The ultimate multi-sports genius. Fry captained England at cricket, played 26 Tests and scored nearly 31,000 first-class runs. He also set the world long jump record, played football for England and rugby for Oxford University, Blackheath and the Barbarians. He even nearly reputedly became King of Albania. Hardly surprising then that even in his seventies he was still able to perform his party piece: jumping backwards onto a mantelpiece from a standing position
Martin Donnelly
Widely recognised as one of New Zealand’s greatest ever batsmen even if War and his country’s fledgling status restricted him to just seven Tests. His one appearance at fly half for England though resulted in a resounding and then record win for Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
Monkey Hornby
The incongruously named Hornby, who was known as Monkey because of his small stature and energetic persona, was one of only two men to captain England at both cricket and rugby as well as being Lancashire’s skipper for 20 years. He led England to defeat at the Oval in 1882, about which the famous Sporting Life obituary was penned and the Ashes born.
Andrew Stoddart
The other man to captain England at both sports was the leading centre of his era and led England on two Ashes expeditions Down Under despite not taking up cricket seriously until he was 22. Beset with health and financial problems, he took his own life at the age of 52.
Tuppy Owen-Smith
Over 75 years before South African born Kevin Pietersen made his Test debut for England, Owen-Smith arguably went one better when having already scored a hundred for his country against England at Headingley in 1929, he turned out for and eventually captained England’s rugby side as an attacking full-back just one year later. A leg-spinner, his maiden first-class wicket was none other than the great Wally Hammond.
Sammy Woods
Representing South Africa at cricket and England at rugby is one thing, but playing Test cricket for BOTH Australia and England as Sydney born Woods did is quite another. A tremendously fast and strong wing-forward, he was also capped 13 times for England at rugby.
Rob Andrew
The hero of England’s last-gasp win over Australia in the 1995 World Cup Quarter Final was also a very good cricketer, captaining Cambridge University and scoring a first-class ton against Notts. He also snared a young Mike Atherton with his off-spin whilst turning out for Yorkshire seconds.
Rudi van Vuuren
The only man to represent his country at the cricket AND rugby world cups and he did it in the same year too – 2003, starring in the former with five for 43 for Namibia against England and making a late cameo in the rugby world cup against Romania. It wasn’t all good for van Vuuren though with Darren Lehmann taking 28 runs off one of his overs.
Jeff Wilson
The legendary full back scored 44 tries in his 60 Tests, but this Double All Black’s international rugby career was also sandwiched by four one day internationals for the Kiwis as a precocious 19 year old and two more 12 years later.
Maurice Turnbull
Long-serving Glamorgan captain Turnbull, not only played Test cricket for England and rugby for Wales, he also represented Wales at hockey too. Sadly, his youthful vigour was snuffed out by a German sniper in Normandy in 1944.
Dusty Hare
The Leicester full back was an unlikely hero of the young Reverse Sweep, with Hare’s trusty boot helping England to the Grand Slam in 1980. His cricket career was less successful however, with only a modest 171 runs at 12.21 from his ten games for Notts.
As maybe England’s finest batsman ever with the notable exception of Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond has always been regarded as a hero in the Reverse Sweep household.
Hammond reached the peak of his powers in the 1928/29 Ashes series in Australia - which Percy Chapman’s team won by the resounding scoreline of 4-1, where he broke records that only Don Bradman would subsequently beat.
Coming into the 4th Test at the Adelaide Oval, Hammond had already scored 251 at Sydney and 200 at Melbourne as England had secured an unassailable 3-0 lead. Here at Adelaide he added two more hundreds – 119 not out and 177 – and as England won a tight match by 12 runs Hammond was clearly the difference between the sides.
In the first innings, Hammond scored 72 of the last 88 runs after England suffered a mid-innings collapse, but he topped this in the second innings with an innings described by Wisden as thus: “in the circumstances in which it was played, this was probably his best innings of the tour”. Given that he scored 905 runs – a series total only surpassed by Bradman - in the series at 113.12 that is some compliment.
Alastair Cook was rightly lauded after his double hundred at Brisbane especially as it was only the sixth time (see full list here) that an England batsman had passed 200 in an Ashes Test in Australia. Hammond has half of those having also scored 231* at Sydney in 1936.
Unsurprisingly, Hammond easily made our all-time England and Combined England-Australia Ashes XIs and despite being a poor England captain, is without a shadow of a doubt a Reverse Sweep hero.
We're not claiming to have mystic powers or anything (predicting the winning lottery numbers still sadly eludes us), but in our preview of the Lord's Test we suggested that Kevin Pietersen was the England player to look out for.
We wrote:
"Kevin Pietersen likes the big occasion and it doesn’t get much bigger than this – the 2000th Test against the best side in the world at Lord’s. Don’t be surprised if KP marks the occasion with a sparkling hundred"
Ok, we didn't get the sparkling bit right as KP's unbeaten 202 was a real workmanlike innings. He was like a cat on a hot tin roof against Zaheer Khan on Thursday and perhaps fittingly he nearly used up all his nine lives before he finished with a flourish taking only 25 balls to go from 150 to 200.
Pietersen now has three Test double centuries. The only other England batsmen (see full list here) to have achieved this are Wally Hammond (who reached the milestone an incredible seven times) and Len Hutton (who did it four times). That's pretty good company for KP to be keeping.
Given the circumstances in which Pietersen got to 200 yesterday, we doubt it will be the last time he does this for England. This innings will act as an inspiration to him every time he is struggling at the crease and thus spells danger for opposition bowling attacks.
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, God appears in the form of that Victorian master of cricket W.G.Grace and instructs the motley crew of Python knights to seek out the Holy Grail with hilarious results.
The ghost of Grace may well have been frequenting Somerset before the start of the season too as Marcus Trescothick has failed by just a whisker from obtaining one of cricket’s Holy Grail’s – 1,000 runs in an English season before the end of May.
Trescothick’s glorious unbeaten 151 (off just 131 balls) helped Somerset chase down 228 to beat Yorkshire yesterday. It was Trescothick’s fourth hundred of the season and second in the match and took him to 978 first-class runs for the season – just a tantalising 22 runs short of immortality.
Only eight batsmen in history have broken the fabled 1,000 run barrier before the end of May: Grace was the first to achieve the feat in 1895 and was followed by Tom Hayward (1900), Wally Hammond (1927), Charles Hallows (1928), Don Bradman (1930 and 1938), Bill Edrich (1938), Glenn Turner (1973) and Graeme Hick (1988).
Given Trescothick (and Somerset’s) shambolic start to the season, the former England opener’s haul is all the more impressive. Somerset were thrashed in their first two games with Trescothick contributing just 18, 5, 4 and 21 as his side were defeated twice by an innings.
But since then Trescothick has hit 227 and 23 against Hampshire, 31 and 23 against Worcestershire, 144 in his only innings against Durham, 63 and 79 at Hove versus Sussex and finally 189 and 151 not out against Yorkshire.
Unfortunately, Somerset don’t have another First-Class match before the end of May, so for Trescothick it is a case of so near, yet so far – just like the Pythons, whose quest for the Holy Grail memorably ended with arrest by the police.
Despite England finally managing to win on Australia Day of all days, we are still not bothered too much by the never ending story that is the one-day series. Time to look back again, then…
With the notable exception of Jonathan Trott, England’s top six came into the Ashes series with doubts hanging over them after a collective poor return against Pakistan over the summer. Ian Bell, who had been injured for the Pakistan tests, was deemed a concern too given his previously poor record against Australia.
