My mate and I got talking the other day about who we would pick in our England all-time best XI with all the players being in the prime of their careers, of course we are both still quite young so did not get the chance to watch or remember watching players like Sir Ian Botham, Graham Gooch, David Gower, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart etc. So this is what we came up with - 1- Marcus Trescothick 2- Andrew Strauss 3- Michael Vaughan 4- Graham Thorpe 5- Kevin Pietersen 6- Matt Prior (wk) 7- Andrew Flintoff 8- Graeme Swann 9- Steve Harmison 10- James Anderson 11- Matthew Hoggard I would of liked to have gone for Cook instead of Strauss but i believe Strauss is the best captain we have had in a long time so he just sneaks in. This is my all-time XI for now but surely the likes of Broad, Bell, Cook will soon be in there and lets not forget the players I mentioned above like stewart and Botham would probably walk into that team. Who would you put in your all-time England XI?
This is very tough. This is mine from the players I have seen in my lifetime. It actually makes you realise how good the current England team is because you could easily swap someone from the current lot for pretty much all of these guys: 1 - Gooch 2 - Cook 3 - Gower 4 - Pieterson 5 - Thorpe 6 - Botham 7 - Flintoff 8 - Prior 9 - Swann 10 - Caddick 11 - Gough
Started watching in the early 90s, just about caught the last games of the likes of Gooch and Smith, can't remember that much about them now. 1 - Trescothick 2 - Cook 3 - Hussain (C) 4 - Pietersen 5 - Thorpe 6 - Stewart (W) 7 - Flintoff 8 - Swann 9 - Gough 10 - Anderson 11 - Jones
Again going with my watching 'lifetime' (from early 70s) and going with the current England preference of 4 bowlers. Boycott Gooch AJ Stewart Gower Pietersen Greig (c) Prior (+) Botham Snow Willis Underwood For a touring party of 16 I'd add Thorpe, Bell, Swann, Hendrick, Lever
From what i've seen (since 1997 Ashes): Trescothick Strauss Vaughan Pietersen Thorpe Prior Flintoff Swann Hoggard Gough Anderson
Here's my XI: - 1) Boycott 2) Trescothick (even though he's a BCFC fan) 3) Hammond 4) Hobbs 5) Vaughan (Capt) 6) Botham 7) Flintoff 8) Knott (Wkt) 9) Trueman 10) Statham 11) Underwood For a touring party I'd add Pietersen, Gower, Snow, Swann and Prior (Wkt).
Gooch (Capt.) Trott Gower Pietersen Botham Flintoff Knott Gough Emburey Willis Trueman if it's Australia away, I'd pick Lindwall & Miller in attack
How any of you can overlook Jonathan Trott in your first XI is beyond me, he's so good I'd pick him for Hull City too!
In my team it would mean either dropping Hussain who I see as the captain that turned England around or dropping a bowler (I prefer 5). If Trott opened he would likely get in ahead of Cook.
Nasser was a great captian but his scoring wasn't fantastic - bit like Brearley in the 70s. But if he leads you to test victories then there's an argument to include him. I might adjust my captain's pick as Gower didn't have a winning record.. Peter May is a good shout too.. My team contains a few all-rounders, Chris Lewis would have been in there if he hadn't chucked it all away.. pity. biggest pity was Hick though..
It was a toss up between Trott and Stewart for me and AJ got the nod. I'd like to see a few more tests under Trott's belt before selecting him for an all-time list. I could ask how you overlook Greig, have Botham at 5 (at least 1 place too high) and pick Flintoff at all, but opinion is what this kind of list is about.
One thing I've noted is that I'm the only one who's added a sprinkling of older cricketers (ie going back to the 50's and before) in my side. I agree with dks it's about opinion and there can be cases made for any number of players - the Bedser twins, Ted Dexter, Jim Laker, Trevor Bailey, W G Grace, Phil Edmonds, Godfrey Evans to name a few. It does surprise me that they haven't appeared as yet.
If where adding players for a touring party i'd probably add - Bell, Gough, Collingwood and Simon Jones
Gooch Trescothick Trott Pietersen Bell Thorpe Botham Knott Flintoff Swann Willis I considered Prior for Knott but Knott was the better keeper although Prior is a better bat. Gough, Vaughan, Gower and Cook were also in the picture.
An all time best is very subjective - but here's an alternative challenge: What would be your all time worst England XI?! qualification should be that they've played at least 10 matches, I think, rather than one hit wonders Some candidates that come to mind ... All-rounders: David Capel or Derek Pringle: both billed as the 'replacement for Botham' but neither came close (hard act to follow!) David Gower for his captaincy skills? Tufnell for his training ethic ... Ramprakash & Hick ...? Who would you pick?
Ramps and Hick yes, and if it is 10+ tests I'd complete the middle order with Bopara. Gower had and Ashes win as skipper and also was not blessed with the best of bowling attacks for a lot of his time as captain, which he could do little about. No way he would make a worst XI. Giles would make my worst side. A bowling average of all but 40 as a specialist spinner is very poor. Not his fault as he always gave 100% but just not good enough. Harmlessone too, for the opposite reason. Had the talent to be a great and an average of almost 32 is a crime against cricket. Most of the time he was a disinterested waste of a pick. Read edges out Downton behind the stumps. Couldn't buy a run and the defining moment of his career is surely this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6gPMq9qOTM.
Cookie should definitely be in there of the present team. His average in the recent tests has been superb and then to score 4 shy off 300 against the former number one world test side. I was always taught that examples set the reason, and that one says it all really why he should be included.
