How's that?! World Cricket XI

The team over at cricinfo.com have started to try and pick an all time cricket XI. It's a fairly hopeless task but of course I had to have a go myself.

Great players down the ages have had the ability to singlehandedly change games in a session, to win "unwinnable" matches, and to shatter records with the panache of the head waiter at Patrick Guilbaud's.

In making my selection I opted for a fairly standard formation of two openers, three men in the middle order, an all rounder, a wicket keeper, and four bowlers (three quickies and a spinner). The result is as close to a team for all conditions as I could muster with right- and left-hand batting combinations supplementing a bowling attack with devastating pace from all angles and spin which can go either direction.

Of course some superb players got the chop. Arguments can be made for the inclusion of WG Grace, Sir Len Hutton, Wally Hammond, Sir Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Curtly Ambrose, Brian Lara and many more but they just don't cut the mustard. My mustard. I suppose they could all be honorary twelfth men.

The XI includes four West Indians, two Australians, two Indians, and one player apiece from England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Three still play at the highest level while another three have left this world before us. I'm sure that many (if not all) will find fault in my selection, but I believe it would be the most fearsome team ever to take the field.

The Openers

The Master

At the top of the order I've gone for Sir Jack Hobbs who is still cricket's most prolific batsman with 61,237 first class runs and 197 centuries. Not even age could stay the torrent of Hobbsian runs: in 1928 at the age of 46 he became the oldest man to score a Test century, a record that still stands. From his 43rd to his 46th birthday, Hobbs scored some 11,000 first class runs, and averaged around about the sixties. 

In 1953 the cricketing world rejoiced as he became the first cricketer to be knighted. Had the height of his career not been interrupted by the First World War who knows what the man simply nicknamed "the Master" might have achieved.

Bat Stats Mat 61 Inns 102 Runs 5410 HS 211 Ave 56.94 100s 15 50s 28
Debut Test Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 1-7, 1908

Last Test England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 16-22, 1930

Viru

Partnering Hobbs in opening the batting is Virender Sehwag, one of three players in my team still playing at the highest level of the game. His ability to score centuries at breathtaking speed has made him the most feared batsman of the last decade.

In 2008 he became the first Indian to be named the Wisden Leading Cricketer of the Year and in 2009 was the first of any nationality to retain the honour. He holds the record for the fastest triple century ever and is one of only three players to have passed that mark on two occasions. 
 

Bat Stats Mat 80 Inns 137 Runs 7115 HS 319 Ave 53.90 SR 81.71 100 21 50 23
Debut Test South Africa v India at Bloemfontein, Nov 3-6, 2001

Last Test (still active) India v Australia at Mohali, Oct 1-5, 2010

The Middle Order

The Don

Batting at number three, Sir Donald Bradman. Unquestionably cricket's greatest ever batsman, arguably the best cricketer of all time, and without doubt one of sport's finest men, Bradman remained active in the game right up until his death in 2001 when all of Australia stopping to mourn the passing of a national treasure. 

"The Don" remains the only player to score 300 runs in a single day's play and his unparalleled average of 99.94 has been heralded as statistically the greatest achievement ever in any major sport. Among his many remarkable innings was the 254 he scored at Lords on his maiden trip to England. Described by Neville Cardus as "the most murderous onslaught I have ever known in a Test match", the 21 year old Bradman announced himself as the possessor of a freakish talent of unmatched quality. 

Bradman had an extraordinary effect on the world at large: when Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, the future President of the Rainbow Republic's first question to an international delegation was, "Is Sir Donald Bradman still alive?" Were it not for the Second World War, Bradman may have entertained for more than 52 Test matches he played.

Bat Stats Mat 52 Inns 80 Runs 6996 HS 334 Ave 99.94 100 29 50 13
Debut Test Australia v England at Brisbane, Nov 30-Dec 5, 1928

Final Test England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 14-18, 1948

The Little Master

In at number four is Sachin Tendulkar, the best batsman of his generation and in the opinion of Richie Benaud the best since Bradman. Standing head and shoulders above his peers – and at the wee height of 5 ft 5 in – "the Little Master" holds almost every batting record, including the most career Test runs, fifties, and centuries. With a textbook playing style, Tendulkar possesses every stroke in the game: his majestic cover-drive being perhaps the most notable. 

Scoring his first Test century at the age of 17, Tendulkar has become idolised by fans in India and "remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world." Matthew Hayden stated in 1998 "I have seen God. He bats at no. 4 in India in Tests." One of the most popular sayings by his fans is "Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God".

