Tag: Sunil Gavaskar

Steel, Swashbuckling, Stumpings, Speed, Swing, Spin

An all time XI of players whose given names begin with the letter S, including a detailed honourable mentions section which features some serious players. Also a photo gallery.

Today I run the rule over players whose given names begin with the letter S. My chosen XI contains players who match all the words in my title and more besides. Also, while the embarrassment of riches is not on the same scale as two days ago when I looked at given names beginning with R, there are some indubitable greats who have received no more than an honourable mention.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Sunil Gavaskar (India, right handed opening batter, occasional medium pacer). He was the first to reach the career milestone of 10,000 test runs. At the time of his retirement his career tally of 34 test centuries was also an all comers record.
  2. Saeed Anwar (Pakistan, left handed opening batter). With a defensively minded right hander locking down one of the opening berths the ideal would be to fill the remaining place with an attack minded left handed, and fortunately I have available someone who was just that and was also good enough to have a test average of 45.
  3. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies, left handed batter, occasional leg spinner). He first came to general attention when he scored a double century for West Indies U19s against England U19s, and was promptly fast tracked into the test side (unlike England’s own double centurion in that U19s series, whose achievement was ignored by England management). He went on to establish a magnificent test record in a side that was went into freefall around him.
  4. Steve Smith (Australia, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner). Probably the second best batter ever to come out of Australia behind the mighty Don Bradman.
  5. Sachin Tendulkar (India, right handed batter, occasional off/ leg spinner). Most test runs, most test hundreds, most test appearances, only player to have scored 100 or more centuries across international formats. Probably the biggest compliment ever paid him was by Don Bradman, who was watching television coverage of one of his innings when he thought he spotted something familiar about Tendulkar and called his wife to check, and she confirmed that there were indeed similarities in batting style between the two of them.+
  6. Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh, left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner, vice-captain). A genuine all rounder. Sometimes controversial, many were critical of his role when Angelo Mathews made history as the first person ever to be given Timed Out in an international match, though in truth the Bangladeshi was in the right, and Mathews’ reaction to falling victim to such an unusual dismissal was what really deserved censure.
  7. +Sarah Taylor (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). A superb keeper and a fine batter as well.
  8. *Sammy Woods (Australia, England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter, captain). Born in Sydney, but spent most of his career playing for and captaining Somerset. Somerset rarely if ever had the luxury of a settled side in his day, but his achievements as a captain were still impressive, including leading his county to victories over Yorkshire in three successive seasons when the northern county were generally ruling the roost.
  9. Shane Warne (Australia, leg spinner, right handed batter). One of the all time greats of the game, his case for inclusion needs no further amplification.
  10. Syd Barnes (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). That official ‘right arm fast medium’ tells a tiny fraction of the story of Barnes’ methods. His signature weapon was a leg break delivered at fast medium pace, and 189 wickets at 16.43 each in just 27 tests (yes, an average of seven wickets per match at test level) is testament to just how good he was.
  11. Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan, left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). He is still in the fairly early stages of his career, but 105 wickets at 25.58 in 27 test matches is a very fine start at the highest level.

This side has an excellent and contrasting opening pair, a mighty engine room of Chanderpaul, S Smith and Tendulkar, a genuine all rounder, a great keeper/ batter, a bowling all rounder and three superb specialist bowlers. The bowling, with Afridi, Barnes and Woods to attend to the pace and Warne and Al Hasan to bowl spin is also superb, and it is hard to see any conditions in which this attack would struggle.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

The opening pair both had ironclad cases for inclusion. If I were picking for limited overs then I would settle for two left handed openers, with Sanath Jayasuriya replacing Gavaskar whose record in limited overs was not great, but in long form there is no contest. The trouble comes in the number four and five slots, where in addition to the two I opted for, there were two other outstanding candidates, who are very unlucky that their given names begin with this letter, which keeps them out: Steve Waugh and Stan McCabe both of Australia. Also, Saud Shakeel has had an amazing start to his test career, and may yet force his way in, but with the top five I have plus the two reserves I have already mentioned selecting someone on the basis of seven test matches, however outstandingly he has done in them would be unwarrantable. Finally for this area of the order, Stephen Fleming had a respectable rather than truly outstanding record for New Zealand, and could only have commanded a place had I been dire need of a captain, which I was not.

