Test Nation all time best XI - ENGLAND

[KiwiRoo]

Out of curiosity, does anyone see Alistair Cook finding a way into this list when he retires? Surely he'd have to go down as the best English batsmen of his era, given his age and record at this stage. Only other players that could come close in the last 10-15 years would be Pieterson, Vaughan, Thorpe, possibly Strauss. But I'd say none would be coming close to what Cook will achieve in his career. Thoughts?

Good point. He's still young too. Scored runs all round the world . Got a hell of a record for an opening bat.
He & Pieterson would be close in ranking, and perhaps Cook has surpassed him now

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Cook has a lot of competition up the top of the order, though. I doubt he'll make it.

 

[KiwiRoo]

Cook has a lot of competition up the top of the order, though. I doubt he'll make it.

23 hundreds with an average of 50 is a good record for someone his age !
But you're right Hutton , Hobbs Sutcliffe etc are legends of the game, but will be interesting how he ends up in 6-8 years time when his career finishes

 

[The_Reaper]

Cook could well overtake Tendulkar in runs and centuries though.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Stats don't mean everything.

 

[Marshland]

Bit hilarious if we have to go back to the beginning of time to find out who the Poms' best crickters are.

 

[Wallaby]

Bit hilarious if we have to go back to the beginning of time to find out who the Poms' best crickters are.

Why? Some of Australia's best cricketers of all time come from the beginning of Test Cricket. Spofforth, Murdoch and Blackham are rightfully legends and some of Australia's greatest ever cricketers and were playing in the 1870s.
Spofforth took more wickets per test than either Lillee or Mcgrath and at a lower average. And he only played against the best opponont - England. No boosting his stats with bunnies.
Murdoch was rated the only batsman in the world worthy of comparison with WG Grace.

 

[TNTre]

23 hundreds with an average of 50 is a good record for someone his age !
But you're right Hutton , Hobbs Sutcliffe etc are legends of the game, but will be interesting how he ends up in 6-8 years time when his career finishes

Absolutely. At this stage I wouldn't say he'd be all time XI, but given time, and if his career keeps going the way it is, he could well be very highly regarded in the XI.

Personally, I seem him being the first English batsmen to 10,000, and quite possibly England's most successful captain. However, to be able to knock out one of Hobbs, Hutton or Hammond of the XI would be a stretch.

Interesting to see that Pieterson made Englands all time XI on the cricinfo.com. Make of that what you will.

 

[KiwiRoo]

Absolutely. At this stage I wouldn't say he'd be all time XI, but given time, and if his career keeps going the way it is, he could well be very highly regarded in the XI.

Personally, I seem him being the first English batsmen to 10,000, and quite possibly England's most successful captain. However, to be able to knock out one of Hobbs, Hutton or Hammond of the XI would be a stretch.

Interesting to see that Pieterson made Englands all time XI on the cricinfo.com. Make of that what you will.

Pietersen is an amazing batsman with a good record..His last 2-3 years havent been as good . But I can understand how they rate him highly.

 

[TNTre]

Pietersen is an amazing batsman with a good record..His last 2-3 years havent been as good . But I can understand how they rate him highly.

The problem with KP is that it's easy to allow his personality to cloud his ability. At his best, he's a phenomenal batsmen, who can change the course of a game in a session. Given the choice, who would you prefer in an XI if you had to choose between Cook or KP?

 

[Carbine Chaos]

The problem with KP is that it's easy to allow his personality to cloud his ability. At his best, he's a phenomenal batsmen, who can change the course of a game in a session. Given the choice, who would you prefer in an XI if you had to choose between Cook or KP?

Depends on the makeup of the other 10 players.