Any room for WG in our best England XI?

To celebrate England’s 1,000th Test, which starts against India at Edgbaston tomorrow, we asked our experts to pick their best ever England XI. There are some notable omissions and some eyebrow-raising inclusions...

PAUL NEWMAN CRICKET CORRESPONDENT 1 GRAHAM GOOCH (CAPT) 2 ALASTAIR COOK 3 DAVID GOWER 4 WALLY HAMMOND 5 KEVIN PIETERSEN 6 IAN BOTHAM 7 ALAN KNOTT (WKT) 8 STUART BROAD 9 DEREK UNDERWOOD 10 JIMMY ANDERSON 11 BOB WILLIS I was fortunate to regularly watch one of the greatest of all England teams — the andrew strauss and andy Flower-led side who won in australia in 2010-11 and went to the top of the world rankings in 2011 — so my choices are influenced by that. But I have tried to look further back, too.

Gooch is my cricketing hero and still the best English batsman of all time so he has to be captain, but Joe Root needs to convert more half- centuries into hundreds before he makes this team.

Knott keeps out alec stewart and Matt Prior while James Foster, the last of the truly great keepers, should have played 100 Tests and would have been a contender.

Underwood edges out Graeme swann and the image of willis running through australia at Headingley in 1981 is my favourite cricket memory, so he plays.

DAVID LLOYD FORMER ENGLAND PLAYER AND COACH

1 GRAHAM GOOCH 2 MARCUS TRESCOTHICK 3 MICHAEL VAUGHAN (CAPT) 4 JOE ROOT 5 KEVIN PIETERSEN 6 ALEC STEWART (WKT) 7 IAN BOTHAM 8 GRAEME SWANN 9 DEREK UNDERWOOD 10 JIMMY ANDERSON 11 BOB WILLIS wHo to leave out? Two of my alltime favourites, andrew Flintoff and David Gower, don’t even get in! I have a perfect balance with two match-winners in the off spin of swann and the brilliant left arm of ‘Deadly’ Derek.

Kevin Pietersen is the best England batsman I’ve seen, and I seriously considered Jonny Bairstow nudging out alec stewart, but I’m sticking with ‘The Gaffer’.

I would pay good money to watch the openers so it’s Gooch and Trescothick ahead of alastair Cook and Geoff Boycott and I’m making Michael Vaughan captain after he led England in one of the great ashes series in 2005.

I haven’t picked my favourite — Fred Trueman. what a bowler and man my hero Fred was, but I can’t see how I fit him in. with the ICC code of conduct he would probably be suspended anyway!

LAWRENCE BOOTH WISDEN EDITOR 1 LEN HUTTON (CAPT) 2. JACK HOBBS 3 WG GRACE 4 WALLY HAMMOND 5 JOE ROOT 6 IAN BOTHAM 7 ALAN KNOTT (WKT) 8 FRED TRUEMAN 9 DEREK UNDERWOOD 10 JIMMY ANDERSON 11 SF BARNES

I aDMIT there are some golden oldies in here, but it’s hard to look beyond that top four, despite the claims of Gooch, Cook and Boycott. Hutton and Hobbs both averaged 56 in Tests and Hammond 58. Hammond was also one of England’s greatest slip fielders and could bowl medium pace.

wG Grace was so far ahead of his contemporaries that you have to assume he’d have shone in any era. Root has the highest average of any England player in the 50 years since Ken Barrington retired and a top five as strong as that can allow Botham in at No 6 rather than No 7. apologies to Denis Compton, Kevin Pietersen and Barrington.

Trueman and anderson can share the new ball, with back-up from Barnes, whose 189 wickets cost only 16 apiece. and if there’s anything in the pitch, Underwood will find it and Knott will catch it. NASSER HUSSAIN FORMER ENGLAND CAPTAIN 1 GRAHAM GOOCH (CAPT) 2 ALASTAIR COOK 3 DAVID GOWER 4 JOE ROOT 5 KEVIN PIETERSEN 6 ALEC STEWART (WKT) 7 IAN BOTHAM 8 STUART BROAD 9 DEREK UNDERWOOD 10 JIMMY ANDERSON 11 BOB WILLIS I NEVER saw the likes of Jack Hobbs and wally Hammond play, so I’m going to stick with cricketers who I saw or played alongside.

Geoffrey Boycott just misses out at the top of the order, but Graham Gooch is the greatest England player I played with and alastair Cook is our leading run-scorer.

David Gower was my childhood hero and Kevin Pietersen speaks for himself. I thought about Graham Thorpe instead of Joe Root, but Root’s just such a fine all-round batsman.

I’ve gone for alec stewart ahead of alan Knott because of his batting and the fact that this team has a long tail.

