four.

And here’s the match situation at the start of day five:

The Now XI need 318 to win. The 90s XI need seven wickets.

The 90s XI seem overwhelming favourites, but commentators always go on about how modern players will try and chase down any total and 300 in a day isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

Whatever happens, by the end of the day we will have identified the better cricket era, once and for all.

Morning session

Kane Williamson and Steve Smith are the batsmen. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are the bowlers.

Anil Kumble, meanwhile, has been kind of cack. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when he comes on to bowl.

The ball is 35 overs old, so Wasim is bowling full, looking for reverse swing. In his third over of the morning, he gets Kane Williamson caught at slip.

Marnus Labuschagne, whose selection in this team was in no way controversial, walks to the crease.

Wasim makes way for Curtly Ambrose.

At the other end, Kumble replaces Waqar and has a big, loud shout for LBW against Smith second ball.

Pitched outside leg, missing leg, but otherwise a good appeal.

It’s worth emphasising that the 90s XI has been at a MASSIVE disadvantage when it comes to the decision review system (DRS) and this has definitely made up for any potentially questionable selection decisions in the Now XI.

What we’re saying is that if the 90s XI win, it’s completely legitimate to say that the 90s had better cricketers.

Labuschagne hits Ambrose for a couple of nice fours.

The South African Australian is looking good against the quicks, but then completely misreads Kumble’s googly and that one really is out LBW, clipping leg.

Quinton de Kock walks to the crease.

With five wickets down, the Now XI need 277 to win.

De Kock hits some fours.

With 20 minutes to go until lunch, Jacques Kallis reluctantly comes on to bowl a couple of overs.

Lunch. The Now XI need 229 to win.

Afternoon session

Wasim and Waqar again start the session.

Waqar yorks de Kock.

Jason Holder walks to the crease.

Holder hits a couple of fours and then skews Wasim to short leg.

Mitchell Starc walks to the crease.

Waqar has an LBW shout against Starc. Not given.

Wasim has an LBW shout against Starc. Given.

That’s three wickets in four overs. Suddenly it’s al happening very quickly.

Pat Cummins walks to the crease.

Wasim gets Smith caught and bowled.

Nathan Lyon walks to the crease.

Waqar has an LBW shout against Cummins. Not given.

The chances start to dry up. The new ball is almost due, but Wasim and Waqar have gone on a little too long here, so what is Gooch going to do? Ask a reluctant Kallis to take the new ball?

Kumble replaces Wasim.

Kallis reluctantly comes on to bowl a couple of overs with the old ball.

Curtly Ambrose takes the new ball.

Kallis’s reluctance to continue is too great and so a visibly-knackered Wasim comes back at the other end. He swings it a mile to beat Lyon but somehow fails to make contact with bat, pad or stumps.

In his next over, he beats batsman and wicketkeeper and it’s four byes. Then he befuddles Lyon, who squirts one to short leg, but also Gooch, who can’t take the catch.

After just three overs, Wasim’s on his knees and has to make way for Waqar, who it has to be said isn’t looking a great deal sprightlier.

Waqar pins Lyon LBW with a yorker.

Victory for the 90s XI!

The 90s is officially the better cricketing era, by miles (155 runs).

In the post-match press conference, members of the Now XI make feeble complaints that don’t remotely stand up to scrutiny.

David Warner takes to Twitter to make his feelings known. The platform hides his tweets behind a warning, flagging his comments as disputed and potentially misleading.

The Now XI are failing losers and very bad people. SAD.

Even though Wasim took nine wickets and Kallis hit an unbeaten hundred, Gooch is for some reason named man of the match for his two fifties.

The moral of the story is that if you put Wasim and Waqar in the same team as Sachin Tendulkar, you will probably win.

Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and the rest of the Now XI should take long, hard looks at themselves for failing to be any of those three people, or even Jacques Kallis.

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We’re playing a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI using Cricket Captain’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode.

Here’s what happened on day three.

Here’s the match situation.

The 90s XI leads by 264 runs with nine second innings wickets in hand.

We’re not a million miles away from declaration batting.

Morning session

Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc open the bowling under slate grey skies. Jason Holder has got a couple of slips in.

Gooch is enjoying himself until he’s beaten for pace by Starc.

Sachin Tendulkar walks to the crease.

These are tough conditions and after a number of chances, The Wall edges Starc behind for 40.

Brian Lara walks to the crease.

It’s Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, batting together. This kind of scenario is precisely what this match is about.

Lara is caught and bowled by Holder for one.

Jacques Kallis – who, despite his first innings hundred, really isn’t what this match is about – walks to the crease.

