Who would be in your All Time Great team for each country?

[Wilted]

Who would be in your XI for each country, for each format? Realistically, I'm creating this list for myself so I have something to easily pick ATG teams from for tournaments and such, but would love any feedback. Especially feedback regarding teams and eras I'm not as familiar with. Each squad will have at least two openers, a keeper, and a spin option available.

Australia Test XI
M Hayden
J Langer
D Bradman
R Ponting (c)
G Chappell
S Waugh
A Gilchrist (wk)
S Warne
D Lillee
J Thomson
G McGrath

Rest of Squad:
Ponsford
Border
Healy
Miller
Benaud
Lindwall
M Johnson

Hayden and Langer are Australia's greatest ever opening pair so there's no reason you would split them up. Bradman, Ponting, Chappell are a class above Waugh edges out the likes of Border for being a solid fifth bowler. Healy is arguably the better keeper but Gilly's batting earns him the spot. Just as Bradman, Ponting, Chappell are a class above for batting, Lillee, Warne, McGrath are a class above for bowling. Thompson is the fourth option to give an option of relentless pace from both ends. Ponsford would be the third opening option, Border could be selected against an all pace attack and can be a defensive backbone if needed. Healy for backup, Miller and Benaud can be genuine 5th bowling for the right conditions, Lindwall is probably the next best bowler and Johnson is a left arm option. As much as I want to, I couldn't fit Cummins in but given a few years, he'll be there.

England Test XI
A Cook (c)
L Hutton
D Gower
K Barrington
K Pieterson
I Botham
A Knott (wk)
D Underwood
F Trueman
B Willis
J Anderson

Rest of Squad:
H Sutcliffe
J Root
P May
A Stewart
G Swann
S Broad
S Barnes

Having some of the most prolific players from 100+ years ago, England's line up is tricky to put together. Cook and Hutton may have strong competition for the top spots but those two seemed to stand tall when their team needed them. Gower is probably the best suited batsmen to play 3 with his patient approach to shot making, Barrington could seemingly whip out centuries against any attack, Pieterson can turn a game on its head with ease. Botham would be picked on his moustache alone but could also win a match with bat or ball. Knott seemed to be the arbitrary pick for keeper as Underwood was for the ball. Trueman, Willis and Anderson are clear choices for me for pace. The rest of the squad could easily substitute into the XI with ease.

India Test XI
S Gavaskar
V Sehwag
R Dravid
S Tendulkar
V Kohli
MS Dhoni (wk) (c)
K Dev
R Ashwin
A Kumble
J Srianth
B Bedi

Rest of Squad:
G Gambhir
M Azharuddin
VVS Laxman
S Ganguly
Z Khan
M Shami
J Bumrah

India's strength has always been their vast array of spin options so this squad leans heavily into that. As far as I'm concerned, their top and middle batting order is a lock, none of them would look out of place on a World XI team, good luck bowling them out twice in a match. Dev and Srianth are probably the only retired quicks that did well dominated in spin friendly conditions consistently. For spin options, Ashwin, isn't arguably India's best though he's picked for his batting ability too, Kumble is just too wily not to pick and Bedi gets picked over Chandrasekhar for variety. Azharuddin, Laxman Ganguly are probably India's next best and I think Shami and Bumrah will definitely become India's greatest quicks by the end of their careers.

NZ Test XI

G Turner
J Wright
K Williamson (c)
M Crowe
S Fleming
R Taylor
B McCullum (wk)
C Cairns
R Hadlee
D Vettori
T Boult

Rest of Squad:
T Latham
B Sutcliffe
N Astle
I Smith
T Southee
C Martin
S Bond

NZ cricket has only just seemed to have flourished in recent years. Before recent era of success, their teams have had individuals who have held their own against some of the world's greatest teams but unfortunately had little support. The batting line up is made up of some greats of their respective eras and is unlikely to change a whole lot given the alternatives. McCullum, as with Gilchrist, likely holds his spot thanks to his dominate batting performances though in his prime, he was more than capable behind the stumps. Hadlee is an all time great, Vettori is really NZ's only spinner of note though Boult and Cairns could be replaced for other bowling options. The one change that I could make is playing Cairns as a fifth bowler and including Martin, Southee or Bond to be a third genuine pace option. Bond, though never getting a foothold in Test cricket, clearly had potential to be one of NZ's greatest, though never realised due to injuries.