Shakib Al Hasan had no challengers at six, not least because with Warne inked into the side Shahid Afridi’s leg spin was unlikely to add much to the bowling attack. In a limited overs side, Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe, an off spinning all rounder, would come into the mix – with Jayasuriya opening he increases the bowling variation available. However, his long form record is not special.

There were at a push four serious challengers to my actual choice for the wicket keeping role: Steve Marsh, who was fine keeper/ batter for Kent without ever getting the England job, Steve Rhodes who did do the England job, but was not IMO in Taylor’s bracket in either department, Sadanand Viswanath, a talented Indian keeper who didn’t fully deliver on his talents and Steve Rixon, understudy to Rod Marsh on at least one Ashes tour for Australia.

In the fast bowling department two England bowlers missed out for differing reasons: Steve Harmison was devastating when it was his day, but it was rather too frequently not his day for him to be classed as a genuine great. Had Simon Jones been able to keep himself in one piece he would have been a shoo-in, but injuries ruined his career. Schofield Haigh had a magnificent record for Yorkshire for many years, but never accomplished much for England. Sarfraz Nawaz, right arm fast medium for Pakistan, merits a mention, but no way could he dislodge either Barnes or his countryman Afridi. There is an extra reason for backing Shaheen Afridi in this area, which is that Barnes’ finest Ashes series, in 1911-2, came when he shared the new ball with a left arm pacer, Frank Foster.

Three off spinners have to be mentioned, though I had no way of accommodation them in the XI: Simon Harmer, unlucky to have played as little international cricket as he has, Saqlain Mushtaq, a genuine great, but not good enough to displace Warne, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, one of the Indian spin quartet of the 1970s. The truth is that the other three spinners in question, Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna were all a distinct cut above Venkataraghavan, who sometimes got the nod because he offered extra batting compared to the other three. The quartet only once played in the same XI, on which occasion Prasanna, the other off spinner, was the most successful of the four. However, Venkataraghavan definitely qualifies for an umpiring gig, and his on-field colleague can be Sadanand Viswanath.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I start this section with a single picture and a reminder that you can view those in the gallery the follows at a larger size by clicking on any picture that attracts your attention.

Now for the rest of the gallery…

Picking an all time Asian Test XI

Constructing an all time Asian XI, also sharing a petition and as usual including a photo gallery.

This post is my extended response to a tweet from Tanmay:

What would be your All Time Asian Test XI?

🇮🇳 • 🇵🇰 • 🇱🇰 • 🇧🇩

— TANMAY 🤡 (@spear_93) April 13, 2023

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I gave a brief twitter friendly answer yesterday, and I am now using this post to expand my thoughts and look at the architecture of an all time XI.

THE BRIEF

I have taken Tanmay’s question as referring specifically to players who played for Asian nations as opposed to players of Asian heritage who played for other nations. I also decided that for the purposes of this post only players with genuinely weighty test records should be considered – there have been players who have been brilliant at lower levels and struggled at the summit, and there have been players who have made incredible starts at test level and then fizzled out (look up Narendra Hirwani in the context of this specific post). I also require that any XI I name be well balanced and obviously capable of functioning as a unit, so I try to select varied players.

BUILDING OUR XI

We start with the openers. Here there is one candidate who overshadows all others, Sunil Gavaskar with over 10,000 test runs at an average above 50. Gavaskar’s partner should ideally pose a contrast, so I want a more attacking player, and preferably a left handed one. For me the person who fits the bill best in terms of Asian test players is Saeed Anwar of Pakistan.

