A look back at two matches that in different ways link back to WG Grace and a very large photo gallery.
Today is the fourth and final day of a round of county championship matches. I am following Essex’s attempt to beat Kent, which at the moment seems to be going their way. Yesterday two matches saw events that in different ways harked back to WG Grace. This post looks at both matches, one of which I listened to and one of which I heard about.
HAMPSHIRE V SURREY
Surrey won the county championship in 2022 and 2023, and are well placed to make it three in a row this year. However, even the strongest sides occasionally get things badly wrong, and at Southampton over the three days that the match lasted Surrey most certainly did. Surrey won the toss and chose to bat. A poor morning with the bat for Surrey was immediately followed by a devastating post-lunch burst from Kyle Abbott which yielded him a five-for in next to no time, and Surrey had mustered a measly 127. By the close of day one Hampshire were 102-1, Fletcha Middleton gone for 35, and Toby Albert and Nick Gubbins looking solid though not scoring with any great pace. Both completed centuries on the second day, Albert’s being his maiden first class ton. With this solid base to build on the later batting was more aggressive, and by the end of day two Hampshire were 495-4, with Ben Brown 99* and Liam Dawson 74*. The only question by then was whether Surrey could save the match. Brown completed his hundred and went rapidly on to a career best 165*. Dawson was out for 81, while James Fuller helped Hampshire towards their declaration with 34* off 27 balls. Hampshire’s declaration came at 608-6, leaving Surrey just over five sessions to bat to save the game. Burns was out early, and a good catch by Albert off Organ removed Sibley for 28 (86). Thereafter only Foakes showed the necessary application to bat for a long time. Lawrence scored 42 off 50 balls, a most inappropriate innings for the circumstances, while Steel, Clark, Sean Abbott and Atkinson managed 21 between them. With the result settled Surrey number 11 Dan Worrall emerged as top scorer for them, hitting his way to 48, with his dismissal leaving Foakes undefeated on 19 having survived 107 balls. The margin was an innings and 278 runs, the worst defeat Surrey had ever suffered in a county championship match, though the 1948 Australians beat Surrey by an innings and 296, as did an England XI in 1866, the match in which WG Grace scored his maiden first class century, a then ground record 224*. Full scorecard here.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE V DERBYSHIRE
This match is a ridiculous run fest and will end in a draw. However when Gloucestershire were 131-4 in reply to Derbyshire’s 526 it might have got interesting. At that point James Bracey and Graeme van Buuren came together for Gloucestershire, and their fifth wicket stand ended up producing 277, an all time Gloucestershire record for that wicket, breaking one of the oldest county records, set by WG Grace and William Moberly in 1876 (Moberly was also an excellent rugby player, captaining Oxford University to victory in the first ever varsity rugby match and appearing for England against Scotland in 1872). In the run up to lunch today Gloucestershire had a clatter of wickets fall, but Aussie import Beau Webster smashed a rapid 76 to take them into a first innings lead – 530 against 526.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have a large photo gallery to share. My next gallery will be a bit different as early tomorrow morning I head north for a brief holiday in Scotland, near Perth to be precise (a journey accomplished by means of fast bus to Peterborough and trains from Peterborough to Perth). Here is today’s offering…
An all time XI selected on a basis of juxtaposing ancient and modern – six players from way back, five players from the 21st century, interleaving with one another so that no two players from the same era are next to each other in the batting order, Also a bumper photo gallery.
In this post I present an all time XI selected using very specific criteria – my players are either from the long past or are players at least some of whose career took place in the 21st century, and the interleave so that no two players from the same era are next to each other in the line up.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*WG Grace (England, right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles through his career, captain). In spite of not getting to play test cricket until he was 32 years old he twice held the record individual score for England – 152 on debut in the first match on English soil in 1880, and 170 in the final match of the 1886 series, regaining the record from Arthur Shrewsbury who had set it the previous match with 164.
Yashavsi Jaiswal (India, left handed opening batter). Has just had an amazing series against England (712 runs including two double centuries), and looks set to have a long career for India.
Don Bradman (Australia, right handed batter). Quite simply the greatest test match batter the world has ever seen.
Brian Lara (West Indies, left handed batter). Succeeded everywhere and against every type of bowling, including 688 runs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka against peak Muralidaran (off spinners are supposed to cause left handers particular problems).
Aubrey Faulkner (South Africa, right handed batter, leg spinner). Has a case to be regarded as the most genuine of genuine all rounders, averaging 40.79 with the bat (just over 1,700 runs) and 26.58 with the ball (85 wickets). No one else to have played enough matches to qualify for consideration has ended with a batting average of over 40 and a bowling average of below 30.
Ben Stokes (England, left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). A talismanic figure for England in recent years, with a value to the side that goes far beyond his mediocre looking figures at test level.
+Leslie Ames (England, wicket keeper, right handed batter). The first test match class wicket keeper to also be a genuinely high class batter.
R Ashwin (India, off spinner, right handed batter). One of the greatest of all off spinners, and a useful lower order batter as well.
Syd Barnes (England, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). 189 wickets in just 27 test appearances, at 16.43 a piece.
Jasprit Bumrah (India, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). India’s greatest ever fast bowler, and one of the greatest of all time.
William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12.09 a piece, but born just too early to play test cricket. In this XI he would probably come on first change after Barnes and Bumrah had done their stuff with the new ball.