Graeme swann just misses out to Derek Underwood and it’s hard to argue with Broad, anderson and willis, who have 1,282 Test wickets between them. RICHARD GIBSON CRICKET WRITER

1 LEN HUTTON (CAPT) 2 JACK HOBBS 3 KEN BARRINGTON 4 WALLY HAMMOND 5 KEVIN PIETERSEN 6 ALEC STEWART (WKT) 7 IAN BOTHAM 8 GRAEME SWANN 9 FRED TRUEMAN 10 JIMMY ANDERSON 11 SF BARNES

LEN HUTToN lost only four times in 23 matches as England captain and takes the armband. among batsmen, it is hard to look beyond the H trinity of Hutton, Hobbs and Hammond, and Ken Barrington completes a top four who gorged themselves on runs.

although Kevin Pietersen cannot match their numbers and trails in Joe Root’s wake in this regard, his box-office influence in significant series wins deserves recognition. He therefore edges out the Yorkshireman.

stewart and Botham balance the XI, with a Roses new-ball pair of anderson and Trueman.

sF Barnes fits the bill for first change and Graeme swann’s ability to spread his wickets across first and second innings, in home conditions and overseas, trumps slow left-armers Johnny Briggs, Colin Blythe and Derek Underwood.

CHRIS SUTTON NORFOLK UNDER-16S SPECIALIST FIELDER

1 JACK HOBBS 2 ALASTAIR COOK 3 KEVIN PIETERSEN 4 DAVID GOWER 5 WALLY HAMMOND (CAPT) 6 IAN BOTHAM 7 ANDREW FLINTOFF 8 ALAN KNOTT (WKT) 9 FRED TRUEMAN 10 DEREK UNDERWOOD 11 JIMMY ANDERSON As two of cricket’s all-time greats, Jack Hobbs and Wally Hammond have to be in.

I’ve picked the brute force of Kevin Pietersen — who could take the game away from any team — and the grace of David Gower. But selecting Alastair Cook over Geoffrey Boycott to open the batting was a close call.

Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff could both bat and bowl superbly. They are two of England’s greatest showmen with a remarkable will to win.

With 297 Test wickets at an average of just 25.83, Derek Underwood is England’s best spinner. Alan Knott is our greatest gloveman and could be a nuisance for the opposition with the bat, too.

For my bowling attack, I’ve gone for Roses grit and guile with Lancashire and Yorkshire swing kings Anderson and Trueman.

MIKE DICKSON FORMER CRICKET CORRESPONDENT

1 JACK HOBBS 2 MICHAEL VAUGHAN (CAPT) 3 WALLY HAMMOND 4 DENIS COMPTON 5 DAVID GOWER 6 IAN BOTHAM 7 ANDREW FLINTOFF 8 JACK RUSSELL (WKT) 9 FRED TRUEMAN 10 DEREK UNDERWOOD 11 BOB WILLIS THIs is a team that would empty bars during the hours of play and fill them afterwards — with at least half the players probably minded to join in the festivities.

Apologies to Len Hutton but Michael Vaughan bats in the position that would have yielded him a considerably higher Test average, had he always been stationed there. He uses his nous and manmanagement skills to get the best out of a side brimming with verve and mercurial talent.

Admittedly it is a team with a slight bias towards the post-60s era. With the inclusion of Botham and Flintoff in a dazzling middle order it becomes like a team with 12 players. There are some great catchers in there.

Jack Russell just shades it as stumper as he adds to the presence of left-handers, keeps the fielders honest and would irritate the opposition.

ROGER ALTON CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, LIFELONG CRICKET FAN

1 ALASTAIR COOK 2 JACK HOBBS 3 LEN HUTTON 4 WALLY HAMMOND (CAPT) 5 PETER MAY 6 IAN BOTHAM 7 ALAN KNOTT (WKT) 8 HAROLD LARWOOD 9 BRIAN STATHAM 10 JIM LAKER 11 JIMMY ANDERSON THIs has caused heated debate on our cricket tour of rural Ireland! There is no leg spinner, for a start, and we’ve left out the mighty sF Barnes and couldn’t find room for Deadly Derek Underwood — despite toying with the idea of dropping a quick.

Others argued strongly for David Gower ahead of Peter May. I always loved the cut of Ted Dexter’s jib, while Ken Barrington has a superb record but I always found him a bit slow.

Talking of which, Geoffrey Boycott was close to selection but I felt he picked and chose when he wanted to play and moved away from gunfire sometimes.

Mike Atherton has a strong case but I couldn’t pick him ahead of Cook or Hobbs. Pietersen is a brilliant player but would make everybody’s life a misery in the dressing room. Many greats left out but it’s still a stunning team!