Holder is unplayable here. He’s beating the batsmen again and again and not conceding a run.

Tendulkar is pretty good at cricket though. He sees off the West Indian and sticks it out until lunch.

We had visions of batting carnage, but Test cricket is rarely easy.

The 90s XI lead by 347.

Afternoon session

What do you reckon? 100-and-odd runs and then a declaration at tea? Maybe just before? That’s perhaps easier said than done in these conditions.

Not long after the break, Nathan Lyon has Kallis stumped for 19.

Andy Flower walks to the crease.

Tendulkar is LBW to Starc for 48.

This might not be a declaration situation after all.

Wasim Akram walks to the crease.

Clearly of a mind that he’s going to be out soon no matter what he does, Wasim starts swinging.

When he’s caught and bowled by Cummins for 24 off 27 balls, the lead is 400.

Anil Kumble walks to the crease.

Irritated by Lyon’s success, he hits the finger spinner for successive fours.

Seemingly incapable of having bad things happen to him, Lyon then bowls Kumble.

Curtly Ambrose walks to the crease and immediately asks Flower why he’s on 13 off 53 balls when they’re supposed to be setting up a declaration.

Rattled, Flower unfurls a booming on-drive and edges behind.

Waqar Younis inside-edges a delightful four past his stumps and then Ambrose is bowled by Starc for three.

The Now XI need 421 to win in a smidge over four sessions.

Change of innings

David Warner and Rohit Sharma brace themselves to face Curtly Ambrose and Wasim Akram.

It is still cloudy. Ambrose goes past Warner’s outside edge in his opening over. Wasim has an LBW shout against Rohit in his.

Gooch throws in another close catcher.

Ambrose again beats Warner in his second over.

Tea

The tea break is largely devoted to Shane Warne moaning that Gooch isn’t being aggressive enough with his fields. The Australian seems disproportionately agitated, like he’s personally offended somehow.

Rohit edges Ambose to Flower for a flukey five.

Kane Williamson walks to the crease and just crushes Curtly’s first ball to the fence.

Wasim twice beats Warner. A maiden.

Slowly but surely, the chances start to dry up, at which point Warner miscues Wasim straight to mid-off. Slower ball maybe? Let’s be generous and say that it was.

Virat Kohli walks to the crease.

Waqar Younis comes on to bowl at toes.

Anil Kumble comes on to make amends for a pretty dire first innings performance.

Williamson is picking Kumble, but the leg-spinner traps Kohli for 22.

Steve Smith skitters to the crease and starts tapping at his clothing like a mad person.

Jacques Kallis reluctantly comes on for an over or two.

Kumble continues to have a not good time against Williamson.

Stumps

The Now XI need 318 to win. The 90s XI need seven wickets remaining.

Join us tomorrow for day five.

Or sign up for our email to have day five come to you.

We’re playing a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI using Cricket Captain’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode.

Day two went like this.

Here’s the match situation. No comment from us on any of this because we’re completely impartial.

It’s going to be a pivotal day.

Morning session

Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli walk out. The 90s XI open with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Because they can.

“First hour crucial here,” says Nick Knight on commentary.

Waqar beats Williamson with his first delivery and then Kohli jabs down on a yorker but only succeeds in popping it back up to the bowler. He’s gone for 12.

Steve Smith fidgets his way to the crease. Are you sure your pads are in the right position, Steve? Don’t worry. Take your time. Don’t forget to check your box 12 times as well.

Runs are less than plentiful, but eventually the two Pakistanis start to tire and Graham Gooch makes a double change, replacing them with Curtly Ambrose and Anil Kumble.

Williamson hits Ambrose for six – which doesn’t seem an especially smart move.

Curtly stands very still and watches it go.

Curtly starts bouncing the shit out of Kane Williamson. The Kiwi opts mostly for ducking.

At the other end, Kumble is for some reason going for a few.

Williamson reaches 50.

Jacques Kallis reluctantly replaces Ambrose.

Not knowing quite what to do, Kumble goes round the wicket, at which point he starts conceding even more boundaries.

This is inexplicably terrible from the big man. Nathan Lyon – Nathan Lyon – took seven – seven – on this pitch.

Lunch.

Afternoon session

Gooch opts for Waqar and Ambrose after the break.

Ambrose traps Smith LBW one ball after the Australian brings up his 50 with a four.

Marnus Labuschagne make his in-no-way-controversial appearance at the crease.

Ambrose has an LBW shout against him. Not given.

After half an hour, Wasim replaces Waqar and he too starts aiming at the batsmen’s toes.

