The Best England Cricketers of the 21st Century
I have made a list of the best England men's cricketers of the 21st century, across all the formats, and have factored in the whole careers of everyone who played any cricket for England at any point from 2000 onward, so some of them have careers which go back a long way earlier than that.
These 20 years have been a lot better than the previous 20 years - England have achieved everything they could have possibly hoped to - they've won two major tournaments, they've won the Ashes several times, they've won the Ashes in Australia, they've won against everyone everywhere, they've reached Number 1 in the world.
It's been a long way from perfect, but there's been a lot of fun along the way.
I've decided to weigh up all the formats, as something has clearly shifted in the last decade and we, England cricket fans, finally consider limited overs cricket to be of significant value.
Therefore, to dismiss the likes of Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy as merely minor league test failures is not the whole story.
I have also tried to look at it not just in terms of statistics and overall achievements, but to look at people who had a profound impact, even if briefly (rather like with other sports ... one Olympic gold medal is worth more than several years of consistently good performance).
1. James Anderson
A few years ago, one might have placed Cook, Pietersen, Flintoff, even Broad, above him. That he is now by far on top of this list owes to the extraordinary way he's just got better and better. For the last 100-odd test wickets, he's averaging low 20s. It's incredible. I would never have thought this at the start, or 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, even 5 years ago. Even now, I'm thinking, maybe he's finished, but I bet he's got another 50 test wickets in him.
2. Kevin Pietersen
I suppose so. As I've always said, what's remarkable is that Pietersen played for England so long, not that it was cut short or that there was trouble. Of course that happened. Also, he is lucky enough to leave people feeling that he was cut off in his prime, which is clearly not true. But, anyway, yes, I think with retrospect I can say he was greater, all in all, taking into account he was Player of the Tournament at the 2010 World T20, than Alastair Cook.
3. Stuart Broad
5 years ago, I'd have genuinely thought Broad could become England's greatest ever cricketer. He was an almost-all-rounder, pitching in with exciting 50s regularly, and unleashing devastating spells with the ball just when it was most important. As it is, his batting has fallen away so badly, and his bowling, though still solid, has levelled out, so he remains in Anderson's shadow. But still, 480-odd test wickets already, only 33, he's bowled really well again in the last few months, who knows where it ends up.
4. Alastair Cook
Cook was a great test opener, one of the greatest - you could complain that, in the second half of his career, there were too many runs of low scores rescued by one enormous one along the way. You could say his captaincy was … ok, tricky. But his overall records doesn't lie - it couldn't, over that many games.
5. Ben Stokes
Maybe Stokes should be 1. One assumes that will end up happening. He's already outdone Flintoff in numbers and, more surprisingly, in glory. He has become such a good batsman, it now feels like there's no limit to the runs he'll score.
6. Joe Root
It feels like a key moment in Root's career right now, both as batsman and captain. Will he keep on trying to do everything? Will his batting continue to suffer? Or will he go on to top Cook's numbers, while also turning into a consistently good test captain. We'll see.
Anyway, I think he's the best batsman I've seen play for England, all in all, you've just got to hope it doesn't all start to peter out.
7. Andrew Strauss
Strauss is my favourite of the three great 21st century England captains, still, to my mind, underrated by some as leader, administrator and indeed opening batsman. He has promised and delivered success in whatever's he done, from his very first test innings (which I was lucky enough to see) up to now. Here is the first of a few silly football comparisons I will make - let's say Beckenbauer.
8. Andrew Flintoff
Aah, you know. He hit the ball into his dad's hands. No numbers do justice to the player he was for a while.
9. Alec Stewart
A cricketer I've warmed to in retirement, he may well have been a better keeper, batsman and captain than he was perceived to be at the time. Came to test cricket fairly old and I always associated him with the shoving out of Gower. Unfairly. I also thought him a bit dull and humourless. Unfairly again. Actually, probably, England's best cricketer, all in all, of the 1990s. Shearer.
10. Graeme Swann
What's crazy is that Swann's test career was 5 years, that's it. All those years they were picking Ashley Giles and Shaun Udal and what have you. And then they happened upon Swann and for those five years, when England were the best team in the world, he was England's best, most important player. Then he stopped. He averaged not that much less than Mark Ramprakash as a test batsman, too.
11. Ian Bell
Good sides become great sides when their third best batsman is this good. Bell, beside the accumulation of runs, had several series where he was magnificent, and played several rearguard knocks of overlooked tenacity too (Collingwood became Brigadier Block, but Bell was just as good at holding out when required). His career still makes me feel a bit sad though. He made a 100 (his 22nd) on the first day of a series against West Indies in 2015 which was just the easiest thing you've ever seen, there was hardly any point to it, and if you'd told me then that that was not just the last test 100 he'd make but even the last time he'd even look comfortable as a test batsman, I'd have not believed it.
12. Darren Gough
Probably England's best bowler of the 90s in every format, he, like Graham Thorpe, will feel a bit hard done by to have played just before it all got really good.
