Which was the greatest Test team assembled on a single day?
Don’t worry. I’m not proposing yet another fantasy team but asking a more concrete question: which 11 players constituted the best ever Test team taking the field on a single day, judged on previous form?
Good recap of some bad memories for some great players. Surprising that McKenzie and Stackpole were relatively young when they faded from the game. Though retirement around 33 as in Stackpole’s case was pretty common in the pre-professional era. Bradman as greatest athlete of all time? I’m guess this follows Charles Davis’s book where he makes that case for Bradman on the basis of the huge gap between him and the next best in averages, rate of centuries, etc. Its a fun conversation, though you’d have to say it’s pretty hard to make the case for a cricketer given the limited number of countries involved compared to, say, football or basketball, or athletics.
Baggy green swansongs, Part 2: Going out not with a bang, but a whimper