The man considered the biggest concern was Alastair Cook, with some pundits, including as shrewd a judge as Michael Atherton, calling for the opener to be dropped in favour of Eoin Morgan with Trott promoted to open. Thankfully, England’s selectors stuck with their man and Cook repaid them by transforming himself into a left-handed Herbert Sutcliffe to score more runs in a test series than any Englishman ever except Wally Hammond in 1928/29.
And it wasn’t just Cook. For those that grew up in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s, you will doubtless be familiar with Roy Castle singing “dedication is what you need…if you want to be a record breaker”.
Perhaps this tune was played alongside KP's favourite Carly Simon song on the dressing room stereo, as this is exactly the mantra that England’s batsmen followed during the series. Having all got into nick in the crucial warm-up matches prior to the 1st Test, England’s batsmen showed exemplary patience and good judgment throughout the series – except in the aberration that was Perth. But even though they left the ball much better than the Australians, England still managed to post a higher run-rate per over for the series – 3.5 to 3.1.
In seven innings, England reached 500 four times. They hit their highest totals ever in Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney, with the latter being England’s highest ever test total in Australia.
In those seven innings, England’s batsmen hit nine hundreds (Cook (3), Trott (2), Strauss, Pietersen, Bell and Prior) – with six being at least 135 or over, compiled 11 hundred partnerships and all of the top seven – with the exception of Paul Collingwood – comfortably averaged above 40 for the series.
The comparison with the Australians was stark. The home side only once passed 400 in ten innings, hit just three hundreds (Hussey (2) and Haddin), only had four century partnerships and three batsmen averaging over 40 for the series (Hussey, Haddin and Watson). And unlike Cook, Australia’s premier opener Watson was unable to even convert one of his several good starts into three figures. That meant that with Australia’s supposed best batsmen Ponting and Clarke having dreadful series', none of Australia’s top four registered even one hundred.
If that wasn’t enough proof of how much Australia were outgunned with the bat, how about the fact that their average runs per wicket lost in the series was 28.9 to England’s 51.1? Or even that England had Bell coming in at six instead of North or Smith. Now that is perhaps the most damning point of all!
Some (ok no-one) likened the arrival of the Reverse Sweep as the Second Coming, but as you can see we were premature by two days - unlike Alastair Cook who was born on Christmas Day and had fooled us into thinking he was the Second Coming of Wally Hammond in Brisbane and Adelaide.
Like most one year olds, we are still learning to walk, talk and familiarise ourselves with the world, but unlike many other cricket blogs we have made it to our first birthday, which is pretty good considering the infant mortality rate of bloggers.
So whilst we blow out the candles on our cup cake and drink our tea on this chilly morn, here are an XI of our highlights (or maybe low-lights?) of an eventful first year out of the womb.
Finding that there are similar like minded cricket addicts with warped minds and acerbic tongues via several excellent cricket blogs, Test Match Sofa and Twitter (where we have incredibly amassed over 600 followers)
Being named one of the 50 leading cricket web sites in the world by The Times and getting over 120,000 hits in our first year
Being paid to write about cricket - it was great whilst it lasted until said site suddenly stopped paying its contributors - you know who you are
Getting published in the first three editions of Cricket Sadist
Discovering Test Match Sofa - which has literally saved our lives when work and broadcasting restrictions have meant that Sky and Test Match Special were not available
Getting a reply from Graham Onions on Twitter when we suggested Gary Sobers, Keith Miller and Imran Khan as alternatives to his assertion that Jacques Kallis was the best all-rounder ever
Witnessing the continued resurgence of the England cricket team, which has taken in a World T20 win, vastly improved ODI performances and a near two year unbeaten record in Test series - a win at the MCG over the next few days will be the icing on the cake
Reading the brilliant biography of Harold Larwood by Duncan Hamilton - the best cricket book we've ever read and the perfect appetiser for the Ashes
Finally, but most importantly, the birth of Miss Reverse Sweep Junior, which with Master Reverse Sweep coming just two years before completes the best (and only) double hundred we've ever scored
Happy birthday Sweep - with love from Sooty and Sue.
If you'd waited 21 months to score a Test hundred, you might as well make it a double when you finally reach three figures again. That seemed to be the policy of Kevin Pietersen as he banished all talk about his form to the waste bin with a sparkling 213 not out before Ricky Ponting's rain dance finally worked. KP looked back to his best technically and the way that he dismissed the Australian bowlers suggested that mix of supreme confidence with a twist of arrogance is back. Certainly, the Aussies will wonder if all the talk of a form slump was for real - KP now averages 60 against them with three hundreds and seven fifties in 14 Tests.
Just one more run, Straussy?
We hope it is just a coincidence but England's total of 551 is exactly the same as their 1st innings at Adelaide four years ago. And we all know what happened then. So don't be surprised if Andrew Strauss sends Pietersen and Bell out to add just one more to the total in the morning. He can always say it was because he wanted the duo to reach its 100 partnership - it currently stands at 99.
Make mine a double
Prior to this series only three English batsmen had scored double hundreds in an Ashes encounter in Australia - Wally Hammond with three, Tip Foster and Paul Collingwood. Cook and now Pietersen have joined this exclusive club after only three inings in this series. We're not sure whether this says more about the extent to which the odds have been weighted towards the batsmen in Brisbane and now here at Adelaide, or the quality (or otherwise) of Australia's bowling attack. Whatever, it is good to see English batsmen finally getting t0 200 more regularly - Jonathan Trott's 226 against Bangladesh earlier in the year means that three of the eleven scores of 200+ by England batsmen since 1990 - see full list here - have now come in 2010.
No X-Factor again for Doherty
If Pietersen wanted to correct his supposed fallibility against left-arm spinners, he couldn't have asked for a more obliging victim than Xavier Doherty. Unsurprisingly, for a bowler with a first-class average of 50, Doherty is lacking at Test level and an absence of flight and guile meant that England have been able to pick him off with ease at five runs an over. He might have managed one more Test than either Beau Casson or Bryce McGain, but the lack of any type of X-Factor means that Doherty will be voted out of the side by the flawed Australian selection panel for Perth - we doubt that he'll ever return.
Remember, it's still 0-0...
England may have resoundingly bullied Australia for the last five days of cricket in this series (there are effectively 1068/5 since the start of the second innings in Brisbane!), but as Shane Warne reminded everyone the scoreline is still 0-0. So, all the talk about the Australians having to make wholesale changes to their side for Perth is a tad premature. If rain or a 2nd innings fightback means that they escape with a draw here, then Ponting will have nine days to rally his troops before hostilities are renewed at the WACA. So, it was good to see KP referring to this in his interview after play had been abandoned for the day.
Player of the day
We predicted before the match that Kevin Pietersen looked set for a big score and for once we have been proved emphatically right. He is certainly one for the big occasion - as he proved in the World T20 Final and at The Oval in 2005 - and there is nothing bigger for an England player than as Ashes series in Australia.
Zero of the day
It's tempting to give it to Doherty again - or even the rain gods - but the body language of Doug Bollinger has been nearly as awful as his bowling. If it hadn't been for Andrew Strauss' ill-advised leave yesterday then Bollinger's figures would have been the same as Mitchell Johnson's at Brisbane - none for a lot. And Bollinger has gone at five an over proving that the champagne of his recall has already gone flat.
What happens next?