This side has a powerhouse batting line up, and a bowling attack of Barnes, Bumrah and Mycroft to bowl pace/seam/swing and Ashwin and Faulkner to bowl spin, with Grace and Stokes in reserve, is not likely to have any great difficulty taking 20 opposition wickets. I will not produce an honourable mentions section on this occasion because it would have to be massive to do anything approaching justice to those who have missed out. Comments welcome, and if you are feeling really bold feel free to suggest an alternative XI selected on similar lines that you reckon could make a game of it with this one.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A bumper gallery for you today – while it has not been conspicuously sunny it has been reasonably pleasant outside…
An all time XI of some of the legends of county cricket, with the new season now 25 days away. Also a photo gallery.
Today I present an all time XI of players who all set records relating to English first class cricket, as an appetizer for the new season that is now a mere 25 days away. I have not included a specific overseas player although one of this XI was born abroad.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*WG Grace (Gloucestershire, London County, right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles, captain). Joint leading achiever of the feat of 1,000 runs in a first class season (28 times).
Wilfred Rhodes (Yorkshire, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). No one took 100 first class wickets in a season more often than Rhodes (23 times), and no one achieved the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season more often (16 times).
Frank Woolley (Kent, left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). Achieved the “batting all rounder’s double” of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets for the season a record four times, joint record holder for 1,000 runs in a season.
Denis Compton (Middlesex, right handed batter, occasional left arm wrist spinner). Most first class runs in an English season (3,816), and most first class centuries in an English season (18), both set in 1947.
Phil Mead (Hampshire, left handed batter). Most runs (48,809) and most centuries (138) for a single first class team.
George Hirst (Yorkshire, right handed batter, left arm fast medium bowler). The only player ever to score 2,000 first class runs and take 200 wickets in the same first class season (1906), record unbroken sequence of achieving a minimum of 1,000 and 100 (1902-12 inclusive).
+Les Ames (Kent, wicket keeper, right handed batter). The “wicket keeper’s double” of 1,000 runs and 100 dismissals in first class matches in the same season was only ever achieved four times, and three of those were by Ames (John Murray of Middlesex achieved the other).
Maurice Tate (Sussex, right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). The “bowling all rounder’s double” of at least 1,000 runs and 200 wickets in the same first class season was achieved by two people outside of Hirst’s 1906 ‘double double’, this man, and the guy one place below him in the order.
Albert Trott (Middlesex, right arm slow bowler, right handed batter). From 1899-1901 he was the best all rounder in the world, and even after his star faded in later years he produced the occasional outstanding performance, notably against Somerset in 1907.
Alfred Percy ‘Tich’ Freeman (Kent, leg spinner, right handed batter). In 1928 he achieved the only ever season’s haul of 300 first class wickets (304), and he took 200 or more in a record eight successive seasons including that one.
Tom Richardson (Surrey, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). The most wickets in a season by anyone other than Freeman (290), and he has records for fewest matches to reach 1,000 FC scalps (134) and 2,000 (327).
This side has a powerhouse batting line up, with everyone down to Trott at number nine capable of being a matchwinner in that department, and with Richardson, Tate and Hirst to bowl seam/swing/pace, Freeman, Trott, Rhodes and Woolley as front line slow bowlers and Grace and Compton also available to bowl taking 20 wickets should not pose a problem on any surface.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I will limit myself to two of these: James H Parks (Sussex) was the only ever cricketer to score 3,000 first class runs and take 100 first class wickets in the same season. Herbert Sutcliffe (Yorkshire) also merits a mention for scoring 1,000 or more FC runs in every inter-war season (1919-39 inclusive).
A variation on my all-time XI theme and a large photo gallery.
This is a variation on my all-time XI theme. Today I pick an XI starting with my first choice opener and moving down the order in strict alphabetical fashion, each player with a surname starting exactly one letter ahead of the person immediately above them in the order. Each player will be introduced with an outline of their role. There will also be a brief honourable mentions section.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*WG Grace (England, right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles through his career, captain). A natural choice for this role, as the first great superstar of cricket. He was captain my of all time Gs XI and you can read more about him in that post.
JB Hobbs (England, right handed opening batter, brilliant cover fielder, occasional medium pacer). The Master, the all time leading scorer of first class runs and first class hundreds. He was in my Hs XI.
Yashavsi Jaiswal (India, left handed top order batter). The only player in this XI not to have featured in my cricketing journey through the alphabet, he has come to the fore in no uncertain terms since then, and has a chance of breaking an all time Indian record for runs in a series in the fifth and final test match of the current series. As it is, only one cricketer has ever had more test runs to their name after eight appearances at that level, a certain Donald George Bradman. The Js are very strong in batting, but even if I did not feel able to fit him in there I would indulge in a quibble cook and drop Martin Young from the Ys so that he could open for that XI.
Virat Kohli (India, right handed batter). The Indian maestro has missed this series for personal reasons, but his record is enough to guarantee selection. He occupies this same slot in my Ks XI.
Brian Lara (West Indies, left handed batter). Lower in the order than he would usually be, but I reckon he could handle this slot. He featured in my Ls XI.
Keith Miller (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler). One of the greatest of all all rounders, in the same slot he had in my Ms XI.
+Paul Nixon (Leicestershire, wicket keeper, left handed batter). The only non-test cricketer in the XI, but his outstanding service for an unfashionable county over the course of many years deserves recognition, and he occupies the same slot as the one I gave him for the Ns.
Chris Old (England, right arm fast medium bowler, left handed batter). A little higher in the batting order than one might like, but he did have his moments with the bat. He was in the Os XI.
