Staging a hypothetical Ashes battle

"Spinners? What are they??" (Is what the young cricket fan said 10 years before Warnie).

all's forgiven Sheek. i'm a few years younger than you i suspect, as my first Ashes viewed was 1978/79, though at the time it was WSC that really grabbed my attention. Like yourself i'm only prepared to nominate those that i have watched play. I'm opting for : Slater Hayden Ponting GS Chappell Border (c) SR Waugh Gilchrist Warne Lillee McGrath Reid Reid gains selection on the basis of having left-handed pace variety. I would have Alderman take his place in England, and on a turner i would add May as a second spinner, just purely for the wonderful combination he worked with Warne. I'm tempted to shift Gilchrist up to 6, and would therefore with much regret drop Border, and add another bowler. Other contenders would be McDermott, Gillespie and Thomson. That would ensure they could hit the golf course a day earlier than usual. England: Atherton Gooch Vaughan (c) Gower Pietersen Botham Flintoff Knott Snow Underwood Willis Atherton gets in ahead of Boycott, purely because this is two sides i would like to see play.....that immediately rules Boycott out of contention. Plus, what i wouldn't give to see Atherton finding yet another way to get out to the great Pidge.

Sheek..the art of living dangerously is possible with enough practice. Tendulkar designed a rough and instructed an army of net bowlers to pitch their leggies there. This was one master acknowledging the threat posed by another blond magician. That Tendulkar came out on top does not diminish Warne's pre eminence. Every Superman has his kryptonite. I have to find a spot for Arthur Morris in the All time XI and also Ian Chappell..at the expense of Matt Hayden.Which is another interesting point altogether. I am sure Ian Chappell never sought or was he ever nominated to the Board. I can well imagine him declining ever so politely. Spinners are like doctors. You only need them when you are sick. Now I could write a whole article on that .

Vinay, Projecting forward is such a dangerous exercise. And besides, I don't have that sort of wisdom..... regrettably. Spinners? What are they?? (says the young cricket fan 10 years hence).

Lewie, beginning self-flagallation now. There's always someone I forget, & this time it's Slater. Yep, put Slater in the 2nd XI & drop Langer down a notch. Lawry (the strokeless ghost) holds his spot!

Sheek,what is this with all the reminiscing. Lets go forward in time and pick an Australian team for 2011-12 when India visit again. They will probably be playing night Test matches and the Indian spectators will be dancing in the aisles. Callum Ferguson,Henriques, Khawaja and Johnson could be our new stars. Khawaja and Hughes to open with Ponting at three and Clarke at four. By then Haddin will be batting at five or six. And we would have a spinner worth his palce. Who wants to be a spinner?

gee Sheek, Michael Slater couldn't even make your list of "No places for....". that's harsh.

Just for the heck of it, the first Ashes series I followed live was in 1970-71. So here are my two teams from 1970 to present. I've selected Simpson in the Aussie team on a technicality. He retired in 1968, but returned to play 10 tests in 1977-78. AUSTRALIA Bobby Simpson Matt Hayden Ricky Ponting Greg Chappell Allan Border Steve Waugh (c) Adam Gilchrist (k) Shane Warne Dennis Lillee Jeff Thomson Glenn McGrath Doug Walters (12th) Ian Chappell (13th) Awesome team! Batting depth to 7, while Warne could be useful. Four frontline bowlers, plus Simpson & Border as backup spinners; Waugh & Chappell as backup pacemen. Excellent fielders. 2nd XI: Bill Lawry, Justin Langer, Ian Chappell (c), Dean Jones, Mark Waugh, Doug Walters, Ian Healy (k), Merv Hughes, Graham McKenzie, Craig McDermott, Ashley Mallett. No places for Mark Taylor, David Boon, Ian Redpath, Kim Hughes, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Rod Marsh, Stu MacGill, Bruce Reid, Terry Alderman, Jason Gillespie or Brett Lee (among others). ENGLAND Geoff Boycott Graham Gooch Michael Vaughan (c) David Gower Kevin Pietersen Ian Botham Alan Knott (k) John Emburey John Snow Derek Underwood Bob Willis Andy Flintoff (12th) Alec Stewart (13th) Also plenty of batting & bowling depth for England. And good fielding. Australia would win series 3-2 or 4-1.