Rumours of Ponting leading his charges in a rain-dance in the home dressing room at the Adelaide Oval are so far unfounded, but a deluge of rain or a huge hundred from the Australian captain seem his side's only hopes of avoiding going 1-0 down in the series. Graeme Swann must be licking his lips at the thought of bowling on this pitch on the final two days.
Until now there was only one choice as to who was the most famous Cook to land on Australian shores - and here's a clue it wasn't Gordon Ramsey. But Alastair Cook seems to be on a one man mission to change this. He picked up where he left on in Brisbane as he continued to plunder runs from a feeble Australian bowling attack. His 15th Test century never looked in doubt and the technical faults that plagued him in the English summer seemed to have vanished into thin air. We apologised to James Anderson yesterdayfor doubting that he could succeed in Australia and we owe one to Cook too for having the temerity to question his place in the side. But for once (or is it twice?) we are happy to be proved emphatically wrong. And on Cook we weren't the only ones - were we Michael Atherton?
Deja vu for Ponting
Ricky Ponting must have thought he was caught in a nightmarish time warp during Cook and Jonathan Trott's 2nd wicket partnership of 173 - which extended their unbroken stint at the crease from The Gabba to 502 runs and nearly 10 hours before the latter was eventually out. Some of the names in his bowling attack were different, but the results were the same for Ponting as catches were dropped, the bowling was ineffectual, his left-armer quick (Bollinger this time) was expensive and had poor body language - and Cook, Trott and then KP continued on their merry way. The lowpoint must have been when a decision to give Cook caught behind off Siddle was overturned by the third umpire. As Atherton remarked, that must have been enormously dispiriting for the hapless Aussies. With England effectively 834/3 since the start of their 2nd innings in Brisbane, Jeff Thomson's assertion that the current Australian attack is the worst for 30 years is looking truer by the day.
King Trott V
Trott continued to lord it over his favourite opponents - he averages over 100 against Australia - and made a lightning start to his innings today with a flurry of flicked and driven boundaries through the off-side. Trott has developed a regal presence at the crease and now has the 5th highest average ever for those with more than 1000 test runs - see list of best Test averages here. And there were those that doubted he should bat at three.
Strauss's brain fade
What is it with Andrew Strauss and the third ball of the day? After his misjudgement in the 1st innings at Brisbane, he repeated the trick with a cherry on top to Doug Bollinger's third delivery this morning. Choosing to leave a ball that hits the top of the stumps was a massive error for a man who otherwise hasn't put a foot wrong since he landed on Australian soil. But at least it enabled him to put his feet up in the pavilion and enjoy a feast of batting.
Come back Nathan all is forgiven
It takes a lot to make Nathan Hauritz look good, but Xavier Doherty has managed to achieve that. The pitches at Brisbane and now Adelaide may have been good, but one gets the impression that the only way hewill take wickets is if the batsmen give it away. As Shane Warne has observed the Australian selectors are now in a bit of a pickle. Having made the decision to replace Hauritz before the series, should they now go back to him? Or should they opt for the rookie Steves - Smith or O'Keefe? Whatever they do, their selection policy has been irrefutably flawed and has smacked of panic - as evidenced by dispensing with Johnson and Hilfenhaus after Brisbane. Shades of England in the 1990's?
Player of the day
For the third time in the series it is the relentless run machine Alastair Cook. The way he is going Wally Hammond's record for an Englishman of 905 runs in an Ashes series (see Adelaide Hero - Wally Hammond) is looking within reach. He is almost halfway there with 438 runs after only three innings - and he can make further inroads tomorrow.
Zero of the day
After only three balls it looked like Strauss had this one sown up, but as the day unfolded the out of depth Xavier Doherty claimed an unassailable grip on this dubious honour. A spinner is supposed to give you control on a good pitch when the mercury is rising and going at over four runs an over is almost a dereliction of duty. The hapless Australian Selectors share the award for their ridiculous gamble on a bowler with a first-class average of 50.
What happens next?
We predicted before the match that Kevin Pietersen looked set for a big score and having waited for what must seem a week to bat his first test hundred in 17 long months looks within reach. He certainly looked back to his fluent best today. Cook could reach another milestone if he can replicate Hammond's back to back hundreds at Sydney (251) and Melbourne (200) in the aforementioned 1928/29 series. Another day of pain awaits Australia barring rain.
England and Australia have competed in 321 Test matches since the first acknowledged Test started on 15 March 1877. Australia have the edge in the oldest international sports contest with 132 wins to England's 99 and there have been 90 draws.
There have been many classic Tests in the battle for the little urn. In a three-part series, we have picked 25 of the best, which we will list chronologically.
The Oval, 28-29 August 1882 - Australia won by 7 runs: The birth of the Ashes with Australia winning a stunning victory after bowling out England for 69 having set them only 77 to win. Spofforth took 14 for 90 after declaring that "this thing can be done" and the dismissal of Grace saw England slide from 51 for two to a defeat considered so ignominious that Reginald Shirley Brook penned his mock obituary to English cricket in The Sporting Times.
1st Test, Sydney, 14-20 December 1894 - England won by 10 runs: An amazing come-from-the-dead victory for England after following on 261 runs behind. Ward hit 117 as England recovered to set Australia 177 to win - a target they appeared to be coasting to when 130 for two. But Peel took six for 67 and Australia lost their last eight wickets for 53 as England completed an unlikely victory. England eventually won the series 3-2 by chasing down 297 in the decider at Melbourne.
3rd Test, The Oval, 10-12 August 1896 - England won by 66 runs: It was all square going into the final and deciding test of the 1896 series, but with the home side being skittled for 89 in their second innings it seemed that with Australia only needing 111 victory the tourists had regained the Ashes. But on a wet pitch, they slid to 25 for nine and ultimately 44 all out.
4th Test, Old Trafford, 24-26 July 1902 - Australia won by 3 runs: Australia retained the Ashes in a match that swung one way then another. Trumper became the first batsman to score a hundred before lunch on the first day of a Test as Australia hit 299. England recovered from 44 for five thanks to a hundred from F.S Jackson and then bowled Australia out for 86 in their second innings. But then the hapless Fred Tate took over. Having dropped a skier to reprieve Darling, Tate was last man out and the urn had gone. The test is still known as Tate's Match.
5th Test, The Oval, 11-13 August 1902 - England won by 1 wicket: The Ashes may have gone in the previous match, but that didn't stop this Test from being a classic. Set 263 to win, England slipped to 48 for five before Gilbert Jessop bludgeoned a hundred in 75 minutes. Then Hirst and Rhodes - England's last pair - came together with 15 required and 'got 'em in singles' to record a famous win.
5th Test, The Oval, 14-18 August 1926 - England won by 289 runs: After a period of utter Australian dominance following the end of World War I, the 1926 series in England was a much tighter affair. In the decider at The Oval, England were just ahead near the start of their second innings before a thunderstorm rendered the wicket as a treacherous 'sticky dog'. All seemed lost, but Hobbs and Sutcliffe thought otherwise and compiled an opening stand of 172 (Hobbs 100, Sutcliffe 161). England set Australia 415 and Rhodes and Larwood did the rest. Ashes regained.
3rd Test, Melbourne, 29 December 1928 - 5 January 1929 - England won by 3 wickets: Hobbs and Sutcliffe reprised their heroics in the next series, where with England set 332 to win on another wet wicket they compiled another century opening stand. Jardine, Hammond and then Hendren also provided sterling support to Sutcliffe who anchored the chase with 135. Despite some late wickets, England made it home by just three wickets to achieve an unassailable 3-0 series lead.