13. Eoin Morgan
As a test player, Eoin Morgan is, roughly speaking, Adam Lallana. As a limited overs player, he's Moore, Rooney and Charlton combined. So what's that worth compared to, say, Michael Atherton in the overall scheme of it? Perhaps a bit of a pointless comparison, but the deliberate shift in the value of ODI cricket and the extent to which Morgan led and masterminded it, the fact that the World Cup final win stands with most, if not all, test moments even for traditionalists, it certainly counts for something.
14. Graham Thorpe
I never warmed to Thorpe, for some reason, despite the fact he should have been my hero, a left-hander, England's best batsman at the time I was most into cricket, the exact type of batsman I aspired to be, someone who scored a 100 in his Ashes debut … yet, his career rather passed me by. I remember few of his innings ... of course, there's the classic win in the dark in Sri Lanka in 2001, that's the one I think of most fondly. An unlucky cricketer really - dropped for the 2005 Ashes for Pietersen in a move that was both deeply unfair and historically correct.
But to average almost 45 in that era speaks for itself.
15. Michael Vaughan
Look, I'm not saying Vaughan's horrendous punditry counts against him but … maybe it should. Considering how brilliant he was for a short while, perhaps he underachieved as a batsman, but Vaughan really was a great captain in 2005, and everyone will forgive him almost everything for that.
16. Nasser Hussain
Hussain's final test innings is probably the best sporting moment I ever watched in the flesh, the pure theatre of it. It's pretty solidly established now that Hussain and Duncan Fletcher did the hard work needed to turn England into a proper professional test cricket team.
17. Michael Atherton
Perhaps odd to include Atherton who played his first test in 1989 and is so tied to the 1990s, but there we go, he did play for England until 2001. I'll only say this if you want to compare him to Alastair Cook - there simply were not test bowlers between 2006 and 2018 as good as the specific two or three who drove Michael Atherton's test average down to 37. There simply weren't.
18. Matthew Hoggard
I love that The Cricketer did a statistical study a few years ago with a set of criteria which led to the conclusion that Matthew Hoggard is England's greatest ever bowler. He really did get big wickets though. Think it ended for him quicker than it should have done. One of the best for a while.
19. Marcus Trescothick
Packed a lot of very good international cricket into a short space of time. Arguably his contribution on the first morning of the Headingley test in 2005 was as important as anything else that happened in the whole two decades. He also had, I think, a very influential technique.
20. Moeen Ali
Mo has very politely pointed out that he sometimes feels a bit scapegoated for his failures which others get away with. It's a fair point considering he was dropped after taking more wickets in test cricket than anybody else in the previous year. Could still be such a valuable player for England if he could just start getting the odd 50 again, but has been a great player across the formats - probably in England's top 10 all-rounders ever.
21. Paul Collingwood
England's World Cup winning captain, of course. Well, World Tournament, or whatever. Exactly the kind of person the English cricket public take to their hearts. Was a really superb one-day player (111 ODI wickets!) and probably wishes he'd played in the era England took it more seriously. Ended with a higher test average than Atherton, Hussain, Stewart, Lamb, Gatting.
22. Jonathan Trott
Trott was the ICC World Cricketer of the Year in 2011. The best in the world across all formats. One can forget just how good he was for 3 or 4 years.
23. Andrew Caddick
Has a very similar record to Darren Gough, but was always less feted. He could be unplayable at times. I feel like his exploits against West Indies , his fast, hooping spells against clueless left-handers, in the summer of 2000, were pretty much the start of when things got good.
24. Matt Prior
Very much the definitive England cricketer of the era - bumptious, confident, a bit South African, better than you thought he was going to be.
25. Jonny Bairstow
Has, pretty conclusively, failed to live up to his test promise, but as a one-day opener, has been magnificent. I still think there could be a role for him in the test side, but not sure what it is.
26. Steve Harmison
I was a bit hard on Harmison at the time, thought he was pretty wildly overrated and inconsistent. I suppose you can say, now, he's a bit like Vaughan … a standard-bearer who showed that England could be destructive, could be the best. He was, all too briefly, the best, and maybe that led the way for the rest.
27. Chris Woakes
Every time you think his place in the side is safe, his place in the side is no longer safe. Shocking to say it, he might not play that many more tests. Then again, he may play loads. All his numbers add up, and his bowling in ODIs has been superb.
28. Jos Buttler
Honestly, I think Buttler mainly does a decent job in tests. He's had to bat with the tail and eke it out a lot, and I think he's often done it pretty well. I think he offers more flexibility than Bairstow and Foakes and I think they should stick with him. He's also one of the greatest players in the history of limited overs cricket, obviously.
29. Monty Panesar
Aah Monty … what a bowler he was for a while. There's something to be written about the way England treats its Asian players. But anyway, how odd he should be the only crossover cricket star between 2005 and 2019 - it's probably still true that more people have heard of Monty Panesar than Stuart Broad.
30. Adil Rashid
It's ironic that Rashid's England test career, for many years stymied by cruel selection decisions, was eventually stymied by an overly generous one. Picked for the first test of the 2019 West Indies series when he shouldn't have been, he hasn't been seen in tests since, and won't again.