Peter Pollock (South Africa, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A fearsome fast bowler whose test career was shortened by his country being banished from international cricket. He had this same slot in my Ps XI.
Abdul Qadir (Pakistan, leg spinner, right handed batter). The art of leg spin bowling almost died out in the 1980s as teams became more and more inclined to rely on pace and seam, with maybe a finger spinner or two being used to tie up an end. There was however one leggie of undisputed top class in that decade who kept the torch burning, this man, the star of my Qs XI.
Wilfred Rhodes (England, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter). I have remarked before, notably in my Rs XI, where he is one place higher than in this one on Rhodes’ extraordinary five-phase career, which started and finished with him in the side as a specialist left arm spinner. He was number 11 at The Oval in 1902 when he and Hirst saw England to a one-wicket win, and at the SCG in 1903 when he scored 40*, helping RE Foster (287, at the time an all comers record, and still a debut record) add 130 for the last wicket.
This side has a powerful top five, a great all rounder, a quality keeper/batter and four excellent and well varied bowlers. I do not anticipate P Pollock, Old, Miller, Rhodes and Qadir having any great difficulty in taking 20 wickets, especially with the skipper in reserve.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I will deal with these in batting order:
Grace was the chosen opener, but I acknowledge that Gavaskar, Gambhir, Gayle and Greenidge would all have their advocates.
I also regarded ‘The Master’ as sacrosanct, though George Headley (West Indies), Len Hutton (England) and possibly Matthew Hayden (Australia) could all make cases for inclusion.
The number three pick was controversial, with two Sri Lankans, Jayasuriya and Jayawardene (whose regular slot this was) firmly in the mix, and a couple of tough and competitive antipodeans, Andrew Jones (NZ) and Dean Jones (Aus) also worthy of mention. However, my feeling is that Jaiswal is not just a flash in the pan.
I would have annoyed over 1 billion of the game’s most avid fans had I named anyone else at number four, though there was also a case for Jacques Kallis.
Lara’s major challenger was another West Indian, but I don’t think even ‘big Hubert’ would think himself hard done by, especially given that with Grace in the side he was never getting the captaincy.
Of the two main challengers for Miller’s slot one, Mushtaq Mohammad could not be accommodated given that the self set rules of this exercise virtually mandated the selection of Qadir. The other, Mulvantrai ‘Vinoo’ Mankad certainly could, but I decided in Miller’s favour (Mankad, a left arm spinner with the ball, could be got in by dropping Rhodes and bringing in one of Kagiso Rabada, Tom Richardson or Andy Roberts, though the last named would be out of position at no11).
Nixon had no serious challenger, and neither did Old.
Although there are two other notable fast bowlers with surnames beginning with P both (Mike Procter and Shaun Pollock) would have been absurdly out of place at number nine, and I was not prepared to bend the rules to that extent.
Qadir had no challenger.
Had I opted for only one front line spinner then Rhodes as described above could have been replaced, but it seemed appropriate given these two colossi bestrode the cricketing scene for 65 years between them (Grace’s FC debut happened in 1865, Rhodes retired in 1930) for an order that began with Grace to end with Rhodes.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
The ladybirds are out in force this year. This one had positioned itself in such a way that it almost passed for the centre of the flowerhead on which it was resting.
An all time XI of players whose given names begin with W, a very detailed honourable mentions section and a photo gallery.
Today I present an all time XI of players whose given names begin with W and a detailed honourable mentions section, as well as my usual photo gallery.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
William Morris ‘Bill’ Lawry (Australia, left handed opening batter). He averaged 47 with the bat in test cricket.
William Harold ‘Bill’ Ponsford (Australia, right handed opening batter). Until Brian Lara came along only one player had achieved two first class scores in excess of 400, Ponsford, with 429 against Tasmania in 1922 and 437 against Queensland in 1927. In December of 1927 he became the only player ever to score 1,000 first class runs in a calendar month outside of England, with a sequence of 1,146 runs in five innings. His test record was not quite so outstanding, but even at that level he averaged 48, which included centuries in each of his first two test matches and centuries in each of his last two.
*WG Grace (England, right handed batter, right arm bowler of various styles, captain). Cricket’s first superstar, and in his best decade, the 1870s, he averaged 49 with the bat at a time when the best of the rest were just about managing 25. Only one other person in cricket history ever sustained being twice as prolific as the best of the rest over a long period – Bradman.
Wally Hammond (England, right handed batter, right arm medium-fast bowler). He scored 7,249 runs at 58.45, including 905 at 113.125 in the 1928-9 Ashes.
+William Lloyd ‘Billy’ Murdoch (Australia, right handed batter, wicket keeper). Australia’s best batter in the earliest years of test cricket, and a fine enough keeper that FR Spofforth missed the first ever test match because he initially didn’t believe that any keeper other than Murdoch could handle his bowling.
Warwick Armstrong (Australia, right handed batter, leg spinner). A fine all round cricketer whose feats included scoring over 2,000 runs and taking over 100 wickets in first class matches on the 1905 tour of England. 16 years later he almost captained an undefeated side, the only loss they sustained on the tour coming at the hands of ‘an England XI’ assembled by AC MacLaren.
Willie ‘Billy’ Bates (England, right handed batter, off spinner). The first England bowler ever to take a test hat trick, part of a match performance in which he scored a 50 and took seven wickets in each Australian innings.
Wasim Akram (Pakistan, left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). One of the greatest ever.