Bradman himself often said about guys like Sutcliffe & Barrington, & perhaps Hutton as well, although they were great batsmen with phenomenal records, they batted too slowly. They might save plenty of matches, but they scored too slowly to allow their team to often dominate & take the initiative. Also, if Larwood & Tyson are eligible for an all-time England, why not Jeff Thomson, Rodney Hogg or Terry Alderman? Thomo 33 wickets in 5 tests 1974-75; Hogg 38 wickets in 6 tests 1978-79; Alderman 42 wickets in 1981 & 42 wickets in 1989, both in 6 tests. they were like comets for one, two or three series, but were unable to sustain such lofty achievements. Just another perspective or two..........

I'd have AUSTRALIA Matthew Hayden Bob Simpson Sir Donald Bradman (c) Ricky Ponting Greg Chappell Steve Waugh Adam Gilchrist Shane Warne Dennis Lillee Ray Lindwall Glenn McGrath Keith Miller (12th) ENGLAND Jack Hobbs Herbert Sutcliffe Denis Compton Dr WG Grace (c) Wally Hammond Ian Botham Alan Knott Jim Laker John Snow Frank Tyson Sid Barnes Harold Larwood (12th)

You could imagine the tensions between the two skippers (Sir Donald Bradman of Australia and Douglas Jardine of England) when they walk out to the centre of the oval for the toss of the coin. And what would happen when Bradman comes into bat in Australia's first innings-does Jardine set a 'Bodyline' field for Bradman and and let Larwood bowl short to the Australian captain?

Jason, Had I selected Jardine in the English team, I agree with you, he would be captain. And you're absolutely right, what he did to the Aussies in 1932-33 was brilliant. 75 odd years later, & Aussies are still going on about Jardine's antics..... the ultimate compliment! I must say you're a bit easy to please with some of your other captaincy nominations. They are competent, but not particularly inspirational, bar brearley. The better ones were WG Grace, Stan Jackson, Peter May & Ray Illingworth. Brearley was a great leader of men, but not a test cricketer. But Jardine was their best leader, if only he could make the starting XI!

Picking Douglas Jardine to captain the England team in the hypothetical (or dream) Ashes Test match was a no-brainer. OK, sure you could mount a case for Michael Vaughan, Ted Dexter, Mike Brearley, Mike Gatting and Sir Leonard Hutton to skipper England. But if you're looking for someone to get under the skin of the Australians and even after Bodyline, his name still cause a stir among Australian supporters, who else would you have to rankle and upset the Aussies than one Douglas Jardine? And the captaincy battles between Jardine and Sir Donald Bradman would be interesting to watch.

Jason, Mark Taylor may have scored a triple century, but he's not in the top 6 or so openers to represent Australia, no matter which way you cut it. Very good bat, but not an all-time great. Remember, selecting the best of the best is not a popularity contest. AUSTRALIA: Victor Trumper Matt Hayden Don Bradman (c) Ricky Ponting Greg Chappell Keith miller Adam Gilchrist (k) Ray Lindwall Shane Warne Dennis Lillee Bill O'Reilly Steve Waugh (12th) Selecting Miller allows you to have a bowling attack of 3 pacemen & 2 spinners. Bill Ponsford, Arthur Morris, Charlie Macartney, Neil Harvey, Allan Border, Don Tallon (k), Alan Davidson, Clarrie Grimmett, Fred Spofforth, Glenn McGrath make an awesome 2nd XI. ENGLAND. Jack Hobbs Len Hutton Wally Hammond Denis Compton WG Grace (c) Ian Botham Alan Knott (k) Wilfred Rhodes Jim Laker Fred Trueman Sydney Barnes Ken Barrington (12th) Gower, Snow, Tyson & Larwood are very good, but short of 1st XI standard, IMHO. England team is strong in both batting & bowling depth. But Australia would win 5 test series 3-2 or 4-1 (with several close results). One thing's for sure, no-one is going to agree on any XI, it often comes down to perception.