5th Test, The Oval, 16-22 August 1930 - Australia won by an innings and 39 runs: Despite the utter brilliance of Bradman, who scored 974 runs at 139.14, the series was locked at 1-1 going into the timeless decider at The Oval. England won the toss and 161 from Sutcliffe helped England compile 405 in their first innings. But with Bradman around that was never going to be enough. The Don scored 232 with Ponsford hitting 110 and Jackson 73 in a crucial 243 run partnership with Bradman as Australia made 695. It was too much for England and they folded for 251 to hand the Ashes back to Australia.
We see that Cricinfo has invited its readers to pick their All-time Ashes XI. Given we have recently selected our own all-time Australia and England Ashes XIs, it seems apt to pick a composite Ashes XI from these 22 names:
Having selected five openers in our two sides – Len Hutton was picked at first drop in our England Ashes XI – we have a plethora of options here. But for the same reason that Hutton was pushed down to three, we see no reason to split up the immortal opening partnership of Hobbs and Sutcliffe. The dynamic duo had 11 opening partnerships of over 100 against Australia including two of the greatest in the history of the game at The Oval in 1926 and Melbourne in 1928/29.
Middle order
Bradman picks himself at three and is also our captain. Joining him in the middle order are Hammond – who other than in the 1928/29 series when he hit 905 runs was mostly overshadowed by the brilliance of Bradman. This leaves us with three tough, doughty fellows in Barrington, Border and Waugh. We opt for the middle of these, partly because as a left-hander he provides balance to the side, but also because he was equally as effective in a losing or winning side.
All-rounder
Choosing between two larger-than-life characters like Miller and Botham is no easy task - especially as we looked on as an awed child at the exploits of the latter in the unforgettable 1981 Ashes. But despite this, Miller seems to have the better of Botham with both bat and ball and also had his opponent’s ability to change a match single-handedly.
Wicketkeeper
Gilchrist’s superior batting versus Knott’s better ability with the gloves? In the end this was quite an easy choice because quite simply Gilchrist had an unbeatable talent for counterpunching when his side were in trouble or turning a positive position into one of utter dominance all in the blink of an eye.
Seamers
Barnes is arguably the greatest bowler ever and offers a potent variety of seam, swing and spin – the latter meaning that we need only select one specialist spinner in our XI. Due to our unashamed love of extreme pace, we opt for Lillee and Larwood over Bedser and Lindwall to join Barnes in our composite XI.
Spin
Having seen the exploits of Warne at first-hand, it is impossible to prefer O’Reilly or Verity above him. For balance, the left-arm spin of Verity is preferred to the leggie Tiger as our 12th man.
So, our all-time Ashes XI is: Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Bradman (C), Hammond, Border, Miller, Gilchrist, Larwood, Warne, Lillee and Barnes with Verity as 12th man.
The identity of the two batsmen we will select at four and five in an all-time England Ashes XI is a case of Wally Hammond plus one.
We may have decided to shorehorn Len Hutton into our side at three in preference to Hammond, but we believe that there were good reasons for this. First, having chosen not to break up the tried and tested opening pair of Hobbs and Sutcliffe, space had to be found for someone who is indisputably one of England's five best Ashes batsmen ever. Second, we needed a captain and who better than the man who led England to success in 1953 - after the urn had been in Australian possession for 19 years and who then subsequently retained the Ashes down under in 1954/55?
But there was no way we were going to leave Hammond out of our XI. He is arguably England's greatest batsmen ever - in our opinion it is either him or Hobbs. Hammond scored 2852 runs in 33 Ashes tests at 51.85 and hit nine hundreds (four of them doubles). In the 1928/29 series, at the age of 25, he scored a record 905 runs at 113.12 and became the first batsman to score two double hundreds in a series with 251 at Sydney and 200 at Melbourne. England won the series 4-1 and Hammond was acclaimed as the best batsman in the world. And then along came Don Bradman...
So who joins Hammond? David Gower, Ken Barrington and Ted Dexter were all considered for the number three spot and all come into contention again here. Joining them on the longlist are Denis Compton, Maurice Leyland, Peter May, Eddie Paynter, FS Jackson, Kumar Ranjitsinhji and Colin Cowdrey.
We felt that Cricinfo were premature at the time when they selected Kevin Pietersen in their all-time England test XI in 2009. Events since have reinforced this view and despite his excellent record against Australia (1116 runs in 12 tests at 50.72), we prefer to wait until KP has competed in more of these encounters.
From the longlist, we can immediately disregard Cowdrey and Dexter, who both had average overall records against Australia despite being two of England's greats. We've also reluctantly discounted Paynter, who averaged 99.60 in his six Ashes test on account of so few matches meaning it is difficult to make a fair judgement. Finally, Ranjitsinhji (989 runs in 15 Ashes tests at 44.95) and Jackson (1415 in 20 at 48.79) have also been ruled out because in our view they fall slightly short of the others.
That leaves us with five. Gower, Barrington, May and Compton would all be considered amongst England's greatest middle order batsmen ever and all have fine records against the Australians. Leyland may not be as vaunted as the other four, but he had an excellent record against Australia with seven hundreds in 20 tests and an average of 56.83 - only Barrington and Sutcliffe of those who have played 10 Ashes tests or more can better that average.
Yet again it is a borderline choice. Fine batsman as he was, we decided not to opt for May as three centuries in 21 Ashes tests is not deserving of a place in an all-time England Ashes XI especially when Gower has nine, Leyland seven and Barrington and Compton five. Next to go is Leyland, who despite his fine record we would find hard to select above the other three.
It is difficult to rule out the exuberance of Compton, but his average against Australia (42.83) was nearly eight runs less than his career average, which suggests he wasn't at his best against Australia. That leaves two players who certainly were. Gower is our boyhood hero, which means that sentiment is in danger of coming into the equation. But he is the only England player - Hobbs apart - to score 3000 Ashes runs, and nine hundreds is a mighty impressive performance.
However, Barrington's record against Australia is magnificent - 23 tests, five hundreds and 2111 runs at 63.96. He clearly relished playing against England's deadliest foe. Ian Chappell perhaps summed it up best when he wrote "every so often you encounter a player whose bat seem about a yard wide. It's not, of course. It just seems that way. England's Ken Barrington was one." So although the heart says Gower, the head says Barrington and it is the latter who wins this closest of calls.
Unlike Australia (see All-time Australian XI - Number 3), picking a number three batsman in an all-time England Ashes XI is not such a straightforward task.
Indeed, looking back through the history of the battle for the little urn, one could argue that England have not had an outstanding specialist number three. A few batsman have flourished in this role, but can any of them be considered specialist number threes?
The most successful performance for England in this pivotal position is by Wally Hammond, who in 19 Ashes tests at first drop hit 1695 runs at 70.62 with eight hundreds. That is a phenomenal record, but Hammond moved up and down the order and played 14 other tests against Australia. His record at number three is significantly better than anywhere else, but that is arguably because he played there when at his peak and would have been just as devastating at four and five..
Similarly, David Gower has an outstanding record at number three in Ashes encounters with 1262 runs in 14 tests at 60.09 with four hundreds, but like Hammond, Gower played a significant number of Ashes tests (24) elsewhere in the batting order. Clearly however, both should be on the shortlist.
Others who were considered but rejected from our shortlist include George Gunn (777 runs at 51.80 at number three), Andrew Stoddart (478 runs at 59.75) and Arthur Shrewsbury (430 at 53.75). All these Edwardian or Victorian cricketers have excellent records at number three, but their overall test statistics are not in the realms of a Gower or a Hammond. Mark Butcher (who can forget that wonderful hundred at Headingley in 2001) and John Edrich, both of whom have good records against Australia at number three, also miss out for the same reason.