Pakistan Test XI

S Anwar
H Mohammad
Y Khan
J Miandad
I ul-Haq
M Yousuf
S Ahmed (wk)
I Khan (c)
W Akram
W Younis
A Qadir

Rest of Squad:
Z Abbas
M ul-Haq
M Zazar
W Bari
S Mushtaq
I Qasim
S Akhtar

Pakistan might actually boast one of the most formidable bowling attacks on this list, Khan, Akram, Younis are nigh-unplayable in the right conditions as Qadir was able to continue to take wickets in one of the most difficult periods for spin bowling. A batting line up of Khan, Miandad, ul-Haq is also nothing to sneeze at and could bat all day if needed and they have plenty of support from the likes of Yousuf, the openers, Ahmed and of course Imran Khan. You can probably guess I highly rate keepers who can hold a bat, which is why I picked Ahmed ahead of Bari. If conditions are tricky, Bari will likely need to step up. The rest of the squad is also filled with talent, though those players were did not have the same consistency as the listed XI.

South Africa Test XI

B Richards
G Smith (c)
G Pollock
J Kallis
AB de Villiers
A Faulkner
M Boucher (wk)
V Philander
H Tayfield
D Steyn
A Donald

Rest of Squad:
G Kirsten
H Amla
D Nourse
S Pollock
M Procter
Y Omar
M Ntini

Out of all teams I've looked at, SA has one of the deepest pools of talent throughout their rocky history. There's a whole generation of players that just never had the opportunity to perform at the highest level. For me personally, having never played the world's best and my own lack of knowledge of that era, I couldn't justify picking many of that era's greatest. Despite this, SA still has one of the strongest teams. Led by one of the gutsiest players to have played the game, Smith would be one of the best openers in the world. Pollock often rated as somewhere between Bradman and Lara, never had the chance to reach his potential. Kallis would be my pick for greatest cricketer of all time. SA have a batting line up that could take on the best of the best with ease. Not only do they have depth in bowling, thanks to the likes Steyn and Donald. Even some of the best bowling all rounder such as Faulkner, S Pollock give SA the depth many teams can only dream of.

Sri Lanka Test XI

S Jayasuriya (c)
T Dilshan
M Jayawardene
K Sangakarra (wk)
A de Silva
T Samaweera
A Matthews
C Vaas
L Malinga
R Herath
M Muralitharan

Rest of Squad:
M Atapattu
A Ratanuga
H Tillakaratne
M Goonatilleke
R Ratnayake
S de Silva

Being a more recent addition to Test cricket, Sri Lanka simply has not had enough time to develop a team of greats. Of course you have a very solid batting order with Jayasuriya, Jawardene and Sangakarra, the genius of Murali and the class of Matthews but the rest don't really compare when matched up against the other nations. Sangakarra would take the gloves however there is an alternative with Goonatilleke in reserve. If I get around to do a limited overs team, I'd expect Sri Lanka to have a stronger representation.

West Indies Test XI

D Haynes
G Greenidge
V Richards
B Lara
G Sobers (c)
C Lloyd
J Dujon (wk)
M Marshall
J Garner
C Amborse
M Holding

Rest of Squad
S Chanderpaul
G Headley
C Walcott
R Richardson
L Gibbs
I Bishop
C Walsh

Out of the teams on this list, West Indies would be one of the best. Haynes and Greenidge are the only specialists openers I'd consider for this XI though some other batsmen who filled in the opening spot occasionally may be better batsmen overall. In my opinion Viv Richards is the best Windies batter of all time, closely followed by Lara. Weekes, Headley and Lloyd could be interchangeable but Lloyd had the reputation of scoring runs against the best oppositions when his team needed them the most. Dujon gets the pick over Walcott for being able to keep magnificently against the greatest fast bowling quartet of all time. Speaking of greatest fast bowlers of all time, this squad is littered with them. The four selected are in my opinion the best available but Bishop and Walsh would be fine choices too. Gibbs is the token spinner but Sobers could roll his arm over if the need arose (though he's just as likely to take the second new ball).

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I'll add more teams over the next week or so. Feel free to add comments or your own teams, especially teams for the shorter format.