Bat Stats Mat 170 Inns 278 Runs 13973 HS 248* Ave 56.11 100 48 50 57
Debut Test Pakistan v India at Karachi, Nov 15-20, 1989

Last Test (Still active) India v Australia at Mohali, Oct 1-5, 2010

Viv

Coming in at number five is Sir Viv Richards. Aggressive, abrasive, and arrogant, Richards revolutionised Test batting with an irresistible ability to destroy bowling attacks at will. Standing at the crease un-helmeted with his chin up and his chest out, it would be a gross understatement to say the man from Antigua looked to dominate the crease. He towered over it. He could have ironed the crease if he had a mind to. He overshadowed it to the extent that umpires would offer him the light. 

In spite of his belligerent and sometimes reckless style Richards averaged over 50 and picked up a remarkable 84 sixes before boundary ropes had been introduced. Galleries worshiped his unwavering swagger; bowlers cursed his impeccable timing. 

Bat Stats Mat 121 Inns 182 Runs 8540 HS 291 Ave 50.23 100 24 50 45
Debut Test India v West Indies at Bangalore, Nov 22-27, 1974

Last Test England v West Indies at The Oval, Aug 8-12, 1991

The All Rounder

King Cricket

At number six is the greatest all rounder to play the game, Sir Garfield Sobers. Averaging 57 runs in Tests would probably put Sobers into this list alone but having picked up 235 Test wickets makes his selection a certainty. Having once held the highest score in a Test innings at 365*, it is remarkable to think that Sobers is perhaps more remembered for his versatile and destructive bowling expertises: he could open the bowling as a fast to medium paced quick and then bowl two types of spin later in the innings. 

He famously became the first man to score six sixes in an over, which he did in 1968. Sobers' successful exploits with bat, ball, in the field, and as captain of the victorious West Indian 1966 tour of England earned him the nickname "King Cricket".

Bat Stats Mat 93 Inns 160 Runs 8032 HS 365* Ave 57.78 100 26 50 30
Bow Stats Mat 93 Inns 159 Wkts 235 BBI 6/73 BBM 8/80 Ave 34.03 5w 6
Debut Test West Indies v England at Kingston, Mar 30-Apr 3, 1954

Last Test West Indies v England at Port of Spain, Mar 30-Apr 5, 1974

The Wicketkeeper

Sanga

A top order batsman who holds the gloves, the inclusion of Kumar Sangakkara ahead of Adam Gilchrist is perhaps a little cheeky but remains valid none the less. Sagakkara, a bachelor student of law and a master of the crease, is guaranteed to smash every Sri Lankan batting record. He already holds the record for the fastest player of any nationality to reach 8 000 runs. 

An intelligent and proactive captain, his witty barbs from behind the stumps have become the stuff of legend. He even has the gall to sledge while batting. With an average touching 57 and a top score of 287 it is hard to ask for more from your wicket keeper.

Bat Stats Mat 91 Inns 152 Runs 8016 HS 287 Ave 56.85 SR 55.85 100 23 50 33
Field Stats Ct 163 St 20
Debut Test Sri Lanka v South Africa at Galle, Jul 20-23, 2000

Last Test (still active) Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (PSS), Aug 3-7, 2010

The Bowlers

Sultan of Swing

The greatest left-arm fast bowler to play the game, Wasim Akram was one of the best (and some say the founder) of reverse swing bowling. He had every delivery needed in the game: his yorkers were unplayable, his slower ball was undetectable, and his short ball ruffled the feathers of the coolest batsman. 

Such was his ability that he could make the ball move both ways in a single delivery. No one could understand how he did it. Bamboozled critics assumed Akram to be tampering with the ball. They were wrong. And he was no mean man with the bat either with a top score of 257*. Player.

Bat Stats Mat 104 Inns 147 Runs 2898 HS 257* Ave 22.64 100 3 50 7
Bow Stats Mat 104 Inns 181 Wkts 414 BBI 7/119 BBM 11/110 Ave 23.62 5w 25 
Debut Test New Zealand v Pakistan at Auckland, Jan 25-28, 1985

Last Test Bangladesh v Pakistan at Dhaka, Jan 9-11, 2002

Warney

Legspin bowling had vanished from cricketing textbooks. Then there came Shane Warne. And there came scandal, match fixing, fines, and drugs. And there came records. And there came more scandal, infidelity, bans, and more drugs. Warne courted controversy wherever he went making headlines and filling gossip columns to such an extent that a musical comedy based on his life has been produced. 

Above all there were the magical deliveries he had up his sleeve: a zooter, a slider, a flipper, a toppie and a back-spinner, a wong'un, one that drifted in, one that sloped out, and the one that didn't budge. 

