It's said that control of the present brings control of the past. With the Cricinfo all-time XI project announcing the selection of the all-time England team, the internet has cemented itself as the primary voice of cricket - present and past.
The flexibility and global reach of the internet is ousting the elite position of print throughout the media, and cricket, hardly the most global sport, has embraced the internet like no other.
As cricket’s online HQ, Cricinfo has a responsibility to foster interest and education on the sport's history. The all-time project is clearly a recognition of this.
It is a pity that all members of the selection panel were English, it would have been fascinating to see how English cricketing history is filtered through India or Pakistan, for example.
Nevertheless, the chosen England XI has already sparked debate on the blogs. Predictably, most posts are from people who, like me, began their obsession in the 1990s. Yet it has given us the forum to carry cricket’s past into the future.
My All-Time England XI* (*Since 1993)
Trescothick
Atherton
Vaughan (c)
Thorpe
Pietersen
Stewart (wk)
Flintoff
Swann
Gough
Fraser
Hoggard
12th Man: Nasser Hussain
Coach: Duncan Fletcher
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2 comments:
Hello you
I was surprised by the choice of Swann for spinner but then instantly couldn’t think of anyone else who could challenge really – Tufnell and Monty on good days I suppose; Croft, Such, Salisbury, Batty et al in their dreams. Ultimately Swann just seems like a winner and, although he wasn’t consistently good during the Ashes, he supported Flintoff and Broad in their respective match-winning spells fantastically well.
You must have had some sleepless nights deciding to leave out Strauss after the year he’s just had!
When you’ve finished your dissertation, please investigate how Onions got nominated for cricketer of the year (at all) but not nominated for test player of the year. Or how Broad got nominated for the latter, presumably on the strength of 1 (2?) match (es?) and being quite dishy. Or how on earth Flintoff got nominated for ODI player of the year?! I suppose they had to shoehorn some England players in there after The Ashes but let’s face it, we lost a series to the West Indies and Strauss is the only player who should be anywhere near being nominated for anything! I’m fully expecting John Terry to win in all categories in any case, that’s how these things usually go.
Yeah I think the Atherton selection over Strauss is tricky. In his first four years as captain (1993-1997) Atherton averaged in the mid-40s, carrying a shit team and facing the worlds best opening bowlers (Donald & Pollock, Ambrose & Walsh, McGrath & a.n.other, Wasim & Waqar). He was forced into becoming a very defensive player because England were pants (Smyth wrote something excellent on this now).
England spin bowlers have been a travesty. Though Such has a better record than people imagine.
I can't believe the ICC nomination but then, I can't really believe anything the ICC does.
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