But it’s again Ambrose who gets the breakthrough, Williamson edging to a diving Kallis at second slip. (This is 90s vintage Kallis, so diving is actually an entirely credible thing for him to do.)

Ambrose has 3-65 and the Now XI are 200-5, 198 runs behind.

“The game is poised,” says Nick Knight on commentary, rather unnecessarily.

“This is a crucial passage of play,” he adds.

Labuschagne skews Wasim to Old Man Gooch at short leg for 3. Was he the right choice? Maybe the Now XI should have picked Roston Chase instead.

Ambrose is looking weary, but with Jason Holder fresh to the crease and Quinton de Kock on 1, he’ll bowl one more over.

He’s then replaced by Kumble who seems to have resolved to bowl a little straighter.

Holder is beaten by Wasim’s reverse and is LBW for two.

Mitchell Starc walks in.

Mitchell Starc is beaten by Wasim’s reverse and edges to wicketkeeper Andy Flower for a duck.

Pat Cummins walks in.

Wasim bowls slightly too long a spell, striving for a fifth wicket. The ball’s reversing though so it’s no catastrophe for Gooch to haul him off in favour of his countryman.

Younis arcs one away from de Kock, who edges to Bucket Hands Kallis at slip for 19.

Nathan jeffing Lyon walks in.

Younis has him caught behind for a golden duck, which is no less than he deserves for being who he is.

Gooch celebrates with some sort of yoga dance.

The Now XI are all out for 226.

The 90s XI lead by 172 runs.

Change of innings

There’s a tricky 10 minutes for Gooch and Saeed Anwar to negotiate here before tea, but a solid start and it’s going to be almost impossible for the Now XI to get back into this.

Starc and Cummins open. No wickets fall.

Tea

After five overs, Holder is positioning just one slip for his bowlers.

Anwar is really struggling though and edges behind for seven.

BRING ON THE WALL!

Gooch inside-edges Cummins but de Kock can’t take the chance. Other than that, the batsmen are just ticking along. It’s only day three. There’s no real rush.

Nathan Lyon comes into the attack and his first over goes for nine. Maybe the dark magic is wearing off.

By his fifth over, he is bowling without attacking fielders. He conjures an LBW shout against Gooch. Bit optimistic.

Gooch minces him for six over point. A pair of fours off Starc in the next over and the 90s XI captain has his 50.

Stumps

So far the 90s is looking like the stronger and better decade in this entirely impartial watertight experiment of ours.

The 90s XI leads by 264 runs with nine second innings wickets in hand.

Join us tomorrow for day four.

Or sign up for our email to have day four come to you.

We’re playing a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI using Cricket Captain’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode.

Day one was fairly stupid in that Nathan Lyon took four wickets.

No matter which team you’re supporting, let’s hope that’s the end of that sort of nonsense.

The 90s XI are 205-4.

Morning session

Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis walk out.

A simple drop-and-run gets Tendulkar to 50. After that, he just gets into that Tendulkar cruising zone where no-one really notices what’s happening but then at some point the bowling attack goes: “Hey, wait a minute. Are we being very quietly taken apart here?”

Kallis, meanwhile, is just Kallis, which is to say he does a similar thing but in a much less cool way.

Ten minutes before lunch, the South African reaches a 50 you’d struggle to remember.

Other than one over for Virat Kohli and one over for Steve Smith on the first morning, Jason Holder hasn’t given anyone outside his main four a bowl. He’s pretty much just rotating his quicks with Lyon on at the other end.

Lyon gets Tendulkar LBW for 82.

It’s a depressingly reasonable decision.

Looked like a quicker one. The Little Master had his mind on a little lunch, it seems.

Andy Flower gnarls his way to the crease.

Lunch.

Afternoon session

Andy Flower edges Mitchell Starc to first slip, only for someone blond to put down a piss-easy chance. Could have been Steve Smith. Could have been David Warner. Let’s say it was Warner.

Lyon bowls Flower for 18.

What is this shit? It’s the first innings and Lyon has taken the first six wickets to fall.

Wasim Akram walks out.

Wasim Akram does the decent thing and immediately gets out to Pat Cummins, so ensuring that A Very Bad Nathan Lyon Thing cannot happen.

Well played, Wasim.

Anil Kumble walks out (and is probably quite interested in how this pitch is playing).

Kallis, now on 83, offers Holder a fairly straightforward caught and bowled chance, which he completely fails to take.

Kumble is LBW to Starc for 8.

Curtly Ambrose walks out.

Kallis reaches three figures. He waves his bat while pretty much everyone else on the field of play momentarily turns into statues, except for David Warner, top-right, who does some sort of hand jive dance.

Tea.

