Cricket
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10 Aug 25
22:43
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Date Joined:
10 Apr 25
Gooch (C)
Cook
Root
Bell
Pietersen
Stokes
Bairstow (W)
Botham
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Coin flip between Freddie and Botham.....Couldn't leave beef out....Love Fred.
Would love to see any XI's to rake that lot on
Cook
Root
Bell
Pietersen
Stokes
Bairstow (W)
Botham
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Coin flip between Freddie and Botham.....Couldn't leave beef out....Love Fred.
Would love to see any XI's to rake that lot on
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Replies: 76
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Since 1970 ish
Boycott Cook Root Gower Stokes Botham Knott Underwood Flintoff Broad Anderson |
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No Pope?
 Crazy |
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Presumably this is all time England 11 post about the late 60s but cricket did exist before we were born.
So how about Hammond,Hobbs,Hutton,Rhodes etc. Wisdens do exist for those years |
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Herbert Sutcliffe and SF Barnes of course, Frank Tyson?
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I think comingupthehill has made a good stab
Pietersen over Gower Willis over Broad for me inho |
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Anderson makes the cut in my all time xl
Not sure of the bowling line up Probably APE Knott gets in. Botham. Underwood, Laker or Swann? I am not sure Fiery Fred? Again not qualified to argue his case I don’t think Root makes the cut |
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Whisper,
I thought I had Willis in,yeah drop flintoff for Willis. Defo laker for underwood,if going back that far. Then has to be trueman a for broad. Disagree over Petierson for gower.left handed edged it.plus think petierson seemed to disrupt the dressing room.different cultural upbringing,didn’t get English banter,so they doubled down on him. Given the strong batting line up,think knott keeping ok batter edges bairstow ,who is great when he’s great,but hit and miss,plus no where near as good a keeper. The op,seems young,Swann no way,and flintoff botham isn’t a toss of a coin.botham everyday. Gooch very close,but just misses out. |
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I have it seen much footage of Laker or read about his bowling.
I thought Willis held his own in a time of not jus5 great bowlers but great batsmen too. Keeping internal politic out of it I loved watching KP I am edging Cook because of his record. Gooch faced the best probably of all time so hard to compare his record. Many in the know would have him. It doesn’t help that I don’t like his style, captaincy or people skills. I think Flintoff was an under achiever. Amazing but had so much more to give. Special, I saw him hit the ball into the crowd to his dad! |
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I’ve not seen laker,but 19 wickets in a test presumably makes him decent.
We’ve never really had a top class,long term spinner.theres so few. In the list of top bowlers ,there’s not many English ones. |
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Hobbs
Cook Hammond Root Cowdrey Botham Knott Trueman Underwood Willis Anderson Godfrey Evans is (i think) the best keeper ever but APE Knott ran him very close and because Knotty was a better batsman i plumped for him. Deadly Derek Underwood was unique for a spinner being able to bowl at almost medium pace. Unplayable on certain surfaces and able to tie down an end if conditions did not suit. Jack Hobbs is a no brainer at the top of the order, the most prolific batsman of all time in FC cricket and also holds the record for centuries scored with 199. A wonderful player. |
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It’s like every sport,it’s of their time.
Plus who was around against them For batters The big 3 bowling attacks. Lille,Thompson era The West Indies fast bowlers The warne team. We’ve never really had a full great attack,odd bowlers etc. Then vica versa There’s been great batting teams,so bowlers got punished. 2 great Aussie sides The West Indies greenidge,Richard’s side. Tendulkas side. A few great players who weren’t in great sides Richard hadlee Barry Richard’s,one of the greatest batters ever,but apartheid stopped. Mauriltarun. |
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OMG COOK
NOOOOOOOOOO! Hobbs and Sutcliffe is a no brainer! You also have to throw Leonard Hutton in there probably at 3 Wally Hammond Presumably The Doctor does not get selected Maybe Root at 5 I might have to bite the bullet over KP Botham Knott ( can’t comment on Godfrey Evans …..Evans did not concede any byes, with Wisden commenting he 'kept wicket magnificently' ) Now it gets difficult SF Barnes is a shoe in and no need of Underwood. Frank Tyson for speed Anderson the Magician Jim Laker as the spinner I think I can stand by that selection. Don’t know enough about Dennis Compton sadly. |
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How many goes at this do you want WD ?!
