Cricket’s Best ‘All-Time’ XI

The Team(s)

I will begin with My Team A and Team B (how could I select just ONE team!) and then explain the selection. However, this would be selecting in the ‘traditional’ way – taking the best possible player in each position irrespective of which other players are picked in the team. So, it will be a collection of great players, but might be a great team. But that is true whenever we select an ‘all-time’ team.

I would like to select an all-rounder heavy team like:
1. Gavaskar – Sobers called him the best batsman he has seen
2. Hutton (or Hobbs, or Sutcliffe) – Numbers speak for them
3. Bradman – Well, he is The Don
4. Tendulkar (or Richards, or Headley)
5. Kallis – One-change bowler who scored 44 test centuries!!
6. Sobers – The best cricketer ever
7. Imran
8. Gilchrist – Another automatic selection like Bradman/ Sobers
9. Hadlee (or Akram), replaced by Murali/ Warne on spinning tracks
10. Warne (or Murali) – Numbers! Victims!
11. Marshall – Arguably the best fast bowler ever

However, the following would be more traditional teams:

	TEAM-A	TEAM-B
OPENERS	Sunil Gavaskar	Jack Hobbs
	Len Hutton	Virender Sehwag
MIDDLE ORDER	Don Bradman	George Headley
	Sachin Tendulkar	Brian Lara
	Vivian Richards	Walter Hammond
BATTING ALL-ROUNDER	Garfield Sobers	Jacques Kallis
WICKET KEEPER	Adam Gilchrist	Alan Knott
BOWLING ALL-ROUNDER	Imran Khan	Keith Miller
PACERS	Malcolm Marshall	Wasim Akram
	Sydney Barnes	Glen McGrath
SPINNER	Muttaiah Muralitharan	Shane Warne
12TH MAN	Richard Hadlee	Dennis Lillee

The Best Test XI with One-Spinner Option

So, how do we define who are the ‘best’?

In short, the answer might be: the ones who are most difficult to leave out.

The most widely accepted approach seems to be picking players based on their entire career, preferably a long one – not just a handful of games. But I do see a few exceptions to that. Barry Richards has been picked by many former cricketers as being one of the greatest in spite of playing just four international matches. He dominated in those games – but I would hesitate to declare him an all-time great based on just that tiny sample. Had Azharuddin played just three test matches (he scored a century in each of the first three he played), would we consider him an all-time great? Do people consider Vinod Kambli, in spite of all the potential he had shown and in spite of scoring back-to-back double tons, as one of the stalwarts? On the bowling side, would Bob Massie or Narendra Hirwani be considered greats?

But going by statistics and the accounts from other players, I think there wouldn’t be much debate about the selection of Don Bradman, and Garfield Sobers.

CricInfo has published a World XI for Test cricket. It’s fun to play selector for hypothetical teams. This was going on for some time on CricInfo and Pakistanis must have voted for Miandad while New Zealanders must have voted for Martin Crowe as the second best middle-order batsman ever.

I have used the pool of cricketers created by CricInfo. It is easier that way. But I do not necessarily agree to their 5-batsmen 4-bowlers 1-allrounder approach. I would rather have four main bowlers and two to three change bowlers. This is particularly helpful on flat pitches.

Comparing players from different era is difficult in any game – all the more so in cricket! Not only did the rules change over time, a plethora of other things have changed as well – making it extremely complicated to compare the statistics. But there are certain things that most people agree on.

First, batting on uncovered pitches is more difficult than on covered ones. That gives an edge to the batsmen from the older generation.

But then, with the expansion of cricket came more variety in bowling, and that made batting more difficult.

However, with more protection for the batsmen – both physical, and through rules – batting has become easier now.

And then, with better grounds equipment, pitches are more predictable now. The grounds have become shorter. The outfields are now quicker.

But fielding has become way better now!

Ok, so we get it – it’s never apples to apples, but we don’t have any other better way to judge players than by statistics and by the accounts of other players from the era.

