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Playfair Cricket Annual Cover Stars XI

 

When Playfair moved to its current format in 1963, it began the tradition of having a cricketer on the front cover. Since then, 59 cricketers have appeared on the front cover (Geoffrey Boycott and Andrew Flintoff are the only two to have appeared twice). So, to mark the 75th edition, I thought it would be interesting to pick an England XI from those cover stars, with a bonus pick for twelfth man of the best England player never to have made it onto the front cover.

 

The players are listed in various categories, and you need to pick two opening batters, three middle-order batters, an all-rounder, a wicket-keeper, a spin bowler, and three pace bowlers from the following options:

 

                                    Year                 Runs/Wkts       Average            Career

Opening batters

John Edrich                 1970                5138                43.54               1963-76

Geoff Boycott             1972/81           8114                47.72               1964-82

Dennis Amiss              1975                3612                46.30               1966-77

Mike Brearley             1978                1442                22.88               1976-81

Graham Gooch            1980                8900                42.58               1975-95

Mike Atherton            1994                7728                37.69               1989-2001

Marcus Trescothick    2002                5825                43.79               2000-06

Andrew Strauss           2010                7037                40.91               2004-12

Alastair Cook              2013                12472              45.35               2006-18

Zak Crawley               2021                1087                28.60               2019-

 

Batters

Ken Barrington           1965                6806                58.67               1955-68

Brian Close                 1967                  887                25.34               1949-76

Basil D’Oliveira         1968                2484                40.06               1966-72

Allan Lamb                 1982                4656                36.09               1982-92

David Gower              1983                8231                44.25               1978-92

Graeme Hick               1988                3383                31.32               1991-2001

Robin Smith                1991                4236                43.67               1988-96

Graham Thorpe           1997                6744                44.66               1993-2005

Nasser Hussain           1998                5764                37.18               1990-2004

Mark Ramprakash      1999                2350                27.32               1991-2002

Michael Vaughan       2004                5719                41.44               1999-2008

Ian Bell                       2007                7727                42.69               2004-15

Kevin Pietersen          2012                8181                47.28               2005-14

Joe Root                      2015                9889                49.19               2012-

 

All-rounders

Tony Greig                 1973                3599/141         40.43/32.20            1972-77

Ian Botham                 1979                5200/383         33.54/28.40            1977-92

Andrew Flintoff          2003/06           3845/226         31.77/32.78            1998-2009

Ben Stokes                  2016                5061/174         35.89/32.12            2013-

 

Wicket-keepers

Alan Knott                  1969                4389/269         32.75               1967-81

Paul Downton             1985                  785/75           19.62               1981-88

Jack Russell                1989                1897/165         27.10               1988-98

Alec Stewart               1993                8463/277         39.54               1990-2003

Jonny Bairstow           2017                4801/211         34.53               2012-

Jos Buttler                   2019                2907/154         31.94               2014-

 

Spinners

John Emburey             1987                147                  38.40               1978-95

Monty Panesar            2008                167                  34.71               2006-13

Graeme Swann            2011                255                  29.96               2008-13

Adil Rashid                 2022                  60                  39.83               2015-19

 

Fast bowlers

John Snow                   1971                202                  26.66               1965-76

Angus Fraser               1990                177                  27.32               1989-98

Phil DeFreitas             1992                140                  33.57               1986-95

Darren Gough             1995                229                  28.39               1994-2003

Andy Caddick             2000                234                  29.91               1993-2003

Steve Harmison          2005                226                  31.82               2002-09

Stuart Broad                2014                537                  27.80               2007-

James Anderson          2018                640                  26.58               2003-

Jofra Archer                2020                  42                  31.04               2019-

 

A copy of the Annual to the first one who matches my XII, and if no one agrees with my team then the one who comes closest will win. I suspect the biggest debates will come with the batters. Good luck!