Test cricket has produced many fantastic openers in the last hundred odd years. Right from the time of W.G Grace through the great pre war pairing of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe, the legendary Len Hutton, the excellent and consistent Aussie opening pair Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry, the technically perfect Boycott and Gavaskar, the dashing Caribbean duo Greenidge and Haynes and more recently the Aussies Hayden and Langer. Hobbs and Sutcliffe formed a fantastic opening pair for England who in just 38 tests had over 15 century stands and averaged over 87 which is unlikely to be matched. Len Hutton was an exceptional batsman who maintained a consistently high average until the end. Lawry and Simpson formed a very consistent pairing for Australia in the 1960’s, both averaging in the high 40’s. Geoffrey Boycott often seemed hard to dislodge and was a great accumulator of runs. Sunil Gavaskar made his debut in 1971 in the West Indies scoring a record 774 runs and never looked back. He averaged over 50 and was the shining light in the otherwise inconsistent Indian outfit. His feats are all the more remarkable as he conjured up 13 hundreds against the formidable West Indians who ere in their pomp in the mid 70’s through the 80’s. Greenidge and Haynes averaged nearly 50 together and amassed more than 6000 runs. Greenidge was the more aggressive, trying to dismantle attacks and Haynes the steady rock building the platform for the great middle order. More recently, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer have proven to be the best opening pair averaging over 50 and putting attacks to the sword all round the world. Matthew Hayden has scored 30 centuries and for the best part of 6 years starting 2000, he was the most consistent batsman in the world. The choice of openers for my team would be Sunil Gavaskar and Gordon Greenidge simply because Greenidge consistently terrorized all bowling attacks the world over and could attack from the word go and Sunil Gavaskar at the other end would have been the ideal foil given his exemplary technique and powers of concentration. In this case, selecting a pair has not been easy and it is more a sense of logical thinking that has gone into the choice.
The number three batsman is more often than not the best batsman in the side as his role is extremely crucial. He has to continue the attack which has been initiated by the openers and not let the tempo slip away and also in the event of an early wicket has to ensure that stability is restored quickly and that momentum is not lost. The choice of the all time great number three batsman is fairly unanimous and easy- Sir Don Bradman of Australia who in just 52 tests scored 6996 runs at an astounding average of 99.94 and made an even more unbelievable 29 tons. The very fact that the notorious leg theory or ‘Bodyline’ as it is more popularly known as was used just to curtail his run scoring spree is a clear indicator of his batting prowess. An argument that is often raised is that Bradman made all his runs only in England and Australia and never ever played elsewhere. It would be sheer stupidity to imagine that a batsman of his class and caliber would not have thrived on other surfaces. Also, a point to be noted is that Bradman lost six years of cricket during the Second World War when he was at the height of his abilities. A great batsman who misses out is Rahul Dravid of India who has for years held the bar of consistency so high and scored runs for his team on virtually all surfaces. Ricky Ponting of Australia who was touted as the next best after Bradman has been the most consistent batsman of the decade and has amassed runs aplenty. He is most likely to be the highest run getter in tests very soon and is without doubt a modern great.
An exceptional middle order is quintessential to a great team and selecting the players is definitely not an easy task as hundreds of great players are to be considered. I shall do my best to briefly mention the strongest candidates and outline the criteria for their selection/omission. Sir Vivian Richards would have made any team’s number 3 slot but for the presence of Don Bradman. Richards’s swagger and calm demeanor combined with a fantastic eye and unmatched aggression made the best of bowlers lose sleep. He played his cricket in the most entertaining manner and was captivating to watch. Also, he had the sheer numbers to back it up- 8500 runs at an average over 50 with 24 centuries. Yet I always felt that with Richards, it is more his intimidating presence and dominating personality that catapults him to the number 4 spot ahead of most other greats. Other players considered include the great Walter Hammond of England who ended his career as the then highest run getter in cricket amassing over 7000 runs at an exceptional average of 58, the classy Greg Chappell of Australia, the street fighter from Pakistan Javed Miandad.
At number five, I decided to go with the tremendously gifted Brian Lara of the West Indies. This may raise a few eye brows for two reasons. One, Lara batted at either 3 or 4 most times and also there is peerless Sachin Tendulkar, holder of records for most runs and centuries. The reasons why I have gone for Brian Lara ahead of Tendulkar, Lara in his pomp was the much more exciting to watch and there was never a moment when he took a backward step. He made monumental scores including the most number of 200 plus scores after Bradman and also the most scores over 150 in the history of the game. Also his exceptional handling of the two legends of spin bowling- Shane Warne and Muralitharan truly underlines his greatness. Tendulkar on the other hand is the more consistent and the more reliable, but on a slightly more partisan note, I have gone for Lara simply because he has been the first player who truly made me love and enjoy watching test cricket.
