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[alba caerulea]

Sunil Gavaskar
Barry Richards
Jacques Kallis
Sir Vivian Richards
Graeme Pollock
Steve Waugh (c)
Sir Garfield Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Sir Ian Botham
Shane Warne
Michael Holding

Sub fielder - Gary Pratt

There is my team, different to others but I think the attack has everything and my tail starts at 11. In Asian spin-friendly conditions Botham or Sobers would make way for a 2nd spinner, stats suggest Murali but i'm unsure who I would pick

Also - a night out with Warne, Sobers and Botham after (or during) a match would be as much an experience as watching them play

[97notout]

Some great names banded about, I'm going for,

Greenidge,
Gavasker,
Barry Richards,
Sir Viv Richards,
Tendulker,
Sir Ian Botham (c)
Alan Knott,
Lillee,
Warne,
Underwood,
Jon Snow

Okay Bothams stint as captain wasn't the greatest but I reckon he could get the best out of what I've put around him and my hero Alan Knott simply because he is Alan Knott

[Manormanic]

Could one of you explain how you can seriously pick Botham?  Maybe for an England side, but a World XI?

[alba caerulea]

Could one of you explain how you can seriously pick Botham?  Maybe for an England side, but a World XI?

Swing bowling all-rounder who can field at slip, English bias perhaps but there you go.

If you want to pick through each others teams shall I name you 30 openers that I would pick before Boycott?   

[Manormanic]

Swing bowling all-rounder who can field at slip, English bias perhaps but there you go.

If you want to pick through each others teams shall I name you 30 openers that I would pick before Boycott?   

I doubt you could get to 30 - if I were being serious I'd only be certain of three (Barry Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Desmond Haynes)...

And none of the candidates are so clearly ahead of him as Hadlee, Imran, Keith Miller, Alan Davidson and MAlcolm Marshall are ahead of Beefy!

[Manormanic]

In defense of Sir Geoffrey, who seems to have got a few backs up.  This is his Test record:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/9187.html?class=1;template=results;type=allround;view=series

8000 runs at better than 47 in a time spanning uncovered pitches and some of teh greatest bowling attacks in the history of the game is a superb effort, especially when you bear in mind that there was no Zimbabwe or Bangladesh for him to pad his average out against (nor a 90s England side for that matter!)  Now, obviously another main candidate is Barry Richards, and it is difficult to compare stats because of South Africa's exclusion from the international game.  Of the others, Gavaskar avaergaed nearly four runs better, but as you can see played mainly of featherbed Indian pitches:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/9187.html?class=1;template=results;type=allround;view=series

Who else?  Because if you look for comparable statistics from a post war opener, there are not many - Smith, Cook, Hayden and Sehwag to be precise.  All of whom playedf on Chief Executive pitches against lesser bowling and padded their averages to their proverbial hearts content...

[alba caerulea]

I doubt you could get to 30 - if I were being serious I'd only be certain of three (Barry Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Desmond Haynes)...

I would say that Botham would be in more peoples World/England elevens than Boycott (outside of Yorkshire). End of debate really

Imagine 'Boycotts Ashes' - Geoffrey winning the toss and batting for 4 days for 250* from 2000 balls, running out all of his team-mates except the number 11, which was his mother (she made 50 with a stick of Rhubarb)

[tushar sehgal]

No Dravid or Kallis anywhere? although I see there are a lot of big names already there while others are missing....

[alba caerulea]

No Dravid or Kallis anywhere? although I see there are a lot of big names already there while others are missing....

I had Kallis Tush! And it was out of him and Dravid for my number 3 spot

[RightArmRapid]

Sunil Gavaskar
Barry Richards
Jacques Kallis
Sir Vivian Richards
Graeme Pollock
Steve Waugh (c)
Sir Garfield Sobers
Adam Gilchrist
Sir Ian Botham
Shane Warne
Michael Holding

Sub fielder - Gary Pratt

There is my team, different to others but I think the attack has everything and my tail starts at 11. In Asian spin-friendly conditions Botham or Sobers would make way for a 2nd spinner, stats suggest Murali but i'm unsure who I would pick

Also - a night out with Warne, Sobers and Botham after (or during) a match would be as much an experience as watching them play

Sobers was supposedly a very very competant spinner.

[Manormanic]

I would say that Botham would be in more peoples World/England elevens than Boycott (outside of Yorkshire). End of debate really

I don't think that many - any - informaed commentators have ever picked him for a world XI.  Boycott is undoubtedly a controversial choice, and as I said earlier onemade with tounge approaching cheek, but he has a beter case to be there than does his fellow Knight of the Realm...

[Manormanic]

Sobers was supposedly a very very competant spinner.

better than just competant, he was a genuine front line option and bowled both conventional SLA and chinamen!

[alba caerulea]

Sobers was supposedly a very very competant spinner.

Yep both of left arm orthodox and chinamen

Would want another genuine spinner in there though I think, 4 seam up options is too many for those conditions

[trypewriter]

Sobers could bowl at a very lively pace too!

[trypewriter]

Could one of you explain how you can seriously pick Botham?  Maybe for an England side, but a World XI?

I think, like Gilchrist, Botham was one of those players who could take a game away from the opposition.