A whimsical variation on the all time XIs theme – this XI is made up of players whose names connect in some way to Sherlock Holmes stories.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

1. *WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types through his career, captain). He sneaks in by way of “Thor Bridge”, which features a governess by the name of Grace Dunbar, who June Thomson makes a persuasive case for being the second Mrs Watson. His cricketing credentials need no amplification.
2. Percy Holmes (right handed opening batter, fine fielder). One half of the most successful opening pair in first class history, the senior by precisely seven years in age, though the junior in cricketing stature (he and Herbert Sutcliffe shared 74 century opening stands together, 69 of them for Yorkshire and 64 in the county championship).
3. Colin Munro (left handed batter). The Kiwi boasts an FC batting average of over 50. He qualifies by virtue of Mr Grant Munro, who seeks Holmes’ advice/assistance in “The Adventure of the Yellow Face”.
4. Elias ‘Patsy’ Hendren (right handed batter, brilliant fielder). The third leading run scorer in FC history and second leading century maker in FC history, he gets in through his rarely used given name – two Eliases at least, Elias Whitney in “The Adventure of the Twisted Lip” and Elias Openshaw in “The Five Orange Pips” play walk on roles in Holmes stories.
5. Vic Wilson (left handed batter, brilliant close fielder). Had a fine FC record, and eventually became Yorkshire’s first professional skipper since before Lord Hawke’s time. He gets in by way of Jabez Wilson in “The Adventure of the Red Headed League”, and incidentally he appears on the scoresheet as JV Wilson, while ‘Wilson the notorious canary trainer’ gets a passing mention in another of the stories.
6. Johnny Douglas (right handed batter, right arm medium fast bowler). Trevor Bailey’s spiritual forebear as an adhesive middle order batter and useful seam bowler, also played his county cricket at Essex. Jack Douglas is the name by which we are introduced to the Pinkerton agency ace Birdy Edwards in “The Valley of Fear”.
7. +Adam Gilchrist (left handed batter, wicket keeper). One of the three students in the story with that title is named Gilchrist. My chosen keeper’s credentials need no amplification.
8. Johnnie Clay (off spinner, right handed batter). Captained Glamorgan when they were promoted to first class status in 1921, and was still playing for them when they won the 1948 championship, their first such title. He took 1,317 FC wickets at 19.76 a piece, and was good enough with the bat to score two first class centuries. He gets in by way of John Clay in “The Adventure of the Red Headed League”, rated by Holmes as the fourth most dangerous man in London at the time.
9. Frank Holmes Tyson (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A brief and meteoric career, but he blitzed the Aussies in their own backyard along the way (in the 1954-5 Ashes). His middle name gets him in, hence my including it here.
10. Dan Moriarty (left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). 49 FC wickets at 29 each, and has good records in List A and T20 as well, and at 24 definitely still young enough to be improving. He of course gets in courtesy of Holmes’ archenemy Professor Moriarty.
11. William Mycroft (left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12 a piece, just missing out on test cricket (he was approaching 36 years of age when the first such match was played in 1877). He qualifies at least twice over – through his surname, which is the given name of the elder Holmes brother (not necessarily coincidence – Doyle was a keen cricketer and avid cricket fan, and one theory about the names of the brothers is that Sherlock was an amalgam of Shacklock and Sherwin, respectively fast bowler and keeper for Nottinghamshire, while Mycroft came from William and Thomas Mycroft who played similar roles for neighbouring Derbyshire) and through William Kirwan, the murdered coachman in “The Adventure of the Reigate Squires”.

This side has a good top five, an all rounder at six, the greatest batter of all genuine top line keepers and four great and well varied bowlers. With Tyson and Mycroft to take the new ball, Douglas as third seamer and Clay and Moriarty contrasting spinners this side is unlikely to struggle to take 20 wickets.

TWO POTENTIAL OVERSEAS PLAYERS

All 11 players I have named save for Munro are home grown, but two who might have had an extra overseas slot, in each case coming in place of Douglas were the 1920s Australians Hunter ‘Stork’ Hendry who would have qualified by way of Violet Hunter from “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” and Jack Ryder, who would get in courtesy of James Ryder from “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”. However, while both these worthies would outrank Douglas as a batter he outranks both as a bowler, and given the strength of the top five and the presence of Gilchrist at number seven I felt that was reason to give Douglas the nod.

OTHER POSSIBLES

Many readers doubtless have their own ideas. Second choice keeper would be Amy Jones, who would qualify by virtue of Inspector Athelney Jones in “The Sign of Four”, and there are many other possibilities, and I would welcome suggestions in the comments.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…