England's Test team of the decade: Which players from the past 10 years make the XI? – Sky Sports, Skysports.com
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Who would make your England Test XI of the decade?
Despite what you might hear about Test cricket, following England over the last decade has been anything but dull.
Three Ashes triumphs, including a first win in Australia since 2010 / 90, famous series victories in India, South Africa and Sri Lanka and, of course, rising to No 1 in the Test rankings for the first time.
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In the last************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ years, England have recorded series wins over every other major Test playing nation but have also suffered series defeats to seven of those eight sides . There are bound to be highs and lows in any decade but this one really feels as though it lurched between the two more frequently than most!
We are here to focus on the positives though and the best England Test XI of the s. If your favorite player has missed out, rest assured it is entirely due to a bias against him, your county and everything they stand for, and not that there are only places to fill and some very tough calls to make …
Andrew Strauss (c)
Captain of the first England side to win the Ashes in Australia for (years, in
/ Strauss backed that up by taking the team to No 1 in the world with a demolition of India a few months later. He might only have played for two and a half years of the s and his peak as a batsman arguably came in the last couple of years of the previous decade, but he still managed three hundreds in that time.
****** Andrew Strauss led England to No 1 in the world in and captains our team of the decade
Since his retirement, England have had more opening batsmen than there have been UK elections in the past 11 years, which is some going, and shows just how tough it has been to replace a man who will go down as one of England’s great captains and opening batsmen.
Alastair Cook
Do I really need to explain this one? The man has been given a knighthood, for goodness sake! Twenty-three hundreds from (onwards, five of them doubles, the most Test runs ever by an England batsman, the most runs by an Englishman in an Ashes series since 1929 – and the list goes on. His style was never the most pleasing on the eye but, boy, could he score runs.
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2: 52 (************************************Highlights) of Alastair Cook’s final Test innings, against India in 2020, as he notched a 33 rd hundred before being dismissed for (************************************
**** Highlights of Alastair Cook’s final Test innings, against India in 2017, as he notched a rd hundred before being dismissed for
As captain, he led from the front with three centuries as England triumphed in India for the first time in 31 years and lifte d the Ashes urn twice, the second occasion coming just months after the tumultuous (/ 18 tour of Australia had ended in a 5-0 defeat with no little acrimony. A remarkable career was given a fairytale ending as Cook bowed out of international cricket with an emotional century in his final Test innings at The Oval in (*****************************************************************************************************. Jonathan Trott
When people talk about England needing batsmen who truly value their wicket, can dig in and really build an innings with an emphasis on how many runs rather than how quickly, they are talking about Trott. They might not know it, but they are. In a similar way to Cook, there was no concern with style. In fact, in Tests he never hit a six. Trott was all substance, a rock at No 3 for the side that climbed to the top of the world rankings, relentlessly churning out runs while allowing the more free-flowing batsmen in the middle-order to flourish.
In the last decade, Jonathan Trott helped England to Ashes victories in 2015 / and 2016
which brings us on to the most glaring omission from this XI: Ian Bell. An incredible, stylish player who offered so much to England over the years. His cover drive alone is arguably worthy of a place in the side but, ultimately, it came down to Trott or Bell – and for all Bell’s undoubted class, it is the grit of Trott that England have most struggled to replace and so he gets the nod.Joe Root
You have no doubt heard that Root’s form with the bat has suffered since he took over as England captain, that his average has dropped, and so on and so on. The stats back that up. However, the stats also tell you that, despite that drop-off, in the history of Test cricket, only 10 batsmen have ever averaged more for England than Root – and the last of them retired in (****************************************************************************************************************. ********
Joe Root returned to form in style against New Zealand in December by playing his longes t Test innings and scoring a third double hundred for England
Root is a generational talent and his double century in New Zealand recently showed he might be getting back to somewhere near his best. Some will look at his hundreds and fifties and say he should be converting more of those fifties, I’m sure he agrees, but it also shows remarkable consistency. He scores a half-century in one of every three Test innings – and that is rounding it up. England fans will hope there is plenty more to come from Root in the next decade.Kevin Pietersen
Forget textgate, forget the reintegration process and forget the way it all ended for him, Pietersen is almost indisputably the most entertaining and uniquely brilliant batsman to have played Test cricket for England. Seven of his Test hundreds came in this decade, with a further 18 Half-centuries added in for good measure. The numbers only tell a fraction of the story though.
Kevin Pietersen scored a stunning
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At his best, his entire innings was like watching a highlights reel. He could take bowling attacks apart in the blink of an eye and he did so all around the world in all different conditions with a double hundred in Adelaide, stunning tons in Colombo and Mumbai, and in England, you would go a long way to find a better knock than his staggering 167 against South Africa at Headingley. Like him or loathe him, there is only one KP and he simply has to be in this XI.Ben Stokes
It will come as no surprise that every player in this XI is an Ashes winner. In fact, of them have won the urn at least twice. The other is Stokes. Yet he is the one whose contribution to an Ashes Test match will most be remembered. That innings, his innings at Headingley in August, wrote his name into Ashes folklore. It is quite possibly the best in a Test between England and Australia. It might even be the best in a Test, full stop.