William Joseph ‘Bill’ O’Reilly (Australia, leg spinner, left handed batter). Only one batter among those he came up against in the course of his career could truly claim to have his measure: Don Bradman.
William Arras ‘Bill’ Johnston (Australia, left arm fast medium bowler, left arm orthodox spinner, left handed batter). The third essential member of Australia’s immediate post WWII bowling attack after Lindwall and Miller, as well as being two types of bowler in one he was possessed of great stamina – it was not unknown for him to go straight from spinning the old ball to swinging the new one. Three times he was Australia’s leading wicket taker in Ashes series. In England in 1953, with the active connivance of some his team mates, who got themselves out in some of the later matches to help engineer the outcome, he became only the second player to average 100+ for an English first class season (17 innings, 16 not outs, 102 runs, average 102.00) after Bradman in 1938 (the Don achieved his average of 115.66 for that season without any such shenanigans going on).
Waqar Younis (Pakistan, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A superb practitioner, and one who regularly shared the new ball with Wasim Akram.
This side has a powerful batting line up, and a wealth of bowling options. The only regular type of bowling that is not featured is left arm wrist spin. The front five of Younis, Akram, Johnston, O’Reilly and Bates are formidable in their own right, and in the unlikely event that they prove insufficient there are Armstrong, Grace and Hammond as back up options.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I start this section with a paragraph devoted to my most notable omission…
WILFRED RHODES
One of the most extraordinary performers in the history of cricket, with a remarkable five-phase playing career – specialist left arm spinner, all rounder, specialist batter, all rounder, specialist left arm spinner. The trouble is that brilliant as he was as an all rounder at county level his England career was almost exclusively spent either as specialist bowler (early and late periods) or as a specialist batter (in the run up to WWI). His batting would not warrant selection as a specialist and if I pick him as a specialist bowler I would have to leave out Johnston, who offers me two bowling options in one and had an outstanding test record.
OTHER HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The opening slots were rich in potential candidates. Lawry’s only rival for the left handed openers slot was Warren Bardsley, the first batter ever to score twin centuries in a test match and possessor of a fine overall test record, as well as being Australia’s leading scorer of first class centuries until Bradman came along, more than half of those tons having come in England.
Ponsford was rivalled for the right handers opening slot by two other Williams who were generally known as Bill, WA Brown and WM Woodfull. Woodfull in particular is unlucky to miss out, while Brown also had a fine record.
I regard WG Grace as an essential pick and my reckoning is that he could handle first drop, though he did prefer to open. Two regular number threes who thus miss out are William Gunn, the Gunn of Gunn & Moore, whose test record did not live up to his superb first class record and William Scotton, also of Nottinghamshire, whose ability to bat for long periods of time came at the expense of run scoring. William John ‘Bill’ Edrich was another who might have had this slot, averaging 40 in test cricket in spite of losing six prime years to WWII. WG ‘Billy’ Quaife had a splendid record for Warwickshire but his seven tests were disappointing. Wajahatullah Wasti of Pakistan once scored twin tons in a test match but did little else at that level. William Yardley has a place in the record books – in 1870 he became the first player ever to score a century in the Varsity Match.
Among the all rounders I could not accommodate were Wasim Raja, WE ‘Bill’ Alley, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Wilf Flowers and William ‘Billy’ Barnes.
My decision to entrust the gloves to Murdoch meant that three very accomplished keepers, Wriddhiman Saha of India, Wasim Bari of Pakistan, and Arthur Theodore Wallace ‘Wally’ Grout of Australia missed out.
WH ‘Bill’ Lockwood was a fine bowling all rounder, and possibly the pioneer of the slower ball, but not a serious rival to Akram for the number eight slot. A number of Williams, all known as Bill, were fine quick bowlers: Whitty, Voce, Bowes, Copson, Andrews and Bestwick among them. Two Williams known by their full first names, Lillywhite and Mycroft, were both great bowlers kept out by the immense strength in depth available for this squad. Wes Hall and Wayne Daniel were two of the many superb quicks to come from the coral island of Barbados, and both can be considered unlucky to miss out. Walter Mead, a bowler of mixed spin for Essex who claimed a 17 wicket match haul against the 1893 Australians and had a magnificent first class record was the biggest miss in the spin bowling department.
In a few years time there may be a second WG in the line up – WG Jacks of England, an attacking batter and a capable off spinner who is in the process of establishing himself in international cricket.
In the absence of live cricket to write about I have created a clash between a team of players from before ODI cricket was a thing and a team of ODI players to do battle with one another. Also a photo gallery.
There is no live cricket today, so with the ODI World Cup 2023 approaching its final phase I have decided to produce a contest between two XIs – one of players whose careers took place before ODI cricket existed (with one very minor exception explained when we come to him) and one of ODI players. The following playing conditions would apply to what would be a five match ODI series: only one new ball per innings – using two as happens currently deprives us of old ball skills such as reverse swing because a ball that is only in use for 25 overs doesn’t get old, two minute time limit between a wicket falling and the new batter being ready to face (I am not expecting any ‘Timed Out’ dismissals but I am making sure that situation is covered anyway) and my own playing condition regarding overs not bowled within the time limit: The batting side to be awarded 10 runs or twice the current scoring rate, whichever is the greater, for each unbowled over, counting incomplete overs as ‘unbowled’ for this purpose.
THE PRE-ODI XI
*WG Grace (right handed batter, right arm bowler of various types through his career, good close catcher, captain). His commitment to attacking cricket is without question, his captaincy record is superb, and he was the dominant cricketer of his era.