Evening session

The session recommences with Curtly Ambrose on-driving Nathan Lyon for four. This is the kind of thing that should have been happening throughout.

Lyon then bowls Ambrose, which is the kind of thing that actually has been happening throughout. Somehow.

Lyon now has the ludicrous figures of 7-128.

Waqar Younis walks in and sweeps Lyon for four, which is the kind of… ah, forget it.

Cummins bowls Waqar.

Change of innings

If Nathan Lyon – Nathan Lyon – can take seven wickets, what can Anil Kumble do?

That’s a question for later though. For now it’s Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose bowling to David Warner and Rohit Sharma.

Depressingly, Warner hits each of them for four in their opening overs. Then Rohit joins in. This pitch has not been kind to the seamers.

Wasim isn’t one to be fazed by a crap pitch though. He bowls Warner for a run-a-ball 15 and it is everything you dreamed it would be.

Warner slopes off like this.

Kane Williamson walks in.

Rohit edges Ambrose to slip for 23.

Virat Kohli walks in looking hyped-up and half-deranged.

Kohli and Williamson versus Ambrose and Wasim anyone?

Kohli cuts his first ball for four.

Turns out it is not Kohli and Williamson versus Ambrose and Wasim. It’s Kohli and Williamson versus Ambrose and Waqar Younis.

Waqar will be bowling nothing but yorkers because that’s the way things should be. Williamson clips the first one off his toes for four. Kohli plays the exact same shot next over.

With two overs remaining, Kumble comes on. He beats Kohli with a top-spinner but fails to find the edge.

Stumps

The 90s XI have made what we are legally obliged to refer to as ‘early inroads’.

The 90s XI lead by 332 runs.

Join us tomorrow for day three.

Or sign up for our email to have day three come to you.

We’re playing a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI using Cricket Captain’s ‘All-Time Greats’ mode.

Let’s start with teams and stats. Partly because we imagine you want to pore over the averages, but mainly because there’s a 12th man joke we want to do.

First up, the 90s XI.

We thought long and hard about who should be captain and decided that Andy Flower should be because he always seemed to thrive on responsibility.

Then when we were shuffling everyone about, we realised that Graham Gooch was way older than everyone else and it just seemed more fitting that he’d be captain.

They’re up against the Now XI.

Captaincy decisions here too. Loads of things to weigh up, but in the end we just figured that Jason Holder was the best captain.

The toss

The match is being played at the Now XI’s home ground, whatever the hell that means in practice. Probably just that no-one’s allowed in to watch.

The 90s XI wins the toss.

There’s a slow outfield and looks like there’ll be a bit of cloud around later in the day, but Gooch is a by-the-book type and opts to bat.

Anil Kumble to win it on day five – that’s our prediction.

Morning session

Gooch walks out with Saeed Anwar and takes the first ball from Mitchell Starc.

A couple of singles and then it’s Pat Cummins from the other end.

Gooch and Anwar open the batting like it’s the 1990s and make 10 runs in the first 10 overs.

Holder brings himself on for the 13th over. Brace yourselves for some seam movement, 1990s cricketers.

Virat Kohli somewhat surprisingly bowls the 14th over. Brace yourselves for some dibbly-dobbly medium-pace, 1990s cricketers. (Maybe the Now XI could have done with an all-rounder after all.)

In the 17th over of the day, Anwar hits the 90s XI’s first four. It is a bold on-drive across the line that dribbles down to fine leg off the inside edge.

Nathan Lyon comes on and Anwar carts him for four rather more convincingly.

Steve Smith filth! Maybe it WAS a good decision to deny them an all-rounder.

Gooch cuts him for four.

Lunch. A steady, scene-setting sort of opening.

Afternoon session

It’s similar stuff immediately after the break. It’s dull enough that the commentators are already throwing forward to what might happen later in the match. They show the scorecard and Nick Knight says “plenty of batting to come”.

Starc beats Gooch. It’s quite possibly the first play and miss of the day.

There’s not much in the pitch for the bowlers and rather too much in the outfield for the batsmen.

Lyon gets Anwar caught behind.

BRING ON THE WALL!

The Wall sweeps Lyon for four first ball, which is no less than the bowler deserves for being who he is.

The Wall straight drives Starc for four next over. You wouldn’t have had money on The Wall being the one to up the run-rate.

Gooch thinks it looks like fun and tonks Lyon to the boundary, which is no less than the bowler deserves for being who he is.

Gooch then plays a back foot defensive shot against the same bowler and inside-edges it almost for six. Physics be damned.

After further boundaries off Lyon and Holder, Gooch passes fifty. We might finally be up and running in this match.

Cummins cuts him in half and appeals for caught behind. Not given.

