100 Cricketers – The Second XI Opening Pair

Continuing my “100 cricketers” series with the opening pair from my second XI.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my “100 cricketers” series. We are starting on the second XI (as explained in my introductory post to the series I have organised my 100 cricketers in nine XIs with a stand alone at the end to round out the 100), with the opening batters (the whole second XI can be seen here).

CHRIS GAYLE

So far the most successful batter that T20 cricket has ever seen, he also has a fine record in other forms of the game, including having two test match triple centuries to his credit. I saw him play a magnificent innings at the Adelaide Oval, watching from what became my regular spot at that ground, the bleachers in front of the Chappell Stand. On that occasion he scored 167 not out, which left Australia with a target of 330 of 81 overs (4.07 on over). The pitch still appeared to be totally benign, and only two of the West Indies bowlers, Kemar Roach who was regularly hitting the 150KPH mark on the speed gun and Sulieman Benn with his left arm spin had looked capable of posing a serious threat. With this is mind I was hoping for a really good finish, because I did not reckon that Australia being 1-0 to the good in a three match series gave them an excuse for putting up the shutters when they had an opportunity to go for the kill.

Unfortunately Ricky Ponting assessed the situation differently and decided that no attmept would be made on what should have been a very tempting target. Most frustratingly of all, once the match had been condemned to an inevitable draw by Australia’s refusal to go for the target a couple of their batters did play some strokes near the end, showing what might have been.

Although it is his batting that earns Chris Gayle his place in my 100 cricketers he has also had occasional moments of success with his offspin bowling.

SMRITI MANDHANA

Mandhana burst on to the scene in the 2017 Women’s World Cup, helping India to reach the final, before Anya Shrubsole’s incredible bowling, which saw her become the first female to feature on the front cover of Wisden won that match for England. In the very first match of that tournament, again between England and India Mandhana had made a spectacular 86, well supported by her opening partner Punam Raut and India had run out deserved winners. Still only 22, she is now captain of India and scoring lots of runs (although not earlier today – see my previous post).

Like Chris Gayle she bats left handed and takes a very attacking approach to the game. However she is small, while he is very tall and solidly built, so there are plenty of contrasts as well as similarities between this pair of opening batters.

COMING UP

My next post in this series will feature the all-rounders from this second XI and then I will cover the remaining specialist batters and finally the bowlers, introducing the third XI in that post.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are some of my pictures, all taken this morning:

P1210775 — I was well positioned while listening to the cricket this morning to take some photographs of this facsimile 1907 railway map.

England Women Seal T20 Series In Style

A brief account of this morning’s T20I action between England Women and India Women.

INTRODUCTION

England’s women were already one up in the best of three T20 international series against India Women going into today’s match, most of which I heard by way of radio commentary (I missed a few overs at the start), so another win would secure the series.

EXCELLENT BOWLING SET THINGS UP

Smriti Mandhana launched proceedings with an innings of 12, comprising two scoring shots, but this early aggression apart India were tightly restricted by the England bowlers. Kathryn Brunt was her usual thoroughly reliable self, finishing with 3-17 from her four overs, while young left arm spinner Linsey Smith produced an outstanding 2-11 from her four overs. Other than Natalie Sciver’s single over which went for 9 runs no one among the England bowler’s seriously suffered (the advantage of having six front-line bowlers, a luxury granted by the fact that several of the players in question are more than competent with the bat, – plus captain Heather Knight’s offspin in the event of desperation is that you have cover if things are not working for somebody) and India were restricted to 111-8 from their 20 overs.

WYATT, WINFIELD AND BRUNT SEE ENGLAND HOME

England had a few nervous moments in the chase, especially when spinners Ekta Bisht and Poonam Yadav took three wickets in a very short space of time. England at 56-4 looked to be struggling somewhat, although Danielle Wyatt was going very well. Lauren Winfield made an excellent 29, putting England firmly back in control, before she was out with just nine further runs needed, and 14 balls remaining. Kathryn Brunt played sensibly in support of Wyatt, who finished unbeaten on 64 when the winning runs were scored. Wyatt’s excellent innings deservedly earned her the player of the match award, although Brunt also had a splendid match and Linsey Smith as mentioned earlier turned in a magnificent effort with the ball.

