The all-time Rest of the World XI to play England in England

Having picked my all-time England XI, I need a side to play against them.

Below is my all-time Rest of the World XI to play the England XI in England. As with my article on the ROW XI to play Australia, I’ve selected a team of XI mainly based on performance in England.

Similarly as before, only players who played the majority of their careers post-WW1 are considered.

1. Gordon Greenidge – 19 matches – 1570 runs at 56.07, six 100s, four 50s
No opener has made more runs (1570) or scored more centuries (six) in Test match cricket in England than the great West Indian, who went on four tours of the country and ended up on the winning side all four times.

Greenidge’s best series in England came in in the 1984 5-0 clean sweep of England by the West Indies side, topping the run-scoring with 572 runs at 81.71 including two wonderful double centuries in the series. His 214 not out achieved on the fifth and final day of the second Test at Lord’s in that series helped the West Indies chase 342 at Lord’s, still the highest run chase at the ground.

Greenidge and his opening partner from Barbados Desmond Haynes still hold the record for the most runs put on by an opening pair in Test history: 6151. He rightfully takes his place at the top of the order for my ROW side to play in England.

2. Graeme Smith (captain) – 12 matches – 1355 runs at 67.76, five 100s, three 50s
When compiling this list, I was genuinely shocked at how good Graeme Smith’s record in England was. He is by far the most successful overseas Test match opening batsman in the country statistically, averaging almost 68 in three tours to the country.

Smith made his debut in England in 2003, fresh from assuming the captaincy from Shaun Pollock after the debacle of the 2003 World Cup. He would compile one of the great all-time series a batsman has had in England with 714 runs at 79.33, highlighted by two imperious double hundreds at Edgbaston and Lord’s.

Smith would return to England in 2008 and 2012 averaging over 50 on both subsequent tours and leading the Proteas to two series wins. Assuming the captaincy of a side full of legends, Smith became the first man to captain his country in 100 Test matches and forged a reputation as one of the greatest leaders ever. He assumes a spot at the top of the order and takes the captaincy of this line-up.

3. Don Bradman – 19 matches – 2674 runs at 102.84, 11 100s, three 50s
Bradman’s 2674 runs and 11 hundreds in England are a record for an overseas batsman in any country in Test match cricket history. The great man actually had a better record in England (averaging 102.84) than Australia (98.23), travelling to the UK on four tours.

(Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)

Bradman’s run-scoring feats in England are legendary, headlined by his first tour of the country in 1930. His 974 runs at 139.14 with four centuries on that tour remains to this day the highest aggregate run tally scored in a Test match series.

The Don scored two triple centuries and three doubles in England and his worst tour of the country came in 1948 as the 39-year-old skipper of the famous Invincibles that beat the English 4-0 in the Test series and went unbeaten on the tour to the UK. To put things in perspective, Bradman scored 508 runs that tour at 72.57 in five Tests. I’ll remind you again – this was the bloke’s worst tour of England.

His is the easiest of selections.

4. Viv Richards – 24 matches – 2057 runs at 64.28, five 100s, 12 50s
While I perhaps controversially left him out of my ROW side to Australia, there’s no way I’m leaving Richards out of my side to England.

Nowhere was Richards better than in England, not even in the Caribbean. In five tours of the country, Richards never ended up on the losing side in a series, skippering the last two touring parties.

The great batsman’s finest tour to England was his first in 1976, scoring 829 runs at 118.42 with three centuries including two double hundreds. The 291 scored in the fifth and final Test of that tour at the Oval remains his highest score in Test match cricket.

There are some men that transcend cricket, and to talk about Richards’ run-scoring feats in England as purely statistics perhaps misses the point.

Richards strode to the crease like a king and batted with the kind of arrogance and confidence rarely seen before. Many an Englishman was sent chasing leather all around the ground when the king was in full flow. He rightfully assumes his place in this line-up.

5. Allan Border – 25 matches – 2082 runs at 65.06, five 100s, 12 50s
The third and final middle order spot for this XI came down to a three-way battle between three greats and former Australian captains: Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Steve Smith.

Waugh had the highest average (74.22) and the most hundreds of the trio (seven), and Smith probably the greatest single Ashes series performance (2019 with 774 runs at 110.57), but my selection in the end was Border, who played a record 25 Tests in England over five tours and never finished a tour to the country averaging less than 54.

(Photo by Adrian Murrell/Getty Images)

While Steve Smith might run away with this spot in a couple of years’ time, I just couldn’t ignore Border’s consistency time and time again in England. Beginning his Test career amid an Australian team in crisis in the late ’70s and ’80s, Border matured into the finest Australian batsman of the era and a formidable captain.

Border’s 1989 Australians, labelled as the worst touring Australian side to the UK, firmly etched themselves in folklore, trouncing the Poms 4-0 and setting the wheels in motion for the great Australian side of the 1990s.

With the cavalier Richards and stylish Bradman coming in before him, Border adds some steel and grit to the batting order.

6. Garfield Sobers – 26 matches – 2408 runs at 57.33, seven 100s, 12 50s; 83 wickets at 29.03, four five-wicket hauls, best bowling in an innings 6-21 (stats include ROW tour in 1970)
The great West Indian backs up his selection in the ROW team to Australia with selection in this team (the only man selected in both sides). Sobers’ record in England is actually better than Australia, averaging 57.33 with the bat and 29.03 with the ball over six tours to the country (one as captain of the Rest of the World team in 1970).

Sobers put together two great all-round tours of England. As captain of the 1966 West Indies side that beat the English 3-1, Sobers topped the run-scoring with 722 runs at 103.14 with three hundreds and finished as the third leading wicket-taker of the series with 20 wickets at 27.25.