Gooch cuts him for four.

Lyon bowls Gooch for 65 and now it’s Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar takes a single and ah crap. Lyon appeals for LBW against The Wall and it’s given. Two wickets in the over. To Nathan Lyon.

Hawkeye reckons it hit The Wall in line.

Hawkeye must have had a few 9% Belgian tripels or something. (Although before you cry ‘gross miscarriage of justice’, it’s worth pointing out that if anything it’s The Wall’s ghost that’s wrong there and actually it did look like quite a good shout ‘live’.)

Brian Lara walks in.

Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar are batting together.

Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar are batting together against… Nathan Lyon.

Tea.

Who had Nathan Lyon down to be player of the match? Anyone? Anyone?

Thought not.

Evening session

Lyon beats Lara in the first over after the break. (This is bullshit.)

And again. But then Lara punches him back down the ground for four, which is no less than the bowler deserves for being who he is.

Nathan Lyon bowls Brian Lara for 14. Cricket is a ridiculous and painful sport

Jacques Kallis walks in.

Kallis and Tendulkar bat like Nathan Lyon is just Nathan Lyon for a bit and then the Now XI take the new ball.

Nothing remarkable happens.

Stumps

It could theoretically have been worse for the 90s XI. But surely only theoretically.

Join us tomorrow for day two.

Or sign up for our email to have day two come to you.

We’re going to play a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI. Let’s pick the latter.

As we asked the other day, what is ‘now’? We’re still niggled by the notion that the 90s XI has a whole era of talent at its disposal whereas this one is really just a snapshot in time.

A 2010s team could have plugged obvious gaps with the likes of Alastair Cook or Rangana Herath, for example.

But a 2010s team is not what we’ve gone for, so that’s not happened. The Current XI’s disadvantage will surely be more than made up for by modern fitness levels and sports science though anyway, won’t it?

That’s the kind of thing people say. That’s basically what we’re testing here – is the level of cricket these days just fundamentally better than in the 1990s?

Obviously we don’t have a position on that one and therefore aren’t ‘supporting’ one team over the other.

(1) David Warner

Remember that time Fox Sports claimed that David Warner had ‘gone rogue’?

Good times.

(2) Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma is what is known as a ‘bolter’ here. It’s weird and almost contradictory to have a bolter in a World XI, but it’s a symptom of the fact that the best openers in recent times are all a bit meh.

Tom Latham should really be the man in this position, but is there not something more exciting about Rohit, a man who has hit three hundreds in his six innings as opener (one a double) and who averages 46 in Test cricket but who everyone still thinks is probably a bit rubbish?

In the absence of a real ‘wow’ option (step away, Dean Elgar), this seems to us the more enticing option.

(3) Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson was Lord Megachief of Gold in 2015.

He is good at batting.

(4) Virat Kohli

Also good at batting.

Less good at singing in adverts.

(5) Steve Smith

We’re not quite sure how Steve Smith ended up being the one pushed down to five. It’s probably just that he wouldn’t kick up as much of a fuss about it as Virat would.

Here are the four stages of Steve Smith’s recurring metamorphosis into a batsman.

(6) Marnus Labuschagne

Say what you like, but the guy’s averaging 60-odd.

And think of all the bits-and-pieces bowling from this middle order as well. Magical! Why would you want an all-rounder with all these ‘options’?

Plus who would you pick?

Seriously, who?

Exactly.

(7) Quinton de Kock

With a Test average of over 40 when playing as wicketkeeper, Quinton de Kock is better than some of you think.

Crucially, he is less agreeable than his only real rival, BJ Watling, and for some inexplicable reason we feel that’s pertinent.

(8) Jason Holder

Everyone forgets Jason Holder, but Jason Holder is bloody amazing.

This team is not going to be an easy one to bowl out.

(9) Mitchell Starc

Dynamism. You need a bit of dynamism. Dynamism and variety.

Few current bowlers are quicker or more left-handed than Mitchell Starc and we actually think there is a very strong case for his inclusion instead of slower, more right-handed bowlers.

He’s a pretty handy number nine too.

(10) Pat Cummins

We don’t feel like we need to explain this one because of all the explaining we’re having to do about the two players either side of him.

A pretty handy number 10.

(11) Nathan Lyon

You’re probably thinking R Ashwin and at first we were thinking R Ashwin too because we happen to think he’s brilliant at cricket.

But Ashwin gets to avoid playing overseas quite a lot because apparently India don’t agree with us on this. Nathan Lyon, in contrast, pretty much always plays for Australia and pretty much always takes a few wickets. Sometimes he also runs people out.

