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Best England XI since I have watched cricket

Robert

Robert

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Okay, this is going to date me a bit.....

Boycott
Gooch
Gower (c)
Pietersen
Thorpe
Botham
Knott (w)
Swann
Gough
Willis
Underwood

In the bowling you've got pace and bounce (Willis), massive orthodox swing (Botham), reverse swing (Gough) and two big turners of the ball - one in and one out.

If it was a real seaming track I'd drop Swanny and pick Gus Fraser.
 
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I thought this thread was going to be about how the current England side was the best you have seen since you've been watching cricket.

It is certainly the case for me.
 
Robert said:
Stewart purely as a batter in for KP, possibly. Knott was so good behind the stumps it was unreal.
Click to expand...

I havent seen knott... but have seen Stewart.

Stewart hardly made any mistakes behind the stumps plus was an excellent batsmen...

Shouldnt that trump Knott?
 
If only Trott could find a way to fit in there, the guy's a run-scoring machine.
 
Nice thread Robert. I must confess I haven't heard of Knott but he must have been very good to beat Stewart in your team.

Whats your take on recent captains Strauss and Vaughan? Were they close to making the cut?
 
No trott he is a run machine I would have him in for pieterson for tests
 
Knott was the greatest pure keeper to ever don gloves. His batting was plucky too...uppercutting Lillee and Thommo over the slips on a regular basis.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Nice thread Robert. I must confess I haven't heard of Knott but he must have been very good to beat Stewart in your team.

Whats your take on recent captains Strauss and Vaughan? Were they close to making the cut?
Click to expand...

Vorn was one of the three best England skippers I have seen (Brearley and Nas are the other two). Strausser is very good at executing plans, keeping calm and motvating the players, but a bit too conservative in his tactics for me. Both played most of their cricket in weaker eras than Boycott and Gooch, though.
 
A bit off topic but looking at Willis in the studio nowadays you would never think he was a fast bowler. He hardly moves his arms/hands while talking. Compare that to Imran, Holding or even Beefy.
 
Just one consideration..... Gough was more of a shorter format bowler, why not have Flintof instead of him.
 
I have a feeling that Prior will ultimately find his way into your team Robert. Sky showed that he had the highest average for an English wicket keeper but of course that could be a lot to do with his batting position and the overall strength of the team he is playing in.

I agree with what you have said about recent captains. All fine cricketers and captains but not good enough to displace anyone in your team.
 
Justcrazy said:
Just one consideration..... Gough was more of a shorter format bowler, why not have Flintof instead of him.
Click to expand...

Fred was rarely much of a wicket-taker - only got three 5fers in his test career while Gough got nine, and Gough had a much better strike rate.
 
1. Gooch
2. Cook (c)
3. Root
4. Pietersen
5. Thorpe
6. Bairstow (wk)
7. Botham
8. Flintoff
9. Swann
10. Anderson
11. Gough
 
Gough was a bang mediocre bowler
 
Cook
Atherton
Root
Pieterson
Vaughan
Bairstow
Flintoff
Stokes
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
 
Slog said:
Gough was a bang mediocre bowler
Click to expand...

No he wasn't. He was quicker than Anderson and Broad and got a lot of reverse swing. He had a better test strike rate too. He just couldn't stay fit, which was typical in those days before central contracts.
 
Cook
Strauss
Vaughan(c)
Pietersen
Root
Stokes
Bairstow(wkt)
Flintoff
Swann
Broad
Anderson
 
Best England XI since I have watched cricket huh? Okay

1. Cook
2. Trescothick
3. Bell
4. Pietersen
5. Collingwood
6. Flintoff
7. Stewart
8. Giles
9. Gough
10. Broad
11. Anderson

These are some of the best England players I have seen play over the years as far as I can remember.
 
Gough has a very strong case but I just cant leave either of Flintoff or Stokes from there.
 
Bhaijaan's Greatest ever England xi since the 90s :-

Marcus Trescothik
Alastair Cook
Joe Root
Kevin Pieterson
Michael Vaughan
Nasser Hussein (capt)
Alec Stewart (wk)
Andrew Flintoff
James Anderson
Monty Panesar
Steve Harmisson
 
Ok, so I will produce separate ODI and Test XIs as they will be two very different sides.

Test XI -

1. A. Cook
2. A. Strauss c
3. D. Gower
4. K. Pietersen
5. G. Gooch
6. A. Stewart wk
7. F. Flintoff
8. I. Botham
9. G. Swann
10. J. Anderson
11. B. Willis

ODI XI -

1. A. Hales
2. M. Trescothick
3. J. Root
4. K. Pietersen
5. E. Morgan c
6. J. Buttler wk
7. F. Flintoff
8. I. Botham
9. G. Swann
10. D. Gough
11. J. Anderson
 
freelance_cricketer said:
Bhaijaan's Greatest ever England xi since the 90s :-

Marcus Trescothik
Alastair Cook
Joe Root
Kevin Pieterson
Michael Vaughan
Nasser Hussein (capt)
Alec Stewart (wk)
Andrew Flintoff
James Anderson
Monty Panesar
Steve Harmisson
Click to expand...

Like it but Thorpe averaged fifty down at #5. Also Vorn averaged highly as non-skipper so I would push him up with Tres and drop Chef to #3 away fro the good bowlers with the new ball.

You prefer Monty to Swann, who had better bowling figures, better catching, better batting and a better grasp of tactics?
 
Robert said:
Like it but Thorpe averaged fifty down at #5. Also Vorn averaged highly as non-skipper so I would push him up with Tres and drop Chef to #3 away fro the good bowlers with the new ball.

