Regular readers of my witterings will know that Test Cricket holds sway for me. It’s what makes cricket great.
So the Champions Trophy currently being played in England has got me thinking…what is the best XI for England in recent times?
The first question, بالتاكيد, هو كيف تعرف 'الأخيرة'? Well for the purposes of this article I have decided on the debut test of middle order left handed batsman Graham Thorpe.
قدم ثورب اول ظهور له في اختبار رماد الثالث رسمها من 1993 عقد بين 1 و 6 يوليو. قدم ثورب للطن على لاول مرة. فتى جيد.
لذا, إلى اتخاذ زملائه في الفريق لهذا الاختبار:
The England openers for that test were Mark Lathwell and Mike Atherton. Lathwell only ended up playing two tests so can be easily put to one side. I will revisit ‘Athers’ later.
وجاء ترتيب الأوسط تتكون من روبن سميث, wicket-keeper batsman Alec Stewar as well as Graham Gooch, Thorpe and lastly Nasser Hussain.
Robin Smith and Graham Gooch were brilliant players but were coming to the end of their careers in this test so I’ve left them out. ثورب, Nasser and Stewart make the shortlist. All three were excellent servants for their country, scoring in excess of 25,000 يدير اختبار بينهما. جهد رائع.
Fast medium pace bowler Andy Caddick who took 234 wickets for England led the attack. وقال انه لابد من النظر.
But the other three bowling spots were occupied by Mark Ilott, Peter Such and Martin McCague and they only played 19 اختبارات بينهما.
So out of Thorpe’s debut test we have a shortlist of Atherton, Stewart, Hussain, ثورب وCaddick.
Moving forward and batsmen to consider are, in the opening position, أندرو Stauss, Marcus Trescothick, مايكل فوغان, current captain Alastair Cook and Mark Butcher. I’m considering Stewart as a middle order keeper/batsman. It’s a difficult choice – six quality batsmen but only two places. أعتقد كوك يجب أن يكون هناك. He is pure quality and has delivered the goods time and time again for England and seems to revel in the role as captain. The one remaining spot goes to Michael Vaughan. He was an incredibly classy player and brings a useful back up spin option to the side. He is also my captain. من الصعب جدا على تريسكو, قرارات شتراوس وبوتش ولكن صعبة حاجة!
In the middle order I have four spots available. خياراتي? حسنا, ثورب, Hussain and Stewart are already short listed. Add into the mix Kevin Pieterson, Paul Collingwood, جوناثان تروت, إيان بيل ومارك Ramprakash (only kidding) and I have some very difficult choices to make. ثورب يجب أن يكون هناك بالنسبة لي. أنا مروحة ضخمة. Kevin Pieterson needs to be in there too – when on song there is no one better. I’m going to plumb for Trott as my anchor of the innings so one more spot.…I’m going to go for Alec Stewart. Just. Hussain and Collingwood were very gutsy players with Collingwood presenting a useful backup bowling option. He was also a word-class fielder. إيان بيل قد سجل ما يقرب من 6,000 test match runs but I’ve never been 100% convinced he fully belongs. Stewart ultimately gets the nod because he can keep wicket, freeing up another bowling position.
So that means no place for Mattie Prior in the middle-order. That was an incredibly close call – there is so little to choose between Stewart and Prior – both destructive batsmen, both good keepers. On another day Prior could have easily got the nod.
حتى ذلك الحين ننتقل إلى بقعة مستدير كل ل. That goes to Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff. No discussion needed. He would have made it in as a bowler even if he couldn’t bat. But by goodness could he bat as well when hitting bemused Aussies to all-corners of the ground. Marvellous stuff.
Because I have Stewart as my keeper/batsmen I have room for five bowlers (including Fred). أنا ذاهب لهجوم تيرة أربعة محاور وخيار تدور. فريد لديه بقعة الأولى. Cadddick has already been shortlisted so those being added to that are Darren ‘Dazzler’ Gough, Ashes heroes Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Steve Harmison and then the current crop of quicks Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Dominic Cork can perhaps count himself unlucky not to make the shortlist.
Goughie should be in there. A great bowler and a genuine character, ما في وسعه الخفافيش قليلا جدا.
His one-time Yorkshire team-mate Matthew Hoggard gets a spot too. Perhaps it’s a little bit of my Yorkshire bias shining through. But there’s an old saying in English cricket – when Yorkshire are strong, England are strong.
أكثر واحد بقعة والذي يذهب إلى جيمي. His sheer weight of wickets gets him in.
As for the spin option – there can only be one bowler surely? Graeme Swann is in there head and shoulders above all other contenders (Monty and Ashley Giles).
و الخاص بي 12العاشر رجل? يجب أن يكون سوبر شبه غاري برات بالطبع. Sorry Mr Ponting – I couldn’t resist!
“تظهر الكرة الوردية باللون الرمادي / الأزرق باللون الأحمر / الأخضر الناقص في الرؤية, حسب شدته. قمت بعمل محاكاة مع عمى الألوان…”