In short, it is very on-brand for Ashwin to leave everyone a little bit confused as to why he hasn’t been picked again.

Here’s what happened on day one.

Also why not sign up for our email for more of this kind of idiocy.

We’re going to play a Sim Series between a 1990s World Test XI and a Current World Test XI. Let’s pick our first team.

After we announced that this particular Sim Series Test was going to take place, there was quite a lot of discussion about who should be in the teams. If we can make one observation/criticism about those comments, a number of you appear to be treating this the same way you would a Wisden- or ICC-selected World XI.

Let us tell you that this is a very different realm. Here at King Cricket we do not seek to be authoritative or fair. Here at King Cricket we pick the players that we want to pick and then we try and camouflage the true nature of those selections with a gossamer thin layer of reason.

(1) Graham Gooch

When outlining our (admittedly amorphous) selection criteria for this team, we said that it didn’t matter what you did in adjacent decades; you were eligible so long as you were one of the big players during the qualification period.

Graham Gooch played 45 Tests in the 90s and scored over 4,000 runs at an average of 51.55. (It’s worth pointing out that of the batsmen who scored more than 2,000 runs during the 90s, only four averaged over 50.)

In 1990, Gooch made 456 runs in a single Test match. No-one has ever scored more.

A year later he made 154 not out against a West Indies attack comprising Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh. The next highest score was 27. It was England’s first home win against the Windies for 22 years.

Of course Gooch is in.

(2) Saeed Anwar

As we’ve established, batting was tough in the 90s and opening was tougher still. People don’t talk about Saeed Anwar all that much, but playing as an opener, he scored over 3,000 runs in that decade at an average of 48.

That’s tidy.

(3) Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid, the barometer of class. Averaged a snip under 50.

Throughout the match, we will be referring to Dravid only as The Wall.

The Wall was a great nickname. It summed up his strength and resilience perfectly, but also… The Wall? A wall is just about the most static, unremarkable thing there is.

What a fantastic sport where being likened to something so fundamentally motionless as a wall is considered a massive compliment.

(4) Sachin Tendulkar

The only real question in the middle order relates to batting order. Sachin first seems to make more sense to us.

Tendulkar played 69 Tests in the 90s – a mere fraction of his career. In this period he hit 22 hundreds and averaged 58, which was five runs more than anyone else.

A decent bat, Sachin.

(5) Brian Lara

Hey, here’s a thing that some of you know but some of you don’t: When we started the first incarnation of this website back in 2006, we kicked off with a top ten of players of that time and the winner – Brian Lara – was crowned ‘King Cricket’.

We specifically used the term ‘King Cricket’ because we thought it was a really dumb, stupid title and we thought that was funny. Then that post scrolled off the front page and everyone arriving at the site from that moment on started calling us King Cricket and now apparently that’s our name and we just to have to put up with it forever.

No-one has ever batted quite like Lara at his best.

(6) Jacques Kallis

One of the more contentious selections here.

If you’re going to pick an all-rounder (and we weren’t quite satisfied with the part-timers in this team, which is why we have) then you only really have four credible options who played any meaningful volume of international cricket during the qualification period.

Turns out the 90s was pretty shit for all-rounders.

The options are:

1. Jacques Kallis
2. Brian McMillan
3. Shaun Pollock
4. Chris Cairns

No enormous surprise that three of them should be South Africans, given how they selected their team back then.

McMillan didn’t ever take a five-for, so let’s rule him out; while Pollock didn’t get to three figures with the bat until the following decade, so let’s rule him out too.

Chris Cairns is… let’s just say we’re not comfortable selecting Chris Cairns any more.

So that leaves us with Kallis. During the 90s, he scored 1,849 runs at 41.08 and took 53 wickets at 28.45.

His selection isn’t immediately very satisfying because of course he was way better and played a lot more in the following decade. But that doesn’t change the fact that he was the best all-rounder in the 90s.

Sorry, but he was…

(7) Andy Flower

… unless you’re one of those ‘wicketkeepers are all-rounders’ people, in which case Andy Flower was the best all-rounder in the 90s.

Flower’s overall 90s record is 2,580 runs at 44.48, but in the 12 matches where he also captained *and* kept wicket, he averaged over 50.

While playing for Zimbabwe.

Bonkers.

(8) Wasim Akram

This whole thing is basically just a way for us to have Wasim and Waqar on our team for once.

(9) Anil Kumble

This is the other big contentious selection, we reckon.

Here’s a thing though.

As we’ve written before, Murali went up a level in around 1998. Before that his record was a little less jaw-dropping.

Even though the Sri Lankan still averaged a smidge less than Anil Kumble during the 90s, the latter took a few more wickets (264 at 27.80).