Cook is in my team over Sutcliffe purely due to being a left hander, have always liked a left/right opening partnership to disrupt opposition bowlers. No need of Underwood ? Give your head a wobble ! a unique bowler. Syd Barnes was very impressive but (through no fault of his own) did not play enough tests to confirm his place in an all time eleven imo. Same goes for Typhoon Tyson, great bowler and unbelievably quick but only played 17 tests - fiery Fred played 67. Take it from me, there has never been a better keeper than Godfrey Evans. Dennis Compton was a superb all round sportsman, would be a worthy inclusion in any eleven. Once forgot his bat before a test match at Old Trafford, borrowed one from the museum there and scored 158 ! also won the FA Cup in 1950 with the gooners. |
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some cricketers not mentioned in what is an impossible task to give some food for thought......
jonn snow- pretty damb good fast bowler and we have not had many of them. brian statham another one in similiar mold. colin milburn a natural but his eyesight did for him. john edrich - solid opener and good test record- prob not quite good enough. basil doleveria decent bat and bowler. dont think anyone will get near alan knott for stumper but jack rusell never let anybody down. ian bell had a very good record but again prob not make the first 11 |
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All very decent players Dragon, i only saw John snow play live once but he was rapid.
Brian Statham bowled some missiles too, shame he and fiery fred aren't available for the Ashes this winter, they'd make the Aussie batsmen hop around ! Colin Milburn would have had a really good test career but for his accident, real shame. Basil was a very good all rounder but not quite up to Beefy's class. His batting was much better than his bowling imo. Knotty is the best keeper i have ever seen live, but my grandad told me all about Godfrey Evans, absolute top notcher and wish i could have seen him in action. Not sure about Ian Bell - i think he is about 35th in the averages on the list of England batsman who played 20 tests or more., so nowhere near the all time list for me. all about opinions of course - keep them coming ! |
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Think the modern game started around the 80s,90s.
More tests,full time England players etc. Plus ,as with every sport.most newer players are better,fitness,technology,analysis all better. But it’s,OF THEIR TIME,AGAINST THEIR PIERS. As most didn’t really see the 50/60/70s players,can’t really assess them. So it’s only fair to select players that have been seen,by a lot of people. W.G.GRACE ETC,so pointless including older players,as comparison too difficult. The fact Denis Compton won f.a.cup,tells me,was cricket even his first sport,effectively a part timer. So I believe my first list is the best 11,bar flintoff for Willis. It’s not always about opinions. Cook Root Stokes Botham Broad Anderson Willis Are all unmoveable Boycott Knott Underwood Hard to move Gower Maybe |
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well im going to disagree cuth.
i saw the test players of 60s and 70s along with some of the lancashire players as my dad took me to old trafford throughout that era. we watched lanky and test cricket. obviously i have followed cricket in all its formats ever since. of the modern era my certs wd defo be. Stokes Root Peterson Anderson. Botham Gooch broad of the older generation that i remember or saw Knott Snow Brearley (best captain ever - but not so good at batting but worth his place) Underwood |
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very interesting conjecture.... maybe an inteesting one wd be to turn it on its head and do worst 11 ever to play for england
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Brearley
Average 22, Read classics at Oxford ,after attending harrow. After completing the times crossword,he asked botham,which end do you want to bowl from. Fantastic guy,a classic English gentleman.but wasn’t really a cricketer. |
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always good th throw a red herring in cuth
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Think because all the press felt inferior around him,they just presumed he was out thinking everyone else,in reality,just needed to keep botham happy.
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cuth - it was not uncommon for cricketers to play football too back in those days.