The number three slot is non-negotiable in my opinion – Rahul Sharad Dravid with 13,288 test runs at an average of 53 is a lock for this slot

There would be more candidates for the number four slot but for the presence of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who preferred this slot in test matches.

At number five I want a left hander given that numbers three and four are right handers, and again there is one commanding candidate: Kumar Sangakkara, the second most prolific of all test match left handers behind Alastair Cook, and with a better batting average than the former England opener.

At number six I want an all rounder, and there is once again a clear cut candidate, who also happens to have been an outstanding captain, Imran Khan.

A wicket keeper who can make major contributions with the bat is a major asset to any side, and Mushfiqur Rahim, a fine keeper and one of the most consistent test batters Bangladesh has yet produced fits the bill nicely.

A number eight should be primarily a bowler, but ideally you want them to be reasonably capable with the bat as well, and Wasim Akram, one of the greatest of all left arm fast bowlers and possessor of a test match double century to boot would seem the ideal candidate.

Numbers 9, 10 and 11 are bowling slots, and we want at least one more fast bowler and at least one spinner. Waqar Younis of Pakistan and Muthiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka answer these descriptions – the former a genuinely great right arm fast bowler and regular bowling partner of Wasim Akram as well and the latter an off spinner and holder of the record for career test scalps – 800 in 133 matches. For the number nine slot my preference is for a second spinner and one who does something different to Murali, and I opt for leg spinner Anil Kumble, fourth in the list of all time test wicket takers and a big contrast to Murali.

Thus we have constructed our XI and in batting order it reads:

Sunil Gavaskar
Saeed Anwar
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Kumar Sangakkara
*Imran Khan
+Mushfiqur Rahim
Wasim Akram
Anil Kumble
Waqar Younis
Muthiah Muralidaran

This gives us a very powerful top five, one of the greatest of all all rounders, a quality keeper who is also a very good bat and four top line bowlers of great quality and variety. The bowling with three fast bowlers, one of whom bowls left arm for extra variation and two of the greatest spinners ever to play has both depth and variety as well. I hesitate to say that this side could beat an ROW all time XI because the latter, something like: JB Hobbs, H Sutcliffe (the best ever test match opening pair), *DG Bradman, SPD Smith, G St A Sobers, AW Greig, +AC Gilchrist, AK Davidson, MD Marshall, SK Warne, GD McGrath has arguably even stronger batting and definitely greater depth and variety in the bowling – between Sobers and Davidson any type of delivery that a left arm bowler can produce is covered, while Marshall, McGrath, Warne and Greig do likewise for right arm bowlers, but this Asian XI would be able to give even such formidable opposition as this a genuine contest.

THE MISSING

In an exercise of this nature many legendary cricketers are bound to miss out and probably no two people would pick the same XI. I would not argue against the likes of Virat Kohli, Javed Miandad or any of a fistful of left arm spinners: three all rounders, ‘Vinoo’ Mankad, Ravindra Jadeja and Shakib al Hasan and at least two specialists in the craft, Bishan Singh Bedi and Rangana Herath would all have their advocates, merely in favour of my own choices. Two contemporary greats who I decided did not yet have the weight of achievement at test level to merit selection but who I may well include should I revisit this in a few years were Rishabh Pant (who may very well displace Mushfiqur Rahim) and Rashid Khan (who faces an even more formidable obstacle in the form of Kumble).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before my usual sign off I have a petition to share: The Academy in Brixton is in danger and there is a petition on change.org to save it. I grew up in southwest London, close enough to Brixton that when I temped there for a period in 1997 I walked to and from work. Finally we come to the photographs…

All Time XIs: 11 Countries, no England or Australia

Today I select an all time XI where every player comes from a different country and the first two test match protagonists, England and Australia, are excluded. Also features an extensive photo gallery.

