The J Team

Today, in a post the will feature a huge list of honourable mentions, our XI are linked by having given names beginning with J.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

1. Jack Hobbs (England, right handed opening batter, occasional right arm medium pacer). One of the greatest ever to play the game, unchallengeable for this spot.
2. John Edrich (England, left handed opening batter). A member of the ‘hundred hundreds’ club and someone with a superb test record. Scores of 310* v New Zealand and 175 & 164 v Australia show his ability to really cash in on a good start.
3. Javed Miandad (Pakistan, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner). In the whole of his long test career his average never dipped below 50. Many would still name him as his country’s all time number one batter.
4. Joe Root (England, right handed batter, occasional off/ leg spinner). Undoubtedly one of the greatest batters England has ever produced.
5. Jacques Kallis (South Africa, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). An absolute champion cricketer. Garry Sobers mastered a greater range of skills, one could argue that the likes of Aubrey Faulkner, Keith Miller and Imran Khan were truer all rounders, and one can list batters (though not very many) who were better and a greater number of bowlers who were better, but it would be brave person to state unequivocally that anyone has been a better cricketer than the South African.
6. James Langridge (England, left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). He got few opportunities at test level due to overlapping with Hedley Verity, though he did take a seven-for on debut at that level. In a long and distinguished first class career he averaged 35 with the bat and 21 with the ball.
7. +James Foster (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). The most heavily contested slot in the entire XI, as you will see when we look at the honourable mentions, but the person I have chosen was a magnificent keeper, a good middle order batter and was badly treated by the England selectors of his day.
8. *Jason Holder (West Indies, right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter, captain). An impressive captain, in spite of never having had the luxury of having a really strong side under his command, and his averages are the right way round.
9. Jim Laker (England, off spinner, right handed batter). One of the greatest off spinners ever to play the game. In 46 test appearances he took 193 wickets at 21.24 each, which included the best innings and match figures in test history, 10-53 and 19-90, at Old Trafford in 1956 against the oldest enemy.
10. James Anderson (England, right arm fast medium bowler, left handed batter). England’s all time leading test wicket taker, more test wickets than any other non-spinner, and still going in his 40s.
11. Jasprit Bumrah (India, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One of the leading contemporary pace bowlers, and probably the best pace bowler his country has ever produced.

This side has an awesomely strong top five, a genuine all rounder, a keeper who was also a good batter, a bowling all rounder and three all time great specialist bowlers. The bowling, with Bumrah, Anderson and Holder to bowl pace, Laker and Langridge to bowl spin, Kallis as sixth bowler and in the unlikely event of them being needed Hobbs, Miandad and Root available as back up options is both strong and well varied, and should have little trouble taking 20 opposition wickets on even the flattest of pitches.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Jack Robertson is the only obvious challenger for an opening role. The middle order was studded with options: Johnny Tyldesley, Joe Darling, Jack Ryder and Jesse Ryder being the four most obvious to miss out. James Hildreth had a magnificent record for Somerset but never got picked for England. I would expect James Rew to avoid Hildreth’s fate, but at the moment he is one for the future. James H Parks and James M Parks would both also have their advocates. The two legendary Hambledonians James Aylward and John Small have to be relegated to the honourable mentions due to lack of sufficient detail about the career records.

Jack Gregory might have had the slot I gave to Jason Holder but I wanted the latter’s captaincy as well as his playing skills. Jacob Oram of New Zealand was a fine all rounder, but I wanted a spinning all rounder, given that Kallis’ selection was set in stone and I also wanted Holder in the number eight slot. Johnny Douglas, both an England cricket captain and an Olympic gold medallist at middleweight boxing, cannot be completely ignored.

There was a logjam of keepers to consider, even after disqualifying Robert Charles ‘Jack’ Russell and Clifton James ‘Jack’ Richards is in neither case was Jack either their given name or derived from John. John Murray, Jackie Hendriks, Jeff Dujon, Junior Murray, Jack Blackham, Jimmy Binks and Jim Kelly are the seven most obvious potential keepers that I had to overlook.

There was if anything an even greater wealth of seam/ pace bowling talent. Josh Hazlewood is probably the most obvious miss to a contemporary audience, but two other Aussies, Jeff Thomson and Jason Gillespie were also formidable in this department. Jack Cowie, probably New Zealand’s best pre-Hadlee quick, also merits a mention. John Wisden has to be mentioned for historical significance, and a later Sussex pacer, John Snow also had a fine test record. Javagal Srinath, the first genuinely fast Indian bowler I ever saw in action, was another candidate. James Broadbridge was one half of the first truly great bowling partnership in cricket history, along with William Lillywhite, but it was the latter who was the greater bowler.

James Lillywhite Jnr, England’s first ever test skipper, was one of the spinners I had to overlook. Jason Krejza once took 12 wickets in a test for Australia, but he conceded 358 runs while doing so. Jim Sims was a good enough leg spinner to be selected for England and a useful lower order batter. Jemma Barsby, who bowls both off spin and left arm orthodox spin, and has recently helped the Adelaide Strikers to win a second successive WBBL title was another I considered. Jack Noreiga remains in a club of one as a West Indian to have test match nine-for. Jim Higgs had some successes as a leg spinner for Australia. Jack Saunders, who bowled left arm spin and seam for Australia in the early 20th century had a fine record as well. Two left arm spinners, Johnny Briggs and Johnny Wardle, both had excellent test records. Jimmy Matthews once took a hat trick in each innings of a test match, but those six scalps were almost half his career tally of test wickets and he never took more than four in an innings at that level.

I have doubtless missed a few.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…