Ok, without further ado, here is what my team composition will be:

Five Batsmen

An Attacking Opener

Keeping an opener who can dominate the ball from the very beginning is a viable option here because we should have a solid middle order.Graeme Smith, Virender Sehwag, Mathew Hayden, Conrad Hunte, and Gordon Grinidge fall into this category. However, this is not an absolute necessity, and I will not have a so-called attacking opener in my ‘A’ team.

Graeme Smith (91 tests 7457 runs @ 49.7 22×100 29×50) and Sehwag (87 tests 7694 runs @ 53.4 22×100 27×50) are my choices. Of the two, Sehwag has been chosen in their all-time XI by a host of his contemporary cricketers. .

Barry Richards played in too few international matches to be considered in an all-time XI. Sehwag and Smith are clearly the best attacking openers, going by statistics and by what contemporary players have to say. Gordon Grinidge, Conrad Hunte etc have far worse staistics than these two – but they are considered greats by other cricketers.

An Anchoring Opener

Hutton (79 tests 6971 runs @ 56.7 19×100 33×50) or Hobbs (61 tests 5410 runs @ 56.9 15×100 28×50) would be one fantastic choice here. Either of them can come in based purely on batting average. However, Gavaskar (125 tests 10122 runs @ 51.12 34×100 45×50) would replace one of the two, though. These three are among the best five opening batsmen of all time.

Why would I pick Gavaskar ahead of Hobbs or Hutton? The primary reason is that Gavaskar has played in the era of arguably the best fast bowling, and he exceled. To be the best, you need to beat the best. What can be more impressive than scoring 13 centuries against the mighty West Indies that had four of the greatest fast bowlers of all time?

Three Middle-Order Batsmen

Three middle-order batsmen should follow that can dominate the bowling and/or build a defence, as the situation may demand. Bradman (52 tests 6996 runs @ 99.94 29×100 13×50) is an automatic choice. The five others would be Tendulkar (177 tests 14692 runs @ 56.94 51×100 59×50), Lara (131 tests 11953 runs @ 52.88 34×100 48×50), Richards (121 tests 8540 runs @ 50.23 24×100 45×50), Headley (22 tests 2190 runs @ 60.83 10×100 5×50) and Hammond (85 tests 7249 runs @ 58.45 22×100 24×50). (I guess any of these guys, save Bradman, can be replaced by any of Border, Ponting, Steve Waugh, Dravid, The 3W’s, RG Pollock, Greg Chappell and Sangakkara!). Going by statistics, these are the best middle order batsmen of all time. Some of these players even have a decent bowling record, too.

Border, Steve Waugh, and Ponting are widely regarded by their contemporaries as being pro’s pro, and the mentally toughest. RG Pollock and Greg Chappell have wonderful records during the era when pace bowling was at its finest!

Tendulkar vs Lara is probably as entertaining a debate as any in cricket. Most contemporary cricketers agree that Tendulkar was the more complete package, while Lara would be the choice for a big run chase. Now, since Bradman is an automatic choice, it’s down to choosing two from Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, and Brian Lara. Even though a lefty would bring some variety in the batting line-up, I would leave Lara out in this case.

Two All-Rounders

One Batting All-Rounder

Sobers is an automatic choice. The other one should be Kallis. These are the two best batting all-rounders of all time. I consider Kallis to be less of a true all-rounder than Kapil, Imran or Botham. However, he was a far superior batsman to any of the other three than he was inferior in bowling to those guys. So, as a batting all-rounder, Kallis is an automatic second choice. Kapil and Botham were the two most genuine all-rounders (can win with either bat or ball or both) before they had their career-affecting surgeries (to the knee and back, respectively).