I set myself a tough challenge today: could I name an international XI where each player came from a different nation and neither of the two original test protagonists, England and Australia were included. This meant a degree of compromise, and some huge names missing out because accommodating them would have left me insoluble problems elsewhere. I think the end result is a fairly impressive looking side.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Sunil Gavaskar (India, right handed opening batter). His credentials are unarguable, but of course selecting him meant no place for Tendulkar, Kohli or any of the great spinners India have had down the years.
  2. George Headley (West Indies, right handed opening batter). A magnificent test record, and has a genuine claim to have been WI’s best ever. Filling the opening slots was the single toughest job involved in selecting this side.
  3. Graeme Pollock (South Africa, left handed batter). Another all time great, at least ensuring that the batting well get off to a decent start.
  4. Steve Tikolo (Kenya, right handed batter). His country’s best ever, and an FC average of 48 underlines his credentials
  5. Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe, right handed batter, off spinner). Number five was too low in the order for Andrew Flower, and the latter was not good enough to dislodge any of top three, so I made the compromise selection of a batting all rounder for this slot.
  6. *Imran Khan (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain). An excellent captain and among the greatest of all all rounders, ideal for this side.
  7. +Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh, right handed batter, wicket keeper). A top quality keeper, and a fine batter as well.
  8. Richard Hadlee (New Zealand, right arm fast bowler, left handed lower middle order batter). Other than perhaps Clarrie Grimmett, who had to cross one national and two state boundaries to find cricketing fulfillment, disqualifying himself for this XI in the process, there is no case for anyone else being regarded as New Zealand’s finest ever bowler.
  9. Bart King (United States of America, right arm fast bowler, right handed lower middle order batter). Just over 400 FC wickets at 15 a piece, mainly for the Philadelphians in the course of four tours of England and good enough with the willow to average 20 in that department. As a ‘minor nation’ representative of indisputable top class he helped make the task of this post possible.
  10. Rashid Khan (Afghanistan, leg spinner, right handed lower order batter). A superb leg spinner, and his position at number ten in this order notwithstanding far from a mug with the bat as well.
  11. Muthiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka, off spinner, right handed lower order batter). More test wickets than any other bowler in history – 800 of them. Some have suggested that his record is unduly boosted by cheap Bangladeshi and Zimbabwean scalps, but even against the more highly regarded nations he took 624 wickets at 24 – a cheaper average than Shane Warne’s against all comers (176 wickets at 15 against the two ‘minnows’).

This XI has a very powerful top four, a batting all rounder at five, one of the all time great genuine all rounders at six, a keeper who is also a top drawer batter and four of the greatest bowlers in history, three of whom can bat to varying degrees – Hadlee and King being close to all rounders and Rashid Khan definitely a ‘bowler who bats’. I do not see a bowling unit that has Hadlee, King and I Khan to bowl pace, Murali and R Khan to bowl spin and Raza as sixth option struggling to claim 20 wickets on any surface.

ALTERNATIVES

Obviously many great names missed out, but if you want to press the case for your favourites consider a) who misses out to get them in, b) how does that affect the balance of the side. Remember for example that if you want Tendulkar or Kohli to bat at four, Gavaskar has to be replaced as opener by a non-Indian, and unless you can find an opener from Kenya (Tikolo’s country) or a country not covered in my original selections that will in turn mean that someone else from down the order having to be replaced. One possibility that I could see for changing my XI would be to replace Rahim as keeper with Titendu Taibu (Zimbabwe), and then bring left arm spin bowling all rounder Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh) in in place of Raza, leaving the other nine positions unaffected and slightly improving the depth and variety of the bowling by increasing the range of spin coverage. However my view is that Rahim outranks Taibu in both departments, and that Al Hasan is not enough of an improvement on Raza to justify the swap.

PHOTOGRAPHS

The weather is very changeable here in Norfolk at the moment, but there has been enough of the good, or at least decent, variety that I have a large photo gallery to share…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 30

Continuing my extended analysis of how my all time XIs for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Today the Gs occupy the spotlight and are on 58 of a possible 80 points going into this set of match ups. Each team featured today will have a link back to the selectorial post about them, highlighted in light blue.

