- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Michael Joseph (28 Aug 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0718154363
- ISBN-13: 978-0718154363
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 16 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 406,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Who'd make it into the best England team ever? And you can chose anyone, regardless of when they might have played. Would W.G. Grace be playing alongside Denis Compton and David Gower? Or Kevin Pieterson? The debate could be endless, so who better to make the selection than Geoffrey Boycott, himself one of England's all-time highest scoring Test batsmen and now the game's most forthright, shrewd and iconoclastic commentator.Based on his own fresh analysis amd interpretation of the statistics, Boycs has come up with his own, sometimes surprising Best Eleven of all time. And he's not just cast a critical eye over England's finest either. Every other test-playing nation comes under the spotlight. You may not agree - in fact, you're almost certain not to - but each player has been carefully chosen and the case for his inclusion forcefully argued in what is sure to be the most entertaining, thought-provoking and memorable cricket books of the year from one of the game's most outspoken and enduring characters.
From the Inside Flap
Who'd make it into the best England team ever? And you can choose anyone, regardless of when they might have played. Would W.G Grace be playing alongside Denis Compton and David Gower? Or Kevin Pietersen? Would Harold Larwood be in the bowling attack alongside Fred Trueman? Would there be space for Bob Willis? What about Beefy or Freddie? Who would keep wicket?
The debate could be endless, so who better to make the selection than Geoffrey Boycott, one of England's greatest Test batsmen and now the game's most forthright, shrewd and challengin commentator?
Based on his own fresh analysis and interpretation of the statistics, Boycs has come up with his own sometimes surprising Best Eleven of all time. And he's not just cast a critical eye over England's finest either. Every other Test-playing nation comes under the spotlight.
Taking the same in-depth approach, Boycs has made his own selection of the best ever teams from Australia, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, pausing to consider both Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, before deciding who might be selected for the best team ever.
You may not agree - in fact, you're almost certain not to - but each player has been carefully chosen and the case for his inclusion forcefully argued in what is sure to be the most entertaining, thought-provoking and memorable cricket book of the year, from one of the game's most outspoken and enduring characters.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Was planning to place an order through Amazon.uk and was very surprised to see Boycs latest offering hit the bookstores so quickly and bought it w/o hesitation.
All of Boycs earlier works have been extremely detailed and readable esp the two classic books "In the Fast Lane on Eng tour of WI in 1981" and "Put to the test- Eng tour of Aus "
In this latest book , Boycs selects his best possible test sides of 13 players and also for good measure a reserve list of players from all the major test playing countries and gives his "opinionated" view of the players he has played with and his personal observations on selected players from the beginning of test cricket in 1877 itself .
He also throws in a reserve list of players for each country but for good measure refuses to rate players from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe "as not good enough" .Possibly A late 90's Zimbabwe side could have been considered as they have given many sides a rumble in both tests (esp Pak) and ODI like 99 Wcup where they did SA and Ind.
His selection for England has quite a few quirks with so many pre war greats available he cant possibly be adequate - hence a possible post war survey of players would have done better justice.
I could not find much fault with most of the test sides proposed as many of them includes many pre war champs whom I can't judge or rate - but of the recent players , omission of Allan Border even from the reserve list for Aus or Duleep Mendis for Sri Lanka are a bit baffling.
Also the choice of Andrew Jones for NZ ahead of Geoff Howarth is interesting . Australia in typically Boycs style is not covered as well as it should have .Like the debate of whether Arthur Morris qualifies as a better opener than Mathew Hayden never comes up. Nor does he care to discuss reserve Australian batsman unlike all the other teams he covered - perhaps a willful omission ?
Boycs uses a lot statistics and personal figures to justify his selections _ although at times these are not very convincing - as most of the choices involving players over the last 30-40 years are anyway automatic and not new to the discerning follower.
All in all a good read - in similar mould to Botham's 100 and Armstrong's lavish Australian work on the 100 Greatest Cricket Players- but dont expect anything unique here.
