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Best batsman at test level has to be Bradman.
Best all rounder was Sobers (unlike Botham he could also bowl spin as well as fast-medium)
Best wicket-keeper was Rod Marsh
Best spinner; Shane Warne
Best fast bowler; Curtley Ambrose
Best captain; Douglas Jardine or Mike Brearley

Bob Singleton wrote:

> Best batsman at test level has to be Bradman.
> Best all rounder was Sobers (unlike Botham he could also bowl
> spin as well as fast-medium)
> Best wicket-keeper was Rod Marsh
> Best spinner; Shane Warne
> Best fast bowler; Curtley Ambrose
> Best captain; Douglas Jardine or Mike Brearley
>
>


That is the only way to answer this question.

Pretty fine selections too!.

Isn't it said of Bradman that he didn't favour sixes, thought they were too risky?

Mart

ian botham?

You will get the same arguments here as with football (ie. its very difficult to argue between players who played at different times, under different conditions and under different levels of professionalism).

How can you pick a single name from a list ?

Fast bowlers - Lillee,Thompson,Larwood,Statham,Truman,Willis,Garner, Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall, Holding (whispering death), Hadlee,Akram, Younis,Proctor, Donald ( How many South Africans did we never see due to apartheid?) - apologies for the many names I've missed.

Spinners - Warne, Bedi, Moustaq, Gibbs, Underwood, Qadir - loads of others.

All rounders - Botham, Waugh, Proctor (again), Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Tony Greig (bowled spin as well as seam) to name but a few.

Batsmen - Bradman, Gavaskar, Border, Waugh x2, Graeme Pollock, Viv Richards, Barry Richards, Boycott, Dexter, Cowdrey..........etc ad infinitum.

I couldn't say who is the best of all time. I do like to remember various players who made you sit up and watch, who could empty the beer tent.

The most riveting passage of play I've seen in recent years was when Alan Donald was bowling at Mike Atherton for the last hour on the fourth evening of the test match. England were chasing a modest total but if they lost their top order before the final day they would be unlikely to make it.
Hardly a runwas scored, no wicket was lost, but it was still the most exciting , pure, battle between batsman and bowler, that I have ever seen.

As someone once said - There's more to life than cricket, and there's more to cricket than runs and wickets.

I'm not diagreeing with you as regards to Sobers over Botham but don't forget Botham's averages with both bat and ball plummetted late on his career when he was well passed his best and after 2 back operations.

At his best he averaged 20ish with the ball and 40 with the bat.

Yes I agree some pretty good selections although I'll take Malcolm Marshall over Curtly Ambrose.

My XI based on players I have seen (mid 70's+) and assuming that they were at their peak:

Barry Richards
Sunil Gavaskar
Greg Chappell
Brian Lara
Viv Richards
Ian Botham
Jack Russell
Shane Warne
Malcolm Marshall
Michael Holding
Alan Donald

would say alan knott over marsh, especially because of his almost telepathic keeping to derek underwood.

personally i'd have Adam Gilcrist as keeper, not that he's the best keeper, by some distance, but to have someone with a 55 test average coming in at no7, fucking scary