A lot of mediocre spinners were picked ahead of him, he did ok in some tests, he was super-fun, but, most significantly, he's been one of the main five stars of England's limited overs success.
It's a shame his batting has fallen by the wayside, but there you go.
31. Ryan Sidebottom
As well as his really excellent test record, briefly gathered in the inbetweeny period of English cricket, he was a key man in the World T20 win. He could have played a great deal more. I don't think, throughout his career, that people being picked ahead of him were actually much better than him.
32. Jason Roy
So, look, wasn't exactly a massive test success, was he, but he, more than anyone else over the course of the tournament, won England the 2019 World Cup, so, really, that's good enough.
33. Tim Bresnan
Remember when England won every match Tim Bresnan played in. So he was kept in the side. Till they didn't. But his record, albeit over a small number of games, is really very good. I mean, after 23 tests, Flintoff was a mile behind where Bresnan was.
34. Graeme Hick
Hick and Mark Ramprakash are often put together as twin symbols of the failures of the 90s, but there are significant differences - Ramps started pretty well but then never really looked like breaking through. Hick started terribly but then actually really was a proper test batsman for a few years. He is also one of England's best ever ODI batsmen, almost winning a World Cup with the 1992 side. When you look back at how and when they dropped him, they really did fuck it up with him, they really did.
35. Alex Hales
Though Hales was squeezed out of the ultimate glory, he was the first of that generation of one-day specialists who was just fearless and brilliant, yet you knew wasn't a test player.
36. Liam Plunkett
Plunkett has been one of England's best one day bowlers - he's a better bowler now than when he was a test player.
37. Simon Jones
Toto Schillaci.
38. Mark Butcher
Since he is truly one of the most pleasant and insightful player-turned-pundits, I think a lot more kindly on Butcher. I remember that in the 2001 Ashes, he took a hilarious 4-for, and he, of course, played one of the greatest innings of all time. Apart from that, he was an ok test player. He made 31 test scores over 50, which is more than I would have remembered, I must say.
39. Steve Finn
How quickly it came and went - a bit like Harmison but without the long, slow fade. Could have been one of the greats, I think, but fast bowlers are always on a knife edge.
40. Ashley Giles
Some very good cricketers have only played 20 or so tests for England, while Ashley Giles played 54. Perhaps he is the Phil Neville of our story. Yes, he had a glorious part to play in the story, and, yes, he certainly did a job, but he was lucky to play 54 tests ending up with a bowling average over 40, yes, he was.
41. Jofra Archer
We'll see in a few years, but it's not been a bad start. I'd like to see him show he can bat at some point.
42. Dominic Cork
Dominic Cork was a very good cricketer - I feel like England could have made more of him in all formats. His career began spectacularly then petered out a bit. But he played his part in one of the key wins, at Lords in 2000 vs West Indies, shepherding England to 191 for a win that was the start of the good things.
43. Chris Tremlett
For his contribution to the 2010-11 Ashes alone.
44. Ravi Bopara
I saw Ravi make a test hundred at Lords, easy as anything. A lot of people really did think he had the talent and temperament, and he probably did, but there was a bit too much pressure put on him in the 2009 Ashes. One of England's better ODI players for a while, but he had a habit of almost but not quite getting the job done.
45. Phil Tufnell
Like all spinners of his era, his stats would be a lot better if he'd played in the age of DRS. My favourite left-arm spinner of all. Played his last test in 2001 in case you're wondering what the hell he's doing on this list. Got almost as many test wickets as runs.
46. Gary Ballance
Still has a test average of 37, you know … he did briefly seem like the future.
47. Geraint Jones
It's not just that he was there. It's not even just that moment, maybe the most memorable moment of all - Harmison, Kasprowicz, Jones, Bowden, he was actually, really, briefly, an important part of that team. The decision to go with him at 7 had a real positive impact and I seem to remember quite a few times it went from 200 for 5 to 300 for 5 very quickly with him and Flintoff, and those are the partnerships that change games. Now a firefighter in Sandwich, apparently.
48. Mark Wood
It would be pleasing if it did work out for him - he is beginning to look like he really knows how to take wickets, not just bowl fast.
49. Sam Curran
It is slightly intriguing to see whether he will be good enough in the long term with either ball or bat, but he has already positively impacted a few series.
50. Mark Ramprakash
Ramprakash began his test career, against the still-terrifying West Indies attack of 1991, with gritty scores of 27, 27, 24, 13, 21, 29, 25, 25 and 19. He battled, he got in every time. But he never shook that average.
The fact that he was still the best county batsman in the country, averaging 100, in 2009 and people were calling for him to make an England comeback, makes the flat disappointment of his test career even more of a shame.
51. Jack Leach
Notwithstanding the stand with Stokes and the 90-odd, he had a great first winter. For some reason, people still seem a bit sniffy about him.
52. Craig White
Although he seemed to be in the general run of jokey England all-rounders, White ended up bowling pretty fast and well and scoring useful runs.
53. Rory Burns
The first good opener since Cook. In a way, the first flush of hope of a proper, normal, test cricket team, so whatever happens to him now, he's done something ...