You prefer Monty to Swann, who had better bowling figures, better catching, better batting and a better grasp of tactics?
Click to expand...

It's the team that i want to represent Bhaijaan. You would have noticed the attacking mindset of this team in line with Bhaijaan's attitude.

I respect Thorpe, there are many other names who could have made it but didn't.

Monty Panesar is the finest English spinner of last many decades.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
It's the team that i want to represent Bhaijaan. You would have noticed the attacking mindset of this team in line with Bhaijaan's attitude.

I respect Thorpe, there are many other names who could have made it but didn't.

Monty Panesar is the finest English spinner of last many decades.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. He had a lot of success early on. I remember him turning Inzi inside out. But then the top batters worked him out and he was dropped for Swann, who could beat the bat on both sides. Monty had a good series in India but I suspect that Swann was advising and setting his fields for him. Then when Monty went to NZ in Swann’s absence, he failed to take wickets despite untypical dry conditions.
 
Ab Fan said:
Gough has a very strong case but I just cant leave either of Flintoff or Stokes from there.
Click to expand...

With Botham and Flintoff, there is no place for Stokes. Botham was a better batsman/bowler and Flintoff was a better bowler.
 
Robert said:
Hmmm. He had a lot of success early on. I remember him turning Inzi inside out. But then the top batters worked him out and he was dropped for Swann, who could beat the bat on both sides. Monty had a good series in India but I suspect that Swann was advising and setting his fields for him. Then when Monty went to NZ in Swann’s absence, he failed to take wickets despite untypical dry conditions.
Click to expand...

Swann was an all-condition spinner as well. He averaged under 30 everywhere except Australia which is a graveyard for off- spinners.
 
The_Odd_One said:
With Botham and Flintoff, there is no place for Stokes. Botham was a better batsman/bowler and Flintoff was a better bowler.
Click to expand...

Good point but this is the XI since I started watching cricket. So, Botham doesn't really make the cut. Stokes is as good a batter as Botham but his bowling is at Kallis level. Flintoff was obviously a better bowler irrespective of how many more 5-fers Stokes get.

Hence, Stokes bats at 6 and is a very good fifth bowling option as well.
 
Robert said:
Hmmm. He had a lot of success early on. I remember him turning Inzi inside out. But then the top batters worked him out and he was dropped for Swann, who could beat the bat on both sides. Monty had a good series in India but I suspect that Swann was advising and setting his fields for him. Then when Monty went to NZ in Swann’s absence, he failed to take wickets despite untypical dry conditions.
Click to expand...

Graeme Swann is the greatest thing you ever had since the Botham days.
 
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1. Cook
2. Stewart (c)
3. Root
4. Pietersen
5. Thorpe
6. Bairstow (wk)
7. Flintoff
8. Swann
9. Broad
10. Gough
11. Anderson

Choosing a captain is hard, I wanted to somehow shoehorn Vaughan into that side but couldn't drop anyone.
 
Cook
Tresco
Root
KP
Michael Vaughan (c)
Alec Stewart (wk)
Andrew Flintoff
Moeen Ali
Darren Gough
Simon Jones
James Anderson

Devastating team this absolutely devastating ! oh my god in heaven
 
Ab Fan said:
Cook
Strauss
Vaughan(c)
Pietersen
Root
Stokes
Bairstow(wkt)
Flintoff
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Click to expand...

Also, I saw a bit of Stewart in the latter part and he will be my wkt/keeper.

Cook
Strauss
Vaughan(c)
KP
Root
Stokes
Stewart(wkt)
Flintoff
Swann
Broad
Anderson
 
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So, I have got Vaughan who led the England side to Ashes win against the legendary Aussies team and a series win in SA as well, Strauss who won them a series in Australia and Cook who won them a series in India.

Two really world-class batters(KP and Root), a world-class keeper, a world-class spinner, and two world-class all-rounders. The depth in batting is phenomenal as well with Broad coming at 10.
 
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Robert said:
Hmmm. He had a lot of success early on. I remember him turning Inzi inside out. But then the top batters worked him out and he was dropped for Swann, who could beat the bat on both sides. Monty had a good series in India but I suspect that Swann was advising and setting his fields for him. Then when Monty went to NZ in Swann’s absence, he failed to take wickets despite untypical dry conditions.
Click to expand...

England’s greatest triumph of the 21st century came due to Panesar though.
 
So far Team Bhaijaan crushes all other suggestions with ease.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
England’s greatest triumph of the 21st century came due to Panesar though.
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In my book that was Ashes 2005 - two years before Panesar’s test career began.

If you refer to the Cook tour of India, my view is that the Indians were so keen to get away from Swann that they took risks against Monty - like how McGill cleaned up when he played tests with Warne.
 
Robert said:
In my book that was Ashes 2005 - two years before Panesar’s test career began.

If you refer to the Cook tour of India, my view is that the Indians were so keen to get away from Swann that they took risks against Monty - like how McGill cleaned up when he played tests with Warne.
Click to expand...

India's the greatest and most dangerous home team of last 30 years of tes cricket. Cook's series win in India against a formidable side on mostly turning pitches against a 3 man spin line up of India is English cricket's greatest triumph of the century. In your bhaijaan's opinion it eclipses 2005 amd 2010 Ashes triumphs by a mile. You can literally count on fingers the teams who have ever beaten India in India and you should be proud that England is one of them.

Monty was the difference maker for England. KP and Cook were heroic with the bat but it was Monty's spells that won the matches for England.

He is the most attacking English spinner i have ever seen.
 
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