The Greatest XIs of all time: Test matches

My best team: Jack Hobbs Sunil Gavaskar Don Bradman Tendulkar G Pollock (Genius) [George Headley probably better, but did not play enough matches] Gary Sobers Adam Gilchrist Malcolm Marshall Shane Warne Dennis Lillee Sydney Barnes

My top 2 Teams Jack Hobbs Len Hutton Don Badman Viv Richards Sachin Tendulkar Garry Sobers Imran Khan Malcolm Marshall Shane Warne Glenn Mcgrath Sunil Gavaskar Barry Richards George Headley Graeme Pollock Brian Lara Wally Hammond Keith Miller Allan Knott Curtly Ambrose Dennis Lillee Muttiah Muralitaran Greg Chappell

Here is my best test XI 1. Barry Richards (he scored a triple century in 1 day in Australian shield cricket) 2. Jack Hobbs (best batsman for bad conditions) 3. Don Bradman (best batsman of all time) 4. Gary Sobers (best batsman after Don as per popular consensus) 5. Jacque Kallis (better than Steve Waugh - who was statistically the best no.5 of all time) 6. # Insert your favourite batsman here # (Mine is Viv Richards) 7. Adam Gilchrist (Bradman of wicket-keeping batsmen) 8. Malcom Marshall (skiddy bowler very successful in sub-continent) 9. Michael Holding (fastest bowler ever) 10. Joel Garner (Tall economical bowler with high action who can get the ball to bounce awkwardly from short of good length) 11. Derek Underwood (most accurate and economical left arm-bowler ) 12th. Sydney Barnes (Best Leg-spinner of all time) 13th. Lance Gibbs (Best offspinner with most cleanest action) I have not watched most of these players and relied on opinion of experts like Boycott, Chapell to choose the players above

Quite something that not a single South African makes your selection as one of the top 24 players of all time. Others have made the argument way more eloquently than I can, so all I can say is wtf dude?

That is Sir-tainly a strong side. Maybe Sir Everton Weekes ahead of Brian Lara and Sir Ian Botham ahead of Imran. Naturally, Sir Clyde Walcott in for Gilly and Sir Alec Bedser for McGrath. Spinners seem to have lucked out when it comes to Knighthoods so Murali keeps his spot unless you want to use Sobers as your front line spinner, in which case, Sir Gubby Allen gets a gig.

I like these. Here's mine: Sir Jack Hobbs (ENG) Sir Len Hutton (ENG) Sir Donald Bradman (AUS) Brian Lara (WI) Sir Viv Richards (WI) Sir Garfield Sobers (WI) Adam Gilchrist (AUS) Imran Khan (PAK) Sir Richard Hadlee (NZL) Glen McGrath (AUS) Muttiah Muralidaran (SLK)

You picked two players from New Zealand. Perhaps replace Vettori with either Andy Flower or Heath Streak

Ahhh Ian, You old name dropper you. It takes a keen aficionado of cricket to throw up a name like Bart King!

OME - NO! I'd pick Sobers, Imran Khan & Procter (in that order) all before Botham.....any day..........

I accept your challenge, Sir, and here is my team. 1. Sangakarra (SL) (wk) 2. B Rchards (S Af) 3. G Headley (WI) 4. S Tendulkar (Ind). 5. K Miller (Aust) 6. I Khan (Pak) 7. D Vettori (NZ) 8.. S al-Hasan (Bng) 9. R Hadlee (NZ) 10. B King (USA) 11. F Tyson (Eng) You will note, Sir, I am picking one player per country ; it is my feeling that this team will be able to provide yours with a good match, with Miller and Tyson opening the bowling, and Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee swinging the old ball, the slow left arm spin of Vettorin and Shakib should present some issues. The batting may be regarded as thin, with Richard Hadlee batting at nine. Our American, Bart King, may be regarded as somewhat of a dark horse, but he topped the bowling averages in England in 1908 and such judges of cricket as Plum Warner and Donald Bradman regarded him highly. I feel he is quite capable of bowling well against any you may put against him. I am, yours in the love of cricket, Ian Whitchurch

Ian Botham anyone? If you were selecting the side on what a player was capable of on his day then he would have to be first picked - surely?