[hallmitchell]

I believe these Sir Donald Bradman sides are the best XI's for Australia and England - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/2171520.stm

[Wilted]

I believe these Sir Donald Bradman sides are the best XI's for Australia and England - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/2171520.stm

Accepting that was published last century, there's still some huge omissions in favour of Bradman's mates, and he wasn't exactly known for being fair and impartial. Chappell would have been the best Australian batsman next to Bradman at that time (Border and Waugh, not far behind), Warne had already cemented himself as an all time great, Tallon would have had both Rod Marsh and Healy picked ahead of him. Of course since then you've had the likes of McGrath, Ponting, Gilchrist who more than deserve a spot.

Missing Gower, Knott and Willis isn't as much of a cardinal sin but I strongly disagree with missing them. Including international pioneers such as Grace and Hammond is also strange in my opinion. Looking strictly at international test cricket, they don't reach the same heights when comparing their domestic careers while others from the modern era have achieved so much more.

[Trevfromsussex&Oz]

Realistic I can only pick from 1970 to 2012. So how about a squad from each decade? 1970s my favourite era as I watched most of the International teams in Australia it was also a period of ferment with the first two World Cups (anyone know of the 1979 squads?). Also Packer and South African exclusion a non-racial South African team from that period as Peter Pollock wrote is a fascinating possibility (please add Yacob Omar to SA ATG list).

[Wilted]

Realistic I can only pick from 1970 to 2012. So how about a squad from each decade? 1970s my favourite era as I watched most of the International teams in Australia it was also a period of ferment with the first two World Cups (anyone know of the 1979 squads?). Also Packer and South African exclusion a non-racial South African team from that period as Peter Pollock wrote is a fascinating possibility (please add Yacob Omar to SA ATG list).

I'll probably be biased towards players who toured Aus as well just because I'm more familiar with their feats. It was hard to know how international games went when the only coverage they got was in the sports classified columns of the paper. This is doubly the case when it comes to the Apartheid era of SA cricket. G Pollock, Richards, Procter are the only players from that era I can think of off the top of my head.

This list started off as a decade list but for each country. I was trying to create a tournament where you'd have matches like 1940s Aus vs 1980s Windies but that got very messy very quickly.

[Lynx54321]

I can only really pick players from when I started watching cricket in the early 000s. So assuming we're picking players at their absolute peak my England side would be:

Cook(C)
Trescothick
Trott
Root
Pietersen
Stokes
Flintoff
Prior(+)
Swann
Harmison
Anderson

Rest of squad: Strauss, Bell, Hoggard, S.Jones.

[Wilted]

There's the best ATG Test teams in my opinion. I won't be doing Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland or Zimbabwe but feel free to add if you are more familiar. Maybe a combination of the four newer teams could make up a solid squad?

I don't follow ODI or T20 cricket as much so feel free to make suggestions who should be included in those teams.

[Wilted]

I can only really pick players from when I started watching cricket in the early 000s. So assuming we're picking players at their absolute peak my England side would be:

Cook(C)
Trescothick
Trott
Root
Pietersen
Stokes
Flintoff
Prior(+)
Swann
Harmison
Anderson

Rest of squad: Strauss, Bell, Hoggard, S.Jones.

I'm surprised we never saw much of Simon Jones after he basically won the Ashes for England. He and Hoggard were the only English bowlers of that era I thought consistently threatened the Aussies every time they bowled. Only change I'd make to your squad for that era is picking Vaughn over Trescothick.

[Lynx54321]

I'm surprised we never saw much of Simon Jones after he basically won the Ashes for England. He and Hoggard were the only English bowlers of that era I thought consistently threatened the Aussies every time they bowled. Only change I'd make to your squad for that era is picking Vaughn over Trescothick.

Considered Vaughan but as a Somerset fan couldn't not pick Tresco!

I think Jones would have featured for more were it not for injury. He was ahead of his time as an England seamer in that regard.

[hallmitchell]

Accepting that was published last century, there's still some huge omissions in favour of Bradman's mates, and he wasn't exactly known for being fair and impartial. Chappell would have been the best Australian batsman next to Bradman at that time (Border and Waugh, not far behind), Warne had already cemented himself as an all time great, Tallon would have had both Rod Marsh and Healy picked ahead of him. Of course since then you've had the likes of McGrath, Ponting, Gilchrist who more than deserve a spot.

Missing Gower, Knott and Willis isn't as much of a cardinal sin but I strongly disagree with missing them. Including international pioneers such as Grace and Hammond is also strange in my opinion. Looking strictly at international test cricket, they don't reach the same heights when comparing their domestic careers while others from the modern era have achieved so much more.

Excellent retort!