Three Indian cricketers – Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and SachinTendulkar – were among a pool of 69 from whom the legendary Sir DonaldBradman made his selection of the ‘World Best Team’ before he died
11-Aug-2001Three Indian cricketers – Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and SachinTendulkar – were among a pool of 69 from whom the legendary Sir DonaldBradman made his selection of the ‘World Best Team’ before he died.The `All-time ideal team’ of Bradman will be announced on Monday,Roland Perry, who chronicled the careful considerations of individualtalent and corporate balance behind how the Don selected his best XI,wrote in his book ‘Bradman’s Best’, a report in The Times, said inLondon on Saturday.”In interviews for Bradman’s Best, the Don, over a concentrated sixmonths in 1995 and intermittently over the next five years, discussedthe greatest players of the game, from WG Grace and Victor Trumper atthe beginning of the 20th century to Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkarat the end of it,” the report said.Bradman exhibited an enormous capacity for analysing the strengths,weaknesses, technical skills, temperament, personality and characterof scores of cricketers who have graced the world stage over more than120 years.”I was intrigued to know his all-time ideal team. At first wediscussed it in terms of achieving the perfect balance under normalplaying conditions,” Perry wrote.According to the report, Bradman opted for the following: tworecognised opening batsmen of whom one shall be a left-hander, threeother batsmen of whom one should be a left-hander, one all-rounder,one wicketkeeper who is also a good bat, one fast bowler to open withthe wind, one fast or medium-pace bowler to open into the wind, oneright-arm off spinner or right-hand leg spinner and one left-armorthodox first-finger spinner.Perry said Bradman’s understandable obsession to avoid publicity madea book on his best team untenable. “But I was still interested to knowhis world best XI. I suggested that the team only be made publicposthumously and sent him a range of selections for the positions inthe team, based on our discussions,” Perry said.How the idea of an ideal team came into the mind of Bradman makesinteresting reading.Bradman had been retired eight years when he returned to England forthe 1956 Ashes battle as a journalist. England won 2-1 and had thesuperior team, with right-arm off spinner Jim Laker in blisteringform, especially in the fourth Test at Old Trafford when he took 19wickets for 90 runs on a dustbowl.”This went very close to perfect (balance)” Bradman said. “Englandhad a left and right-hander to open, but there was neither a left-handbatsman nor an all-rounder in the next four.”The Australia 1921 teams also went close: Collins, Bardsley,Macartney, Andrews, Taylor, Pellew, Armstrong, Gregory, Oldfield,McDonald and Mailey.Bradman also liked his 1948 “invincibles”, the unique squad that wentthrough an entire Ashes tour of 34 games without losing a contest.Asked whether the 1948 team was the best since cricket’s inception,Bradman replied with diffidence. “It’s difficult comparing teams fromera to era,” but conceded that it was “the best team I was everinvolved with as a player.”But was it the best in history?”I suppose that could be argued” Bradman replied. “It’s biggestchallenger would probably be (Warwick) Armstrong’s 1921 side or theWest Indies teams of the 1980s (under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards).”He paused, smiled wryly and added: “A match between any two of theseteams would have been worth seeing.”The pool of players read:Openers (one a left-hander) from Gavaskar, Greenidge, Haynes, Hobbs,Hutton, Ponsford, Barnes, Lawry, Simpson, Morris, Sutcliffe, BarryRichards, Slater.Three other bats (which was two given that Bradman would be anautomatic selection), ideally one should be a left-hander: from(Bradman), Lara, Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh,Graeme Pollock, Headley, Weekes, Hammond, McCabe, Harvey, Macartney,Greg Chappell, Compton, May, Trumper.One all-rounder: from Sobers, Miller, Davidson, Benaud, Proctor, KapilDev, Botham, Hammond, Grace.One wicketkeeper, who is also a good bat: from Tallon, Healy, Knott,Dujon, Marsh, Evans.One fast bowler to open with the wind, and one fast or medium pacer toopen into the wind: from Ambrose, Hadlee, Lillee, McGrath, Lindwall,Donald, Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Walsh, Alec Bedser, Tyson,Larwood, Wasim Akram, Davidson, Johnston, Barnes.One right-arm off-spinner: from Laker, Gibbs.One left-arm orthodox first-finger spinner or an orthodox leg spinner:from Verity, Rhodes, O’Reilly, Grimmett, Mailey, Warne.
