Best England Cricket XI - 1978 to 2020

[Sniffer]

Yeah, that's how I split it on the Wolves one.

It'd be Gower 4 and Pietersen 5 if those go through, not the other way round.

Cyber will insist that if Cook is still batting that Pietersen goes in first to keep a left hand/right hand combo.

 

[Sniffer]

All Rounder next....

Result tomorrow lunch time.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Ben Stokes
Andrew Flintoff
Moeen Ali

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Botham
Stokes
Flintoff

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Disclaimer: I only saw Botham when he was a fat parody of himself and was missing tours to appear in fucking panto.

Averaged 14.30 with the bat and 48.60 with the ball from the 1989 Ashes onwards and that is the limit of my viewing. Those are David Capel numbers!

 

[Doctor Doog]

Botham
Flintoff
Stokes

 

[Sniffer]

Botham
Stokes
Flintoff


Botham shades it for me because he was world class as a bowler when at his pomp.

I was due to go my first test match that day. On the Saturday evening my dad said that Australia would win it by lunch so made the decision to take us all to Alton Towers instead. Had a good day until I heard the result. Being there on the Sunday in 2005 still doesn't compensate for it. 2005 was despair followed unbridled relief. 1981 would have just been joyous.

 

[Tony Towner]

Botham
Stokes
Flintoff

Nothing in it for me between second and third. Gone with Stokes as sometimes earlier in his career Freddie dialed it in

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Stokes vs Flintoff is an interesting one.

Stokes is already 10 x the batsman Flintoff ever was, even at the latter's best. But he's unlikely to ever match what peak Flintoff did with the ball. Depends which discipline you think is going to be more important in this team.

Also worth considering that Flintoff's numbers only really stack up in a fairly narrow time frame (big hundred vs SA in 2003 up until the India tour of early 2006). Genuinely world class in that period, something like 41 with the bat and 25 with the ball. Either side of that (and there are a lot of games in there) - it gets very very ugly indeed.

I think Stokes wins you games on his own at times and he's the best team man you could ever want. Absolutely unreal attitude.

 

[Trips]

Ben Stokes
Andrew Flintoff
Moeen Ali

 

[Tredman]

Stokes
Flintoff
Collingwood

 

[Trips]

Stokes vs Flintoff is an interesting one.

Stokes is already 10 x the batsman Flintoff ever was, even at the latter's best. But he's unlikely to ever match what peak Flintoff did with the ball. Depends which discipline you think is going to be more important in this team.

Also worth considering that Flintoff's numbers only really stack up in a fairly narrow time frame (big hundred vs SA in 2003 up until the India tour of early 2006). Genuinely world class in that period, something like 41 with the bat and 25 with the ball. Either side of that (and there are a lot of games in there) - it gets very very ugly indeed.

I think Stokes wins you games on his own at times and he's the best team man you could ever want. Absolutely unreal attitude.

While I agree that when Flintoff was on it with the ball he was a joy to watch, based purely on the numbers Stokes bowling average is very slightly better than Freddie's

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Stokes
Flintoff
Collingwood

While I loved Colly (he wouldn't have been that far behind Robin Smith on my list of reserve batsmen) can you really have him as a Test all rounder? 17 wickets at more or less 60?! We hardly used him with the ball.

In ODIs, fair enough.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Cyber will insist that if Cook is still batting that Pietersen goes in first to keep a left hand/right hand combo.

Cook
Gooch
Trott
PIetersen
Gower

That would be my top five so far too!

All Rounder
Botham. Imperious in the 78 to 83 period. Not so much after that. Set the all rounder bar so gets my top vote.
Stokes. Absolute mongrel of a cricketer. Fight, guts, arrogance. Sometimes brainless. But deserves second spot.
Flintoff. On his day a powerhouse. However his mind the windows Tino sledge is worthy of a vote in itself!

Now you have Stewart at 7 keeping. Decent batting order in any generation!

 

[Tredman]

While I loved Colly (he wouldn't have been that far behind Robin Smith on my list of reserve batsmen) can you really have him as a Test all rounder? 17 wickets at more or less 60?! We hardly used him with the ball.

In ODIs, fair enough.

I was a bit stuck really. I don’t really see Ali as an all rounder. Colly wouldn’t get in the test team as either a batsman or a bowler so on that basis it must have been his all round ability!

 

[Sniffer]

Disclaimer: I only saw Botham when he was a fat parody of himself and was missing tours to appear in fucking panto.

Averaged 14.30 with the bat and 48.60 with the ball from the 1989 Ashes onwards and that is the limit of my viewing. Those are David Capel numbers!

Understandable.

Up until the winter of 1983 he was averaging 36.6 with the bat and 23.7 with the ball.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Mo's batting falling off a cliff lately doesn't help his numbers but he does have five Test centuries. Interestingly, more than Shane Watson ever managed

 

[Johnny75]

Stokes
Flintoff
Ali

I never saw the best of Botham and always thought he was a devisive, arrogant character. Like Vaughan he's a thick as pig shit 'England is an Island' character but undoubtedly a good cricketer in his prime, which I didn't see.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

That Flintoff split:

Pre-Lords game vs SA in 2003 (22 Tests): 20.08/50.57
Lords 2003 - India 2006 (37 Tests): 41.32/26.97
Summer 2006 - retirement (20 Tests): 26.37/37.25

 

[Nando]

Stokes

Flintoff

Moeen