Denis Compton scored 39k runs in over 500 FC matches, hardly a part timer !! He is 9th on the list of averages of batsmen who played at least 20 tests for England . Just so happened that Denis was a decent footballer too. Derek Ufton kept wicket for Kent in the 50s as well as making 277 appearances at centre half for Charlton. Stuart Leary played 450 matches for Kent in the 50s and 60s , he also played for Charlton and QPR as a centre forward, scoring 182 goals in 470 appearances. There are plenty of other examples like the above. Dragon - we'd certainly be spoilt for choice compiling our worst 11's and that's just from recent memory ! Might give it a go. |
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6ft7in from Essex |
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put a new thread up dixie and ill follow your lead
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Just for the record and to annoy a few
Cook does not even make it into my all time England 3rd xl I love this game Dixie. Good to reminisce and also learn from others. D’Olly played for England well past his pea and also interestingly was part of process that ended Apartheid in South Africa |
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Phil Neville was meant to be a top class batsman,
Checked wages,decided he loved football. |
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Botham,Scunthorpe.
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Cook would not be my favourite batsman to watch either WD but he averaged 45 after 161 test matches and was invaluable to the team. Those stats swayed me.
Going back to Stuart Leary, he was good enough as a footballer to play for England U23's and would have no doubt have become a full international but for the fact he was born in South Africa and was therefore ineligible. Would have had no problem on that score nowadays. Tragically, Stuart died in 1988 at the age of just 55, committing suicide by throwing himself from a cable car on Table Mountain. |
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Johnny Bairstow's dad David also played a few games for Bradford City before choosing to play full time for Yorkshire.
Another who sadly took his own life. |
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Dixiedean.
Ever wondered why your invites to parties have dried up. |
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cuth - They hadn't, until my social circle found out i was sad enough to be posting on an anonymous forum.
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Yeah,betfair forum is the anecdote to social media.
Where everyone is desperate for likes and shares,it’s a race to the bottom on here, 20k posts ,no replies.is a sign of success. |
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cook nor strauss wd be in my top ten
ales stewart as a batsmen and stumper is defo someone to consider |
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dont do social media
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I don't either Dragon, unless this qualifies !
Alec Stewart might have been in contention if he had just stuck to batting. He was a decent keeper but not a great one. He averaged nearly 47 in 51 tests as a specialist opener, that's top class. However in 82 tests as a keeper/batsman his average dipped to 35, which is still pretty good but just shows the effect taking on a dual role has. |
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great stats dixieand very interesting . alex s was a top player for sure
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Would be a bit unfair to call the following a worst eleven, but a good few turkeys in there. Have only considered Test matches as most of these were very good county players and indeed some did well in ODI's. I also only went back about 40 years.
Jason Roy Wayne Larkins Matthew Maynard Neil Fairbrother Chris Cowdrey Chris Adams Eddie Hemmings Jonathan Agnew Greg Thomas Ian Salisbury Simon Kerrigan Matt Maynard would keep wicket as i couldn't think of any Test keeper that was that bad, although Jos Butler came close. Greg Thomas was the great white hope, could bowl as fast as the West Indians but tended to spray the ball all over the place. Loved that tete a tete with Viv Richards in a county game when Greg beat Viv a few times in a row outside off stump "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces in case you were wondering" said the frustrated bowler. Next ball was dispatched out of the ground in to the river by Viv who turned and said "Greg, you know what it looks like , now go and find it !". Almost as good as Eddo Brandes response to Glen McGrath's jibe, but not as crude. Anybody else have any under performers to add to the above ? |
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Still contemplating my best and worst X1.
In my worst X1 i'd put forward Derek Pringle whilst thinking about the other X , playing for Essex may make me biased  but am i missing something with this guy , i stand to be corrected if so.Couple of trivia bits with Derek , born in Kenya and was an extra in Chariots of Fire. |
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Don't do social media either Dragon , not registered on any platform and a million to ever do so
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