THE Gs V THE Rs

The small sample size for B Richards at the highest level and the fact that Rogers indubitably ranks fourth among the openers in this match up means that I consider the Gs to have the better opening pair. The Rs win the number three slot – WG’s record on rough Victorian pitches equates to an average of 48 or thereabouts today, though the doctor offers a front line bowling option. Root beats Gower in the number four slot. Graveney achieved his test average over many more matches than Ranji, but Ranji encountered worse surfaces than Graveney. A third factor however is that Ranji played in an era that encouraged expansive stroke makers, whereas Graveney played in the slowest scoring era of all time, and his own approach was very much at variance with the general one of his era. I thus award this match up to Graveney. The Gs win the number six and seven slots with the bat, and Russell was a much finer keeper than Gilchrist. The Rs win the pace bowling – whether you make Richardson or Rabada their third pacer that third pacer outranks Jack Gregory as a bowler. Grimmett was much better leg spinner than Robins, though Rhodes outranks Gibbs as a finger spinner, albeit by much less than Grimmett outranks Robins. The Gs have the better batting by a small margin and the better spin bowling, and also the better skipper. The Rs have the better pace attack and the better keeper. I think the Rs pace attack will just make the difference and score this one Gs 2, Rs 3.

THE Gs V THE Ss

We have two superb opening pairs here. The Ss have a somewhat higher combined average and the advantage of a left/ right combo as opposed to the Gs two right handers. Grace and G Smith share the batting honours at no3 – Grace’s average on the pitches he played on converts pretty much exactly to G Smith’s on 21st century pitches, with Grace offering a bowling option and somewhat outranking G Smith as skipper. The Ss win the number four and five slots. Sobers wins the no6 batting match up against Gilchrist, though the Aussie wins the keeping match up against Sangakkara. Stokes and Gregory is a clash of the titans – two ultra aggressive left handed batters who bowl right arm fast and have very similar averages, though Stokes’ has been achieved over many more games, which just gets him the verdict. The Ss have the better pace attack, with Stokes and the quicker aspects of Sobers fourth and fifth choices for them in that department, but as against that Grimmett massively outbowls Stevens and Gibbs is better than the left arm wrist spin incarnation of Sobers (LWS have a very similar angle of attack to off spinners). The Ss have the left arm orthodox spin version of Sobers, not matched by the Gs, and the Gs have Grace as their bonus bowling option. I think the Ss just have enough, but this a mighty contest: Gs 2, Ss 3.

THE Gs V THE Ts

The opening pair is a closer contest than it looks – Trumper’s record was achieved on some pretty rough surfaces, and the Ts have the additional advantage of the left/ right combo, so I would say honours even on opening pairs. Grace outranks Tarrant as a batter, but the Aussie was the finer bowler. Grace also has to be ranked above ‘Tubs’ as a skipper, though ‘Tubs’ was a good skipper himself. Tendulkar outranks Gower by a distance, but Thorpe, on sample size and lack of support from the rest of the order, beats Graveney. Gilchrist outranks Ross Taylor as a batter, but is a distant second to Bob Taylor in the keeping stakes. Gregory wins his batting match up against Bob Taylor but loses the bowling match up against Jeff Thomson. Trumble and Gibbs is a close contest – Trumble got more responsive surfaces to bowl on than Gibbs by and large, which I consider to account for the differences in their averages. Grimmett has no challenger in the Gs ranks. Trueman and Tyson outrank Geary and Garner. The Ts have better batting, better pace bowling and much the better keeper, the Gs have the better spin bowling and the better skipper. I think the Ts have this one but not by much – Gs 2, Ts 3.

THE Gs V THE Us

The Gs have far the better opening pair, though Ulyett was possibly a better bowler than Gregory. Grace bosses the number three slot and outranks Misbah Ul Haq as captain. The Us win the number four and five slots. Gilchrist wins the batting match up at six, and Umrigar offers less in the way of bowling than Grace. Umar Akmal loses his batting match up against Jack Gregory and his keeping match up against Gilchrist. Geary definitely outranks Umar Gul, and Umran Malik is as yet unproven, so while acknowledging that this might change over the next decade or so, at the moment that match up has to go very comfortably the way of Garner. Underwood has to outrank Gibbs as a bowler, and the moment, though again acknowledging that this might change in future Grimmett has to outrank Ur Rahman. The Gs absolutely boss the batting, have the better pace attack by far, have the better spin attack, the better keeper and the better captain: Gs 5, Us 0.