54. Alan Mulally
How many l's in the name Alan Mulally? ... he was pretty good actually, wasn't he?
55. Robert Croft
Another very tidy cricketer, like Cork, from a time when nothing was really in his favour.
56. Nick Knight
Excellent as an ODI opener, scored a couple of test centuries.
57. John Crawley
The unfortunate thing I remember from Crawley's career was the crowd visibly impatient with him batting on the last day of a meaningless test with Flintoff waiting to come in next. People wanted him to get out. Never fulfilled his promise, which was great. But, again, when you look at the statistical picture, it's not too bad at all, and he can justifiably suggest he deserved a couple more chances.
58. Alex Tudor
Did a couple of brilliant things in test cricket which are memorable even now. Injuries did for him, which is an emerging theme with the promising young bowlers in this list.
59. Robert Key
He was good enough for and was given enough chances in test cricket, it just didn't quite carry through. Probably a couple more good innings away from playing 60 tests.
60. Mark Ealham
Ealham is often, in my head, part of the long-running joke, but actually, when you look at the stats, he didn't do at all badly in ODIs or tests. Probably had to convince people all his life that he was good enough.
61. Nick Compton
Of all the openers for the last 10 years who haven't quite made it, he probably came closest.
62. Chris Jordan
One of England's best T20 players - good enough to get regularly picked for the big leagues, so has probably made more money than most of the others on this list!
63. Graham Onions
A memorable, short test career, a load of injuries.
64. Craig Kieswetter
Who was Man of the Match the first time England men's team won a major World cricket final? Now that is a question.
65. Joe Denly
He's basically doing a really good job, at cost to himself. If England had had a Number 3 batting as long as he is for the last few years, things would have been a fair bit better.
66. David Willey
The unlucky one who missed out on the fun. Pretty definitive modern cricketer.
67. James Taylor
Taylor would, in my opinion, be central to England's middle order now. Also, brought out the arsehole in Kevin Pietersen, so did everyone a service in that respect too.
68. Ollie Pope
Seems good so far.
69. Dawid Malan
Made a century in an away Ashes series. You kind of think if he could do that, he should have been able to do anything.
70. Ben Hollioake
I once bowled an over at Ben Hollioake where he hit me for two sixes into the bushes and then I bowled a full toss which landed on the stumps. Probably my proudest cricketing memory.
Would have been a T20 superstar, I'm quite sure.
71. Owais Shah.
I played against Owais Shah too once. Long summer evening at Foxes' Reservoir Ground, Ealing, Under 13s I think. Even then, I couldn't quite work him out. He looked awkward, then effortlessly brilliant, then got himself out unexpectedly. And so it went.
72. Luke Wright
Generally has been better for teams other than England.
73. Ben Foakes
Is he set to be an Asian tour specialist, I wonder.
74. Toby Roland-Jones
Piece of piss, that test cricket, wasn't it? Didn't do it for long, but fun while it lasted.
75. Tim Ambrose
Got a test century, was a great keeper.
76. Keaton Jennings
Has made two centuries ... and not much else.
77. Dom Sibley
I predict Sibley will shortly be above Jennings.
78. James Tredwell
Another cricketer whose record is rather better than his reputation suggests.
79. Michael Lumb
World T20 winner etc replaced by Jason Roy who did similar things a little better
80. Dom Bess
Spinners get dropped after bowling match-winning five wicket spells. That's just how it is.
81. James Vince
What can I say that hasn't been said?
82. Sajid Mahmood
Never really looked likely, just bowled too many bad balls.
83. Shaun Udal
If I'm not mistaken, the last spell of Shaun Udal's test career was 4 for 14.
84. Samit Patel
I felt like England should have been picking Samit Patel for years. Turns out I was wrong,
85. Michael Carberry
Whereas I think they should have picked Carberry for years.
86. Vikram Solanki
Talent, class, grace. Just not quite enough runs.
87. Michael Yardy
Safe to say we're down to the point where numbers are a bit arbitrary.
88. Paul Nixon
Never misundestimate Paul Nixon, Fashanu fans.
89. Ian Blackwell
I liked Blackwell a lot, I wish it had gone a little better for him.
90. Ronnie Irani
The people's Ronnie Irani.
91. Dmitri Mascarenhas
Did some fun stuff.
92. Sam Billings
Did some fun stuff.
93. Richard Johnson
Aah, now Richard Johnson would have been a seriously good bowler. Has a test bowling average of 17 and ODI of 21. Why is he not top of the list?
94. Rikki Clarke
Did pretty well with few opportunities.
95. Ed Joyce
Probably England's second best Irishman.
96. Gareth Batty
Was not a great success in the old test matches ...
97. Richard Dawson
See above. Not the folk singer.
98. Jake Ball
See above.
99. Zak Crawley
We'll see.
100. Jade Dernbach
Indeed. Putting him at 100 is mean. He actually has a better international record than some of those above him. But he came to symbolise something. A perfectly delivered slower ball in a final over being hit for six, that's Jade D.
