So its almost 2025. So I wanted to do a different group of XIs. Broken down (roughly) quarter century, which I haven’t seen here before.
So I’ve tried to go with not just who I think were the absolute best players and the best team balance, but for closer ones, the players I think defined those eras. Also, I’ve tried to help keep teams somewhat even with era crossing players. I also slightly played favourites.
1877-1899
Grace*
Bannerman
Shrewsbury
Murdoch
McLaren
Giffen
Blackham+
Trumble
Lohmann
Turner
Spofforth
So this one especially, is the least stats based. McLaren and Trumble crossover a bit (a lot in McLaren’s case) but these are all the iconic names I think of when I think of the 19th century players. Trumble’s best work came in the 1900’s but I really had no opinion either way on most of the other bowlers in question, and I loved reading about him growing up.
1900-1925
Hobbs
Taylor
Hill
Trumper
Faulkner
Gregory
Rhodes
Noble*
Lilley+
Blythe
Barnes
Ok so, not exactly a conventional XI, but who cares. I never knew much about the keepers from this era, but I’ve always remembered the name Dick Lilley since I was a kid. Trumper was better in the middle order, plus it gives Herbie Taylor a channce to shine. Then we’ve got a lot of allrounders. Faulkner is an obvious choice, the others perhaps not so much. But Rhodes, Noble, Gregory… they were all icons and players I think of in the immediate pre and post war eras.
Another day I might put Trumper as the opener and have Armstrong in there instead… that’s a big omission now thinking on it… I could replace Gregory but I do need his pace bowling.
1926-1949
Sutcliffe
Mitchell
Bradman*
Hammond
Headley
Nourse
Ames+
Larwood
Grimmett
Voce
O’Reilly
O’Reilly aside, we have relatively weak bowling here. So I decided to stack the batting by having Ames rather than Oldfield. I chose Grimmett rather than a third pacer because yeah, he took the most wickets in this era, I really couldn’t leave him out. Hutton I didn’t choose in this one, despite him having slightly more runs here than in the 50’s. I felt him + Sutcliffe was a bit much and he was always in my mind the bridge between Bradman and Sobers.
1950-1975
Hutton
Simpson*
Pollock
Barrington
Walcott
Sobers
Knott+
Lindwall
Davidson
Trueman
Tayfield
Miller is unlucky here, as is Weekes, but with Sobers there was simply no room for Miller, and one of the W’s is enough for me, and I had to have Pollock. Boycott was a consideration, but I chose him for the next team so Simpson could be here, to keep things more evenish.
1976-1999
Gavaskar
Boycott
Lara
Tendulkar
Richards
Imran*
Healy+
Hadlee
Marshall
Warne
Ambrose
Lillee and Wasim are quite unlucky here. I had a hard time choosing between them and Ambrose.
No, you’re not misreading, I did in fact choose Viv! He was iconic, and Chappell had a more significant crossover period. The batting here is a bit of a weakness compared to some teams, but this era’s strength (especially 80’s and 90’s) was its bowling, so I played to that.
2000-2024
Smith*
Hayden
Dravid
Smith
Ponting
Kallis
Gilchrist+
Steyn
Murali
Anderson
McGrath
Sehwag is an obvious snub here. Him and Hayden, I can really go either way on so I put the Aussie in. I do hate Anderson, but his career has encompassed almost the entire period, compared to the relatively small sample sizes of the current fast 3. Definitely iconic.
I also chose Dravid, rather than Sanga (who I rate more highly). He fits better in there at 3, surrounded by aggressive batsmen, plus how could I have an XI of this century so far without a player from one of the big 3 nations?