A full scorecard for the match can be viewed here, and an official report is available here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are some of my photographs, taken from my bed while listening to the commentary this morning:

100 Cricketers – First X1 Bowlers and introducing the second X1

Continuing my “100 cricketers” series and taking the opportunity to say 750 thankyous.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my “100 cricketers series“. In this post I complete the coverage of my first XI (see here, here and here for the other posts about this XI) and introduce my second XI in batting order. However, before I get to the main part of this post I would like to say…

750 THANKYOUS

This blog has been steadily gaining followers, and today the milestone of 750 was reached. I am honoured that so many of you take an interest in an eccentric personal blog. I have been blogging for almost eight years now, and that comprises two very distinct periods. From when I started in 2011 through to the first part of 2014 I was producing blog posts but was not doing anything else. Then from the second part of 2014 I learned from the good examples of other bloggers, such as Anna, and started to interact more, visiting blogs and leaving likes and where I deemed it appropriate comments. I have gone in the second period of my blogging life from being a plain blogger to being part of a blogging community, and the latter is much more satisfying. Now back to my cricketers…

JACK LEACH

When England won the series in Sri Lanka at the back end of 2018, their first victory in that part of the world since 2001, it was notable because it was achieved largely by England’s spinners outbowling their Sri Lankan counterparts in their own backyards. Part of this achievement saw Jack Leach record his first five wicket innings haul in a test match, and with 20 wickets at 24.90 from the four test matches he has played so far he seems certain to have a fine international career ahead of him. With all due respect to Moeen Ali, who fared reasonably well in the losing series against the West Indies, I believe that England’s first two choices for spinner’s roles at the moment should be Leach and Adil Rashid, who also recorded his first test match five-for against Sri Lanka. A further candidate who may force himself back in to the picture is Leach’s Somerset team mate Dominic Bess who may yet form a long standing England partnership with Leach, given that Rashid and Ali are both closer to the end than the beginning of their careers.

It is also possible that a new spinner will emerge from somewhere to make a case for themselves, but at the moment, unless the match is being played on a green-top and a spinner is clearly not going to be required Jack Leach would be my first choice as the front line spinner.

JAMES ANDERSON

When he first appeared on the scene James Anderson sported some ridiculous hairstyles (though never one quite as awful as Pietersen’s 2005 “Dead Skunk” effort) and recorded some quite horrible looking bowling figures. For a few years he was good if the ball swung and absolutely innocuous if it did not.

In the second phase of his career, starting with the 2010-11 Ashes series, he was absolutely magnificent in all circumstances, and it was a great moment when he finished England’s 4-1 beating of India (who only a few months later beat Australia in Australia) by becoming the all-time leading test wicket taker among pace bowlers, moving ahead of Glenn McGrath.

2019 could be his last home season as an England bowler (he is now 36 years old, and a home Ashes series would be a great stage on which to make his final curtain call), but so long as he remains fit and motivated he should definitely be among the first names on the team sheet. He has earned the right for his career to end at a moment of his own choosing.

I hope that as well as continuing to bowl well he uses his vast experience to assist younger swing bowlers such as Sam Curran, passing on the knowledge he has built up over the course of 15 years in international cricket.

OLLY STONE

This pick is a look to the future. The Norfolk born paceman has 116 first class wickets at 24.20, and is well capable of propelling a cricket ball at 90mph and above. Having seen how Mark Wood shook the West Indies up in the last match of what was otherwise a shocking series for England and also how Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins both impacted the Australia v India series with their extra pace I feel that England need some serious pace at their disposal, as well as crafty swing bowlers like Anderson and Sam Curran, and of course in appropriate conditions spinners such as Leach and Rashid.

Incidentally, although Norfolk has never been a first class county a number of Norfolk born players have achieved high honours in the game – five members of the Edrich family, led by Bill and John of that ilk, played first class cricket, Middlesex stalwarts Peter Parfitt and Clive Radley (test avergae 48.10) were both Norfolk born, and going back to the very early days, the leading batsman of the 1830s and 40s, Fuller Pilch, was also Norfolk born.

INTRODUCING THE SECOND XI

Preparing the ground for the continuation of this series, here in batting order is my second XI

SMRITI MANDHANA
CHRIS GAYLE

I came up with the cricketers who will feature in this series of posts during one of my recent spells in hospital, and because I want this series to be fully authentic I am sticking to the choices I made then, and presenting them in the order in which I made them. As this series continues to unfold I offer a couple of challenges to those who follow it sufficiently closely:

Once I have presented the full 100 players pick your best Men’s XI
Your best Women’s XI
And your best mixed XI

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are a couple of of my photographs for those who have made it through the entire post:

Universal: A Journey Through The Cosmos – Book Review

A brief review of Universal: A Journey Thtpugh The Cosmos

INTRODUCTION

I found a copy of this book, by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw when the mobile library called near my bungalow.