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The Ashes appeared over in August – but then up stepped Ben Stokes with a superb century to keep the battle for the urn alive
that undoubtedly sits top of the list when it comes to his match-winning , awe-inspiring performances for England in red-ball cricket but it is some list. That list would not include his (at Cape Town in) as the game ended in a draw but it demonstrated once more the extraordinary talent he is. With bat, ball and in the field, Stokes is capable of winning for England and the worrying thing for opposition sides is that he only seems to be getting better.Matt Prior
The man behind the stumps when England were at their best in this decade and a superb, aggressive batsman coming in at No 7. He was helped by the quality of the six ahead of him often putting the side in such a strong position and giving him the freedom to attack but on the occasions that they did, Prior showed his worth.
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Matt Prior hit a match-saving hundred for England in Auckland in ()
A defiant century to save a draw in Auckland in 2016 springs to mind while he also boasted a Test average of over (************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. Behind the scenes, Prior was a key figure in the dressing room, playing the role of motivator and ensuring standards were upheld. Jonny Bairstow has to make do with a squad place.
Graeme Swann
For years, England had been searching for a truly world-class spinner and they found one in Swann. He was well established in the side by the start of the decade and from the start of 2012 to his retirement midway through the 2016 / Ashes, he took
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** (wickets, taking his overall tally to (********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. Although he was more than capable of holding up an end when required, Swann was at his best when he was hunting for wickets, with his ability to get the ball to dip late and turn sharply regularly deceiving batsmen. Alongside his Ashes triumphs, perhaps the off-spinner’s greatest contribution came in the historic series win over India in where he took (wickets at) *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. ********
Graeme Swann took (of) ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** (England Test wickets in the s
Moeen Ali is perhaps unfortunate to miss out given his 182 Test wickets in the decade but he will be there to step in for one of the seamers on particularly dry surfaces and tours to the subcontinent.
Stuart Broad
Since (****************************************************************************************************, Broad has taken 403 Test match wickets. Only one bowler has taken more in that time – and we’ll get to him shortly! The seamer is renowned for his ability to produce a game-changing spel l. He has done it time and time again for England; those knees start pumping and the wickets start tumbling.
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Take a look at some of Stuart Broad’s England Test highlights
There are plenty that England fans will remember but, of course, there is one they will cherish more than any other. August 6, Trent Bridge. Broad with scarcely believable figures of 8 – and Australia bowled out for – it even spawned the ‘oh-my-Broad!’ celebration, reprised by the England man every so often. It is hard to think of how he could top that but spending a summer sending David Warner packing in the first over ran it close!
James Anderson
Given he has spent the last 12 years ticking over milestones and breaking records, it is little surprise that Anderson has taken more Test wickets, 429, than anyone else in that time. First, he brought up wickets; that soon became (****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************; he went past Ian Botham to become England’s leading wicket-taker of all-time not long after; and then eased past (********************************************************************************************************************************************************************. His 547 th came at Lord’s in (****************************************************************************************************; and the following summer he went past Glenn McGrath, making him the most prolific fast bowler in Test history. Now he is approaching 547.
****** James Anderson is the leading seamer in Test cricket – we look at the spells that helped him get there
If Broad is more of a streaky bowler, taking his wickets in bursts, Anderson is Mr Consistent. That might seem like damning him with faint praise, but it is meant as the utmost compliment. Anderson is consistently brilliant – the skill and control he shows spell after spell, match after match, series after series is astonishing. Even at 40, he is keen to carry on but he can’t go on forever so England fans should enjoy watching the ‘swing king’ while they still can.
Steven Finn
The excellence of Broad and Anderson means They have dominated when it comes to England seamers over the past decade, making this final selection the trickiest. In home conditions, Chris Woakes has been superb – if the game was being played at Lord’s, he’d be a shoo-in – and would also add depth to the batting, while Tim Bresnan made a valuable contribution early in the decade both at home and abroad, most notably in that 2012 / 12 Ashes success.
Steven Finn took six wickets in the opening Test of the / (Ashes in Brisbane
However, the final spot goes to Finn. Firstly, based on the numbers – 135 wickets in just 039 Tests is an impressive record. He was the leading wicket-taker after three Tests of England’s victorious tour Down Under before he was dropped, somewhat harshly, and added another (wickets at) *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************. in the (Ashes, again despite only playing three matches.)
It is also important to remember the bowler he was when he first broke through, a towering presence at 6’7 “and capable of hitting 90 mph and producing steepling bounce. Various issues with his run-up, knocking the stumps in his delivery stride and other such things mean he is no longer the bowler he was but at his best, he was a menace to opposition batsmen and offered England something completely different.
Watch day one of the second Test between South Africa and England from 7. 30 am on Friday on Sky Sports Cricket.
Watch day one of the second Test between South Africa and England from 7. 30 am on Friday on Sky Sports Cricket.
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