Jason, Granted Graeme Pollock had a poor series for the World XI against England. And he arrived mid-tour in Australia 1971/72, but still finished with a century in the final unofficial test. Anyway, did Tendulkar or Lara, etc, never have one or two quiet or poor series? Also, for your information, Pollock toured Australia in 1963/64 as a 19-year-old, & retired in 1987 aged 44, after playing against the Australian Rebels. He scored two centuries at 19-20, & another two centuries at 43-44 against the Aussies 24 seasons apart. On his retirement, Bradman in a telegram acknowledged him as the best left-handed batsman in history (up to that point). In the Sheffield Shield season of 1970/71, when test players still appered for their states, Barry Richards averaged over 100 for the season. He hit 224 & 146 against the touring Englishmen; 356 against WA; 178 against NSW & 135 & 105 against Qld. In 1977-79, he led the WSC supertests batting averages from Greg Chappell & Viv Richards. There's enough evidence, accepted by many aficionados of the game, that both G.Pollock & B.Richards deserve to be included in such august company.

I tend to agree. The problem lies with the fact that the Old South African Government in 1970 wouldn't allow the cricket board to select non-white players in the South African side because of the apartheid issue, and so therefore South Africa went into cricket hibernation if you could call it. A shame really, because that South African side of 1970 that included Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Denis Lindsay, Eddie Barlow was regarded by most commentators including the late Alan McGilivray as one of the best cricket sides ever assembled. Which is why we didn't get to see the best of Richards or Pollock in Test cricket over a long period.

Thanks. I do have a passion for it.

You obviously know the game pretty well Jason. Smith better than Sehwag, Viv overrated as a test player. Nice work.

Personally, I think it is hard to put the likes of G Pollock and B Richards in this company because they didn't play enough international cricket. For instance, if you include the ROW tests, Pollocks average falls quite a bit. That's not to denigrate them of course because they were obviously outstanding players. But I don't think a few tests and a county career tells us say that Richards was better than Hutton or Pollock was better than Tendulkar. I also agree that Viv was overrated as a Test player. Much of his reputation came from his one day exploits. I don't even think he was better than Greg Chappell, let alone the likes of Tendulkar and Lara.

Sehwag isn't even necessarily better than Hayden or Smith, let alone the 4 openers picked above him.

Sehwag? How much more does he have to do? Or is it because he is still playing? I think history will treat him kindly.

For the record, ESPN recently selected their all-time world 1st XI & 2nd XI as follows. World 1st XI: Hobbs, Hutton, Bradman, Tendulkar, V.Richards, Sobers, Gilchrist(k), Wasim Akram, Marshall, Warne, Lillee. World 2nd XI: Gavaskar, B.Richards, Headley, Lara, Hammond, Imran Khan, Knott(k), Trueman, O'Reilly, Muralitharan, Barnes. Extraordinarily fine player that he was, Wasim Akram's selection in the 1st XI must be seen as political, in order to balance the selection of Tendulkar. There are other better players who should have been selected before him.

Jason, We've been privileged to see pretty well most of the great all-rounders in the past 40 years. I was lucky enough to catch Sobers at the tail end of his career, when he was still dominant. This is my top 10 all-rounders since (& including) 1970. 1. Gary Sobers (West Indies) 2. Imran Khan (Pakistan) 3. Mike Procter (South Africa) 4. Jaco Kallis (South Africa) 5. Ian Botham (England) 6. Trevor Goddard (South Africa) 7. Clive Rice (South Africa) 8. Kapil Dev (India) 9. Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) 10. Wasim Akram (Pakistan) It's difficult with the Saffies since Procter only player 7 official tests, while Rice played no official tests. However, the interesting thing is, English county cricket provides a useful clue for comparison. Apart from Goddard & Kallis, all the remaining eight appeared in county cricket & had their careers overlap between 1968 & 2000. Meaning that for good chunks of their careers, they were not only competing against each other, but often the same group of players.