A WHISTLESTOP TOUR OF THE COSMOS

I found this book a thoroughly excellent read. It manages to be stimulating and intellectually challenging without ever making one feel out of ones depth. The material is beautifully laid out, and for me the ambition of covering 13.7 billion years of history in one smallish volume is achieved.

The book is also superbly illustrated, with the colour plates at the back particularly worth seeing. I have photographed a number of the illustrations and the colour plates but not all – after all I think that you should read the book and look at the pictures yourself.

PHOTOGRAPHS

100 Cricketers – 1st X1: The All-rounders

Continuing my “100 cricketers” series.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome the latest installment in this series. So far there has been the introduction, a post about Tammy Beaumont, and a post about the other specialist batters from my first XI. This post now deals with the all-rounders from that list, of whom there are no fewer than four (including the wicketkeeper)…

ANDREW “FREDDIE” FLINTOFF

He took a long time to really establish himself at international level, but then had a couple of years when he could seemingly do no wrong, which included the fantastic 2005 Ashes series. Later on injuries took their toll, but even at the very end of his career his last involvement in the action was a direct hit on the stumps to run out Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

His performance at Edgbaston in 2005, when he scored 73 and 68 and took four wickets in each innings was outstanding, and helped to turn a series that very nearly died a premature death into one that nobody will ever forget. His 18 overs off the reel at the Oval in that same series to give England an unexpected first innings lead was incredible. In the second match of the 2009 series at Lords he bowled England to their first victory over Australia at that venue since 1934 when Hedley Verity took advantage of a rain affected pitch (remember, they played on “ooncoovered pitches” in those days) to record match figures of 15-104).

England were rather more sensible about Flintoff’s departure than they had been about Ian Botham’s in the early 1990s, when many young cricketers had promising careers effectively strangled by having the “next Botham” label draped round their necks. This time they realised that a straight replacement for Flintoff was, to put it mildly, unlikely, and set about building a different kind of team.

Flintoff had two and a half really superb years (2004, 2005 and 2006 before the tour to Australia at the end of that year which was an unqualified disaster for him and most of the rest of the squad) and produced flashes of brilliance both before and after that period.

KATHRYN BRUNT

She started out as a specialist bowler, batting low in the order. At one point she dropped out of the game but then made a comeback. Subsequently she has remained the England Womens team’s first choice opening bowler and has improved her batting to the point that she can be regarded as an all-rounder (she now habitually bats at no 6 or 7 in tests and ODIs, and often comes in higher than that in T20s when quick runs are wanted).

So long as her back holds out (she has been plagued by problems in that area down the years) she will be wanted by England (in the final ODI against India recently she took 5-28, her wickets being those of the top five in the Indian order, and was on 18 not out when England completed their victory).

ELLYSE PERRY

I saw a very young Ellyse Perry live at the Adelaide Oval in 2009, playing in an ODI for the Australian Women versus the New Zealand Women. In those days she bowled fast with new ball, batted at no 8 (it was obvious that she would be moving up the order in the future) and had a superb throwing arm.

She still bowls fast with the new ball, remains a brilliant fielder, and is now just about the best batter in the women’s game (a test-match double century being her career highlight, along with her recent dominance of the Women’s Big Bash League – three individual centuries in the most recent tournament).

If you were selecting an Earth Women XI to take on Mars Women she would undoubtedly by the first name on the team sheet and it would go down in ink, not pencil.

She should still have a few years ahead of her at the top, and my advice would be: enjoy it while you can – talents of this magnitude do not come along very often.

BEN FOAKES

One of the best wicketkeepers in the game, he has played five test matches for England and averages 41.50 with the bat as well as having demonstrated his skills as a keeper. Yet ridiculously his international future is in doubt because of the difficulty (in the minds of the current England selectors at least) of fitting him and Jonny Bairstow into the same England team. If they do not want to use Bairstow as a specilaist batter, filling the no3 slot, then as far as I am concerned he, and not Ben Foakes, should be the one to miss out.

Providing the England selectors see sense Foakes should go on to have a stellar international career.

THE NEXT POST IN THIS SERIES

My next post in this series will feature the specialist bowlers from my first XI and introduce my second X1 preparatory to posting about them.

PHOTOGRAPHY

A few of my own photographs to end:

P1210740 — Seen from the Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn

P1210741 — Near the Gaywood River, North Lynn

P1210744 — My new beanie – from the part of Cornwall where my parfents live.

