I'll float one:
1, Jack Hobbs - Quite possibly the finest opening batsman of all time. Pretty hard to argue that he wasn't the top batsman in the world between 1909 and 1926. A certain choice
2. Len Hutton - Probably having a greater range of strokes than Herbert Sutcliffe gets him in.
3. W.G.Grace - If Test cricket had started a few years earlier this would not even be a question IMO. Most pictures portray the latter WG when he had put on massive amounts of weight but for the early years of Test cricket, when he was still very athletic, he's likely have been the first name down for any Test XI. I'll take that WG.
4. Walter Hammond: Capable of destroying any bowler on his day, did have inconsistent periods. Excellent extra bowler and outstanding fielder anywhere.
5. Maurice Leyland: Need a left hander and he has a fine Test record. A good man to stop a collapse or go on the attack.
6. Ian Botham: Obvious choice. All rounder as capable as anyone in history of turning a game. Could do it with bat or ball. How many of his great performances turned or won Test matches?
7. Wilfred Rhodes: Another obvious choice. Probably among the 4 best SLA bowlers ever (Blythe and Verity would be two of the other 3) - maybe best of all. Also good enough to open the batting in Tests and do well.
8. Alan Knott: Personally Bob Taylor just shades him as the best keeper I've seen but historians certainly rate him up there - and his batting secures the spot.
9. Derek Underwood: A spinner of a different kind. Capable of slowing down the scoring of the finest players on a flat pitch and if their was much help would frequently run through a side. If I decided on an off spinner I wouldn't look past Swann. For another seam bowler either Tate or, a late runner, Anderson.
10. Sydney Barnes: Enough good judges attest to his high quality, even in the latter years of his career, that there is little doubt in my mind how good he was. A fast medium, front of the hand, spin bowler who turned it both ways and possibly 'read' a batsman as well as anyone.
11. Tom Richardson: A left field pick. I don't buy Trueman's self publicity - he also played at a pretty weak period of Test cricket. Larwood doesn't have a great sample size to go on although the Bodyline series (on generally flat pitches) stands with the work of anyone. Richardson, for 7 or 8 seasons (including overseas tours) has an incredible wicket taking record. Capable of bowling at great pace for long periods and getting good batsman out, even on very flat pitches.
2nd XI:
Sutcliffe
Cook
Compton
Barrington
Thorpe
Flintoff
Evans
Tate
Swann
Verity
Larwood
Hoping Evans is in form because there's a bit of a tail - although they can all make runs. Cook gets in because of the mountains he scores when in nick. Swann did his bowling in the era of covered pitches (most of Laker's notable spells came on rain damaged pitches - imagine Swann on those
).
A delightfully nuggety 4 & 5 combo, with rather different styles either side.
3rd XI:
Boycott
Gooch (Ideally have him at 3 but there's too much additional middle order talent to fit in)
Ranji
May
Gower
The Hon F.S.Jackson
Ames
Peel
Trueman
Anderson
Blythe
Due to business commitments Jackson didn't play nearly as much FC cricket, to say nothing of Test cricket as he should have done but he was clearly and outstanding player (he should have captained England when Grace stepped down according to many). He was an outstanding batsman in a crisis and clearly (but quietly) a fine bowler as well.
Peel would be in the argument for the top SLA bowlers - and a very strong batsman as well.
For the last few years Anderson has been consistently as challenging as any seamer I can recall since Hadlee.
A century stand involving Ranji and Gower would be rather fun to watch I reckon.