A great all rounder is a key to the team’s success as more often than not in test victories, stellar roles have been played by gifted all-rounders. Some of the great names that crop up are Keith Miller of Australia, who was an integral part of Bradman’s ‘Invincibles’, the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers of the West Indies. The 70’s and 80’s saw four of the best all rounders to grace the game in Imran Khan of Pakistan, Sir Ian Botham of England, Sir Richard Hadlee of New Zealand and Kapil Dev of India. More recently Wasim Akram and Jacques Kallis have made the headlines on a number of occasions. Again, as with the number 3 position, the choice of the best all rounder is very easy though not exactly a no brainer. Sir Garry Sobers is without doubt the finest all rounder to step into a pair of cricket shoes. He is the ultimate all rounder in every sense of the term. A batsman par genius who scored more than 800 runs at almost 58, a bowler who could bowl absolutely anything from fat bowling through off spin and also chinamen. He picked up 235 wickets and also held 109 catches and was widely regarded as the best all round fielder. Imran Khan, Ian Botham , Hadlee and Kapil Dev were exceptional bowlers and brilliant batsmen too but were far less consistent with the bat and with the team having some great bowlers, it would be more appropriate to have a batting all rounder who can bowl a fair bit.
A look back at the annals of test cricket brings up names of some of the finest men to don the wicket keeping gloves. Bert Oldfield and Wally Grout of Australia, England’s Alan Knott and Bob Taylor, India’s Syed Kirmani and Pakistan’s Wasim Bari, Jeff Dujon of the West Indies who stood almost throughput the golden period of West Indian cricket and the best Aussies keepers in Rodney Marsh, Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist and the plucky South African Mark Boucher. Almost all these players have been brilliant and extremely consistent all through their careers and held various records at different points of time. But the one man who totally redefined the role of the wicket keeper with his exceptional batting abilities and great skills as a keeper was Adam Gilchrist. He strode out at number 7 and any hopes the opposition had of snapping up the remaining wickets soon turned into a position when the teams were forced to start being defensive in the wake of his extraordinary counter attack. He was capable enough to be included in the team purely as a batsman and averaged over 47 scoring the runs at a quite incredible strike rate of 82. He scored many a crucial knock and was instrumental in boosting the confidence of the all conquering Australian units of Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Many wicket keepers were more skilled and natural than Gilchrist but he takes the spot for his keeping skills combined with the fantastic hitting ability.
Selecting the bowlers is also an extremely arduous task which I have tried simplifying slightly by restricting the selection only from the list of bowlers who have taken a minimum of 300 wickets and have played at least 50 tests. This takes out quite a few greats like Sid Barnes, Clarrie Grimmett, Wes Hall, Ray Lindwall and also some of the West Indian greats such as Michael Holding and Joel Garner who were quite unplayable in their peak. A balanced bowling attack includes 3 fast bowlers and a spinner and I have decided to base the selection on these lines. The names that come into play for selection as fast bowlers include the most successful of all- Glenn McGrath, the most consistent and quick Malcolm Marshall, the aggressive Dennis Lillee, the master of swing and cut Richard Hadlee, the bowling all rounders Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev, the miserly yet deadly Curtly Ambrose , the great Pakistani duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, ‘White lightning’ Allan Donald and the legendary Fred Trueman of England. Malcolm Marshall is the first to slide into the team given his exceptional average of just over 20 and remarkable ability to out bowl some of the finest fast bowlers in his time and team. Glenn McGrath gets the nod for his unparalleled accuracy and uncanny ability to pick up the wickets of the best batsmen in the team. Though there is the temptation to select Wasim Akram who is arguably the finest left arm bowler ever, I have decided to go with Lillee for two reasons- he was the more consistent fast bowler and the presence of a certain Sobers in the team makes another left armer redundant.
Spin bowling is an art that makes cricket viewing most enjoyable and some greats who have mastered the art include leg spinning legends such as Clarrie Grimmett, Bill O’ Reilly, Richie Benaud and the incomparable Shane Warne. Off spin boasts of a rich heritage too including Lance Gibbs, the Indian trio of Prasanna, Bedi and Venkatraghavan and the Sri Lankan wizard Muralitharan who is right up the tree of wicket takers in the game. Shane Warne and Muralitharan are the two who make the short list for selection. As in the earlier case with Tendulkar and Lara, Muralitharan is very much the more consistent and also has more wickets and more five and ten wicket hauls, but Warne was the more captivating to watch. He engrossed cricket watchers the world over and revived the almost dead art of leg spin. He was definitely the more aggressive and cast a doubt over opposition batsmen like no other spinner has. Again there may be a touch of partiality here, but I pick Shane Warne for his sheer presence and larger than life image that he brought to the cricket field not to mention his tremendous leg spinning abilities.
Ultimately I pick Don Bradman to lead the team not just because of his towering achievements but also for his fine leadership when he captained the ‘Invincibles’ in the post war years.
It has been a thoroughly enjoyable time grinding through records and cricket details of the past decades in order to select an all time great team. I do not believe that people should concur with my list or criteria but am sure that everyone who loves the game will undoubtedly agree that Test cricket has been ever so remarkable in producing greats who have lit up the game and have with their extraordinary achievements and performances, made the five day game such a pleasure to watch and read about.
The 'ultimate' eleven in batting order is listed below:
1. Gordon Greenidge
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Donald Bradman
4. Vivian Richards
5. Brian Lara
6. Garfield Sobers
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Shane Warne
9. Malcolm Marshall
10. Dennis Lillee
11. Glenn Mcgrath