THE Gs V THE Vs

The Gs have much the better opening pair, Grace comfortably beats Vaughan both as no three and as captain, the Gs also win at numbers four and five, and Gilchrist outranks Verreynne as batter, though the Saffa wins the keeping element of the natch up. Gregory outbats Vaas, but Vaas wins the bowling element of the match up comfortably, especially given that he is likely to fare even better as third seamer in a strong attack than he actually did as opening bowler in a moderate one. Voce outranks Geary as a bowler. Van der Bijl against Garner is a toughie – the Saffa never got to play test cricket due to circumstances, but may well have had a similar record to Garner, who he resembled in height and build had he done so. Grimmett outranks Vogler as a bowler, but by less than Verity outranks Gibbs as a finger spinner. The Gs have have much the better batting, winning every significant match up, but the Vs have the better bowling. I would say that the difference in batting in favour of the Gs is bigger than the difference in bowling in favour of the Vs, but the Gs are not winning this by much: Gs 3, Vs 2.

THE Gs PROGRESS

The Gs have scored 14 of a possible 25 points today, moving them on to 72 out of 105, 68.57% so far.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – The Letter G

Continuing my all time XIs theme with a skip ahead to the letter G, it being the 174th anniversary of the birth of that letters captain.

Outside it is ferociously hot, as per weather forecast. I have curtains drawn at the front of my bungalow, blinds down at the back and windows open everywhere, and so far that is keeping indoors bearable. I have skipped forward a few letters in my selection of teams with surnames beginning with the same letter because today is the 174th anniversary of the birth of the skipper of the team for whom that letter is G. Coverage of the second women’s ODI between England and South Africa is just underway. Ben Stokes has announced that tomorrow’s ODI in Durham will be his last game in that format – he is still available for selection in T20Is, but his main focus is the team of which he is captain, the test team.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Sunil Gavaskar (Somerset and India). The first to reach the career milestone of 10,000 test runs. His career highlights include an innings of 221 at The Oval in 1979 which almost enabled India to chase down a target of 438 (they were 429-8 when time ran out, having panicked from a high-water mark of 366-1).
  2. Gordon Greenidge (Hampshire, West Indies). The Barbadian was aggressive by nature but possessed the ability to rein in his attacking instincts in the interests of the side. His two double centuries in the 1984 ‘blackwash’ series exemplify the different ways he could approach an innings: at Lords he was brutally destructive, carrying WI to a nine wicket victory with 214* in under five hours at the crease. Later in the series at Old Trafford, with WI needing a long innings Greenidge contributed 223*, batting almost 10 hours to wrench the initiative back for his side.
  3. *WG Grace (Gloucestershire, London County, England). The birthday boy, and this team’s captain. His first first class hundred (out of 126 he was to score – I have no truck with the revisionist stats that give him only 124) came at The Oval in 1866 (224*). His last began on his 56th birthday, in 1904 (166). When he completed 50 FC centuries in 1875 that tally was equal to that of the next 13 leading century makers combined. When he made it 100 FC centuries 20 years later second in the list of century makers was Arthur Shrewsbury with 41 to his name). Add to that the bowling that brought him 2,876 FC wickets at 17.39 each and about 900FC catches and you have a serious all rounder. He was a regular opener, but I do not see him having a problem with first drop.
  4. David Gower (Leicestershire, Hampshire, England). After three right handers we have a left hander. 8,231 test runs at 44.25 show that he had plenty of steel to go with the style he was justly famous for.
  5. Tom Graveney (Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, England). The second leading scorer of FC runs among players who played exclusively after WWII. He was part of an astonishing turn around at The Oval in 1966 – England were 166-7, still over 100 behind the WI first innings total at low water mark. Graveney (165) and keeper Murray (112) began the turn around, which was completed when tail enders Snow and Higgs each hit maiden test fifties, carrying England to 527 all out. WI not surprisingly went down to an innings defeat.
