Not knowing where to begin, and having every International match ever played to choose from that I have statistics on to replay, I decided to go back to the beginning of International cricket itself, the 1876/7 Ashes.
I decided to turn it into a fully fledged series in order to track records to compare to modern series of similar length, to see how these older era players might have compared.
Using carded players for Lambourne/Owzat Games International Cricket, I came up with the following 1876/7 to 1880 era players to represent the two teams:
Australia 1876/7 to 1880
Name - Tests - Bat Avg - High Score - Bowl Style - Bowl Average - Best Bowl - Runs Per Over
A.C.Bannerman - 28 - 23.0 - 94 - RM - 40.7 - 3-111 - 3.3
J.M.Blackham (wk)- 35 - 15.7 - 74 -
T.P.Horan - 15 - 18.8 - 124 - RM - 13.0 - 6-40 - 2.3
W.L.Murdoch (c) - 19 - 31.3 - 211 -
P.S.McDonnell - 19 - 28.9 -147 -
G.J.Bonnor - 17 - 17.0 - 128 -
W.E.Midwinter - 12 - 13.4 - 37* - RM - 25.2 - 5-78 - 2.1
T.W.Garrett - 19 - 12.5 - 51 - RMF - 26.9 - 6-78 - 2.1
H.F.Boyle - 12 - 12.7 - 36* - RM - 20.0 - 6-42 - 2.2
G.E.Palmer - 17 - 14.0 - 48 - RM - 21.5 - 7-65 - 2.2
F.R.Spofforth - 18 - 9.4 - 50 - RFM - 18.4 - 7-44 - 2.4
England 1876/7 to 1880
Name - Tests - Bat Avg - High Score - Bowl Style - Bowl Average - Best Bowl - Runs Per Over
R.G.Barlow - 17 - 22.7 - 62 - RM - 22.5 - 7-40 - 1.8
W.G.Grace (c) - 22 - 32.2 - 170 - LBG - 26.2 - 2-12 - 2.1
G.Ulyett - 25 - 24.3 - 149 - RF - 20.4 - 7-36 - 2.4
A.Shrewsbury - 23 -35.4 - 164 -
A.G.Steel - 13 - 35.2 - 148 - SRA - 20.8 - 3-27 - 2.6
W.Barnes - 21 - 23.3 - 124 - RFM - 15.5 - 6-28 - 2.0
W.H.Scotton - 15 - 22.1 - 90 -
W.Bates - 15 - 27.3 - 64 - OB - 16.4 - 7-28 - 2.0
A.Shaw - 7 - 10.0 - 40 - RM - 23.7 - 5-38 - 1.5
R.Pilling (wk) - 8 - 7.5 - 23 -
E.Peate - 9 - 11.6 - 13 - SLA - 22.0 - 6-85 - 1.9
Looking at the two teams, England appear much stronger in batting, with Grace, Shrewsbury, and Steel all averaging mid 30's, and a number of others above 20.
With 4 century makers of their own, Australia also have some batting strength, but in the main batting averages are lower.
"The Demon" F.R.Spofforth leads the Australian attack, which though lacking in variety, is close to the England attack in terms of overall ability.
Perhaps England's allrounders and spinners give them the edge in what is expected to be a close contest.
The series begins with the first of 7 T20 Internationals, a format not invented that far back in time, which makes it interesting for me to see who the stars might have been.
Enjoying the speed of T20's using Surf's IC Helper to play IC, and not bothering too much if the engine is exactly accurate or not, I plan to get through the series quickly before deciding what to do next.
The first match is a T20 International in Melbourne somewhere between 1876/7 and 1880.
W.G.Grace, the Father of Cricket, leads a strong England side on tour in Australia in 1876/7 to 1880
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