I would also recommend Bob Willis Six of the Best (pub 1996) as an excellent read for the period 1970 -1996 as infinitely a better read.
Still 5 on 5 for an excellent handling of a vast arena of riches from the origins to date to choose from.
All of Boycs earlier works have been extremely detailed and readable esp the two classic books "In the Fast Lane on Eng tour of WI in 1981" and "Put to the test- Eng tour of Aus "
In this latest book , Boycs selects his best possible test sides of 13 players and also for good measure a reserve list of players from all the major test playing countries and gives his "opinionated" view of the players he has played with and his personal observations on selected players from the beginning of test cricket in 1877 itself .
He also throws in a reserve list of players for each country but for good measure refuses to rate players from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe "as not good enough" .Possibly A late 90's Zimbabwe side could have been considered as they have given many sides a rumble in both tests (esp Pak) and ODI like 99 Wcup where they did SA and Ind.
His selection for England has quite a few quirks with so many pre war greats available he cant possibly be adequate - hence a possible post war survey of players would have done better justice.
I could not find much fault with most of the test sides proposed as many of them includes many pre war champs whom I can't judge or rate - but of the recent players , omission of Allan Border even from the reserve list for Aus or Duleep Mendis for Sri Lanka are a bit baffling.
Also the choice of Andrew Jones for NZ ahead of Geoff Howarth is interesting . Australia in typically Boycs style is not covered as well as it should have .Like the debate of whether Arthur Morris qualifies as a better opener than Mathew Hayden never comes up. Nor does he care to discuss reserve Australian batsman unlike all the other teams he covered - perhaps a willful omission ?
Boycs uses a lot statistics and personal figures to justify his selections _ although at times these are not very convincing - as most of the choices involving players over the last 30-40 years are anyway automatic and not new to the discerning follower.
All in all a good read - in similar mould to Botham's 100 and Armstrong's lavish Australian work on the 100 Greatest Cricket Players- but dont expect anything unique here.
I would also recommend Bob Willis Six of the Best (pub 1996) as an excellent read for the period 1970 -1996 as infinitely a better read.
Still 5 on 5 for an excellent handling of a vast arena of riches from the origins to date to choose from.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The concept is not a new one: Who would make it into the greatest ever test cricket team? Cricket fans will still be pondering in a hundred years time whether Compton, Gower, Pietersen or the, as-yet unborn, A.N. Other should bat at number 4 in England's ultimate side.
Where this book succeeds is that the selections of the greatest squad from every test-playing nation are Geoffrey Boycott's and, like him or loathe him, you cannot argue that he knows the game, its history, players and techniques, inside-out.
He is clear, concise and forthright in his thoughts and opinions, as you would imagine. He brings colour to the careers of those from a bygone age and tells it how it was to play with and against the latter-day greats.
Occasionally stat-heavy, this will not deter any cricket nut, for whom I can happily recommend it as good bedside reading for long, cold, cricket-less winter nights.
In the absence of half-marks I'll upgrade it from a three-and-half to a four star.
Where this book succeeds is that the selections of the greatest squad from every test-playing nation are Geoffrey Boycott's and, like him or loathe him, you cannot argue that he knows the game, its history, players and techniques, inside-out.
He is clear, concise and forthright in his thoughts and opinions, as you would imagine. He brings colour to the careers of those from a bygone age and tells it how it was to play with and against the latter-day greats.
Occasionally stat-heavy, this will not deter any cricket nut, for whom I can happily recommend it as good bedside reading for long, cold, cricket-less winter nights.
In the absence of half-marks I'll upgrade it from a three-and-half to a four star.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Boycott is, as usuual, forthright and thought provoking but I liked the touches of humour about his personal experiences of some of the greats of the game. Well researched, one could argue with some of his choices (for instance, no Herbert Sutcliffe in the England team?)but overall it's a really good read with none of the waffle that fills up so many sports books
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