Joining Gower and Hammond on the shortlist are Ted Dexter (1077 runs at 48.95 in 13 Ashes tests at first drop) and two great England batsmen with none or few innings at number three in Ashes battles. The first is Len Hutton, who just missed out on selection for one of the opening positions (see All-time England XI - Openers). The other is Ken Barrington, whose obdurate style and fantastic overall Ashes record (2111 runs at 63.96 in 23 Ashes tests) would seem to make him well suited to the number three role.
Hammond is the best of the five and arguably England's greatest ever batsman along with Jack Hobbs. However, if Hutton doesn't get in at three, having missed out on one of the opening slots then he won't make the team. Can an all-time England Ashes XI really omit Hutton given his record (2428 runs in 27 Ashes tests at 56.46) and the fact that he captained England to two Ashes series wins? What about Dexter and Gower, who are probably the most stylish English batsmen of the last 50 years?
It is certainly a tough choice, but after first narrowing the final choice down to Hammond, Hutton or Gower, we've opted for Hutton. Why? Firstly, Hammond, Gower and Barrington can all come into contention for the number four and five positions, plus if it comes down to a choice between Hutton or Dexter, then the Yorkshireman has to win.
Finally, with England's great other Ashes captains like Douglas Jardine, Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth all likely to miss out on selection, England need a shrewd and experienced skipper to combat Bradman and who better than the man who led England to victory in the 1953 and 1954/55 series? So, it is Hutton who fills an unaccustomed position for him.
The last batsman to score an Ashes double hundred was Paul Collingwood, but the Durham battler will have mixed emotions when he looks back on his 206 at Adelaide in 2006 given that England contrived to lose the match ignominiously on the final day.
There list below shows that there have been 34 double hundreds in Ashes contests with Len Hutton's 364 at The Oval in 1938 sitting proudly at the top of the pile. With apologies to Bobby Simpson it is the other two batsmen to have scored more than one Ashes double hundred that dominate this list.
Scores of 200+ in The Ashes
Player
Score
Mins
BF
SR
Ground
Start Date
L Hutton (Eng)
364
797
847
42.97
The Oval
20-Aug-38
DG Bradman (Aus)
334
383
448
74.55
Leeds
11-Jul-30
RB Simpson (Aus)
311
762
740
42.02
Manchester
23-Jul-64
RM Cowper (Aus)
307
727
589
52.12
Melbourne
11-Feb-66
DG Bradman (Aus)
304
430
473
64.27
Leeds
20-Jul-34
RE Foster (Eng)
287
419
-
-
Sydney
11-Dec-03
DG Bradman (Aus)
270
458
375
72.00
Melbourne
01-Jan-37
WH Ponsford (Aus)
266
460
422
63.03
The Oval
18-Aug-34
KF Barrington (Eng)
256
683
-
-
Manchester
23-Jul-64
DG Bradman (Aus)
254
341
376
67.55
Lord's
27-Jun-30
WR Hammond (Eng)
251
461
605
41.48
Sydney
14-Dec-28
JL Langer (Aus)
250
578
407
61.42
Melbourne
26-Dec-02
DG Bradman (Aus)
244
316
271
90.03
The Oval
18-Aug-34
WR Hammond (Eng)
240
367
394
60.91
Lord's
24-Jun-38
SG Barnes (Aus)
234
649
667
35.08
Sydney
13-Dec-46
DG Bradman (Aus)
234
397
396
59.09
Sydney
13-Dec-46
DG Bradman (Aus)
232
438
417
55.63
The Oval
16-Aug-30
SJ McCabe (Aus)
232
235
277
83.75
Nottingham
10-Jun-38
WR Hammond (Eng)
231*
460
579
39.89
Sydney
18-Dec-36
RB Simpson (Aus)
225
545
427
52.69
Adelaide
28-Jan-66
MA Taylor (Aus)
219
554
461
47.50
Nottingham
10-Aug-89
E Paynter (Eng)
216*
319
333
64.86
Nottingham
10-Jun-38
DI Gower (Eng)
215
452
314
68.47
Birmingham
15-Aug-85
DG Bradman (Aus)
212
437
395
53.67
Adelaide
29-Jan-37
WL Murdoch (Aus)
211
490
525
40.19
The Oval
11 Aug 1884
KR Stackpole (Aus)
207
454
356
58.14
Brisbane
27-Nov-70
N Hussain (Eng)
207
437
337
61.42
Birmingham
05-Jun-97
WA Brown (Aus)
206*
369
370
55.67
Lord's
24-Jun-38
AR Morris (Aus)
206
462
-
-
Adelaide
02-Feb-51
PD Collingwood (Eng)
206
515
392
52.55
Adelaide
01-Dec-06
J Ryder (Aus)
201*
385
461
43.60
Adelaide
16-Jan-25
SE Gregory (Aus)
201
243
-
-
Sydney
14 Dec 1894
AR Border (Aus)
200*
569
399
50.12
Leeds
22-Jul-93
WR Hammond (Eng)
200
398
472
42.37
Melbourne
29-Dec-28
Wally Hammond is arguably England's greatest batsman ever and he certainly had a thirst for big scores. His peak came in the series of 1928-29 when at the age of 25 he scored a record 905 runs at 113.12 and became the first batsman to score two double hundreds in a series with 251 at Sydney and 200 at Melbourne. England won the series 4-1 and Hammond was acclaimed as the best batsman in the world.
Don Bradman made his debut in the same series and was no doubt in awe of Hammond's achievements, but he was to surpass them only 18 months later. In the series of 1930 in England, Bradman did to England what Hammond had done to the Aussies by hitting 974 runs in the series at 139.14. The Don also took Hammond's other record by hitting three double hundreds including 334 at Headingley - the then highest test score.
Hammond went on to hit two more double hundreds (Sydney 1936 and Lord's 1938), but Bradman was to beat his counterpart here too by amassing eight Ashes double hundreds. Two more followed in the 1934 series in England as Australia took the Ashes back. Bradman hit another triple hundred (304) at Headingley and then hit a series clinching 244 at The Oval. He repeated the feat in the next series as Australia came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 with Bradman hitting 270 at Melbourne and 212 at Adelaide.
Though Bradman's achievements overshadowed those of Hammond, the fact that between them they scored 12 of the 34 scores of 200+ in Ashes history makes them collectively the two dominant batting phenomenons in the history of England-Australia encounters.
If Andrew Strauss is going to lead England to retaining the Ashes this winter then he is going to have to defeat history as well as Ricky Ponting's Australian side. Of course having regained the Ashes at The Oval last summer, England only have to draw the series to keep the little urn. But this is something they have never done when defending the Ashes in Australia.
Indeed since 1900 (England pretty much dominated the Ashes until then), England have only managed to retain the Ashes four times down under.
Retaining the Ashes
In 1928-29, a star-studded England side ably led by Percy Chapman and containing the likes of Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hammond, Hendren, Larwood, Tate and Jardine overwhelmed an Australian side going through a period of transition (a certain Donald Bradman made his test match bow in this series) by four matches to one.
Then in 1954-55, Len Hutton's England side recovered from a heavy defeat in the first test at Brisbane to win the series 3-1, with Frank 'Typhoon' Tyson propelling them to victory with some fearsome fast bowling. Fast forward over 20 years to 1978-79, where an Australian side decimated by defections to World Series Cricket were hammered 5-1 by Mike Brearley's England.