One Bowling All-Rounder

Imran Khan and Keith Miller. If Imran Khan is not discredited for his ball tampering, he is one of the two best all-rounders in cricket history, the other one being Gary Sobers. Keith Miller had very Imranesque records. Both Kapil Dev and Ian Botham were outstanding all-rounders, specially during the early days of their careers, but would lose out to Imran and Miller in terms of statistics over the whole internationsal career. Shaun Pollock was another great bowling all-rounder to be considered here. Richard Hadlee was an outstanding all-rounder, and was considered by many as the most intelligent bowler they have faced.

I am tempted to include Kallis alongside Sobers as another all-rounder here. But that will make the pace attack thin.

One Wicket-Keeper

A quality wicket-keeper, both for fast bowling and spin, who is at least a useful batsman. Alan Knott and Adam Gilchrist are the two best here. However, I would replace Knott with Sangakkara! Knott is considered one of the finest wicket-keepers to have played the game. However, Sangakkara’s batting would give him the edge. He was a fine wicket-keeper as well.

Three Strike Bowlers

Two Fast Bowlers

This is the most crowded field of them all. The game has produced an abundance of greats in this category.

My top four could be Marshall, Barnes, McGrath and Hadlee. It could have been Trueman, Lillee, Akram and Garner as well. Or Waqar Younis, Alan Dadidson, Alan Donald and Ambrose/Walsh. Even Dale Steyn could easily be picked based on his phenomenal strike rate. But I kept the search simple. At least 150 wickets taken, a strike rate of at most 60, a bowling average of at most 24, and all these conditions are true for over-all career as well as in only away-games (other than for Barnes) against fairly strong oppositions.

Fast bowlers hunted in pairs (or packs!) – and I had initially thought of picking a pair (Ambrose-Walsh, Waqar-Wasim, Marshall-Garner, …..). But then, Barnes had statistics that is impossible to ignore. He was moody, and could be a captain’s nightmare – but still managed to have a spectacular bowling record

Marshall is arguably the best fast bowler across all conditions. There have been more intimidating bowlers, and there have been bowlers unplayable in certain conditions – but none more complete a fast bowler than Marshall.

Going by the account of the contemporary cricketers, it would be difficult to leave Akram out. More so because he brings variety by being a lefty! Then again, Lillee is widely considered as the best ever! Ambrose is considered the most unplayable by his contemporaries. And then, how would you leave out Garner, Holding, Roberts, or Trueman!

One Spinner

Warne and Muralitharan. This is purely based on statistics and consistency of their performance. Bill O’Riely, Kumble, Jim Laker, the Indian Spin Quatret, Subhas Gupte, Underwood, Mankad, Grimmett etc could be considered, too. But Warne and Muralitharan remain the two best spinners of all time. I would give a slight edge to Murali. He has the better statistics – and he has more success across the conditions, and was a tad bit superior match-winner. Warne’s batting was much better – but I don’t think that would be required for team with these batsmen at the top (with Imran batting at #8, and Marshall at #9 ).

My composition and Richie Benaud’s composition have very similar structures even though I had no idea that Benaud picked an all-time eleven in 2004.

My Best XI	My World XI	CricInfo XI A	CricInfo XI B	Richie Benaud’s XI	Bradman’s XI
Len Hutton	Jack Hobbs	Jack Hobbs	Sunil Gavaskar	Jack Hobbs	Arthur Morris
Sunil Gavaskar	Virender Sehwag	Len Hutton	Barry Richards	Sunil Gavaskar	Barry Richards
Don Bradman (vc)	George Headley	Don Bradman	George Headley	Don Bradman	Don Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar	Brian Lara	Sachin Tendulkar	Brian Lara	Viv Richards	Sachin Tendulkar
Viv Richards	Wally Hammond (vc)	Viv Richards	Wally Hammond	Sachin Tendulkar	Gary Sobers
Gary Sobers	Jacques Kallis	Gary Sobers	Imran Khan	Garry Sobers	Don Tallon
Imran Khan (cp)	Adam Gilchrist (wk)	Adam Gilchrist	Alan Knott	Imran Khan	Ray Lindwall
Sangakkara (wk)	Keith Miller	Malcolm Marshall	Bill O’Reilly	Adam Gilchrist	Dennis Lillee
Malcolm Marshall	Wasim Akram	Shane Warne	Fred Trueman	Shane Warne	Alec Bedser
Muttiah Muralitharan	Shane Warne (cp)	Wasim Akram	Muttiah Muralitharan	Dennis Lillee	Bill O’Reilly
Sydney Barnes	Glenn McGrath	Dennis Lillee	Sydney Barnes	Sydney Barnes	Clarrie Grimmett