Addenbrookes Visit Brings Good News

An account of yesterday’s visit to Addenbrookes.

INTRODUCTION

Regular readers will be aware that I have had a tough time lately, including two unscheduled visitsTHto my local hospital. It was therefore with feelings of some trepidation that I approached my scheduled visit to Addenbrookes yesterday. I will take you through what happened at various stages of the day in the rest of this post.

CONSULTATION WITH DR MAZHAR

The encouraging news from this session was that my tumour markers are continuing to fall (having at one stage been up in the hundreds of thousands they are now down at 20). Immediately after this session I went for a chest x-ray, preparatory to an afternoon appintment with a respiratory specialist.

THE RESPIRATORY SPECIALIST

Given my situation the news from this appointment could have been anything from dreadful up to reasonable (given the known state of my lungs it was not going be good on any normal definition of that word). In the event the news was, to adapt a line from S J Simon’s “Why You Lose at Bridge”, the best news possible – the lung infection had cleared up, and it is virtually certain that the main problem in my lungs is not, as some had feared, a case of Bleomycin toxicity. It is almost certainly caused by small scale haemorrhaging (the lungs act like a sponge, soaking up the loose blood, which causes some problems but explains why there is little external evidence in such cases). A CT scan has been booked to further check this out, and if warranted this will be followed by a bronchoscopy.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

My physical state is improving – while I found walking around the hospital tiring I did not actually need to stop at any point, and I never felt like I was close to trouble. Since I went public about having experienced such things I have had no further anxiety/ panic attacks (and given both my recent circumstances and my mental health history it is no great surprise that I did experience such things). The mild tranquilizers (Diazepam for those interested in exact details) that my doctor provided to help with this issue have worked so far. There is a long way to go yet, but at least at the moment I seem to be heading in the right direction.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are some photographs from yesterday…

P1210768 — This magnificent map adorns one wall of the waiting room for the respiratory clinic.

P1210770 — The first of two shots I got of Ely Cathedral during the return journey.

Health Update

An update on my health situation…

INTRODUCTION

I have just had a visit from Louise, a therapist at Tapping House to fit a new toilet seat and frame to make it easier for me to use the toilet, and to discuss possibilities re therapy at Tapping House. This post attempts to give an overview of the situation.

MY CURRENT STATE OF HEALTH

My body appears to have responded well overall to the cancer treatments I have endured over the last few months – as I have mentioned elsewhere the tumour counts appear to be regularly falling. I am currently experiencing breathing issues which could be caused by any of several possibly linked issues:

One of the areas worst affected by the tumours were my lungs, and although the tumours there appear to have almost gone the current issues could still relate back to the cancer.
One of the drugs used in my chemotherapy is known to sometimes have an adverse effect on chests and lungs, and it is possible that this is a contributory factor.
I have recently had a lung infection, and currently have a mild chest infection for which I am on antibiotics, and there is no doubt that both of these have contributed to the problems.
Finally I have through necessity been been very inactive for some time, and this may also partially explain why such activity as I am currently capable of tends to leave me breathless.

The therapist has given me some tips on breathing and on posture when on my feet (e.g in the kitchen), and will be in contact with me again in about a week to see if I am improving, with a view if I am to starting me on physio sessions at Tapping House. She has also indicated that she could take me out in the wheelchair for sessions in which I sit for some of the time and walk for some of the time (the weather is exceptionally mild for an English February, and getting outside more would be good for me).

My confidence is starting to improve as time goes by and I do more things without falling or having other accidents.

At some stage, when I am strong enough to go through such a procedure, there remains an operation to be endured, and that will probably entail some recovery time as well.

For the time being I will be seeing at least one carer once per day, which remains a necessity as it ensures that someone who can presumably recognise warning signs will be seeing me daily, and one hopes will be ready to take action if needed.

With a fair wind I could be starting therapy sessions in just over a week, and I hope to spending more time out of the bungalow and to be more physically active in the not too distant future.

PHOTOGRAPHS

P1210709 — A card from my friends at NAS West Norfolk

P1210711 — A couple of illustrations from George Smoot’s “Wrinkles in Time”

P1210714 — Comparison between two antique maps of Norfolk – this one in my aunt’s house (four images)…

P1210720 — …and this one which belonged to my grandparents is now on display in my bungalow (five images)

Monday – Autism, Capita and Cancer

An account of a busy, tiring but important day in my story – yesterday.