In 1970, leading a Rest of the World outfit against the English, Sobers led both the batting and bowling with 588 runs at 73.50 and 21 wickets at 21.52, leading the side to another 3-1 series win.

The greatest all-rounder of all time, he’s an easy pick for this side.

(Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)

7. Adam Gilchrist – ten matches – 521 runs at 40.08, one 100, two 50s; 45 dismissals
Another relatively straightforward pick, Australia’s Adam Gilchrist takes the gloves in this XI.

Replacing the great Ian Healy in the Australian side in the late 1990s, Gilchrist took to Test cricket like a duck to water. No wicketkeeper in Test match history influenced more matches with his dynamic batting, coming in at five down. Gilchrist’s first tour of England was a successful one as part of the victorious Australian side of 2001 scoring 340 runs at 68 and taking 26 dismissals.

His return tour to the country as part of the ill-fated 2005 series for Australia was less successful, but he was one of several in a side to perform poorly against the rejuvenated Poms. Nevertheless, he holds off Rod Marsh and Healy to take his place in this side.

8. Shane Warne – 22 matches – 129 wickets at 21.94, eight five-wicket hauls, three ten-wicket hauls, best bowling in an innings – 7-165
Has anyone ever announced themselves in Test match cricket in a country like Shane Keith Warne? If you don’t know what I’m referring to, type in ‘Shane Warne Gatting ball’ on YouTube.

Over four series to England, Warne bamboozled, mystified and dominated English batsmen with a brand of spin bowling never seen in the country before. It adds salt to the wound that the English endured their worst era of spin bowling ever during Warne’s dominance – Robert Croft, Peter Such, Ashley Giles and Phil Tufnell sound familiar?

Hugely influential in three Ashes series wins, Warne’s finest performance on English soil came in the famous 2005 Ashes tour when Australia’s dominance was finally broken by an inspired English side. Warne’s 40 wickets at 19.93 included ten-wicket match hauls at Edgbaston and the Oval.

Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan actually has better stats on a per-match basis but I just couldn’t ignore Warne’s total body of work in England. He is the leading overseas wicket-taker in Test matches in England and rightly takes the spin-bowling spot in this XI.

(Photo by Rui Vieira/EMPICS via Getty Images)

9. Dennis Lillee – 16 matches – 96 wickets at 20.56, six five-wicket hauls, two ten-wicket hauls, best bowling in an innings 7-89
The great DK Lillee was actually my third seamer picked for this side in a tight contest with many others. In the end, selection came down to Lillee and Malcolm Marshall and you could toss a coin to make the pick.

I ended up going with Lillee, who is the highest wicket-taker among overseas pacemen in Test cricket in England. The great Australian went on three Ashes tours to the UK, finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the series twice.

Lillee’s third and final Ashes tour in 1981 was his finest. Forming an outstanding new-ball attack with Terry Alderman, he finished with 39 wickets for the series (his greatest ever tally for a series). Having won man-of-the-match honours in the first Test, Lillee signed off in England for good in the fifth and final Test at the Oval with his best ever match figures in the country of 11-159 (including 7-89 in the first innings). He is the senior statesman in this bowling unit, leading the way for my next two picks.

10. Glenn McGrath – 14 matches – 87 wickets at 19.34, eight five-wicket hauls, best bowling in an innings 8-38
How accurate is it to suggest that a stray cricket ball on Day 1 of the second Test of the 2005 Ashes served to end Australia’s 16-year Ashes stranglehold?

Perhaps I’m stretching things a little but such was the influence of this man against the Poms throughout his career. Like his great Aussie mates Lillee and Warne, Glenn McGrath just loved bowling to the Poms. The man from Narromine in New South Wales averaged less than 21 against England with the ball in all conditions but was at his absolute masterful best in English conditions.

Like Lillee, McGrath went on three Ashes tours and finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series twice, spearheading the Australian attack to series wins in 1997 and 2001. Only Terry Alderman has more five-wicket hauls in England than McGrath’s eight and his 8-38 at Lord’s in 1997 remains the best innings return for a paceman in England post-WW1. McGrath’s strike rate of 39.8 is also the best among all overseas bowlers to have taken more than 35 wickets in England. He deserves his place in this side, although his batting at ten suggests this tail might be fairly brittle!

11. Terry Alderman – 12 matches – 83 wickets at 19.33, ten five-wicket hauls, one ten-wicket haul, best bowling in an innings 6-128
Other than Bradman, Terry Alderman has claim to being the greatest per-series performer in England of any overseas cricketer. Alderman’s record was relatively modest in Australia and New Zealand and downright terrible in the West Indies and Pakistan but he was a demigod among bowlers in the motherland.

The ultimate swing bowler, Alderman thrived in English conditions with the Dukes ball. His returns of 42 wickets in 1981 and 41 wickets in 1989 are numbers one and two on the list of wickets taken in a series in England for an overseas bowler and beaten only by Jim Laker’s 46 wickets in 1956 among all bowlers. His ten five-wicket hauls are also a record for an overseas bowler in England.

Alderman’s 41 wickets in 1989 were instrumental in helping Allan Border’s young side reclaim the Ashes, kick-starting an era of utter dominance for the Aussies. He takes the new ball for this side.

So there you have it. Graeme Smith leads seven Aussies and three West Indians into battle against the all-time England XI. To make things fun, how about I make this side play a five-Test series against my all-time England XI at Lord’s, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Headingley and the Oval.

Who do you think prevails and by what score? Who do you think will be the man of the series?