Frank Woolley (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spin bowler, excellent close catcher). A fast scorer, a fine bowler and an excellent close fielder. Only one cricketer ever achieved the first class career treble of 10,000 runs, 1,000 wickets and 1,000 catches – Woolley.
Don Bradman (right handed batter, occasional leg spinner, excellent outfielder). The most prolific batter the game has ever known and capable of scoring seriously fast as well.
Garry Sobers (left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket, excellent fielder). Before the pedants fly in, yes he did play a solitary ODI near the end of his career, in which he scored a duck. That is not enough to class him as an ODI player in my book, and I refuse to not pick the most complete player the game has ever known, so I include him in this XI.
Keith Miller (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler). One of the greatest all rounders ever to play the game, and both his attacking approach to batting and his willingness to experiment with the ball would be well suited to ODI cricket.
+Les Ames (right handed batter, wicket keeper). Twice winner of the Lawrence trophy for scoring the fastest first class hundred of the season, and maker of over 1,000 wicket keeping dismissals in his career.
Gilbert Jessop (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, gun fielder). The most consistently fast scoring batter the game has ever known, a more than useful bowler and a brilliant fielder. I have listed him at seven in this order but I would expect Grace to display some flexibility in this matter – if wicket number 1,2,3 or 4 falls with say 10 overs to go I expect Jessop to come in.
Alan Davidson (left arm fast medium bowler, left handed batter, brilliant fielder). Among bowlers to play exclusively post WWII, to have ended their careers and to take 150 or more test wickets the one with the most economical bowling average is Davidson, with 186 test scalps at 20.53 each. He also had moments with the bat even at the highest level, averaging 24 in test cricket with an HS of 80 and his fielding earned him the nickname ‘the claw’.
Alfred Shaw (right arm medium/ slow bowler, right handed batter). The man who bowled more FC overs than he conceded runs at that level, and took just over 2,000 FC wickets at 12 a piece just has to be in this XI.
Sydney Francis Barnes (Right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). He would grumble about only being allowed 10 overs, but I would fully expect him to make superb use of those overs – he was probably the most skilful bowler ever to pick up a cricket ball.
Hugh Tayfield (off spinner, right handed batter). The leading test wicket taker for South Africa in their first period as a test nation, and by some way at that. He was also notoriously miserly with the ball, once sending down 137 successive dot balls including 16 successive eight ball maidens.
This side has seven top line batters and a capable number eight in Davidson. However the true jewel in this side’s crown is the bowling, with that front four of Davidson, Barnes, Shaw and Tayfield backed by all rounders Miller, Jessop, Sobers, Grace and Woolley. The only recognized bowling type not covered is leg spin, and Syd Barnes’ signature weapon largely fills that gap. Also there are few if any ‘passengers’ in the field in this XI, and a number of genuinely outstanding fielders. This is a side that would take a lot of beating.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
New Zealander Bert Sutcliffe would be well suited to the left handed opener’s gig, but he does not have Woolley’s advantage of also offering a bowling option. Mulvantrai Himmatlal ‘Vinoo’ Mankad was another possibility, but I rated his batting not explosive enough. Mushtaq Mohammad could have been selected in place of Keith Miller had I been really desperate for leg spin representation. Among the bowlers I regretted not being able to include were Bill O’Reilly, Clarrie Grimmett, Hedley Verity, Johnny Wardle and Wilfred Rhodes (his approach to batting rules him out of an upper order slot in this format IMO). Billy Bates instead of Hugh Tayfield would strengthen the batting, but I think the South African was the finer bowler.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN ISSUE
Various white South Africans around the time ODIs were first getting going had limited opportunities to showcase their talents, and while several could make cases for inclusion I have opted not to pick any – I could not count them as ODI players since they never got to play those, and it would have been against the spirit of the exercise to pick them in the above line up. I will repeat something I have previously stated about this issue: these individuals deserve some sympathy, but not as much as the non-white South Africans who were entirely deprived of the chance to showcase their talents, going all the way back to Krom Hendricks in the 1890s.
THE ODI XI
Sanath Jayasuriya (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). He gets this gig for his stellar role in Sri Lanka’s only World Cup win back in 1996.
Sachin Tendulkar (right handed batter). His record tally of ODI centuries has just been equalled, but his claim to this slot is in my view unarguable.
Virat Kohli (right handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer). Currently the co-holder of the record for ODI centuries.
Viv Richards (right handed batter, occasional off spinner). The first truly great ODI batter.
+AB de Villiers (right handed batter, wicket keeper, occasional medium pacer). The man known to fans as ‘Mr 360’ because he could score literally anywhere in the whole 360 degree arc.
*Imran Khan (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain). One of the greatest all rounders ever to play the game, and his leadership in the ‘cornered tigers’ world cup of 1992 removes any doubt about who has that role in this side.
Ravindra Jadeja (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner, gun fielder). One of the finest all rounders of the modern era.
Wasim Akram (left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). A great bowler and a handy lower order batter.
Joel Garner (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). His immense height meant that he posed problems in 3D geometry for opposition batters, and very few could surmount them.
Muthiah Muralidaran (off spinner, right handed batter). One of the stars of that 1996 world cup win – the Sri Lankan seamers Vaas and Wickremasinghe often bowled only their opening spells, the remainder of the overs being bowled by spinners, and this man invariably bowled his full ten overs, generally with fine figures.