Finally, in 1986-87, Mike Gatting captained an England side that was tagged as the team that 'can't bat, can't bowl and can't field' before the series to a 2-1 series victory with Chris Broad hitting three hundreds and with Botham and Gower also to the fore.
Since then of course, Australia have dominated, winning the subsequent series' by margins of 3-0, 3-1, 3-1, 4-1 and infamously 5-0 four years ago.
Regaining the Ashes
It's not as if England have been any better at regaining the Ashes on Australian soil. Again, they have only done this four times since 1900. In 1903-04, Pelham Warner's side won an exciting contest by three matches to two. Johnny Douglas repeated the trick eight years later when his England team triumphed 4-1.
After losing to a Bradman inspired Australian side at home in 1930, Douglas Jardine masterminded an immediate return of the little urn into English hands in the 1932/33 series - arguably the most infamous test series of them all. History should remember however that the runs of Hammond, Sutcliffe and Paynter amongst others were just as decisive as the venomous fast bowling of Larwood, Voce and Allen.
The last time that England regained the Ashes down under was in the elongated seven match series of 1970/71 when Raymond Illingworth's side triumphed by two tests to nil in another series marred with bad feeling and controversy.
Can England do it again in 2010/11?
History may be against them but this settled and talented side has the best chance of any England team of the last twenty years of returning to Heathrow Airport with the Ashes in their possession. And one possible omen in Strauss' favour is that Brearley and Gatting, the last two England captains to return triumphant also played county cricket for Middlesex - albeit more often.
If either side loses the first two tests at Brisbane and Adelaide then they can pretty much write off their hopes of winning the series. That is because only once in Ashes history (and indeed test history), has a side ever come back from two-nil down to win a five test series.
And that side contained (and was led by) one Donald George Bradman - the greatest batsmen (and perhaps cricketer) of them all. At number 90 in our Ashes 100-1 countdown, we take a brief look at the series in question - the 1936/37 series in Australia, where the England side was captained by Gubby Allen.
1st Test - Brisbane: England won by 322 runs
In the run-up to the test series, Allen's side were not given much of a chance of regaining the Ashes. Results in warm-up matches had been poor, they were playing in Australian conditions and their hosts had Bradman newly installed at the helm of a fine side. But a combination of shrewd selection, winning the toss, good cricket and rain later in the match saw England record a big victory. Leyland's century formed the basis of England's 1st innings of 358 before Voce inspired an Australian collapse to earn England a 124 run lead, despite an even hundred from Fingleton. A battling 68 from Allen meant that Australia needed an unlikely 381 to win. This task became impossible when an overnight thunderstorm meant Australia had to bat on a sticky dog. They duly subsided for 58 in less than 13 overs with Voce ending up with match figures of 10 for 57.
2nd Test - Sydney: England won by an innings and 22 runs
Allen's luck with the toss continued and England closed on a rain interrupted day two on 426 for six with Hammond unbeaten on 231. Then heavy overnight rain led to Allen declaring, even though this was a timeless test. This proved a shrewd move as once again the Australians were caught on a wet pitch and were unceremoniously bundled out for 80 - Bradman making a duck. The Australian captain did better in the 2nd innings making 82 after Allen enforced the follow-on. McCabe also did well, hitting 93 but when he was sixth man out on 318 the end followed soon after as Australia lost their last five wickets for six runs. A jubilant England were now 2-0 up in the series and had one hand on the urn.
3rd Test - Melbourne: Australia won by 365 runs
This test started on New Year's Day and it was certainly a case of out with the old and in with the new as Australia made four changes to their side. This time Bradman won the toss and again the weather over the five days made this crucial. On a rain-affected first Day, England restricted Australia to 181 for six, but more heavy overnight rain made the uncovered pitch a minefield when the second day's play finally began after lunch. Bradman declared the Australian innings at 200 for nine in order that his bowlers could take advantage. They did this with aplomb as England crashed to 76 for nine, when Allen also declared. Bradman countered by sending in his tail-enders first and when batting conditions improved on day 3, he was ready to make hay. This he did with inimitable style adding 346 for the sixth wicket with Fingleton (136). By the time Bradman was the ninth man out he had made a colossal 270 and England were doomed. Set 689 to win they made 323 with a brave undefeated 111 from Leyland. Australia were back in the series and Bradman was back in form.
Jack Fingleton (left) with Don Bradman
4th Test - Adelaide: Australia won by 148 runs
Bradman won the toss for the second match in a row, but this time it didn't look like it would be crucial when England were sitting comfortably at 259 for four in reply to Australia's 1st innings of 288. But the loss of Barnett (129) started a slide, which led to England succumbing for 330 and only a small lead of 42. This proved small fry to Bradman as he hit his second successive double century to put Australia in the ascendancy and set England 392 to win. Despite reaching 148 for three with Hammond looking good, Fleetwood-Smith (six for 110) made use of the fifth day wicket to spin Australia to victory. Parity had been restored.
5th Test - Melbourne: Australia won by an innings and 200 runs
A third successive toss for Bradman meant that the result was never in doubt from the start. Once again Bradman led from the front with 169 and centuries also from McCabe and Baldock enabled Australia to make 604 - their then highest total on home soil. England reached 184 for four by the end of the third day, so they were already up against it. The thunderstorms that came that night made a difficult task impossible and fourteen English wickets fell the next day as O'Reilly (match figures of eight for 109) exploited the conditions. The last rites were read on the morning of the fifth day and Australia had completed an unlikely comeback.
Believe it or not but today marks the 100 day countdown to the start of the first Ashes test at Brisbane on 25th November. We're quite excited by that at the Reverse Sweep, so today also sees the launch of our new Ashes 100-1 feature.
Every day between now and the eve of the Gabba test, there will be an Ashes related post that provides a statistic, observation, memory or maybe even a witticism on the greatest contest in cricket.
As today is day number 100, it seems appropriate that this post is dedicated to the list of batsmen who have scored the most hundreds in Ashes contests. 31 batsmen have scored at least five centuries in tests between Australia and England and not surprisingly, several illustrious cricketers are included within their number. The list is headed of course, by one D.G.Bradman:
Player
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
100
50
DG Bradman (Aus)
37
63
7
5028
334
89.78
19
12
JB Hobbs (Eng)
41
71
4
3636
187
54.26
12
15
SR Waugh (Aus)
45
72
18
3173
177*
58.75
10
14
DI Gower (Eng)
38
69
3
3037
215
46.01
9
11
WR Hammond (Eng)
33
58
3
2852
251
51.85
9
7
GS Chappell (Aus)
30
55
6
2154
144
43.95
8
10
AR Morris (Aus)
24
43
2
2080
206
50.73
8
8
RT Ponting (Aus)
31
50
1
2363
196
48.22
8
8
H Sutcliffe (Eng)
27
46
5
2741
194
66.85
8
16
AR Border (Aus)
42
73
15
3222
200*
55.55
7
19
JH Edrich (Eng)
32
57
3
2644
175
48.96
7
13
WM Lawry (Aus)
29
51
5
2233
166
48.54
7
13
M Leyland (Eng)
20
34
4
1705
187
56.83
7
3
MJ Slater (Aus)
20
37
0
1669
176
45.10
7
4
DC Boon (Aus)
30
55
7
2041
164*
42.52
6
8
G Boycott (Eng)
34
63
7
2579
191
46.05
6
12
RN Harvey (Aus)
37
68
5
2416
167
38.34
6
12
MA Taylor (Aus)
33
61
2
2496
219
42.30
6
15
VT Trumper (Aus)
40
74
5
2263
185*
32.79
6
9
ME Waugh (Aus)
29
51
7
2204
140
50.09
6
11
WM Woodfull (Aus)
25
41
3
1675
155
44.07
6
8
KF Barrington (Eng)
23
39
6
2111
256
63.96
5
13
DCS Compton (Eng)
28
51
8
1842
184
42.83
5
9
MC Cowdrey (Eng)
43
75
4
2433
113
34.26
5
11
ML Hayden (Aus)
20
35
3
1461
197
45.65
5
2
L Hutton (Eng)
27
49
6
2428
364
56.46
5
14
Hon.FS Jackson (Eng)
20
33
4
1415
144*
48.79
5
6
JL Langer (Aus)
21
38
5
1658
250
50.24
5
5
CG Macartney (Aus)
26
42
4
1640
170
43.15
5
7
AC MacLaren (Eng)
35
61
4
1931
140
33.87
5
8
WH Ponsford (Aus)
20
35
2
1558
266
47.21
5
5
If Ricky Ponting scores at least one hundred in the series, he will join a truly historic group of six players who have scored nine or more Ashes centuries: the greatest batsmen ever, England's two best batsmen of all-time and arguably their most stylish plus one of the most competitive cricketers there has ever been. That's quite a group - a bit like Lennon, Strummer, Hendrix, Moon and Morrison taking to the main stage at Heaven's equivalent of Glastonbury.