Anyway, it could go on a little bit, and there are arguably some who like Haseen Hameed who made an impact. But, you know, the list got pretty meaningless quite a while back, didn't it?
These 20 years have been a lot better than the previous 20 years - England have achieved everything they could have possibly hoped to - they've won two major tournaments, they've won the Ashes several times, they've won the Ashes in Australia, they've won against everyone everywhere, they've reached Number 1 in the world.
It's been a long way from perfect, but there's been a lot of fun along the way.
I've decided to weigh up all the formats, as something has clearly shifted in the last decade and we, England cricket fans, finally consider limited overs cricket to be of significant value.
Therefore, to dismiss the likes of Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy as merely minor league test failures is not the whole story.
I have also tried to look at it not just in terms of statistics and overall achievements, but to look at people who had a profound impact, even if briefly (rather like with other sports ... one Olympic gold medal is worth more than several years of consistently good performance).
1. James Anderson
A few years ago, one might have placed Cook, Pietersen, Flintoff, even Broad, above him. That he is now by far on top of this list owes to the extraordinary way he's just got better and better. For the last 100-odd test wickets, he's averaging low 20s. It's incredible. I would never have thought this at the start, or 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, even 5 years ago. Even now, I'm thinking, maybe he's finished, but I bet he's got another 50 test wickets in him.
2. Kevin Pietersen
I suppose so. As I've always said, what's remarkable is that Pietersen played for England so long, not that it was cut short or that there was trouble. Of course that happened. Also, he is lucky enough to leave people feeling that he was cut off in his prime, which is clearly not true. But, anyway, yes, I think with retrospect I can say he was greater, all in all, taking into account he was Player of the Tournament at the 2010 World T20, than Alastair Cook.
3. Stuart Broad
5 years ago, I'd have genuinely thought Broad could become England's greatest ever cricketer. He was an almost-all-rounder, pitching in with exciting 50s regularly, and unleashing devastating spells with the ball just when it was most important. As it is, his batting has fallen away so badly, and his bowling, though still solid, has levelled out, so he remains in Anderson's shadow. But still, 480-odd test wickets already, only 33, he's bowled really well again in the last few months, who knows where it ends up.
4. Alastair Cook
Cook was a great test opener, one of the greatest - you could complain that, in the second half of his career, there were too many runs of low scores rescued by one enormous one along the way. You could say his captaincy was … ok, tricky. But his overall records doesn't lie - it couldn't, over that many games.
5. Ben Stokes
Maybe Stokes should be 1. One assumes that will end up happening. He's already outdone Flintoff in numbers and, more surprisingly, in glory. He has become such a good batsman, it now feels like there's no limit to the runs he'll score.
6. Joe Root
It feels like a key moment in Root's career right now, both as batsman and captain. Will he keep on trying to do everything? Will his batting continue to suffer? Or will he go on to top Cook's numbers, while also turning into a consistently good test captain. We'll see.
Anyway, I think he's the best batsman I've seen play for England, all in all, you've just got to hope it doesn't all start to peter out.
7. Andrew Strauss
Strauss is my favourite of the three great 21st century England captains, still, to my mind, underrated by some as leader, administrator and indeed opening batsman. He has promised and delivered success in whatever's he done, from his very first test innings (which I was lucky enough to see) up to now. Here is the first of a few silly football comparisons I will make - let's say Beckenbauer.
8. Andrew Flintoff
Aah, you know. He hit the ball into his dad's hands. No numbers do justice to the player he was for a while.
9. Alec Stewart
A cricketer I've warmed to in retirement, he may well have been a better keeper, batsman and captain than he was perceived to be at the time. Came to test cricket fairly old and I always associated him with the shoving out of Gower. Unfairly. I also thought him a bit dull and humourless. Unfairly again. Actually, probably, England's best cricketer, all in all, of the 1990s. Shearer.
10. Graeme Swann
What's crazy is that Swann's test career was 5 years, that's it. All those years they were picking Ashley Giles and Shaun Udal and what have you. And then they happened upon Swann and for those five years, when England were the best team in the world, he was England's best, most important player. Then he stopped. He averaged not that much less than Mark Ramprakash as a test batsman, too.
11. Ian Bell
Good sides become great sides when their third best batsman is this good. Bell, beside the accumulation of runs, had several series where he was magnificent, and played several rearguard knocks of overlooked tenacity too (Collingwood became Brigadier Block, but Bell was just as good at holding out when required). His career still makes me feel a bit sad though. He made a 100 (his 22nd) on the first day of a series against West Indies in 2015 which was just the easiest thing you've ever seen, there was hardly any point to it, and if you'd told me then that that was not just the last test 100 he'd make but even the last time he'd even look comfortable as a test batsman, I'd have not believed it.
12. Darren Gough
Probably England's best bowler of the 90s in every format, he, like Graham Thorpe, will feel a bit hard done by to have played just before it all got really good.