And there were literally no other spin bowling options worthy of consideration.

Not one.

Not a single one.

(10) Waqar Younis

See the Wasim section.

Here’s the thing we wrote for The Wisden Cricketer’s ‘My Favourite Cricketer’ section back in 2010.

When we play this match, we’re having Waqar bowl nothing but yorkers.

(11) Curtly Ambrose

There are lots of possible right answers when it comes to filling the fast bowling slots in this team, but 309 wickets at 20.14 feels about as right as right can be.

Plus Curtly tessellates well with Wasim and Waqar in our opinion. Left arm, right arm; new ball, old ball; tall and slingy – boxes are being ticked with this fast bowling attack.

Bring it on, Current World Test XI.

Bring. It. On.

Here’s what happened on day one.

Also why not sign up for our email for more of this kind of idiocy.

We’re going to play another Sim Series. The last few were a bit Ashes-centric so this time we’re going to pit a World 90s XI against a World Now XI.

If you don’t about Sim Series, this is how it works: we pick two fantasy teams based on some flimsy premise or other and then we pit them against each other using the ‘All-Time Greats’ mode in long-running cricket management game, Cricket Captain.

A brief history of Sim Series

We started off by playing two Tests between Sri Lanka and England to fill in for the real-life ones that were postponed because of this whole thing that’s been going on this year.

After that, we played “the 1990s-est Ashes” and then, because England lost, we played a rematch Down Under.

That second match also went very badly, so in no way learning from our mistakes we then picked our favourite England team of all-time and put them up against our least-favourite Australia team of all-time in The Evil v Good Test.

This time around we’re going to try and distance ourself from proceedings a little. Rather than England v Australia, we’re instead going to pit two different eras against each other.

We do have some team selection questions to ask you though. Not to do with individual players – we’re not up to that bit yet. The issue is to do with qualification criteria.

Question 1: Which players are 90s cricketers?

This one is actually somewhat rhetorical because we think we have an answer we’re happy with.

Our answer is: anyone who was big in the 90s.

That is to say that you’re still eligible for the 90s team even if you had more success in the decade afterwards provided you were still one of the big players during the qualification decade.

A quick example: Jacques Kallis played 101 of his Tests in the 2000s, but he also played 32 in the 90s and was probably the best all-rounder during that period.

Happy with that? Hope so because Question 2 is a stinker.

Question 2: What is now?

Yeah, we know. Quite the poser, isn’t it?

Obviously now is… now… but what period do we take into account when we’re trying to name the World XI that is currently the best?

Firstly, hardly anyone’s been playing Test cricket this year. Secondly, even if you base it on 2019, that’s quite a narrow window.

We’re probably going to say that selection should be based on players’ overall records at this point in time, with minimal regard paid to any recent up- or downturn.

That probably cants things against the youngsters, but frankly they deserve it for being young so let’s not lose any sleep over that.

Please lodge your suggestions/complaints in the comments section and we will almost certainly ignore them before later concluding that yes, actually, maybe they did make sense with hindsight.

If you want to add the following important dates to your calendars, please do: we’ll be naming our two teams once we’ve picked them and then we’ll play the match at some point after that.

We’re pitting an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most against an Antagonists XI using International Cricket Captain’s ‘All Time Greats’ mode.

England made 202 runs and lost four wickets on day three. It was very boring and far and away their most successful day.

Australia still lead by six runs. Paul Collingwood and Andy Flintoff are at the crease.

Morning session

Don’t get ahead of yourselves. Darren Gough is batting at eight.

Flintoff batted quite zestily late on day three. This morning he is becalmed. Shortly after that he is bowled.

Matt Prior is the next man in. He made a three-ball duck in the first innings. He plays and misses at his first, then survives the next two deliveries. Signs of improvement there.

Giddy at having just made a ball hundred, Collingwood tries to on-drive Shane Warne across the line and is LBW for 26.

Darren Gough is the next man in. England lead by 20.

First ball, Gough plays the exact same shot as Collingwood to the exact same delivery with the exact same result.

Dire.

Steve Harmison is next man in.

Harmy takes a single off the hat trick ball, which allows Matt Prior to edge the one after straight to Steve Smith for a four-ball duck.

Fears that Prior could be left stranded by this tail have proven woefully unfounded. Two innings, seven deliveries, no runs.

James Anderson is next man in.

James Anderson is LBW for 1.

Monty Panesar is next man in.

Harmison hits four fours as Warne’s next over goes for 18.

That was something. They weren’t even slogs. Not really.