His first ball in his first match against England is regarded as the greatest ever and has become variously known as the ball of the century, the Gatting ball, or simply that ball: it pitched outside leg stump before turning back to take out the top of off, removing a vexed England captain Mike Gatting. 

In 2000 Wisden voted Warne as one of the top five cricketers of the 20^th century. He subsequently doubled his Test wicket haul. His record as the first man to claim 700 wickets and the highest run scorer never to score a century overshadow any off-field concerns occasionally voiced by the more prudish element of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Bat Stats Mat 145 Inns 199 Runs 3154 HS 99 Ave 17.32 SR 57.65 100 0 50 12
Bow Stats Mat 145 Inns 273 Wkts 708 BBI 8/71 BBM 12/128 Ave 25.41 5w 37
Debut Test Australia v India at Sydney, Jan 2-6, 1992

Last Test Australia v England at Sydney, Jan 2-5, 2007

Wispering Death

Michael Holding. Wisden's Mike Selvey said it better than I ever could. 

"It began intimidatingly far away. He turned, and began the most elegant long-striding run of them all, feet kissing the turf silently, his head turning gently and ever so slightly from side to side, rhythmically, like that of a cobra hypnotising its prey. Good batsmen tended not to watch him all the way lest they became mesmerised. To the umpires he was malevolent stealth personified so they christened him Whispering Death.

No-one in the game has bowled faster. His over to Geoff Boycott in the cauldron of Kensington Oval early in 1981 has gone down in history as the finest, fastest, most ferocious gambit of all time. Five years earlier, towards the end of the drought-ridden summer of 1976, The Oval had become a wasteland, parched beyond recognition, with slow flat heart-breaking pitches, and it was on this, in the final Test of the season, through the simple device of bowling ramrod-straight at high pace and to a full length, that he conjured 14 wickets for 149, the finest match figures ever by a West Indian.

Now in the commentary box, he is gentle but fearless, a rational critic who beguiles with his deep fruity measured Jamaican twang."

Bow Stats Mat 60 Inns 113 Wkts 249 BBI 8/92 BBM 14/149 Ave 23.68 5w 13
Debut Test Australia v West Indies at Brisbane, Nov 28-Dec 2, 1975
Last Test New Zealand v West Indies at Wellington, Feb 20-24, 1987

Maco

Mike Selvey sure has a way with words. 

"Malcolm Marshall slithered to the crease on the angle, pitter-pat feet twinkling as if in dancing shoes. It was reminiscent of a sidewinder on the attack. Purists occasionally criticised his action as too open, but it had method: he maintained mastery of orthodox outswing and inswing from a neutral position without telegraphing his intent.

He was lithe, with a wickedly fast arm that elevated him to express status. Only in inches was he lacking - but he even turned that to his advantage with a bouncer as malicious as they come, skidding on to the batsman. Later in his career, he developed a devastating legcutter which he used on dusty pitches. Allied to a massive cricket intelligence, stamina and courage, Marshall had all the toys and he knew how and when to play with them. His strike rate of 46.22 was phenomenal, his average of 20.95 equally so. He may well have been the finest fast bowler of them all.

He reserved his best figures for England. In 1984, he broke his left thumb while fielding early in the match, but first of all batted one-handed, hitting a boundary and allowing Larry Gomes to complete a century, and then, with his left hand encased in plaster, he shrugged off the pain to take 7 for 53. Four years later, on an Old Trafford wicket prepared specifically for spinners, he adjusted his sights, pitched the ball up, and swung and cut it to such devastating effect that he took 7 for 22. Let that be a lesson, he seemed to be saying, and indeed it was.

The whole cricket world mourned his tragically early death, from cancer, at 41."

Bow Stats: Mat 81 Inns 151 Wkts 376 BBI 7/22 BBM 11/89 Ave 20.94 5w 22
Debut Test: India v West Indies at Bangalore, Dec 15-20, 1978

Last Test: England v West Indies at The Oval, Aug 8-12, 1991

That team again:

Sir Jack Hobbs, Virender Sehwag, Sir Donald Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Garfield Sobers, Kumar Sagakkara, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall.

Batting Statistics key

Mat: Matches played

Inns: Innings batted

Runs: Runs scored

HS: Highest score in an innings

Ave: Average score in an innings

SR: Strike-rate, i.e. average number of runs scored per one hundred balls faced

100: Centuries scored

50: Innings scored fifty to ninty-nine runs

Bowling Statistics key

Mat: Matches played

Inns: Innings bowled

Wkts: Wickets taken

BBI: Best bowling figures in an innings

BBM: Best bowling figures in a match

Ave: Average number of runs conceded per wicket taken

5w: Number of innings taking five wickets or more

Fielding Statistics Key

Ct: Catches taken

St: Stumpings made