You should better disagree with this ‘selection’ if you have ever watched any form of cricket. Please post your own Best World XI as a comment here.

The Wisden list published in 2001 tried to quantify and rank single individual performances as well as overall career performances for all cricketers who have played test matches. The merit and acceptability of this list is suspect, but we may use this as another pool of great cricketers. Only, Wisden is a little biased towards British and Australian cricketers. The top (“most influencial”) ten test batsmen, according to the list that takes the entire careers into account, are (in order): Bradman,    Tendulkar,    Dravid,    Sobers,    Border,    Hobbs,    Barrington,    Gavaskar,    GS Chappell and    Lara. The top ten bowlers are Muralitharan,    Hadlee,    Barnes,    Warne,    Grimmett,    McGrath,    Lillee,    Marshall,    Imran Khan and    Walsh. Other than for Barrington, all the names are there in my pool.

Three of the greatest cricketers ever

It’s all hypothetical. No point in arguing with the format of the game or the venues. All cricketing rules as of the end of 2009 will be deemed valid. Third umpire will be in place. Five unsuccessful review requests per innings per team will be allowed. The two teams will play a ten-game series of five-day test matches at the following venues over a year.

1. Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India
2. The Lord’s, London, England
3. Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
4. Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan
5. Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
6. Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa
7. The Basin Reserve, Wellington, New Zealand
8. The Oval, Kennington, England
9. Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia
10. PCA Stadium, Mohali, India

[An ‘All’-Time Indian Test XI may have a different combination than the above, though. Since India has not produced a match-winning fast bowler yet, the team may have to be a little all-rounder heavy, i.e., having a few players who are good bowlers and decent batsmen. Here is the combination:

Two opening batsmen from among Gavaskar, Sehwag, Gambhir and Vijay Merchant
Three middle-order batsmen from among Tendulkar, Dravid, M Amarnath, Laxman, Ganguly, Vijay Hazare, Virat Kohli.
One wicket-keeper from Dhoni and Kirmani

Five from the three categories below, depending on the pitch and some other conditions
Two/three all-rounders from Mankad, KapilDev and Phadkar
One/two pacer(s) from Zaheer Khan, Srinath, Amar Singh, Nissar, Bumrah
Two/one spinner(s) from Kumble, Gupte, Bedi, Chandra, Prasanna, Ashwin and Harbhajan

Mankad, KapilDev and Phadkar are very good batsmen capable of scoring centuries. Harbhajan, Zaheer, Srinath, Amar Singh and Kumble are also decent batsmen. On the other hand, M Amarnath, Vijay Hazare and Ganguly are decent medium pacers and Sehwag and Tendulkar can spin the ball

A very valid point to remember here:
An Indian team with eight of the players listed above (Gambhir, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Dhoni, Laxman, Zaheer and Harbhajan) has been white-washed by England in England and by Australia in Australia in 2010-2011!

How about this as the best Indian test XI: Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Kohli, Mankad, Dhoni, Kapildev, Amar Singh, Kumble, Ashwin? Bats deep – everyone is capable of scoring some runs. Has two good medium pacers and three excellent spinners. Dhoni would be the captain, and Kapildev would be vice captain.

Another combination could be Gavaskar, Mankad, Dravid, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni, Kapildev, Amar Singh, Kumble, Ashwin, Bumrah/Zaheer – this allows more bowling options, three pacers and three spinners.]