INTRODUCTION

Yesterday was a very busy day for me, starting with a session in my home with Capita as part of processing a PIP claim and followed by various things at Addenbrookes Hospital. This post covers the days events in some detail.

THE START OF THE DAY – CAPITA

I was up and about by 7AM as I intended to be, giving myself plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of Capita. At just about 9AM somebody from Tapping House arrived to support me through the session, closely followed by my parents and Capita’s representative.

This session went fairly well, helped by the fact that the Capita representative actually had some knowledge of autism, which meant that I was being asked very direct questions, which in turn made handling them easier.

While I have as yet no expectations about the final outcome of this assessment I believe that it went about as well as it could have done, and therefore I am cautiously optimistic.

ADDENBROOKES PRELIMINARIES

The day at Addenbrookes started with a weigh-in (71.3 Kilos), and then an appointment with my oncology specialists to discuss progress in my case. My tumour markers are continuing to drop (from being in the hundreds of thousands they are now down to 36, while they need to get down to 4 for me to safe) and the overall prognosis is improved (when my treatment started I was told that there was about a 50% chance of all the cancers that were afflicting me being cleared, and I have now been told that the odds are better than that). When my lungs have cleared sufficiently for me to be considered strong enough to through such a process there will be an operation to remove the testicle that was the root cause of all my problems. There remains some uncertainty over what will ultimately be done about the four small tumours in my brain. I am due back at Addenbrookes in two weeks time, and in the intervening week I will receive an email from someone at the hospital to check up on me (I believe that this will be a regular feature for the future).

X-RAY AND BLOOD SAMPLES TAKEN

Following on from this session it was time for a chest X-Ray and then for some blood to be taken. Both went extremely smoothly, with my veins being fully co-operative for once.

After this there remained one last thing to be done at the hospital…

AN IRON INFUSION

The iron infusion looks like liquid rust (this one is the third I have had, and may well not be the last). It takes about half an hour to run, and then one has to wait for another half hour while potential side effects are monitored. Fortunately there were none and I got away fairly swiftly at the end. This was a tiring but very satisfactory day, and one that has boosted my confidence for the future. There will still be tough times ahead, but I can also look forward with confidence to a better future.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are some pictures I took yesterday and today…

P1210688 — A windmill on the way to Addenbrookes.

P1210689 — The first of three pictures taken in the hospital.

P1210690 — This bust is of Edward Douty.

P1210693 — A pride flag in the hospital car park.

P1210699 — The spire of St Nicholas Chapel (1st of today’s pictures)

P1210700 — The clock at The Pretty Tea Shop, Norfolk Street, where I went for an NAS West Norfolk coffee morning today (first of six pics from that venue).

P1210707 — An upcoming NAS West Norfolk talk.

Tammy Beaumont and Women Playing Alongside Men

A radical suggestion for dealing with the England men’s teams top order batting woes…

INTRODUCTION

Having introduced my new series about cricketers in my last post I now move on to an opening batter who provides a springboard for plenty of other ideas.

VALE ATQUE AVE

The 2015 English cricket season started with the news of the dropping and subsequent international retirement of Charlotte Edwards after a long and illustrious career (she features later in this series). Who was going to fill the monster sized vacancy that her departure left at the top of the England women’s batting order?

The first England women’s squad post the dropping and retirement of Edwards featured an opening pair of Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield. Beaumont immediately began making big runs in her new role at the top of the order, and remarkably a fairly seamless transition from one era to the next took place.

OPENING WOES IN THE MENS TEAM

Meanwhile in the ranks of the England men’s team a gaping hole was emerging at the top of the batting order. Alastair Cook, so long an absolute rock in that position, seemed to have gone into irreversible decline and none of those selected to partner him looked remotely good enough. Mark Stoneman went after a sequence of test matches that brought him four 5o plus scores but never saw him get as far as 60 (and he had several lives in the course of his top score of 59). He was replaced by Keaton Jennings who has scored two test hundreds but who is also looking at an average of 25.86 after 16 test matches (at least 15 runs per innings light for a specialist batter at that level).

When Cook announced that he was retiring from international cricket the problem became greater still. Rory Burns of Surrey was an obvious candidate for one slot at the top of the order, having scored far more runs than anyone else in the English season. For the the other England faced a difficult decision between the following:

Stick with the underachieving Jennings and hope for miracles.
Revert to Stoneman with even less chance of success
Bring in a second brand new opener and hope that (at least) one of the newbies hits their straps right from the start.
Faced with an assortment of unappealing options as listed above go for someone who has been making stacks of international runs at the top of the order and give Tammy Beaumont her chance to play alongside the men.

