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

[Fuller Pilch]

1980s

Mark Taylor
Michael Atherton
Martin Crowe
Sachin Tendulkar
Aravinda Da Silva
Steve Waugh
Jeff Dujon
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Curtley Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

No decent spinners. Chris Cairns unlucky

1990s sans Kallis! (no Gilchrist, Ponting, Inzy, or Donald as well)

Matthew Hayden
Saeed Anwar
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Andy Flower
Andrew Flintoff
Adam Parore
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath
Muttiah Muralitharan

 

[Fuller Pilch]

2000s

Chris Gayle
Virender Sehwag
Kumar Sangakkara
Younis Khan
Ross Taylor
Shakib Al Hasan
Tatienda Taibu
Mitchell Johnson
Graeme Swann
Dale Steyn
James Anderson

 

[Fuller Pilch]

2010s

Dimuth Karunaratne
Kraigg Brathwaite
Azhar Ali
Kane Williamson
Joe Root
Liton Das
Kevin O'Brien
Sikanda Raza
Pat Cummins
Kagiso Rabada
Jasprit Bumrah

 

[a massive zebra]

Murdoch, Blackham and Spofforth debuted in the 1870s.

We could replace Murdoch with Percy McDonnell, Blackham with Dick Pilling and Spofforth with Billy Bates. Bates would bat at 7 and Pilling 11.

 

[the big bambino]

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

Needs a little bit of Amar Singh or Vijay Merchant.

 

[the big bambino]

Fuller Pilch some how you have to smuggle Ambrose into that 90s side.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Fuller Pilch some how you have to smuggle Ambrose into that 90s side.

He debuted in 1988 so is in the 80s team.

 

[the big bambino]

Ah sorry. Yep.

 

[AndrewB]

1930s debutants:
Len Hutton
Vijay Merchant
George Headley
Stan McCabe
Dudley Nourse
Bill Edrich
Billy Wade+
Amar Singh
Hedley Verity
Bill O'Reilly
Jack Cowie

Edrich is in ahead of (e.g.) Compton to give an extra pace bowling option.

 

[AndrewB]

Players all from different decades (debut) and countries:
Jack Hobbs (Eng, 1900s)
Vinoo Mankad (Ind, 1940s)
Don Bradman (Aus, 1920s)
George Headley (WI, 1930s)
Aravinda de Silva (SL, 1980s)
Andy Flower+ (Zim, 1990s)
Shakib Al Hasan (BD, 2000s)
Mike Procter (SA, 1960s)
Richard Hadlee (NZ, 1970s)
Fazal Mahmood (PK, 1950s)
Rashid Khan (Afg, 2010s)

 

[bagapath]

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

There is no 1970s cricket without Dennis Lillee. His name should be the first on the team sheet.

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

1930s debutants:
Len Hutton
Vijay Merchant
George Headley
Stan McCabe
Dudley Nourse
Bill Edrich
Billy Wade+
Amar Singh
Hedley Verity
Bill O'Reilly
Jack Cowie

Edrich is in ahead of (e.g.) Compton to give an extra pace bowling option.

Singh was a decent bowler. But come on, you have lot faster and better fast bowlers. Martindale, Voce, Farnes, Bowes, Allen etc. all easily over Singh. Merchant in the team over Barnes already fulfills the criteria of 1 representative.

 

[AndrewB]

There is no 1970s cricket without Dennis Lillee. His name should be the first on the team sheet.

Reasonable, but you have to decide who to leave out, without breaking the rules...
I wouldn't drop Marshall or Imran for Lillee, or Hadlee (especially as in that case you'd have to bring in another Kiwi - presumably Turner for Gavaskar). That leaves two options:
- Lillee in for Qadir means you have 5 pace bowlers, so there's a case for replacing Botham with a stronger (English) batsman - possibly Gower, or Greig to keep the extra bowling option
- Lillee in for Botham means you need to bring in another English player - maybe Bob Taylor for Kirmani, which makes the tail distinctly weaker (Hadlee-Marshall-Taylor-Lillee-Qadir), but the ATG pace quartet of Marshall-Lillee-Imran-Hadlee probably makes up for it...

 

[bagapath]

Lillee in for Qadir is an easy choice in my opinion. The quintet of Lillee - Imran - Hadlee - Marshall - Botham looks correct for the era. For any era, actually.