LEFT versus right is a debate which has raged over the years between siblings, throughout politics and, on these pages, on a hypothetical cricket pitch.
Certainly it caused some strong opinions last week when we gave you the all-time Australian lefty and righty XIs.
The result on that occasion came out heavily in favour of the right-handers — it’s hard to ever bet against a team boasting Sir Donald Bradman, mind you.
But we wanted the lefties to have something to cheer about, so have compiled a rest of the world edition of the left-right contest.
There’s some unbelievable talent on both sides here, but again it will be up to you to let us know who would come out on top.
So without further adieu, we present to you the best offering from the rest of the world.
Let us know who you think would win in our poll at the bottom of the page.
THE LEFTIES:
ALASTAIR COOK
11057 runs at 46.93. 30 centuries. High score of 294
The rock at the top of the order, Cook has been a model of consistency over an already decade-long career. Regarded as one of the most mentally strong cricketers of the modern era, the ex-captain is statistically among England’s greatest ever and no opener — from any country — has scored more runs. By the time he hangs up the boots he will quite likely reside in the top five run-scorers of all time.
GRAEME SMITH
9265 runs at 48.25. 27 centuries. High score of 277.
The second half of what would be a dogged opening partnership which could bat for days — these two would certainly take the shine off the new ball, and perhaps the second new ball as well. Smith was a physically imposing opener and one of the best captains going around. Thrust into that role at the tender age of 22, he dragged the Proteas to the top of world cricket by scoring 8659 of his career runs as skipper — more than any other captain in history.
BRIAN LARA
11953 runs at 52.88. 34 centuries. High score of 400*.
Supremely gifted and one of the classiest batsman of all time — with a square drive to die for and a cut shot to match it — Lara’s career is defined by his world record-setting scores of 375 and 400 against England. But perhaps even more impressive was that his career came amid the rapid decline of West Indian cricket, but he still managed to stand tall against the world’s best as evidenced by his nine centuries against Australia. One thing is sure: few have enjoyed Lara’s love of the truly big knocks. He on nine occasions passed 200 — only Don Bradman and Kumar Sangakkara have gone as big as much.
CLIVE LLOYD (captain)
7515 runs at 46.67. 19 centuries. High score of 242*.
Another colossus of a leader, Clive Lloyd is perhaps best remembered for steering West Indian cricket through its greatest period. His role there is never understated — he instilled a hardness in a talented team and played the role of peacemaker to unite the individual nations of the West Indies and take over the cricketing world. But he was also a fearsome batsman — and played with an aggression that terrified attacks. His 70 career sixes is the 15th most in Test cricket, which may not sound impressive until you factor in that all but one of those ranked above him played after 2000 when grounds started to shrink and bats grew. A trailblazer.
GRAEME POLLOCK
2256 runs at 60.97. Seven centuries. High score of 274.
Played just 23 Tests, but left an indelible mark on the game. Regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Pollock was robbed of his prime because South Africa were expelled from Test cricket over their government’s apartheid policy. Pollock played his last Test at 26 years old, when the greats of the game came into their own, and finished with an average of 60.97. Of players who’ve finished their careers and scored at least 2000 runs, only Bradman averaged more. And speaking of Bradman, he famously said Pollock was one of the two best left-handed batsmen he ever saw: alongside the next man in this line-up, Sir Garfield Sobers.
GARRY SOBERS
8032 runs at 57.78. 26 centuries. High score of 365*
235 wickets at 34.03. Six five-wicket hauls. Best of 6-73
Garry Sobers — the all-rounder of all-rounders who could potentially make this team either as a batsman or a bowler. He was that good. An extraordinary batsman with devastating power who thrilled the cricketing world when he thumped six consecutive sixes in one over off Malcolm Nash in an English county game. His record with the willow is superb and would make him among the first picked in any team through any era — but Sobers is regarded as arguably the greatest all-round cricketer of all time because he could do absolutely everything on the field. He excelled with the ball, but not only did he star as a quick who could swing the ball both ways — he could also bowl spin. For some, that would be enough. Not Sobers, who bowled both left-arm orthodox and wrist spin. A brilliant fielder, too, and an all-rounder in every sense of the word.
KUMAR SANGAKKARA
12400 runs at 57.40. 38 centuries. High score of 319.
182 catches. 20 stumpings
It seems almost insulting to bat Sangakkara, owner of 38 centuries and 12,400 Test runs, at seven — in Test cricket he played just one innings bating below five in the order. But such is the strength of this left-handed middle order! Sangakkara is occasionally left behind in discussions surrounding the modern greats, but he deserves to be in the conversation. It should be noted that his batting improved dramatically once he ditched the gloves and focused solely on one craft — in matches where he wasn’t the designated wicketkeeper, he averaged a mighty 66.78. But Sangakkara was no slouch behind the stumps either.