Jasprit Bumrah (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). One of the reasons India have won all nine of their group games at the current tournament has been the excellence of their bowling, and this man is the spearhead of that attack.
This side is well equipped batting wise, and has a stellar bowling line up, with Jayasuriya likely to be seventh bowler. There is no leg spin – to accommodate either of the two best ODI leg spinners I have seen in action I would have to drop Jadeja and promote Akram to number seven.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Some would have ignored Jayasuriya’s bowling and selected Adam Gilchrist to open the batting and keep wicket. Some Indian fans would want Dhoni to be both keeper and captain, but I disagree, and they already have four players in my chosen XI. A live alternative for the number seven slot, though it would remove a spin option would be one of two South African bowling all rounders: right arm seamer Shaun Pollock or left arm seamer Marco Jansen. Some would pick McGrath ahead of Garner as the tall mean right arm pacer and in test cricket I would agree, but in ODIs I rate the West Indian just ahead of the Australian. Feel free to volunteer further suggestions in the comments, but remember to consider how your choices would affect the balance of the sides.
An all time XI all whom connect to defunct London Underground stations. Also a large photo gallery.
The main feature of today’s post is an all time XI every player of which can be connected back to a former London Underground station. In each case I elucidate the connection. Unfortunately a major rain interruption prevented the T20I between the England and Sri Lanka women’s teams providing as much news as seemed likely. England won by 12 runs on the DLS method, after SL’s innings was reduced to six overs (rain had reduced the match to 17 overs per side, and then 3.1 overs into the SL response more rain fell). The DLS adjustment, helped by England having scored incredibly fast in their innings, left SL needing 45 off 17 balls on the resumption and they never looked like getting them.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types, captain). His case for inclusion on cricketing grounds needs no stating. He gets in by dint of his first given name, William, which links to King William Street, the first northern terminus of what was then the City & South London Railway, which was abandoned in 1900 when the line was extended northwards.
Frank Hayes (right handed opening batter). He scored 13,000 runs at 35 in FC cricket, though barring a debut century his test record was very ordinary. Between 1883 and 1885 the Metropolitan District Railway as it then was ran services to Windsor, and one of the intermediate stops was Hayes.
Ernie Hayes (right handed batter, leg spinner). A fine all rounder whose Surrey career lasted three decades. His closed station is the same is that of Frank Hayes.
Clem Hill (left handed batter). At the time his test career ended he had scored more runs at that level than anyone else, and was also an athletic fielder. One stop west of Ealing Broadway in the days of District services to Windsor was a station known by two names in its brief history with that line, Castle Hill, another which we will see later in this piece.
Marcus North (left handed batter, occasional off spinner). He averaged 35 at test level and 40 in FC cricket with the bat and had his moments with the ball. North Weald station was on the Epping – Ongar section of the Central line, which became part of London Underground post WWII and closed in 1994.
Paul Winslow (right handed batter). A notable big hitter in his day. In the days the expansionist Edward Watkin the Metropolitan Railway was extended many miles northwest of London. Beyond Aylesbury was a junction at Quainton Road, with one branch leading to Verney Junction by way of Granborough Road and Winslow Road, the latter of which gets him in. We will see the other branch later.
+Gil Langley (wicket keeper, right handed batter). A great keeper in his day. Langley was on the Windsor branch referred to earlier in this piece.
Charlie Dean (off spinner, right handed batter). An excellent spinner and a useful lower order batter. The other name by which Castle Hill was known in that period between 1883-85 was Ealing Dean.
Wes Hall (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A legendary fast bowler for the West Indies. Blake Hall was on the Epping-Ongar branch of the Central line, though it closed over a decade before the rest of the branch due to being so lightly used.
Mark Wood (right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). A very fine and very fast fast bowler. Wood Siding was one of the stations on the Duke of Buckingham’s private railway, which Edward Watkin bought for the Metropolitan Railway, of which it remained part from 1899 to 1935. The terminus of this line, Brill, is 51 miles from Baker Street, the furthest from central London any of the lines now part of London Underground have ever extended (Amersham, the current record holder, is a mere 27 miles out).
Esmond Kentish (right arm fast medium, right handed batter). A fine bowler, but a genuine number 11. South Kentish Town, which gets him into this XI, was on what is now the High Barnet branch of the Northern line. In the 1920s strike action closed Lots Road Power Station temporarily, and that caused services on various lines not to be able to run. When services resumed South Kentish Town did not reopen.
This XI is not too bad given the criteria – a good top five, a great keeper and an excellent bowling attack – Wood, Hall and Kentish to bowl seam, Dean and Ernie Hayes to bowl spin, and Grace and North as back up options.
A quirky all time XI – an England XI picked to play in the style of the current one.
It is ‘all time XI’ time again. The brief for this one is to pick an all-attacking all time England XI which is as perfectly balance as I can make it. This is a team that would score its runs quickly and have no problem taking 20 wickets in a test match. Also, no two successive batters in the envisaged order bat with the same hand.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Ben Duckett (left handed opening batter, occasional wicket keeper). He has been doing splendidly since his recall under Stokes’ captaincy.
*WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various styles, captain). The only conceivable choice as right handed opener for this XI, someone who was always looking to score runs.
Frank Woolley (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). A stroke making batter, a fine bowler and the only non-keeper to have taken over 1,000 first class catches.
Denis Compton (right handed batter, occasional left arm wrist spinner). A natural born entertainer if ever there was one, holder of the fastest ever first class triple century (got to that mark in 181 minutes in a tour match at Benoni, South Africa).
