Best England team, ever?

Hi everyone :O

I'm just wondering what people's best England team is, ever.
Here's my choice, write back if you disagree.

1. Geoff Boycott
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Lennard Huttton
4. Graham Gooch
5. David Gower
6. Ian Botham
7. Alan Knott
8. Jim Laker
9. Fred Trueman
10. Bob Willis
11. Derek Underwood

[marc71178]

Too many openers and not enough lower order strength there for my liking.

[age_master]

hick in for the ODI's

Cheers you two, good ideas there.

[SJS]

Hi everyone :O

I'm just wondering what people's best England team is, ever.
Here's my choice, write back if you disagree.

1. Geoff Boycott
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Lennard Huttton
4. Graham Gooch
5. David Gower
6. Ian Botham
7. Alan Knott
8. Jim Laker
9. Fred Trueman
10. Bob Willis
11. Derek Underwood

1. Replace Boycott with Hammond. (Dont need 3 openers and Hammond is perhaps Englands greatest batsman alongwith Hobbs)

2. Replace Gooch with Compton.(Again Gooch is an extra opener and Compton is an all time great with a great record)

3. Gower is a joy to watch but although I love him, he s not good enough to be in an all time England list. Any one of May, Cowdrey or Barrington could replace him. My choice would be May but Barrington would be more acceptable I suppose

4. Bob Willis is totally out of his depth here. I can suggest ten English new ball bowlers better than him but since the great Syd Barnes is missing, he is enough.

5. Underwood was a great bowler but one could consider the claims of Verity or Colin Blythe.

[Pinkline Jones]

1. Geoff Boycott
2. Nigel Tufnel
3. Colin Cowdrey
4. John Le Mesurier
5. Bishon Bedi
6. Fred Titmus
7. Stephen Georgiou
8. Ashram Intacarpel
9. Ian Bothan
10. Samantha Fox
11. Bono
12. Nikki Webster

[Pinkline Jones]

No you're wrong

Bob Willis is probably the best fast bowler of all time bar none.

[Buddhmaster]

1. Replace Boycott with Hammond. (Dont need 3 openers and Hammond is perhaps Englands greatest batsman alongwith Hobbs)

I disagree, you have to make room for Boycott in this team.

[JASON]

I disagree, you have to make room for Boycott in this team.

Why ? That would make it the most boring England Team rather than the best !!

[bryce]

I disagree, you have to make room for Boycott in this team.

aswell as his mum

[Buddhmaster]

Doesn't matter whether he's boring or not, he's still one of England's greatest players.

[C_C]

You cant replace boycott with Hammond as boycs was an opener and Hammond was 1 down or 2 down.

My team:

Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Ken Barrington
Wally Hammond
Denis Compton
Iam Botham
Alan Knott
Fred Trueman
Alec Bedser
Jim Laker
Frank Tyson

[a massive zebra]

My team:

Jack Hobbs
Len Hutton
Wally Hammond
Ken Barrington
Denis Compton
Iam Botham
Alan Knott
Fred Trueman
Alec Bedser
Jim Laker
Sydney Barnes

[SJS]

I disagree, you have to make room for Boycott in this team.

You have to see a post in context of the one it is replying. The post I was replying already had Hutton and Hobbs. Both openers (according to me and its an opinion) better than Boycott by far.

With all the changes I had suggested, my team would have read
Hobbs
Hutton
Hammond
Compton
May (or Barrington)
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
Fred Trueman
Jim Laker
Hedley Verity
Syd Barnes

[wpdavid]

You have to see a post in context of the one it is replying. The post I was replying already had Hutton and Hobbs. Both openers (according to me and its an opinion) better than Boycott by far.

With all the changes I had suggested, my team would have read
Hobbs
Hutton
Hammond
Compton
May (or Barrington)
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
Fred Trueman
Jim Laker
Hedley Verity
Syd Barnes

Pretty good. Possibly move Barrington up to 3 and toss a coin to choose between Compton & May. I always think Sutcliffe's unlucky to miss out in these sides, but it's hard to argue against Hobbs or Hutton.

I do wonder about the lower order though. I'd be tempted to pick 1978-82 vintage Botham at 7, with Knott at 8 and then 3 of your 4 bowlers depending on conditions. The sixth batsman would be whichever of May or Compton didn't get picked at 5. Plus an honourable mention for Eddie Paynter, who possibly didn't play enough tests to justify selection here.