WASIM AKRAM
2898 runs at 22.64. 3 centuries. High score of 257*
414 wickets at 23.62. 25 five-wicket hauls. Best of 7/119
The Sultan of Swing, Akram could do amazing things with the ball and possesses arguably the best yorker in world cricket — an inswinging sandshoe crusher that he could land on a dime at 145km/h. At his best, he was unplayable and had a stunning arsenal of wicket-taking deliveries: inswing, outswing — and sometimes both in the same delivery. Is rightly considered the greatest left-arm bowler of all time and, according to former Indian skipper Kapil Dev, is “the best seam bowler of all time”. Mesmerising.
CHAMINDA VAAS
3089 runs at 24.32. One century. Best of 100*
355 wickets at 29.58. 12 five-wicket hauls. Best of 7/71.
Is the junior partner in this pace duo, but don’t underestimate him. Vaas led Sri Lanka’s new-ball attack for the best part of the decade and would do the same here. Memorably took a hat-trick with the first three deliveries of a one-day international against Bangladesh.
DEREK UNDERWOOD
297 wickets at 25.83. 17 five-wicket hauls. Best of 8/51
“Deadly” Derek Underwood was a force to be reckoned with on the slow English wickets in the 1960s and 70s, where he made the most of the dreary local weather to demolish rival line-ups. Officially a left-arm orthodox spinner, one of Underwood’s great assets was his pace — and in fact swing — which he kept from his schoolboy days when he wanted to be a fast bowler. If this hypothetical match was played on a cold, wet day at Lord’s, Underwood might just bag a hatful.
BISHAN BEDI
266 wickets at 28.71. 14 five-wicket hauls. Best of 7/98
Can you imagine how many more wickets Bishan Bedi would’ve taken with DRS available? Bedi was a graceful bowler and is described as an artist of spin, as well as a controversial and occasionally divisive figure. The personal battle he would have with the Righties’ Muttiah Muralitharan would be entertaining as well. Bedi was an enormous critic of Murali’s action, repeatedly describing the Sri Lankan as a cheater and a chucker and that he would “complete 1000 Test wickets but they would count as mere run-outs in my eyes”. But he’s not in this team for his sledging or baiting abilities — he was a sensational orthodox spinner.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
The most unlucky of all is Andy Flower, who has an extremely impressive record as a batsman and for much of his career was the chief reason why Zimbabwe was relevant in world cricket. Flower scored 4794 runs at 51.54 and hit an impressive 12 centuries — but he was not an elite ‘keeper, and his batting simply is not enough to dislodge Sangakkara. The likes of West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and England’s David Gower all had admirers and came into consideration, but couldn’t crack an extremely strong batting line-up. While spinners Sri Lanka’sRangana Herath and Kiwi Daniel Vettori both pushed for inclusion, as did Indian paceman Zaheer Khan.
THE RIGHTIES
JACK HOBBS AND HERBERT SUTCLIFFE
Hobbs: 5410 at 56.94. 15 centuries. High score of 211
Sutcliffe: 4555 runs at 60.73. 16 centuries. High score of 194
Hobbs and Sutcliffe make up two of the four men that have reached the 50-Test mark in their careers with averages above 60. The other two are Don Bradman and modern-day phenom Steve Smith. As impressive as Smith has been, Hobbs and Sutcliffe did it on uncovered pitches facing the new ball. WG Grace, Sunil Gavaskar, Len Hutton and Wally Hammond can all consider themselves unlucky to have missed out on selection here.
VIV RICHARDS (capt)
8540 runs at 50.23. 24 centuries. High score of 291
Has there ever been a more devastating batsman to bowl to than Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards? From the way he walked out to the middle to how he played the ball, Richards was purpose personified. A stroke maker of elite calibre, Richards wasn’t just the most entertaining batsman of his generation; he was a superb constructor of innings and a man who knew how to win a game. Forget his average — a more than respectable 50.23 — Richards is among the finest cricketers to have ever graced the game.
SACHIN TENDULKAR
15921 runs at 53.78. 51 centuries. High score of 248 not out
Test cricket’s greatest run-scorer and century-maker, Tendulkar stirred plenty of debate throughout his career. His doubters pegged him as an overrated flat-track bully who batted for his own numbers. His fanatics dubbed him a god. The truth was somewhere in the middle. Wherever you land on him, there’s no getting past the fact that the Indian icon carried the burden of a billion fans for 24 years and 200 Tests and for the majority of that time was among the best few batsman in the world. He took on the likes of Curtly Ambrose, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Wasim Akram and more often than not came out on top. He is a lock-in at No.4.