David Gower (left handed batter). Ideally suited to a side of this nature.
+Les Ames (right handed batter, wicket keeper). Averaged 40 with the bat at test level, scored over 100 FC hundreds, twice won the Lawrence trophy for the fastest first class hundred of the season. Over 1,100 first class dismissals including an all time record 418 stumpings.
Ben Stokes (left handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler, vice captain and talisman). Had to be included in this side, and a nod had to be given to his leadership, hence the award of the vice captaincy.
Billy Bates (off spinner, right handed batter). A great all rounder whose career was ended prematurely by the loss of an eye in a freak accident. His test career was brief, but his first class career averages of 21.57 with the bat and 17.13 with the ball – both figures would be higher today (probably 32 with the bat and 25 with the ball) – illustrate his credentials.
Tom Emmett (left arm fast bowler, left handed batter). A great fast bowler and a good enough batter to have scored a first class hundred at a time when that was not particularly easy to do.
Syd Barnes (right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). 189 test wickets at 16.43 a piece in just 27 test matches.
James Anderson (right arm fast medium bowler, left handed batter). England’s all time leading test wicket taker, and though his position in this batting order is unarguable, he would probably get off the mark with a reverse sweep.
This side has great batting depth, and with Stokes, Woolley, Grace and at a push Compton all capable of backing up the front four there is a wealth of bowling as well. This side would win a lot of matches, lose a few and probably not draw any unless epic quantities of rain fell.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I will go through these in batting order. Bob Barber was a contender for the left handed opener’s slot I gave to Duckett, but his top level career was much briefer. Had I not wanted Grace as captain Charlie Barnett and Colin Milburn would both have merited attention for the right handed openers slot. Woolley’s role as second spinner meant that the number three slot was nailed down. I might have named several at number four: Hammond, Dexter, May, Cowdrey, Pietersen and Root were all in the mix. Gower at number five had few challengers – the two left handed middle order players with really substantial test records, Phil Mead and Graham Thorpe were both more sedate in approach, while Percy Chapman, undoubtedly aggressive in nature, was never really worth his England place as a player. Ames at six and with the gloves had few challengers – Jonny Bairstow is not good enough with the gloves for the dual role, though I might have considered Matt Prior. Stokes really had to get the number seven slot. I regretted not being to accommodate Gilbert Jessop, though he can be designated fielding sub. There were two challengers for the number eight slot: Graeme Swann and Greville Stevens (with Woolley inked in I wanted a second spinner who was not an SLA). With Barnes indispensable I had no way to accommodate Trueman.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A couple of links before my usual sign off:
A Guardian article about a site that is due to be used as the marker for the dawn of the anthropocene.
A look at the best players from before the official inauguration of the county championship, some comments on the selection of England test squad for the one off match against Ireland and a large photo gallery.
Today I create an XI of the best players most or all of whose careers took place before there was a county championship. Incidentally, there is a page from which all my posts about Saturday’s excursion to Pensthorpe can be accessed. Before I get into the main business of today’s post there is a brief section about…
ENGLAND TEST SELECTORS BLUNDER BIG TIME
The squad for the first test match of the home season, against Ireland is now out, and there are three areas of concern, two selections and an omission. Zak Crawley, a proven failure at test level, retains his slot at the top of the order. Far worse, Ben Foakes has been dropped to make way for the return to test action of Jonathan Bairstow. There may be a case for picking Bairstow, though in a test career which stretches back to 2012 he has blown hot and cold, and more often cold than hot, but there is not even the shadow of a case for dropping Foakes, the best current keeper by far, and someone who has been scoring big runs for Surrey in the championship this season, including a century at better than a run a ball when Surrey were looking for a declaration. Many people have posed this as being a challenge about how to accommodate Bairstow, and I have two options, listed in order of preference:
Opt for what C Auguste Dupin would call “the sagacious and comprehensive expedient of making no attempt to accommodate Bairstow”. England are coming off a very successful winter without Bairstow, and Bairstow’s overall test record is that of a mediocre middle order batter, certainly not sufficient to warrant discarding Foakes.
Have Bairstow open the innings as he does in white ball cricket and drop the proven failure Crawley (I would prefer to see a proper opener such as Ben Compton or Ali Orr picked in Crawley’s case, but at least Bairstow would probably be an improvement were he coming in in place of Crawley).
It is now time to get back to the main meat of the post…
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*WG Grace (right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types through his career, captain). Had a quarter of a century of first class experience by the time of the first official county championship, so even though he played his last first class game as late as 1908 he qualifies.
Arthur Shrewsbury (right handed opening batter). The man WG rated as the second best batter around (himself obviously no1), and since he played 15 years of FC before the inauguration of the Championship and 12 afterwards he just qualifies.
James Aylward (left handed batter). In 1777, just eight years after John Minshull had scored the first recorded century in any form of cricket, he hit the Hambledon record score of 167, which remained an all comers record for 43 years.
William ‘Silver Billy’ Beldham (right handed batter). In an era when centuries of any kind were rare he hit three in matches of indisputably first class status.
Fuller Pilch (right handed batter). Acknowledged as the best batter of the 1830s and 1840s, a period when scoring was very low.
Alfred Mynn (right handed batter, right arm fast bowler). “The Lion of Kent”, an absolute man mountain, and a great all rounder. He was quick enough that on one occasion someone fielding at long stop (directly behind the keeper) to his bowling once had to be hospitalized after being hit in the chest by several of his deliveries.
