Benedict Bermange - Picking the Perfect Cricket Team

Picking the Perfect Cricket Team

To Joanna, William and Oliver

Benedict Bermange

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

White Owl Books

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Benedict Bermange 2020

ISBN 978 1 52676 970 1

ePUB ISBN 978 1 5267 6971 8

Mobi ISBN 978 1 5267 6972 5

The right of Benedict Bermange to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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We have all done it argued the relative merits of the all-time great cricketers. With every discussion comes the age-old dilemma of how to compare performances from different generations. The players nowadays are far different in terms of both technique and stature to those of yesteryear. There have also been ever-changing conditions of play. Limited-overs cricket has changed the technique of batsmen forever, and the covering of pitches has meant that todays players will never have to face the treachery of a sticky dog.

We all have our lists of greatest players we have played with and against, and we are probably biased towards our own era, which we all view with the rosiest of tinted glasses. Together with these opinions, cricket gives us the facts. We grew up with these numbers, forever etched into the pages of Wisden, and we probably all performed slightly better at maths at school thanks to adding up columns in the scorebook and calculating batting and bowling averages at the end of each season.

The long history of cricket is littered with great performances helping to inspire teams to victory. We need look no further than the exploits of Ben Stokes at Leeds in 2019. The Ashes urn may have been retained by Australia over the course of the summer, but for two and a half hours on that Sunday afternoon, it was all about one mans quest for immortality. What helps to make cricket special is how these magical moments happen and who is responsible. The rejoicing in individual feats of brilliance is part of what makes the sport unique.

One of the joys of cricket is that it can be enjoyed as both a team game but also as an individual one. As a captain, I could gain pleasure from the occasions we won a Test even if my own personal contribution had not been that great. Conversely, a different kind of pleasure could be taken dare I say it from scoring a century in a losing effort. Cricket enables us to examine its long history without ignoring the individual feats.

Whether or not you believe in the moniker Stats are for Prats, statistics have been an integral part of cricket since notchers first carved the score on sticks of hazel. This book consists in the main of arguments and statistical justifications for the best players fulfilling each particular role in the team. Im an argumentative guy by nature, and how much pleasure you gain from each section will depend in no small measure on how much you enjoy debating cricketers.

You may argue with some of the names presented here, but what cannot be argued with is the way they have been selected. Benedict is the finest statistician I have worked with around the world and the first person I turn to for any kind of statistical query. He also has the great ability to wrap statistics in a meaningful context, and I have no doubt that all the players in this book were considered in great depth before the final selection was made.

Right now to check my place in the Middle-Order Batsmen section.