Last year we wrote a post for World Cricket Watch, where we named our top 20 batsmen of all time. As we explained a couple of days ago, now seems a good time to revisit this. Firstly, so we can extend the list this time to 30. But secondly, because we are prepared to admit that we erred somewhat last time in placing Sachin Tendulkar behind Ricky Ponting in the all-time batting pantheon. Given that the Ashes were on at the time, we must have done it out of fear that Ponting would inspire his side to retain the little urn.
Today, in the final part we count down from 10 to 1. At this point we should add, that this exercise was just as difficult as it was last year when we wrote a similar piece for World Cricket Watch. This time, despite extending the list to 30 names, there was still no place for the likes of Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Abbas, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Frank Woolley, CB Fry, Neil Harvey, Kumar Sangakkara, Martin Crowe, Geoff Boycott, David Gower, Ted Dexter, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, or Aravinda da Silva. Next time, we might have to go for a top 50!
If you missed our earlier posts on this subject, please check out the batsmen who filled numbers 30-21 and 20-11.
10. Victor Trumper(Australia) – 48 Tests, 8 100s, 13 50s, Average 39.04, HS 214* - Widely acknowledged as the best Australian batsman before Bradman, Trumper was both stylish and versatile with a penchant for playing match-winning innings on treacherous wet wickets. After scoring 135 not out against England at Lord’s in 1899, Grace gifted Trumper his own bat with the inscription "From the present champion to the future champion."
9.Brian Lara(West Indies) – 131 Tests, 34 100s, 48 50s, Average 52.88, HS 400* - The man with the highest Test and First Class scores of 400 not out and 501 not out respectively, Lara is the fourth of six West Indians on the list. When he started his career, West Indian dominance was on the wane.By the time he finished it, his side was in the doldrums and as a result he spent most of his time trying to keep the West Indies afloat making his record even more impressive. Perhaps his best achievement was in 1999 in the home series against Australia, when he single-handedly won the second and third tests with scores of 213 and 153 not out after his side had been obliterated in the first test.He scored a century too in the fourth and final test, but couldn’t prevent Australia squaring the series.
8.Sachin Tendulkar(India) – 166* Tests, 47 100s, 54 50s, Average 55.56, HS 248* - The Little Master’ holds a number of prestigious Test batting records including most runs and most centuries; and he hasn’t finished yet with four hundreds in his last four tests. Other than Hobbs, Tendulkar is the only player to score ten centuries or more against Australia. Many (certainly a billion Indians) would have him higher on this list – certainly Wisden ranked him behind only Bradman as the second greatest batsman of all time in 2002.
7.George Headley(West Indies) – 22 Tests, 10 100s, 5 50s, Average 60.83, HS 270* - Like Brian Lara over 60 years later, Headley had to keep a struggling side afloat. He managed this scoring a staggering ten centuries in his 22 Tests with his scoring feats leading to him being dubbed the ‘Black Bradman’. Headley was noted for his phenomenal back foot play and the time he seemed to have to play the ball, with such a shrewd judge as Len Hutton declaring that he had never seen a batsman play the ball later.
6. William ‘W.G’ Grace(England) – 22 Tests, 2 100s, 5 50s, Average 32.29, HS 170 - Until Bradman, Grace was regarded as the greatest cricket player ever and was certainly one of the most competitive. Over the course of a 44 year career, he transcended the sport and in the words of John Arlott “created modern cricket”. Amongst other nicknames, Grace was known as “the Champion” and one of his contemporaries and fellow all-time great batsmen Ranjitsinhji said of him in the Jubilee Book of Cricket “I hold him to be not only the finest player born or unborn, but the maker of modern batting”.
5.Vivian Richards(West Indies) – 121 Tests, 24 100s, 45 50s, Average 50.23, HS 291- Regarded by cricket aficionados as probably the most devastating batsman in the history of the game, King Viv was absolutely unstoppable on his day. His style was a mixture of swagger and intimidation and most bowlers seemed to visibly cower when faced with an on-song Richards. It is befitting that he is the scorer of the fastest-ever Test century, from just 56 balls against England in his home island of Antigua during the 1986 tour.
4.Jack Hobbs(England) – 61 Tests, 15 100s, 28 50s, Average 56.94, HS 211 - Popularly referred to as ‘The Master’, Hobbs scored more runs (61,760) and more centuries (199) than anyone else in the history of the sport – and but for the Great War these figures could have been more spectacular still. His opening partnership with Herbert Sutcliffe is considered to be the best England and maybe the game has seen. Hobbs made his first class debut against a side captained by W.G.Grace who presciently observed that "He's goin' to be a good'un". Even the learned Doctor could not have realised how ‘good’ Hobbs would become.
3.Walter Hammond(England)– 85 Tests, 22 100s, 24 50s, Average 58.45, HS 336* - Throughout his career, Hammond was often compared to Bradman, which is testament to what a great player he was, and he was included in the Don’s all-time XI. His seven Test double centuries has only been surpassed by Bradman and Brian Lara, and Hammond certainly had an ability to get big scores. His most notable series came on the tour of Australia in 1928-29 when he scored an incredible 905 runs at 113.12 in the five Tests. This has only been surpassed once – by Bradman, of course.
2. Garfield Sobers(West Indies) – 93 Tests, 26 100s, 30 50s, Average 57.78, HS 365* - Widely regarded as Cricket’s greatest all-rounder, Sobers was so good with the bat that he also ranks behind only the immortal Bradman on this list. Sobers mixed elegance with power and for a long time held the record for the highest Test score until he was usurped by his fellow West Indian Brian Lara. Perhaps his best innings though came for the Rest of the World against Australia in 1972 when Sobers played an innings of 254 which was described by Bradman as "probably the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia".