JACQUES KALLIS
13289 runs at 55.37. 45 centuries. High score of 224.
292 wickets at 32.65. Five five-wicket hauls. Best figures of 6-54
Kallis wasn’t as stylish as either of the men above him — few players have been — but the South African all-rounder was arguably more valuable than either. He scored more runs than anyone but Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting and only fell eight wickets short of joining the 300-club. The best set of numbers since Bradman.
IMRAN KHAN
362 wickets at 22.81. 23 five-wicket hauls. Best figures of 8-58
3807 runs at 37.69. Six centuries. High score of 136
One of the finest cricketers to ever come out of the subcontinent, Imran beat Ian Botham and Kapil Dev to a spot in our XI — we’ll get to why Richard Hadlee wasn’t considered for selection a bit later. Alongside nurturing the legendary duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, he averaged 51.34 with the bat and 19.16 with the ball across the final ten years of his career.
ALAN KNOTT
250 catches. 19 stumpings
4389 runs at 32.75. Five centuries. High score of 135.
Whenever the game’s best keepers are discussed, Knott’s name comes up. And it comes up for good reason. “We played some 40 Tests together and I cannot remember him missing one chance,” Keith Fletcher told EspnCricinfo of his former teammate.
He wasn’t Adam Gilchrist but Knott was no slouch with the bat either, with a healthy average of 32.75 and five centuries to his name.
MALCOLM MARSHALL
376 wickets at 20.94. 22 five-wicket hauls. Best figures of 7-22.
Marshall ranks among the greatest fast bowlers of all time and arguably the best produced by the West Indies. On top of bowling with express pace, the Barbadian had every weapon in the fast bowler’s arsenal, including but not limited to well-disguised inswingers and outswingers, a big leg-cutter, a deceptively ferocious bouncer and remarkable stamina. Throw in his finely tuned cricketing brain and Marshall was the complete package. He boasts the best average of any bowler to have ever taken 200 Test wickets.
CURTLY AMBROSE
405 wickets at 20.99. 22 five-wicket hauls. Best figures of 8-45.
If the cricketing gods ever got together to construct the perfect fast bowler the end product would be Ambrose. Tall, fast and scary, the beanpole quick might just be cricket’s most iconic quick. Ambrose was a man of few words during his playing days, so we’ll leave it there.
p.s. he’ll be wearing his wristbands and there’s nothing you should do about it.
FRED TRUEMAN
307 wickets at 21.57. 17 five-wicket hauls. Best figures of 8-31.
Not only was he the first man to take 300 Test wickets, until the West Indies’ generation of fast-bowling superstars came through, Trueman held the record for the lowest bowling average of any man who had claimed more than 200 scalps. Blessed with the meanest scowl in the game, ferocious pace and a late outswinger, Trueman bowled 103 batsmen in his career — no fast bowler has ever rattled the timberwork more times.
MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN
800 wickets at 22.72. 67 five-wicket hauls. Best figures of 9-51.
If the quicks can’t get the job done, then Muralitharan will. Scratch that and reverse it. Muralitharan might just be the best bowler in this team. Across his 18-year Test career the Sri Lankan spinner took a staggering 67 five-wicket hauls — the next best is 37 by Shane Warne — and 22 ten-wicket matches — 12 more than second-placed Warne. Despite his struggles in Australia — he averaged 75.41 down under — and India, where he averaged 45.45, the Sri Lankan was a spinner for all conditions. Across the other eight countries he played in his averages ranged from 19.20 (England) to 27.53 (Zimbabwe).
More than honourable mentions
As a bowler alone, Hadlee came very close to selection. The only problem was that Paddles was a left-handed batsman, which would have left the side batting with 10 men. South Africans Dale Steyn andAllan Donald, West Indians Joel Garner andMichael Holding, and Pakistan’s Waqar Younis all came close to the selection but in the end we couldn’t look past the sheer pace and numbers of Ambrose, Trueman and Marshall. The calibre of the batsman left out — Sunil Gavaskar, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, WG Grace, Everton Weekes, George Headley andRahul Dravid — says everything about the quality of the men selected.
Jeff Dujon also come under serious consideration for selection, but Knott was preferred due to his glove work against spin.
In the end Imran Khan’s consistency outweighed Ian Botham’s heroic flashes of brilliance.
Let us know who you think would win between the Rest of the World Lefty and Righty XIs and have a look at all four sides beneath the poll.
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