My England Dream Team XI

After having read my last article, another friend of mine, Toby, asked me if I could pick an England Dream Team XI. In other words, I was asked to provide my best, most definitive England side. Well, after much research and with many new facts learnt, presented is my attempt at an answer. I decided to limit my search to post WWI players, but will also give notable mentions to the greats before that time.


PLAYER Test Runs/Avr Test Wkts/Avr Matches


1. Jack Hobbs 5,410 @ 56.94 1 @ 165.00 61

Having scored 199 first-class hundreds and 61,760 runs at the same level, the least I can do is include one of the greatest opening batsmen in this team. He is a great of his and any generation with the bat who could also bowl at first-class level.


2. Herbert Sutcliffe 4,555 @ 60.73 54

Hobbs’ opening partner, and he tried his very best to overshadow his former colleague with the 6th best average in test history, and the best by an Englishman. He is also considered the best “bad wicket” player of all-time, a useful attribute in the days of uncovered wickets that could be two-paced on a good day.


3. Len Hutton (C) 6,971 @ 56.67 3 @ 77.33 79

The man who held the record for the highest individual score in a test match record for 20 years after his superb 364, oh, and it was in an Ashes Test Match too. A great leader and has my trust and faith as captain.


4. Wally Hammond 7,249 @ 58.14 83 @ 37.80 85

Joint with Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott, he has the highest number of hundreds by an Englishman at 22. One of these was a brilliant 336*, which was a record score until Hutton surpassed it 5 years later in 1938. In his obituary in the Wisden Almanack, they claimed he was one of the four best batsmen in history.


5. Kevin Pietersen 6,123 @ 49.37 5 @ 126.20 74

England have never had a batsman like him, pure and simple. He possesses unparalleled talent in English cricketing history. The shots he comes with are often unconventional, but nearly always brilliant. He is a man for the big occasion with big hundreds against the big teams. His fantastic charisma and ego is a double-edged sword to his personality, allowing him to dominate bowlers with arrogance, but, just as equally enabling his bad temper to surface itself in bad moments. At times he looks simply unstoppable.


6. Matt Prior 2,278 @ 43.79 44

Wicket-keeper/batsmen are the only wicket-keepers accepted in Test Cricket nowadays, this wasn’t always the case. Taking this into consideration, I have to go for the current keeper, because over the past 2 years he has been nigh on flawless with gloves and bat. He is a real cornerstone of the team and is becoming more and more of a Mr Reliable.


7. Ian Botham 5,200 @ 33.54 383 @ 28.40 102

Beefy narrowly goes in ahead of Flintoff in this team. This is due to the fact that both had personas, both had the incredible performances that marked them out, both even had Ashes named after them. Put plainly, Botham’s numbers are better and show more effectiveness. He is England’s highest ever Test wicket-taker which helps him to no end.


8. Graeme Swann 745 @ 24.03 140 @ 27.72 32

He has become the saviour of English spin bowling, the man England turn to for inspiration right now. An uncanny knack for wickets in the first over of his spell mixed with a brilliantly positive, yet at times humorously self-deprecating charisma endears him to all that follow England. More than useful with the bat as well which only adds to his popularity.


9. Harold Larwood 485 @ 19.40 78 @ 28.35 21

Arguably the man that stopped Don Bradman from averaging 100. His integral part in the “Bodyline” or “Fast Leg Theory” Ashes series of 1932-33 cut Bradman’s average down to 99.94 from what would have been 104.76. Of course he was not the solo performer, but the main protagonist as he was England’s quickest bowler of the time and possibly of all times. Sadly only played 22 tests as he refused to apologise after having been made the scapegoat of the Bodyline tactics. But his 1427 wickets at 17.51 in first-class cricket prove his abilities more than appropriately.


10. Fred Trueman 981 @ 13.81 307 @ 21.57 67

The original fiery Yorshireman. He was a rapid bowler on his best day and still mighty quick on his worse. The first Englishman to reach 300 test wickets. His popularity saw him named the “greatest living Yorshireman” by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He - like Pietersen after him - ran into trouble with English officials on a few occasions, accusing them of snobbery.

