Sir Jack Hobbs
Sir Leonard Hutton
Sir Donald Bradman*
Sir I.V.A. Richards^
Sachin Tendulkar
Sir Garfield Sobers(5)^
Adam Gilchrist+
Imran Khan(3)
Malcolm Marshall(1)
Shane Warne(4)^
Glenn McGrath(2)
Seven of the players are automatic selections but can easily replace McGrath and Imran by Lillee and Barnes and Tendulkar has his rivals as well.
As it stands the team has good batting depth with batting to NO. 10, three great slip fielders and the greatest most versatile 5th bowler of the all.
Jack Hobbs is the greatest opening batsman of all time who mastered sticky wickets and was the original Master.
Len Hutton broke Bradman's highest score record at 22 with the great man in the offside while facing Tiger O'Reilly. He suffered a horrendous injury during the war which left him with one hand shorter than the next and still went on to be the best post war batsman before Sobers who dominated some of the best bowling tandems in history including Lindwall and Miller and Ramadin and Valentine in their pomp. He was England's first professional captain and a good one at that.
Bradman was the greatest batsman of all time who capitalized batter than anyone of a perfect storm and demonstrated unparalleled consistently and a thirst for runs and big scores. His average of 99.94 will never be approached far less surpassed. He was an astute captain and captained one of the greatest teams of all time. When Wisden choose their 5 Cricketers of the century his was the only unanimous selection.
Viv Richards was the most destructive batsman of all time who faced some of the greatest bowlers of all time in the original bowlers era of the 70's. At his very best he challenges Bradman for the greatest batsman of all time and he was the best fielder of his era and a great slip fielder and successful captain as well.
Sachin Tendulkar holds every major career batting record in the game and exhibited perfect technique and temperament for his career and in this team acts as a buffer between the carnage above and below him to provide stability. He edges out Lara, Headley and Chappel for this spot due to his sheer weight of numbers and consistency.
Sobers is the greatest cricketer to have played the game. A undisputed top 5 if not top 3 batsman who was a superb fielder everywhere especially in the slips and in close to spinners and arguably the best all round fielder ever. He was the best and most versatile 5th bowler in history who played the role of spearhead and stop bowler with first pace then spin in a weak attack and the perfect compliment to Hall and Griffith in later years. He bowler both conventional and over the hand wrist spin and was a brisk and efficient fast medium bowler who could swing the ball back in to right handers. As a batsman he was the best of his time, a batsman who often took attacks apart whose best test innings was against a rampaging Lillee at the peak of his powers in a game whose test status was later rescinded. Bradman himself called it the best innings he had witnessed on Australian soil. He could and did beat opponents all three aspects of the game.
Gilchrist changed his position and was the catalyst in one of the greatest teams of all time. He was a superb under rated keeper who had one of the most difficult jobs in cricket in keeping to Warne and he accomplished it with distinction as a batsman he was almost a latter day Viv who destroyed bowling attacks from his number 7 position often broke the backs of teams with his runs. He excelled in front of and behind the wickets.
Imran along with Hadlee are the best bowling all rounders of all time. Imran was better with the old ball and the bowler who perfected reverse swing. He was especially deadly on his home pitches. After his injury he became an even better batsman and until the end of his career averaged 50 with the bat. He was an inspirational captain for Pakistan whose will guided his team through his era.
Malcolm Marshall statistically and anecdotally was the greatest bowler to have played the game. Marshall had all of the tools and knew how and when to use them. He was genuine express with a deadly skiddy bouncer, could swing the ball both ways at pace and learned the cutter from Lillee. Despite the declining skills of Richards, Holdings frequent injuries and retirements he took the W.I. from an ATG team to the best in history, he never lost a test series and as an opening bowler only lost 4 Tests. He excelled on pitches designed to neutralize him, he was adaptable. His numbers show this, an average below 21, s/r of 47 and WPM of over 4.5. He excelled at home and away and was a genuine match winner with a brilliant cricket brain and had a knack for picking up and exploiting batsmen's weaknesses. He was also a very good no. 8 batsman who good when required and was seen as an allrounder and he definitely had the ability if not the consistent application.
Warne was a magician and outside of his struggles in India excelled everywhere. He was one of the big four who made Australia one of the two greatest teams in test cricket and was seen as the primary match winner. Lara said he was the greatest and toughest bowler he ever faced because of his mental toughness and brilliant cricketing mind. His variety of deliveries were subtle and devastating and his match winning spells were countless. He was named, along with Bradman, Sobers, Hobbs and Richards the 5 Wisden cricketers of the century and tha5 in itself speaks volumes. He dominated the biggest and oldest cricket contest and his very first Ashes delivery set the tone for his role in that rivalry. He was probably Australia's greatest test captain they never had and with his efforts on and off the field he captivated the sport for the era. He was a useful and skilled no. 8 batsman and a great slip fielder.
Glenn McGrath like Tendulkar holds every major lo careen record for fast bowlers and by sheer weight of numbers commands a place on this team. He along with Warne bowled Australia to victories and a spot as one if the very greatest test teams in history and he did it with unerring accurately and subtle seam movement. He consistent and a metronome who got results, he didn't wow like Akram but he was better and more effective. He didn't excite like Lillee but proved himself everywhere and in a more difficult era and that's how he edged him despite having less tools at his disposal.