In the event England took option one, and one big score for him in Sri Lanka apart it has not worked out either for them or for Jennings. In the test match currently under way at St Lucia England are doing well, but they have not had many top order runs to work with, although Burns batted a long time in the first innings. In the first two tests of this series England were roundly defeated, and the less said about their batting efforts, the better.

COULD A WOMAN PLAY ALONGSIDE THE MEN?

The short answer is yes. I would not expect a female fast bowler to be able to hold their own as power is so important in this department, but in batting, fielding, wicketkeeping and slow bowling, where there is less of a premium on pure power I see no reason why a female could not hold their own with the men, and my suggestion relates specifically to an opening batter.

If some new opener makes a succession of centuries in the early part of the English season , thereby forcing themselves on the selectors my current thinking may be modified, but at the moment I remain convinced that the best solution to the England Mens team’s opening woes is to give Beaumont her chance and see what happens.

THOMAS SQUAD FOR 1ST ASHES MATCH

I have misgivings about someone who is almost 33 starting a test career from fresh, but Joe Denly’s 69 in St Lucia would seem to have earned him an extended run, so it is on that basis that he features in my squad for the first Ashes Match. I will list the names, and then append some explanations:

I Beaumont
Rory Burns
Joe Denly
Joe Root*
Joss Buttler
Ben Foakes+
Ben Stokes
Sam Curran
Adil Rashid
Jack Leach
Mark Wood
James Anderson
Olly Stone

I have named 13 because the exact make up the bowling unit will depend on the nature of the pitch and the conditions. I regard Anderson, Wood and Stone as essential for the seam attack (two outright quicks, and England’s all-time leading wicket taker), with Leach and Rashid in that order of precedence as spin options should conditions warrant it, and Curran as a fourth front-line seamer (possibly batting at 7 in place of Stokes) should conditions warrant that option. Bairstow at no 3, as a specialist batter, is also an option but would seem shockingly inconsistent given the Denly has produced a significant score in St Lucia, which is why he is not there in my list.

PHOTOGRAPHS

P1210663 — A recent acquisition, which has also featured on my London Transport themed **website**.

A 100 Cricketers 1: Introduction and First XI

The start of a new series which will be appearing regularly in this blog…

INTRODUCTION

This is the first in what I envisage being a long series of posts, and will set the scene for the entire series.

A NOTE ON THE DESIGNATION ‘ELEVENS’

Although I have divided my cricketers into elevens, that being the number the usually comprises a team I am not implying that these elevens are in any particular order. There are many ways to pick an 11 person team out of the players I have chosen and you may well have ideas of your own by the end of the series of what your elevens would be. All of my elevens could definitely function as teams, and all are of mixed sex. Within each 11 I have further subidivided into categories based on the types of players in the team.

SOME BASIC CRITERIA

All the players I shall cover are players who have been active during my lifetime, and specifically players who I have witnessed either live, on TV or via radio commentaries (my favourite way of following cricket so long as the commentators are up to the job). All the players featured would be worth a place for one particular specialism, even if they are also excellent at other aspects of the game – a genuine all-rounder if you have such a thing is wonderful news, someone not quite up to the job with either bat or ball is a waste of space. Being English and having come to cricket during the 1980s I witnessed the dread decade of the 1990s when desperation to fill the void created by the decline and eventual retirement of Ian Botham led to a succession of medium pacers who were also respectable lower order batters being pushed as the magic bullet. At one time it seemed that a quick 50 and a three-for somewhere would be enough for the ‘all-rounder’ sign to be draped round the neck.

Some of my selections never got international call-ups – when I cover these players I will explain why I selected them, and there is one who I have named in anticipation of a moment that surely cannot be long delayed.

THE FIRST XI IN BATTING ORDER

My first eleven is as follows:

Tammy Beaumont
Alastair Cook
*Ellyse Perry
Kevin Pietersen
David Gower
Andrew Flintoff
+Ben Foakes
Kathryn Brunt
Jack Leach
James Anderson
Olly Stone

I will be covering this selection in four posts:

A stand alone post about Tammy Beaumont in which I shall expand on women in cricket and on the possibilities of women playing alongside the men.
A piece featuring Cook, Gower and Pietersen, the other specialist batters
A piece on the all-rounders (including Foakes in that category, as a wicketkeeping all-rounder) – Perry, Flintoff, Foakes and Brunt
A piece on the bowlers – Leach, Anderson and Stone

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