  6. +Adam Gilchrist (Australia). The wicket keeper, and our second left hander, one place above his preferred no seven. The only minor blot on a stellar international record was his horror series in England in 2005.
  7. Jack Gregory (AIF and Australia). It was Plum Warner who suggested to the Australian International Forces team when they were uncertain of who to pick for the last place in their XI to go for Gregory, saying “there never was a Greogry of Sydney who couldn’t play the game”. Plum was spot on, and Jack Gregory developed into a genuine all rounder, attacking left handed batter (once hit a century against South Africa in just 70 minutes at the crease), one half of test cricket’s first great pair of fast bowlers along with Ted McDonald and a superb fielder in the slip and gully regions.
  8. George Geary (Leicestershire and England). A bowler of seemingly inexhaustible stamina (once at Melbourne he bowled 81 overs in a single innings, taking 5-105) and possessed of all the tricks of the medium-fast bowler’s trade and a useful lower order batter to boot. His CV included two Ashes winning moments – in 1926 it was he who bowled Arthur Mailey to seal the victory at The Oval, while at the MCG two and a half years later he hit the winning runs as England scored 332-7 to go 3-0 in the five match series. His best FC bowling performance came for Leicestershire against Glamorgan, when he took all ten wickets for 18 runs, the second cheapest first class all ten ever (Hedley Verity 10-10 v Nottinghamshire being the champion performance in this department).
  9. Joel Garner (Somerset and West Indies). One of the most awkward propositions ever seen on a cricket field – his 6’8″ height, a leap in delivery stride and long arms combined to mean that the ball came down from way up in the air (above the height of more than one test match ground’s sight screens).
  10. Clarrie Grimmett (Australia). He had to cross one international and two state boundaries before establishing himself. He was 33 when he made his test debut, collecting 11 English wickets in the match. He ended with 216 wickets in just 37 test matches, and there were many, including his regular test match bowling partner Bill O’Reilly who thought that 46 year old Grimmett should have been picked for the 1938 tour of England.
  11. Lance Gibbs (Warwickshire and WI). The off spinner was briefly the world record holder for career test wickets, with 309 wickets at that level, breaking the record set by Fred Trueman.

This team has a powerful top five, the most destructive keeper-batter ever, a genuine all rounder, a bowling all rounder (Geary), and three great specialist bowlers. Garner, Gregory and Geary represent an excellent pace/seam trio, Grimmett the leg spinner and Gibbs the off spinner represent a fine combination in that department, and of course there is WG as an extra bowling option.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Graham Gooch cannot be accommodated, with three regular openers already there (backdated punishment for going on the first of the rebel tours of SA!). Larry Gomes (test average 39) and Mike Gatting (35.55) are a both a touch short of the necessary class. Lewis Gregory is a fine all round cricketer for Somerset, but not a serious rival to his namesake Jack. Lewis Goldsworthy may challenge for batting/ left arm spin slot in years to come, but having only just registered his maiden first class century his case remains to be made. Alf Gover was a fine fast bowler, and in later years a highly respected coach (although the coaching school he established in Wandsworth numbers at least one ghastly failure – I attended sessions there in my childhood and never developed so much as a hint of skill as a player) but hardly a serious rival to Garner. George Gunn was another I regretted not being able to fit in. Shannon Gabriel was another fast bowler to come up short. Anshuman Gaekwad was another test batter with a respectable rather than outstanding record. Had I been selecting with white ball in mind Ruturaj Gayakwad would have had a strong case. In ten years time Shubman Gill may be considered a shoo-in, but he does not yet have the weight of proven achievement to dislodge any of my choices.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…