13. Eoin Morgan
As a test player, Eoin Morgan is, roughly speaking, Adam Lallana. As a limited overs player, he's Moore, Rooney and Charlton combined. So what's that worth compared to, say, Michael Atherton in the overall scheme of it? Perhaps a bit of a pointless comparison, but the deliberate shift in the value of ODI cricket and the extent to which Morgan led and masterminded it, the fact that the World Cup final win stands with most, if not all, test moments even for traditionalists, it certainly counts for something.
14. Graham Thorpe
I never warmed to Thorpe, for some reason, despite the fact he should have been my hero, a left-hander, England's best batsman at the time I was most into cricket, the exact type of batsman I aspired to be, someone who scored a 100 in his Ashes debut … yet, his career rather passed me by. I remember few of his innings ... of course, there's the classic win in the dark in Sri Lanka in 2001, that's the one I think of most fondly. An unlucky cricketer really - dropped for the 2005 Ashes for Pietersen in a move that was both deeply unfair and historically correct.
But to average almost 45 in that era speaks for itself.
15. Michael Vaughan
Look, I'm not saying Vaughan's horrendous punditry counts against him but … maybe it should. Considering how brilliant he was for a short while, perhaps he underachieved as a batsman, but Vaughan really was a great captain in 2005, and everyone will forgive him almost everything for that.
16. Nasser Hussain
Hussain's final test innings is probably the best sporting moment I ever watched in the flesh, the pure theatre of it. It's pretty solidly established now that Hussain and Duncan Fletcher did the hard work needed to turn England into a proper professional test cricket team.
17. Michael Atherton
Perhaps odd to include Atherton who played his first test in 1989 and is so tied to the 1990s, but there we go, he did play for England until 2001. I'll only say this if you want to compare him to Alastair Cook - there simply were not test bowlers between 2006 and 2018 as good as the specific two or three who drove Michael Atherton's test average down to 37. There simply weren't.
18. Matthew Hoggard
I love that The Cricketer did a statistical study a few years ago with a set of criteria which led to the conclusion that Matthew Hoggard is England's greatest ever bowler. He really did get big wickets though. Think it ended for him quicker than it should have done. One of the best for a while.
19. Marcus Trescothick
Packed a lot of very good international cricket into a short space of time. Arguably his contribution on the first morning of the Headingley test in 2005 was as important as anything else that happened in the whole two decades. He also had, I think, a very influential technique.
20. Moeen Ali
Mo has very politely pointed out that he sometimes feels a bit scapegoated for his failures which others get away with. It's a fair point considering he was dropped after taking more wickets in test cricket than anybody else in the previous year. Could still be such a valuable player for England if he could just start getting the odd 50 again, but has been a great player across the formats - probably in England's top 10 all-rounders ever.
21. Paul Collingwood
England's World Cup winning captain, of course. Well, World Tournament, or whatever. Exactly the kind of person the English cricket public take to their hearts. Was a really superb one-day player (111 ODI wickets!) and probably wishes he'd played in the era England took it more seriously. Ended with a higher test average than Atherton, Hussain, Stewart, Lamb, Gatting.
22. Jonathan Trott
Trott was the ICC World Cricketer of the Year in 2011. The best in the world across all formats. One can forget just how good he was for 3 or 4 years.
23. Andrew Caddick
Has a very similar record to Darren Gough, but was always less feted. He could be unplayable at times. I feel like his exploits against West Indies , his fast, hooping spells against clueless left-handers, in the summer of 2000, were pretty much the start of when things got good.
24. Matt Prior
Very much the definitive England cricketer of the era - bumptious, confident, a bit South African, better than you thought he was going to be.
25. Jonny Bairstow
Has, pretty conclusively, failed to live up to his test promise, but as a one-day opener, has been magnificent. I still think there could be a role for him in the test side, but not sure what it is.
26. Steve Harmison
I was a bit hard on Harmison at the time, thought he was pretty wildly overrated and inconsistent. I suppose you can say, now, he's a bit like Vaughan … a standard-bearer who showed that England could be destructive, could be the best. He was, all too briefly, the best, and maybe that led the way for the rest.
27. Chris Woakes
Every time you think his place in the side is safe, his place in the side is no longer safe. Shocking to say it, he might not play that many more tests. Then again, he may play loads. All his numbers add up, and his bowling in ODIs has been superb.
28. Jos Buttler
Honestly, I think Buttler mainly does a decent job in tests. He's had to bat with the tail and eke it out a lot, and I think he's often done it pretty well. I think he offers more flexibility than Bairstow and Foakes and I think they should stick with him. He's also one of the greatest players in the history of limited overs cricket, obviously.
29. Monty Panesar
Aah Monty … what a bowler he was for a while. There's something to be written about the way England treats its Asian players. But anyway, how odd he should be the only crossover cricket star between 2005 and 2019 - it's probably still true that more people have heard of Monty Panesar than Stuart Broad.
30. Adil Rashid
It's ironic that Rashid's England test career, for many years stymied by cruel selection decisions, was eventually stymied by an overly generous one. Picked for the first test of the 2019 West Indies series when he shouldn't have been, he hasn't been seen in tests since, and won't again.
A lot of mediocre spinners were picked ahead of him, he did ok in some tests, he was super-fun, but, most significantly, he's been one of the main five stars of England's limited overs success.