Vyell Walker (right handed batter, right arm slow underarm bowler). One of only two cricketers to have scored a century and taken an all-10 in the same first class fixture (the other, WG, is also in this XI). As an underarm bowler any turn he got would have been the equivalent of an overarm bowler bowling leg spin, which makes him a good slow bowling partner for the next guy in the order…
Billy Bates (right handed batter, off spinner). A massively impressive career record, probably equating in the modern era to averaging 32 with the bat and 25 the ball (actual averages were 21 and 17). He was even better in his brief test career, averaging 27 with bat and 16 with the ball, which probably equates to 41 and 24 in the modern era.
+Tom Box (wicket keeper, right handed batter). He appeared in every fixture that Sussex played for an unbroken 24 year period, and although his batting average looks very low to modern eyes it is about 60% of that of Fuller Pilch, rated the best batter of the era.
William Lillywhite (right arm fast roundarm bowler, right handed lower order batter). Rated the best bowler of his era (he was referred to as ‘the Nonpareil’, one half of my envisaged new ball pairing.
William Mycroft (left arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). 800 first class wickets at 12 a piece.
This side has a powerful batting line up, with everyone down to Bates at number eight definitely capable of playing a match winning innings. The bowling, with Mycroft, Lillywhite and Mynn to bowl pace, and Bates and Walker two contrasting types of slow bowler, plus of course the redoubtable WG is magnificent, having both depth and variety.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The two chief rivals to Shrewsbury for the position of Grace’s opening partner were John Small of Hambledon and EM Grace. Lambert, scorer of twin centuries in a match in 1817, a feat which stood alone for half a century until WG Grace emulated it might have had a middle order slot. George Osbaldeston was a fine fast bowling all rounder, but not I reckon the equal of Mynn. Had I been going to pick an overseas player it would have been Dr ME Pavri (India), who visited England in the 1890s and achieved remarkable things as a pace bowling all rounder (once in his native land he decided in advance that team mates weren’t needed, took on an XI on his unaided own, and beat them). Among the great bowlers who missed out were David Harris (Hambledon), the Notts duo of Alfred Shaw and Fred Morley, James Broadbridge and John Wisden both of Sussex and two Yorkshire speedsters, Tom Emmett (left arm) and George Freeman (right arm). Sam Redgate, John Jackson and George Tarrant would all also have their advocates.
This post, the first of two related posts I shall be producing today, was prompted by a piece I saw via social media about just who was the greatest of all county championship batters. I was not satisfied with the methodology used in that piece, so decided to do my own version.
SETTING SOME BASIC CRITERIA
The first requirement is obviously to have a great record over a long period of time. Secondly, the County Championship was only put on an official footing in 1890, so we are looking at careers after that year only. Thirdly, cricket is a team game, so runs that contribute to championships count for more than other runs.
ELIMINATING POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
Although he had an outstanding season in 1895 and a very good one in 1896 WG Grace’s greatest days were done by the time there was actually a county championship, so he is not eligible.
Geoffrey Boycott twice averaged over 100 for an English season, but both these tall scoring years have a massive asterisk against them – on each Yorkshire fared worse in those seasons than they had done the year before when Boycott was less prolific – a nine place drop from 4th to 13th in the first of them, and a smaller drop from 4th to 7th in the second.
Jack Hobbs had an outstanding record, but Surrey didn’t win many championships during his playing career.
Walter Hammond never won a county championship for all his great record with the bat, and his poor captaincy was partly to blame for that.
Phil Mead of Hampshire likewise never helped his side to win a championship, though he holds the records for most runs and most centuries for a single first class team.
MY NOMINEE
Herbert Sutcliffe had his entry into first class cricket delayed by one world war and his first class career terminated by the outbreak of the other. In the 20 years he did play he was a consistent, huge run scorer, more often than not top of the Yorkshire batting averages, although as I have pointed out elsewhere his test record was better than his overall first class record, and his Ashes record was better still. In keeping with this ‘big occasion’ temperament, nine of his championship centuries came at the expense of bitter rivals Lancashire. Also, if we turn to the element of contributing to championship success, Yorkshire were champions in 1919, won four successive titles in the 1920s, and won the championship a further seven times in the course of the 1930s, giving Sutcliffe a playing role in the winning of 12 county championships. I end this section with one example of Sutcliffe scoring runs that altered the outcome of the match. The match in question was against Kent, whose bowling was dominated at that time by leg spinner Tich Freeman. In the final innings of a low scoring affair Yorkshire needed 192 on a pitch that had not previously allowed a total that high. Yorkshire won by two wickets, and 110 of those 192 came from the bat of Herbert Sutcliffe, with the only other innings of significance coming from skipper Sellers (34 not out at the death).
OTHER GREATS
Leonard Hutton, who shared some of Sutcliffe’s triumphs in the 1930s and was the best English batter of the immediate post-war era was probably the closest rival to Sutcliffe, though Peter May scores well when it comes to helping his side win titles. Most overseas players would not qualify due to not playing enough, although three who did were Roy Marshall and Barry Richards (both Hampshire) and Mike Hussey (several counties in the recent past). Most of the best present-day English batters would be unlikely to qualify because international commitments restrict them to only a few championship appearances in any given season.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Even with two blog posts to cater for I have a big photo gallery (please note I will out for most of tomorrow, on a West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe, where I expect to get some particularly impressive photos).
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