Dream Team

1. glenn turner

– Retired When I first came into the side he was already an established international cricketer with New Zealand. He was very much a three-day player at that point, but he developed his game and become very much more of an all-rounder – extremely difficult to bowl against.

2. ron headley

– Retired Ron would hit the ball extremely hard, and he was a fantastic fielder, too – you would put him anywhere near the wicket because he would take some brilliant catches. Without fail he would always be well dressed and immaculately turned out, too. A good captain whenever Norman Gifford was away for whatever reason.

3. graeme hick

– Retired A lot of people would say that he never really achieved what he could have done at international level but you only need to look at the vast amount of runs that he scored to know how fine a player he was. He had a fantastic throwing arm from deep as well. I think that he would have achieved much more with England if people had just left his game alone.

4. basil d’oliveira

– Deceased Funnily enough I was speaking to his grandson, Brett, when I was down at Worcestershire for a meeting just a few days ago. Basil was a larger than life character and it was the same when he was coaching at the county, too. When you’ve got Hick at No.3 or No.4, you can’t go wrong.

5. kapil dev

– Retired Without doubt the nicest man in the world, a perfect gentleman – he would give you the shirt off his back if you wanted it. He was with us for two years and I couldn’t pick out any standout performances of his as he was always the standout.

6. imran khan

– Retired He could bowl with serious pace when he got it right, even though he was only a young lad when he first came to play for us at Worcestershire. He was a different sort of character, he kept himself to himself and was not a great socialiser. But he was a very young man who had gone to Royal Grammar School Worcester and Oxford University, and was special even then.

7. ian botham

– Retired It was just great to have him in the Worcestershire dressing room, getting up to all sorts of mischief and pulling pranks. But besides all that, he was a very committed cricketer – he’d get into some serious states after a few beers but was always the first on the field with the ball in hand the following morning.

8. collis king

– Retired Collis was a typical West Indian cricketer, a larger than life character who could light up the room – and we had a few of those over the years at Worcestershire. He would just love to meet people and have a laugh. And beyond that he was another terrific all-round player, I’ve got a few of those in this team.

9. STEVE rhodes

– Retired A typical wicketkeeper – ebullient, bubbly, always on the go and a cheeky chappy. He was a decent bat but an even better keeper, and maybe he would have got more opportunities with England in a different era.

10. norman gifford

– Retired Our spinner but he was also a more than capable bat down the order and would captain the team, too. He was very thoughtful as a captain and would be prepared to make decisions that required a strong character. He was always very adept at reading situations and was also a good man-manager, so you wouldn’t want anyone else to lead the team.

11. vanburn holder

– Retired Another very affable and easy-going overseas player, Vanburn was a quick bowler and a capable batter, especially for a No.11. We were lucky to have so many highclass players – they all did really well for us and he was no exception.