Ian Botham, Greg Chappell (not much between him and Hammond or Ponting IMO), Allan Border and Alan Knott all seem very good choices but you cannot have Bradman or Ponting opening the innings just to accomodate Ian Chappell in the side!!! Ian Chappell was a very good captain, perhaps the best of his time before Clive Lloyd took over but he was a decent rather than great batter...
Ian Botham, Greg Chappell (not much between him and Hammond or Ponting IMO), Allan Border and Alan Knott all seem very good choices but you cannot have Bradman or Ponting opening the innings just to accomodate Ian Chappell in the side!!! Ian Chappell was a very good captain, perhaps the best of his time before Clive Lloyd took over but he was a decent rather than great batter...
Fair point. Having grown up following the Chappel brothers, my bias is towards including both of them. Selecting part with my heart, and part with my brain!
I have not followed cricker before 1969 and after 1982 (till recently) - so no great openers come to mind. Hence the Bradman/Ponting opening choice.
I am open to dropping Underwood, and including a specialist opening batsman.
Sorry Underwood, pal. You're out, Hayden is in. Also, Ian, you are dropped. Need one more opener. I will steal Len Hutton also from Asif. So here is the new and improved XI.
Hayden
Hutton
Don Bradman
Ricky Ponting
Greg Chappell
Alan Border
Why no Hammond ? I know its too early to put bell among the greats but i wud have em… at least as twelfth man. Why are People picking Knott over Gilchrist, I mean Gilchrist would be the first keeper for world 11.
I like Asif’s Ashes 11 … one question wud be Inclusion of Ponting. Sydney Barnes Should replace trueman, Mcgrath or Lillee but he is a must in All time ashes 11 (189 test wickets with avg of 16.43 and 719 first class wickets with an avg of 17.09). Gooch for Hayden is another option. Both have good stats but i think Gooch had to play against better bowlers than Hayden.
My reason for including Knott over Gilchrist was I have not seen Gilchrist play. More out of lack of following cricket (other than Indian players sporadically) for last several years. Ditto Hammond - never saw him play. I might have seen these two during my vacation to India, but did not get to see too many matches to even know who they are/were.
Having seen Gooch on TV, I was not very impressed by him He was aggressive, but not very consistent.
I don’t think any of us is old enough to have seen Hammond bat Hammond played between 1927 and 1947 and was widely regarded as the second best batter of his time after Bradman (who played between 1928 and 1948). Bradman averaged 99.96 and Hammond 58.45 in tests
I don't think any of us is old enough to have seen Hammond bat :D Hammond played between 1927 and 1947 and was widely regarded as the second best batter of his time after Bradman
That is funny! He played way before I started following cricket (1968 or 69 Australian tour of India under Bill Lawry - listening to the radio)
The readers agreed with 8 of my chosen XI and all of my bowlers
The XI **
1 Jack Hobbs, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Don Bradman, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Steve Waugh, 6 Ian Botham, 7 Adam Gilchrist** (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9** Glenn McGrath**, 10 Dennis Lillee, 11 Fred Trueman.
(ps. in hindsight I should have gone for Ian Botham as well but somehow got swayed listening to Ian Chappell on cricinfo that Keith Miller was better than Botham. Not much between Greg Chappell, Hammond and Ponting or between Steve Waugh and Allan Border IMO. And Len Hutton’s stats are as good as Hobbs)
Hammond played between 1927 and 1947 and was widely regarded as the second best batter of his time after Bradman (who played between 1928 and 1948). Bradman averaged 99.96 and Hammond 58.45 in tests