While we were trying to get a screengrab to prove it, we noticed that after the fourth four, one of the slip fielders started haring off in the exact opposite direction to the ball.

The ball’s gone down to fine leg. Where’s he off?

We’re marking this one down as a moral victory for England. And we ask you: is there truly any finer form of victory than that?

Don’t say, “an actual one by 10 wickets”.

Harmison eventually falls LBW to Warne for 32, propping forward when he should have been slogging.

Change of innings

Australia need 59 to win.

Stranger things haven’t happened.

Anderson opens the bowling with Harmison.

Matthew Hayden nicks Anderson to Flintoff for 3. We can feel the pride that is frankly all we’re playing for here positively welling up inside.

Afternoon session

Australia need 55 to win and a 10-wicket defeat has already been COMPREHENSIVELY AVOIDED.

Take that, Australia!

Stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it.

Justin Langer hits Harmison for two fours and we sink into the Slough of Despond. Ponting then hits him for six and honestly, what was the point of this? What were we ever hoping to achieve by playing this game?

It’s just fours everywhere.

With Australia needing just four to win, Flintoff comes on to bowl because he’s on a hat-trick and we might as well find out how that goes.

Everyone crowds round the bat. The crowd does the crescendo roar thing as he runs in.

And…

Justin Langer jabs down on a full one. No run.

Persisting with a ludicrous every-man-around-the-bat field, Flintoff delivers four more dot balls before pinning the left-hander LBW.

That’s something, we suppose.

Ponting cuts Anderson for four.

Now what?

The Aussie Antagonists beat The Realm’s England XI by eight wickets.

Mitchell pissing Johnson was man of the match.

Evil wins.

Here’s the match summary.

We’re pitting an England XI comprising the players we invested in the most against an Antagonists XI using International Cricket Captain’s ‘All Time Greats’ mode.

Taken in isolation, day two was less rubbish than day one. However, the nature of Test cricket is that it cannot be taken in isolation, so in fact day two compounded day one such that we arrive here at day three in an even worse position than yesterday morning.

England are 19-0 and 208 runs behind. That’s pretty much where you’d want to be in your first innings, but unfortunately this is their second.

Morning session

Marcus Trescothick faces the first ball from Mitchell bloody Johnson. He clonks a four.

At the other end Mike Atherton will be facing Glenn bloody McGrath, which is a real recipe for success.

Inside the first over, Trescothick is caught and bowled, cutting Johnson.

Rob Key walks in.

Rob Key minces Johnson for a pair of fours.

He absolutely drilled the second one.

England inch to 50 and Shane Warne comes on.

Key hits the straightest straight drive ever seen. Somehow the umpire didn’t even flinch as the ball skimmed his beck and shoulder.

England reach lunch on 87-1 and that is their best session by an immeasurable margin.

Afternoon session

Atherton reaches 50.

The way this is going, pretty soon Steve Waugh will be bringing himself or Damien Martyn on to winkle out Key.

Waugh gives himself one over.

The world’s dullest session ensues, but we very quickly reached a point in this match where dull is fantastically good for England.

46 runs in 31 overs.

Gold.

Evening session

Shortly after the resumption, Key inside-edges Warne to Gilchrist for what can only be termed a “battling” 47.

Graeme Hick is next man in. There are 11 overs until the new ball, but to be honest Warne will probably prove a bigger problem for him.

Apparently oblivious to this, Hick creams his first ball through the covers for four.

A short while later, Johnson goes round the wicket and Hick is adjudged LBW. (We’re using the word ‘adjudged’ in that loaded way where you don’t really think it was out but you’re not quite willing to say so explicitly.)

Paul Collingwood is the next man in. Four overs until the new ball.

Collingwood is beaten by Johnson. Australia take the new ball.

Atherton is into the 90s by this point. We’d better mention that so that the tension can build. We wouldn’t want him to be run out for 99 without you first having a bit of time to think about him maybe making it to three figures.

The score is 181-3, so Australia are still 46 ahead. We don’t want to go crazy here, but there’s an outside chance of sidestepping an innings defeat.

Atherton lofts an absolute nothing ball from McGrath to Johnson at mid-off for 93. (We truly believed that setting him up to be out in the 90s a couple of paragraphs ago would somehow have protected him from that actually happening. We are actually kind of shaken that this illogical ploy didn’t work.)

Andy Flintoff is next man in. He hits some fours and misses the ball a bit and edges the odd one.

Paul Collingwood does much the same thing, only without the fours.

The two of them make it to the close of play. Australia lead by six runs.

It’s been a very good day for England compared to the first two. They have a really good chance of securing a 10-wicket defeat here.

Join us tomorrow for day four.