11. Bob Willis 840 @ 11.50 325 @ 25.20 90

Ian Botham quoted big Bob as the “only world-class fast bowler in my time as an England player”. His tremendously long run-up intimidated batsmen from the outset and he frequently played well beyond the pain barrier for his country. Perhaps he was a gangly, ungainly fast bowler, but his pace was great and the bounce he could generate was even more so. He sits behind Botham as England’s 2nd highest wicket-taker.



Notable omitted players –

Opening Batsmen; Geoffrey Boycott, Marcus Trescothick, Alistair Cook, Michael Atherton, John Edrich.

Middle Order Batsmen; David Gower, Colin Cowdrey, Graham Gooch, Michael Vaughan, Ken Barrington, Graeme Thorpe.

Wicket-Keepers; Alec Stewart, Alan Knott, Jack Russell.

All-Rounders; Andrew Flintoff, Ted Dexter, Dennis Amiss.

Spinners – Jim Laker.

Fast Bowlers – James Anderson, Darren Gough, Steven Harmison, Andrew Caddick, Chris Old, Devon Malcolm.



Many of these selections were highly difficult to make. Leaving out the likes of Alec Stewart, David Gower, Andrew Flintoff and Geoffrey Boycott were very hard to decide and they were not decisions easily taken.

England’s deepest strength in depth over the ages definitely appears to be their opening batsmen. Hobbs and Sutcliffe were eventually my men of choice because they had phenomenal records. On top of this, the issue of player’s playing in tandem with each other would be no problem for these two as they forged an incredible partnership for many years.

Omitting batsmen such as David Gower, Colin Cowdrey and Graham Gooch proved an arduous process. Gower was arguably the most talented batsmen of his generation bar Vivian Richards. On the other hand, Colin Cowdrey is one of the three men on 22 test hundreds, the English record and was a cornerstone of the side he played in. Gooch is a fabled run-maker the likes of which England were lucky to have and may not see for a while.
Hutton, Hammond and Pietersen emerged as my middle order through a mixture of unparalleled performances and figures over a number of years. Wally Hammond is one of the other three men on 22 test hundreds, one of which was a brilliant and unbeaten 336* which was only surpassed by Len Hutton’s 364 five years later. This score by Hutton remains the highest individual score in a test match by any Englishman and the 5th highest in cricketing history after Sobers, Hayden and Lara. The fact that Hutton maintained such a fantastic average in spite of being his team’s captain speaks volumes for just how great a player he was.

Having already justified my wicket keeping and all-rounder selections, I shall now move onto the bowlers.

It was a tight call between Jim Laker and Graeme Swann for the team’s spinner. It may well be down to the bias of having seen Swann play that gets him my selection of Laker. Laker himself was a superb bowler, anyone that takes 19 wickets in a test match should be held in high regard. However, I feel in a batsmen friendly era of cricket, Swann has become a real danger to any batsmen on just about any wicket. He is also a more than useful addition to the end of the batting line-up.

Out of the fast bowler’s chosen, Harold Larwood is likely the most contentious and debatable call. Larwood was the front man of the famous Bodyline series in 1932/33. His fearful speed terrorised the Australian’s as well as cricketing officials, but it did work. To me, any man that could keep the incomparable Don Bradman as far under his average (without this series, Bradman would have averaged 104.76 instead of the 99.94 he ended up on) as Larwood did merits a place in this team whether he played many test matches or not.
Trueman and Willis were near-automatic picks for me. Not only are they the 2nd and 3rd on the English list of Test wicket takers, but they also achieved these wickets at outstanding averages. This edges them ahead of bowlers like Gough, Old and Malcolm in my eyes.

I decided it unfair to put the greats of the 19th Century such as; W.G. Grace, Frank Wooley, C.B. Fry, Sydney Barnes and Tom Richardson in my team as pre-WWI cricket was a completely different game in that it was amateur when few nations played test cricket as the game was still in it’s infancy. Having said that, these men are the pioneers of English cricket and should be treated with respect, as they are legends of the game, and indeed of English history.

So there you have it, that Toby is my final decision on an all-time England XI. Thank you for your request, the research for the article was both enlightening and highly interesting to read into.