The Wisden book of Test Cricket says it's "usually considered to be the strongest batting side ever to represent England" (my italics); I don't know that it could be called a strong bowling side (compared to, say, Statham, Trueman, Bailey, Laker, Lock), even if they did get Australia out for 36.
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Strongest Xl that actually played together...
- Thread starter Slifer
- Start date
a massive zebra
International Captain
Well I also don't think it could be considered a strong batting side in comparison to the 1928/29 one I posted earlier. Let's take a look at the top 7:
Hobbs >> MacLaren,
Sutcliffe >> Fry,
Hammond >= Ranjitsinhji,
Hendren = Jackson,
Mead > J Tyldesley,
Jardine >> Lilley (wk)
Chapman >= Hirst
Absolutely no comparison there, IMO. It's probably fair to say the 1902 side has a stronger tail, but Tate at 8 and Larwood at 9 is hardly weak, and this certainly doesn't make up for the huge disparity in the top 7.
Hobbs >> MacLaren,
Sutcliffe >> Fry,
Hammond >= Ranjitsinhji,
Hendren = Jackson,
Mead > J Tyldesley,
Jardine >> Lilley (wk)
Chapman >= Hirst
Absolutely no comparison there, IMO. It's probably fair to say the 1902 side has a stronger tail, but Tate at 8 and Larwood at 9 is hardly weak, and this certainly doesn't make up for the huge disparity in the top 7.
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What would you consider the best team of 1928/29 that England put out, is the total team better than the 1902 one.
I reckon a match between both teams would be a classic, not sure who would win. Probably the 1902 one, LOL
a massive zebra
International Captain
I think this is the strongest batting lineup:
AUS vs ENG Cricket Scorecard, 1st Test at Brisbane, November 30 - December 05, 1928
Get cricket scorecard of 1st Test, AUS vs ENG, England tour of Australia 1928/29 at Exhibition Ground, Brisbane dated November 30 - December 05, 1928.
www.espncricinfo.com
Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Mead
Hammond 4
Jardine
Hendren
Chapman*
Tate 2
Larwood 1
White 3
Duckworth+
Perhaps not the best overall team on paper as it has only three frontline bowlers, but that didn't seem to matter because Australia made less than 200 runs in the match and lost by 675 runs!
This might be the best all round side of the series, with four frontline bowlers and a powerhouse batting lineup:
Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Hammond 5
Jardine
Hendren
Chapman*
Larwood 1
Geary 3
Tate 2
Duckworth+
White 4
AUS vs ENG Cricket Scorecard, 2nd Test at Sydney, December 14 - 20, 1928
Get cricket scorecard of 2nd Test, AUS vs ENG, England tour of Australia 1928/29 at Sydney Cricket Ground dated December 14 - 20, 1928.
www.espncricinfo.com
I think the 1902 side would struggle to bowl the 1928-29 side out twice, so the best they could realistically hope for would be a draw imo.
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The keeper batted 11 and averaged under 15 in test and fc cricket. Can’t believe that. Amazing how things have changed. This type of keeper wouldn’t have a chance of making a fc careeer now, let alone playing test cricket. Didn’t realise there was ever a keeper that batted 11 in tests both innings. Looks like they moved him around a bit, but mostly 10 or 11.England
Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Hammond
Hendren
Mead
Jardine
Chapman*
Tate
Larwood
White
Duckworth+
AUS vs ENG Cricket Scorecard, 1st Test at Brisbane, November 30 - December 05, 1928
Get cricket scorecard of 1st Test, AUS vs ENG, England tour of Australia 1928/29 at Exhibition Ground, Brisbane dated November 30 - December 05, 1928.
Could probably be improved by replacing Percy Chapman with Tich Freeman and making Jardine captain, but that batting lineup is very possibly the best ever fielded.
a massive zebra
International Captain
Duckworth wasn't even the worst batsman amongst England wicket keepers in the 1920s! Bert Strudwick played 28 Tests for England as wicket keeper, averaging 7!
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That’s funny. Fc average not much more. Didn’t realise someone like Bert Strudwick existed. The assumption is these type of players must have been flawless keepers.
a massive zebra
International Captain
Yes, back in those days, wicket keepers were selected almost exclusively on keeping ability. Batting generally only came into consideration as a tie breaker, or if a keeper was good enough to get in the side for their batting alone. Even as late as the 1970s and early 1980s, a few specialist wicket keepers enjoyed successful Test careers. For instance, England's Bob Taylor played 57 Tests averaging 16 and Pakiatan's Wasim Bari played 81 tests averaging 15.
Suppose we can’t have a clue who the best specialist wicketkeepers are even more than I realised. I now wonder if there’s a fc keeper that averaged something ridiculous like 4 or less from that era.
If they'd picked Woolley (there were some who thought he should have been picked for this tour) instead of Jardine/Chapman, they'd have had 6 of the 7 men who scored 50,000 FC runs in their careers.
a massive zebra
International Captain
The lowest average I can find for a wicket keeper across a long first class career is 7 by Nottinghamshire's late 19th century player Mordecai Sherwin. Somerset had a keeper called Seymour Clarke who played a few matches for them in 1930 and didn't score a run all season. Here is his story.
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Red
The normal awards that everyone else has
Bowling attack pretty weak
Slifer
International Captain
Looking back I think the WI team that won 2-0 down under in 1979-80 was actually stronger than the team i originally posted:
Greenidge
Haynes
Viv
Kallicharan
Rowe
Lloyd*
Murray+
Roberts
Garner
Holding
Croft