It's a shame his batting has fallen by the wayside, but there you go.
31. Ryan Sidebottom
As well as his really excellent test record, briefly gathered in the inbetweeny period of English cricket, he was a key man in the World T20 win. He could have played a great deal more. I don't think, throughout his career, that people being picked ahead of him were actually much better than him.
32. Jason Roy
So, look, wasn't exactly a massive test success, was he, but he, more than anyone else over the course of the tournament, won England the 2019 World Cup, so, really, that's good enough.
33. Tim Bresnan
Remember when England won every match Tim Bresnan played in. So he was kept in the side. Till they didn't. But his record, albeit over a small number of games, is really very good. I mean, after 23 tests, Flintoff was a mile behind where Bresnan was.
34. Graeme Hick
Hick and Mark Ramprakash are often put together as twin symbols of the failures of the 90s, but there are significant differences - Ramps started pretty well but then never really looked like breaking through. Hick started terribly but then actually really was a proper test batsman for a few years. He is also one of England's best ever ODI batsmen, almost winning a World Cup with the 1992 side. When you look back at how and when they dropped him, they really did fuck it up with him, they really did.
35. Alex Hales
Though Hales was squeezed out of the ultimate glory, he was the first of that generation of one-day specialists who was just fearless and brilliant, yet you knew wasn't a test player.
36. Liam Plunkett
Plunkett has been one of England's best one day bowlers - he's a better bowler now than when he was a test player.
37. Simon Jones
Toto Schillaci.
38. Mark Butcher
Since he is truly one of the most pleasant and insightful player-turned-pundits, I think a lot more kindly on Butcher. I remember that in the 2001 Ashes, he took a hilarious 4-for, and he, of course, played one of the greatest innings of all time. Apart from that, he was an ok test player. He made 31 test scores over 50, which is more than I would have remembered, I must say.
39. Steve Finn
How quickly it came and went - a bit like Harmison but without the long, slow fade. Could have been one of the greats, I think, but fast bowlers are always on a knife edge.
40. Ashley Giles
Some very good cricketers have only played 20 or so tests for England, while Ashley Giles played 54. Perhaps he is the Phil Neville of our story. Yes, he had a glorious part to play in the story, and, yes, he certainly did a job, but he was lucky to play 54 tests ending up with a bowling average over 40, yes, he was.
41. Jofra Archer
We'll see in a few years, but it's not been a bad start. I'd like to see him show he can bat at some point.
42. Dominic Cork
Dominic Cork was a very good cricketer - I feel like England could have made more of him in all formats. His career began spectacularly then petered out a bit. But he played his part in one of the key wins, at Lords in 2000 vs West Indies, shepherding England to 191 for a win that was the start of the good things.
43. Chris Tremlett
For his contribution to the 2010-11 Ashes alone.
44. Ravi Bopara
I saw Ravi make a test hundred at Lords, easy as anything. A lot of people really did think he had the talent and temperament, and he probably did, but there was a bit too much pressure put on him in the 2009 Ashes. One of England's better ODI players for a while, but he had a habit of almost but not quite getting the job done.
45. Phil Tufnell
Like all spinners of his era, his stats would be a lot better if he'd played in the age of DRS. My favourite left-arm spinner of all. Played his last test in 2001 in case you're wondering what the hell he's doing on this list. Got almost as many test wickets as runs.
46. Gary Ballance
Still has a test average of 37, you know … he did briefly seem like the future.
47. Geraint Jones
It's not just that he was there. It's not even just that moment, maybe the most memorable moment of all - Harmison, Kasprowicz, Jones, Bowden, he was actually, really, briefly, an important part of that team. The decision to go with him at 7 had a real positive impact and I seem to remember quite a few times it went from 200 for 5 to 300 for 5 very quickly with him and Flintoff, and those are the partnerships that change games. Now a firefighter in Sandwich, apparently.
48. Mark Wood
It would be pleasing if it did work out for him - he is beginning to look like he really knows how to take wickets, not just bowl fast.
49. Sam Curran
It is slightly intriguing to see whether he will be good enough in the long term with either ball or bat, but he has already positively impacted a few series.
50. Mark Ramprakash
Ramprakash began his test career, against the still-terrifying West Indies attack of 1991, with gritty scores of 27, 27, 24, 13, 21, 29, 25, 25 and 19. He battled, he got in every time. But he never shook that average.
The fact that he was still the best county batsman in the country, averaging 100, in 2009 and people were calling for him to make an England comeback, makes the flat disappointment of his test career even more of a shame.
51. Jack Leach
Notwithstanding the stand with Stokes and the 90-odd, he had a great first winter. For some reason, people still seem a bit sniffy about him.
52. Craig White
Although he seemed to be in the general run of jokey England all-rounders, White ended up bowling pretty fast and well and scoring useful runs.
53. Rory Burns
The first good opener since Cook. In a way, the first flush of hope of a proper, normal, test cricket team, so whatever happens to him now, he's done something ...
54. Alan Mulally
How many l's in the name Alan Mulally? ... he was pretty good actually, wasn't he?
