Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated all-time England and Australia teams were those presented by The Cricketer magazine before the Centenary Test in 1977. The selectors were John Arlott, EW Swanton and David Frith, three men steeped in cricket history whose opinion counted. The teams were chosen for a five-day match with “the major considerations being team balance and intrinsic quality”, rather than statistics.
England: Grace, Hobbs, Hammond, Compton, Woolley, Ames, Tate, Larwood, Laker, Rhodes, Barnes.
At this time cricket historians still widely regarded Grace and Hobbs as the greatest English batsmen, followed by Hammond. Hutton was probably next but both opening slots were taken. Woolley's inclusion owed something to his left-handedness, all-round qualities, and the fact that he was a favourite of Swanton, who also wanted Evans as keeper but was overruled on the grounds of batting and inconsistency in county cricket.
Rhodes' mid-career batting was ignored. He was picked solely as the best slow left-armer in all conditions. That left a longish tail although Tate had been an all-rounder in county cricket, which selectors still took seriously.
Australia: Trumper, Simpson, Bradman, Macartney, Harvey, Miller, Oldfield, Lindwall, Trumble, Lillee, O'Reilly.
Simpson was preferred to Ponsford against the fastest bowling (both were actually more comfortable against spin). Greg Chappell was next middle order batsman in line. Trumble edged out Turner.
Thirty years later in 2009, Cricinfo invited panels of ten leading journalists to select an all-time Test XI for their country. Veteran David Frith was a member of both the English and Australian panels.
Only four Englishmen survived from 1977: Hobbs, Hammond, Larwood and Barnes. Two of those to make the Cricifo team had emerged since then: Botham and Pietersen, who scraped past Compton on a tie-break of readers' votes. The other five had been overlooked by The Cricketer panel: Hutton, Barrington, Knott, Trueman and Underwood. Admittedly Knott and Underwood were still playing back then, but so was Lillee whose Australian career had started after theirs.
Five Australians made both teams: Trumper, Bradman, Miller, Lillee and O'Reilly. Four of the Cricinfo selection were relatively new on the scene: Border, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath, leaving just two who had been omitted in 1977: Morris and Greg Chappell.
Seven of the 2009 Australian team received eight or more panel votes (Morris, Border, O'Reilly and McGrath were the exceptions), compared with five Englishmen.
There appears to have been more consensus regarding the Australian all-time team.