1.Donald Bradman(Australia) – 52 Tests, 29 100s, 13 50s, Average 99.94, HS 334 - Who else? No self-respecting list of the greatest batsmen ever could have anyone else at its head. Has anyone dominated their sport as much as Bradman? It almost defies belief that his average of 99.94 is almost 40 runs higher than the second best for 20 completed innings (Graeme Pollock at 60.97). Of his many staggering batting feats, here are three examples. First, his consecutive triple centuries at Headingley in the Ashes tests of 1930 and 1934. Second, his 974 runs in five tests during the 1930 Ashes series in England including three double centuries – both records. Finally, his second innings knock of 270 during the Third Test at Melbourne during the Ashes series of 1936/37, which was rated by Wisden as the best test match innings of all time in 2001. It enabled Australia, who were two down in the series, to win the match and they duly completed a remarkable turnaround by winning the fourth (Bradman making 212) and fifth (Bradman, 169) tests – still the only time a team has come back from two down to win a test match rubber, and Bradman was the captain of course.
Continuing from Part 1 yesterday, which counted down the best batsmen from 20-11, here are numbers 10-1 in reverse order, with an additional comment at the end for those Test countries not represented in my list:
10. Victor Trumper (Australia) – 48 Tests, 8 100s, 13 50s, Average 39.04, HS 214*
Widely acknowledged as the best Australian batsman before Bradman, Trumper was both stylish and versatile with a penchant for playing match-winning innings on treacherous wet wickets. After scoring 135 not out against England at Lord’s in 1899, Grace gifted Trumper his own bat with the inscription "From the present champion to the future champion."
9. Herbert Sutcliffe (England) – 54 Tests, 16 100s, 23 50s, Average 60.73, HS 194
Sutcliffe’s name always seems to be inexplicably left on the margins when discussions as to who is the best ever English batsman. Perhaps this is because he opened the batting with Hobbs and played in the same era as Hammond. Whatever the reasons, Sutcliffe deserves recognition in his own right - the fourth highest Test match batting average of all-time for players with at least 20 innings, a fantastic record against Australia and prodigious run scoring for country and Yorkshire alike.
8. Brian Lara (West Indies) – 131 Tests, 34 100s, 48 50s, Average 52.88, HS 400*
The man with the highest Test and First Class scores of 400 not out and 501 not out respectively, Lara is the fourth of six West Indians on the list. When he started his career, West Indian dominance was on the wane. By the time he finished it, his side was in the doldrums and as a result he spent most of his time trying to keep the West Indies afloat making his record even more impressive. Perhaps his best achievement was in 1999 in the home series against Australia, when he single-handedly won the second and third tests with scores of 213 and 153 not out after his side had been obliterated in the first test. He scored a century too in the fourth and final test, but couldn’t prevent Australia squaring the series.
7. George Headley (West Indies) – 22 Tests, 10 100s, 5 50s, Average 60.83, HS 270*
Like Brian Lara over 60 years later, Headley had to keep a struggling side afloat. He managed this scoring a staggering ten centuries in his 22 Tests with his scoring feats leading to him being dubbed the ‘Black Bradman’. Headley was noted for his phenomenal back foot play and the time he seemed to have to play the ball, with such a shrewd judge as Len Hutton declaring that he had never seen a batsman play the ball later.
The outstanding batsman playing the game today, Ponting is widely acknowledged as the best Australian batsman since Bradman – high praise indeed. One of Ponting’s main strengths is his versatility in that he can score quickly, counter-attack or tough it out when the situation demands. Other strengths include his consistency and his habit of playing match winning innings.
5. Vivian Richards (West Indies) – 121 Tests, 24 100s, 45 50s, Average 50.23, HS 291
Regarded by cricket aficionados as probably the most devastating batsman in the history of the game, King Viv was absolutely unstoppable on his day. His style was a mixture of swagger and intimidation and most bowlers seemed to visibly cower when faced with an on-song Richards. It is befitting that he is the scorer of the fastest-ever Test century, from just 56 balls against England in his home island of Antigua during the 1986 tour.
4. Jack Hobbs (England) – 61 Tests, 15 100s, 28 50s, Average 56.94, HS 211
Popularly referred to as ‘The Master’, Hobbs scored more runs (61,760) and more centuries (199) than anyone else in the history of the sport – and but for the Great War these figures could have been more spectacular still. His opening partnership with Herbert Sutcliffe is considered to be the best England and maybe the game has seen. Hobbs made his first class debut against a side captained by W.G.Grace who presciently observed that "He's goin' to be a good'un". Even the learned Doctor could not have realised how ‘good’ Hobbs would become.
3. Walter Hammond (England) – 85 Tests, 22 100s, 24 50s, Average 58.45, HS 336*
Throughout his career, Hammond was often compared to Bradman, which is testament to what a great player he was, and he was included in the Don’s all-time XI. His seven Test double centuries has only been surpassed by Bradman and Brian Lara, and Hammond certainly had an ability to get big scores. His most notable series came on the tour of Australia in 1928-29 when he scored an incredible 905 runs at 113.12 in the five Tests. This has only been surpassed once – by Bradman, of course.
2. Garfield Sobers (West Indies) – 93 Tests, 26 100s, 30 50s, Average 57.78, HS 365*
Widely regarded as Cricket’s greatest all-rounder, Sobers was so good with the bat that he also ranks behind only the immortal Bradman on this list. Sobers mixed elegance with power and for a long time held the record for the highest Test score until he was usurped by his fellow West Indian Brian Lara. Perhaps his best innings though came for the Rest of the World against Australia in 1972 when Sobers played an innings of 254 which was described by Bradman as "probably the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia".
1. Donald Bradman (Australia) – 52 Tests, 29 100s, 13 50s, Average 99.94, HS 334
Who else? No self-respecting list of the greatest batsmen ever could have anyone else at its head. Has anyone dominated their sport as much as Bradman? It almost defies belief that his average of 99.94 is almost 40 runs higher than the second best for 20 completed innings (Graeme Pollock at 60.97). Of his many staggering batting feats, here are three examples. First, his consecutive triple centuries at Headingley in the Ashes tests of 1930 and 1934. Second, his 974 runs in five tests during the 1930 Ashes series in England including three double centuries – both records. Finally, his second innings knock of 270 during the Third Test at Melbourne during the Ashes series of 1936/37, which was rated by Wisden as the best test match innings of all time in 2001. It enabled Australia, who were two down in the series, to win the match and they duly completed a remarkable turnaround by winning the fourth (Bradman making 212) and fifth (Bradman, 169) tests – still the only time a team has come back from two down to win a test match rubber, and Bradman was the captain of course.
So, there we have it. Six West Indians, six who represented England, four Australians, two Indians and one each from South Africa and Pakistan. Obviously, a number of great players failed to make the cut and as I said yesterday it was an agonising process to get down to the final 20. Indians, South Africans and Pakistanis may feel aggrieved that their nations do not have a higher representation. Rest assured that Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Dudley Nourse, Barry Richards (ruled out by the virtue of having only played four tests), Zaheer Abbas and Inzamam-ul-Haq were all there or thereabouts.
From England, no place could be found for Denis Compton, Ken Barrington, Peter May, Ted Dexter or David Gower. On the other side of the World in Australia, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Neil Harvey, Stan McCabe and Adam Gilchrist all failed to make the cut. And those swashbuckling West Indians Frank Worrell, Gordon Greenidge and Clive Lloyd also deserve a mention.
For those countries not represented, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Aravinda da Silva were all considered from Sri Lanka, as was Andy Flower from Zimbabwe and Martin Crowe, Martin Donnelly, Glenn Turner and Bert Sutcliffe from New Zealand. Bangladesh have yet to produce a great batsman, but undoubtedly they will as they continue to improve in the Test match arena.
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