55. Robert Croft
Another very tidy cricketer, like Cork, from a time when nothing was really in his favour.
56. Nick Knight
Excellent as an ODI opener, scored a couple of test centuries.
57. John Crawley
The unfortunate thing I remember from Crawley's career was the crowd visibly impatient with him batting on the last day of a meaningless test with Flintoff waiting to come in next. People wanted him to get out. Never fulfilled his promise, which was great. But, again, when you look at the statistical picture, it's not too bad at all, and he can justifiably suggest he deserved a couple more chances.
58. Alex Tudor
Did a couple of brilliant things in test cricket which are memorable even now. Injuries did for him, which is an emerging theme with the promising young bowlers in this list.
59. Robert Key
He was good enough for and was given enough chances in test cricket, it just didn't quite carry through. Probably a couple more good innings away from playing 60 tests.
60. Mark Ealham
Ealham is often, in my head, part of the long-running joke, but actually, when you look at the stats, he didn't do at all badly in ODIs or tests. Probably had to convince people all his life that he was good enough.
61. Nick Compton
Of all the openers for the last 10 years who haven't quite made it, he probably came closest.
62. Chris Jordan
One of England's best T20 players - good enough to get regularly picked for the big leagues, so has probably made more money than most of the others on this list!
63. Graham Onions
A memorable, short test career, a load of injuries.
64. Craig Kieswetter
Who was Man of the Match the first time England men's team won a major World cricket final? Now that is a question.
65. Joe Denly
He's basically doing a really good job, at cost to himself. If England had had a Number 3 batting as long as he is for the last few years, things would have been a fair bit better.
66. David Willey
The unlucky one who missed out on the fun. Pretty definitive modern cricketer.
67. James Taylor
Taylor would, in my opinion, be central to England's middle order now. Also, brought out the arsehole in Kevin Pietersen, so did everyone a service in that respect too.
68. Ollie Pope
Seems good so far.
69. Dawid Malan
Made a century in an away Ashes series. You kind of think if he could do that, he should have been able to do anything.
70. Ben Hollioake
I once bowled an over at Ben Hollioake where he hit me for two sixes into the bushes and then I bowled a full toss which landed on the stumps. Probably my proudest cricketing memory.
Would have been a T20 superstar, I'm quite sure.
71. Owais Shah.
I played against Owais Shah too once. Long summer evening at Foxes' Reservoir Ground, Ealing, Under 13s I think. Even then, I couldn't quite work him out. He looked awkward, then effortlessly brilliant, then got himself out unexpectedly. And so it went.
72. Luke Wright
Generally has been better for teams other than England.
73. Ben Foakes
Is he set to be an Asian tour specialist, I wonder.
74. Toby Roland-Jones
Piece of piss, that test cricket, wasn't it? Didn't do it for long, but fun while it lasted.
75. Tim Ambrose
Got a test century, was a great keeper.
76. Keaton Jennings
Has made two centuries ... and not much else.
77. Dom Sibley
I predict Sibley will shortly be above Jennings.
78. James Tredwell
Another cricketer whose record is rather better than his reputation suggests.
79. Michael Lumb
World T20 winner etc replaced by Jason Roy who did similar things a little better
80. Dom Bess
Spinners get dropped after bowling match-winning five wicket spells. That's just how it is.
81. James Vince
What can I say that hasn't been said?
82. Sajid Mahmood
Never really looked likely, just bowled too many bad balls.
83. Shaun Udal
If I'm not mistaken, the last spell of Shaun Udal's test career was 4 for 14.
84. Samit Patel
I felt like England should have been picking Samit Patel for years. Turns out I was wrong,
85. Michael Carberry
Whereas I think they should have picked Carberry for years.
86. Vikram Solanki
Talent, class, grace. Just not quite enough runs.
87. Michael Yardy
Safe to say we're down to the point where numbers are a bit arbitrary.
88. Paul Nixon
Never misundestimate Paul Nixon, Fashanu fans.
89. Ian Blackwell
I liked Blackwell a lot, I wish it had gone a little better for him.
90. Ronnie Irani
The people's Ronnie Irani.
91. Dmitri Mascarenhas
Did some fun stuff.
92. Sam Billings
Did some fun stuff.
93. Richard Johnson
Aah, now Richard Johnson would have been a seriously good bowler. Has a test bowling average of 17 and ODI of 21. Why is he not top of the list?
94. Rikki Clarke
Did pretty well with few opportunities.
95. Ed Joyce
Probably England's second best Irishman.
96. Gareth Batty
Was not a great success in the old test matches ...
97. Richard Dawson
See above. Not the folk singer.
98. Jake Ball
See above.
99. Zak Crawley
We'll see.
100. Jade Dernbach
Indeed. Putting him at 100 is mean. He actually has a better international record than some of those above him. But he came to symbolise something. A perfectly delivered slower ball in a final over being hit for six, that's Jade D.
Anyway, it could go on a little bit, and there are arguably some who like Haseen Hameed who made an impact. But, you know, the list got pretty meaningless quite a while back, didn't it?
Comments
Post a Comment