Strongest XI for each decade with a caveat that every test playing country from said decade needs representation

[mr_mister]

For the sake of letting the 2010s/20s be eligible, Ireland and Afghanistan can count as one team(ie only one player from either side needs to feature)

We'll go by a players debut date as the decade he's eligible for. So I guess the 70s team will be featuring Barry Richards

 

[mr_mister]

I'll start.

1920s

Bruce Mitchell
Herb Sutcliffe
Don Bradman
Wally Hammond
Douglas Jardine *
Jack Gregory 2
Les Ames +
Maurice Tate 3
Learie Constantine 5
Harold Larwood 1
Clarrie Grimmet 4

 

[Line and Length]

I'll have a crack at the '30s.

Off the top of my head:

Stewie Dempster
Len Hutton
Don Bradman
George Headley
Dudley Nourse
Lala Armanath 5
Les Ames +
Maurice Tate 3
Harold Larwood 1
Manny Martindale 2
Bill O'Reilly 4

No room for Hammond unless I replace Hutton with Vijay Merchant and Hammond takes Armanath's spot.

 

[Line and Length]

I'll start.

1920s

Bruce Mitchell
Herb Sutcliffe
Don Bradman
Wally Hammond
Douglas Jardine *
Jack Gregory 2
Les Ames +
Maurice Tate 3
Learie Constantine 5
Harold Larwood 1
Clarrie Grimmet 4

Sutcliffe ahead of Hobbs is interesting

 

[mr_mister]

Sutcliffe ahead of Hobbs is interesting

I'd made the rule decade of debut for eligibility to avoid something like Viv for 90s. But it's not super important

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

I'll have a crack at the '30s.

Off the top of my head:

Stewie Dempster
Len Hutton
Don Bradman
George Headley
Dudley Nourse
Lala Armanath 5
Les Ames +
Maurice Tate 3
Harold Larwood 1
Manny Martindale 2
Bill O'Reilly 4

No room for Hammond unless I replace Hutton with Vijay Merchant and Hammond takes Armanath's spot.

Tate doesn’t deserve to be in the 30s Xi.

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

1930s Xi

1st Xi

Len Hutton
Herbert Sutcliffe
Don Bradman*
George Headley
Walter Hammond
Stan McCabe
Jock Cameron+
Harold Larwood
Tiger O’Reilly
Jack Cowie
Ken Farnes

2nd Xi

Bruce Mitchell
Bill Ponsford
Stewie Dempster
Dudley Nourse*
Eddie Paynter
Maurice Leyland
Les Ames+
Hedley Verity
Manny Martindale
Bill Voce
Clarrie Grimmett

 

[ataraxia]

1950–1959: (E, A, SA, WI, NZ, I, P)

1 Hanif Mohammad /
2 Bob Simpson* / o
3 Rohan Kanhai /
4 Ken Barrington /
5 Garfield Sobers / o
6 Vijay Manjrekar /
7 John Waite + /
8 Richie Benaud o /
9 Alan Davidson o /
10 Tony MacGibbon o /
11 Fred Trueman o

Likely some unintended omissions. Goddard, sadly, was intended. Went for the better Manjrekar over Gupte as individual bowlers are more important than batters.

MacGibbon was a gun, but looking down the list the competition for his reserve is hmmmmmm...

 

[Line and Length]

1930s Xi

1st Xi

Len Hutton
Herbert Sutcliffe
Don Bradman*
George Headley
Walter Hammond
Stan McCabe
Jock Cameron+
Harold Larwood
Tiger O’Reilly
Jack Cowie
Ken Farnes

2nd Xi

Bruce Mitchell
Bill Ponsford
Stewie Dempster
Dudley Nourse*
Eddie Paynter
Maurice Leyland
Les Ames+
Hedley Verity
Manny Martindale
Bill Voce
Clarrie Grimmett

Both XIs don't qualify. No representative from India.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Ok, then I will made the 1960s one:
1. Bert Sutcliffe
2. Hanif Mohammad
3. Rohan Kanhai
4. Ken Barrington
5. Graeme Pollock
6. Garry Sobers
7. Alan Knott (wk)
8. Richie Benaud
9. Allan Davidson
10.Fred Trueman
11.Erapalli Prasanna

 

[The Sean]

Ok, then I will made the 1960s one:
1. Bert Sutcliffe
2. Hanif Mohammad
3. Ken Barrington
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Garry Sobers
6. Trevor Goddard (c)
7. Alan Knott (wk)
8. Richie Benaud
9. Allan Davidson
10.Fred Trueman
11.Erapalli Prasanna

That's a great side, but the criteria is decade of debut and most of those blokes debuted in the 1950s.

 

[capt_Luffy]

That's a great side, but the criteria is decade of debut and most of those blokes debuted in the 1950s.

Oh, I thought it's how they played in the decade..... which kinda makes more sense to me

 

[Coronis]

Oh, I thought it's how they played in the decade..... which kinda makes more sense to me

Oh don’t worry I think we’ve done that multiple times before.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Oh don’t worry I think we’ve done that multiple times before.

Ok then, on 60s debutants:
1. Geoff Boycott
2. Glenn Turner
3. Zaheer Abbas
4. Graeme Pollock
5. Doug Walters
6. Clive Lloyd (c)
7. Alan Knott (wk)
8. Mike Procter
9. Peter Pollock
10. Sarfaraz Nawaz
11. Bishen Singh Bedi

 

[AndrewB]

1940s debutants:
Arthur Morris
Vinoo Mankad
Frank Worrell
Everton Weekes
Clyde Walcott
John Reid
Keith Miller
Godfrey Evans+
Ray Lindwall
Alec Bedser
Hugh Tayfield

 

[AndrewB]

1970s:
Barry Richards
Sunil Gavaskar
Viv Richards
Greg Chappell
Allan Border
Ian Botham
Imran Khan
Syed Kirmani+
Richard Hadlee
Malcolm Marshall
Abdul Qadir

 

[Fuller Pilch]

That's a great side, but the criteria is decade of debut and most of those blokes debuted in the 1950s.

And Bert in 49

 

[Fuller Pilch]

We did the same thing a month or so ago without the country stipulation.

 

[a massive zebra]

1880s:
W.G. Grace*
Arthur Shrewsbury
Billy Murdoch
Walter Read
A.G. Steel
Bernard Tancred
Jack Blackham+
Johnny Briggs
George Lohmann
Charlie Turner
Fred Spofforth

If every country representation was not required, replace Bernard Tancred with either Percy McDonnell or Billy Bates.

 

[AndrewB]

Murdoch, Blackham and Spofforth debuted in the 1870s.