XI men of the Empire

Team of the Week

I apologise for the delay in posting my best England XI but the sheer volume of talent produced in 130 years of test cricket from this nation made choosing 11 men very difficult. Having said that, I am very happy with my picks:

The Team

1. J. Hobbs
2. H. Sutcliffe
3. W. Hammond
4. D. Compton
5. W. G. Grace
6. I. Botham (c)
7. A. Knott (wk)
8. J. Laker
9. F. Tyson
10. F. Trueman
11. S. F. Barnes
12. 12th Man: M. Brearley

Explanations

• The Yorkshire pairing of Hobbs and Sutcliffe was legendary in the mid 1920s (70 consecutive matches without defeat and then another run of 58). They translated their success to Test cricket where they averaged 56 and 60 respectively. Combined they scored 10,000 test runs and 111,000 first class runs with 31 test hundreds and over 300 first class hundreds
• Hammond beat off the likes of Pietersen and Hutton for the crucial No. 3 position due to his scoring 7 hundreds in Australia (4 in 1928/1929) and averaged 51 against them.
• Compton holds a middle order position due to his dominance of the late 1940s despite the success of Bradman's Invincibles. He has the record for fastest first class TRIPLE century (3 hours and 1 minute) and averaged 50 despite WW2 taking his best years (aged 21-27)
• The No. 5 spot is reserved in many England XI sides for WG who revolutionised batting with greater discipline between front-foot and back-foot play. Grace plundered county attacks during the 1870s and his poor test record is somewhat explained given his advanced age when playing them. I have no doubt that his talent would translate to similar success in any area just as Bradman's would.
• Note that both Hammond and Grace provide part-time bowling options (the latter took 2800+ wickets in first class cricket @17.92!)
• The selection of Ian Botham as the all-rounder of the team is not surprising given his 5000+runs, 383 wickets and 120 catches. At his best he was nothing short of brilliant (his best years were 1977-1982 culminating in the 1981 Ashes series labelled 'Botham's Ashes')
• Controversy will appear due to my picking Botham as the captain of the side though. His was not an enjoyable nor successful captaincy but most writers suggest that he would captain a team of Bothams well i.e. he struggled when leading less talented players. I would at least pick him as captain of this most talented team to prove this theory true or false
• Any fan of English cricket holds Alan Knott as the best keeper in the game. He created a brilliant partnership with Underwood in the 60s and 70s and provided numerous counter attacks for England with the bat (he scored over 4000 runs and 5 centuries)
• I picked Laker as the spinner over Underwood because the I believe the removal of uncovered pitches would not change his record as much as Derek. It is also difficult to get around Laker's 19 wickets in the Manchester test match in 1956 (9-37 and 10-53)
• The pace attack will be led by Trueman and Tyson, two of the fastest men in the game's history and with Botham to exploit any swing available the new ball attack is very strong. Trueman was the first to take 300 test wickets and Tyson was able to bowl even faster than him
• The bowling attack is completed and enhanced by the inclusion of one S. F. Barnes who is sometimes rated as the best paceman in the history of cricket. He played all his cricket before footage could be taken of his craft but his record is so outstanding as to bypass all but the most cynical: in just 27 test matches he took 189 wickets @ just 16.43 but more incredibly, he completed 24 FIVE wicket bags and 7 TEN wicket matches. He was a master of fast-medium bowling and the others would only benefit from his experience
• The 12th man position would be Mike Brearley due to his ability to help in the human aspects of captaincy that Botham might lack - the combination could be very successful
• Just to clarify, Kevin Pietersen is not in the XI ... yet. I don't think his record yet warrants his inclusion ahead of Hammond, Compton or Grace but by the end of his career he may well be included. Also the likes of Hutton and Ken Barrington are not included due to their defensive batting styles which bored crowds for over a decade. I would not wish either to represent my best England team

Well there you have it. A selection of England players that was difficult to make and will no doubt invite critique from many of you. I invite your comments and will duely reply to them.

Join me next Thursday for my South African XI