Top Ten English Cricketers of the Past Century

With preparations underway for the 2009 Ashes, England's cricketers will be looking to emulate the success of the 2005 side who beat Australia 2-1. As players such as Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will be looking to make their mark on the history of the game and join the ten best English cricketers of the last century.

• Born with Klippel-Feil syndrome, Gladstone Small was instantly recognisable on the cricket field. Small's career highlight came when he was called into the England team during the 1986/87 Ashes with the series still in the balance. A man of the match performance at Melbourne was enough to secure the Ashes and Small followed up that performance with another five-for in Sydney. In 1994 - aged 33 - Small was a vital member of the Warwickshire team that won a historic treble.



• Widely regarded as England's finest ever wicketkeeper, Alan Knott was just five games short of appearing in 100 tests - a landmark he would surely have reached had he not played in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. After retiring, Knott mentored not only his son but also England 'keeper Jack Russell.



• With 78 test caps and 54 appearances for Arsenal Football Club to his name, Denis Compton is one of the greatest all round sportsmen of the last century. Although he made no appearances for the national football team, his batting average of 50 for England shows that he was in no way a jack of all trades. Recently Pietersen's batting style was compared to Compton's.



• England's greatest spin bowler to date, Jim Laker will always be remembered for becoming the first player to take ten wickets in a test innings, when he claimed every Australian batsman in the second innings of the 1956 Old Trafford test. Since then, this feat has only been matched by one other man - Anil Kumble in 1999. The fact that Laker had taken nine wickets in the first innings of that game not only makes his achievement more remarkable, it also makes it unique. No other player has taken more than 17 wickets in a first class game, never mind a test match.



• Fred Trueman was as tight with his bowling as a stereotypical Yorkshireman is with his cash. His test debut was one of dreams - helping reduce India to 0 for 4 before eventually claiming 8-31. Trueman was the first bowler to reach 300 test wickets and although many have passed his final total of 307, not many have matched his average or striker rate - 21.57 and 49, respectively.



• Geoffrey Boycott is known for his resolute batting and his ability to stay at the crease; in 1977 he became the first Englishman to bat on all five days of a test match and then in the following game he batted for 629 minutes as he scored 191 against Australia - his 100th first class 100. Boycott's test career spanned across 18 years and is one of only eight players to have played for England in at least 100 tests. Although better suited to the longer version of the game, Boycott faced the first ball in one day international cricket and was also the first wicket to fall.



• Knighted in 2007, Sir Ian Botham is best known for the 1981 Ashes, sometimes dubbed Botham's Ashes. After losing and drawing the first two tests, Botham resigned as captain - after it was made clear he was going to be sacked - but under the leadership of Mike Brearley the team and Botham's personal form returned. An unbeaten 149 at Headingly rescued a game that looked dead and turned it into an England victory. At Edgbaston he then took five wickets for one run in a devastating spell that secured victory, before scoring a rapid century in the next game to clinch the series.



• A natural talent - he was not coached until he became a county player - Wally Hammond became a regular in the England side for 20 years, barring the years England spent involved in World War II. His innings of 336 not out against New Zealand in 1933 remains the highest score made by an Englishman abroad.



• Despite a poor test debut - scoring 0 and 1 - at Lord's, Sir Len Hutton is one of the game's most celebrated batsmen. In 1938, the year after his debut, Hutton scored 364 to surpass Wally Hammond's innings for top individual score by an Englishman - a record that still stands today.



• In 1953, Sir Jack Hobbs became the second cricketer to be knighted, the first being Sir Don Bradman. Hobbs, fondly called 'the Master' by his peers, was one of cricket's most prolific batsmen who scored 197 first class centuries and, at 46, is the oldest man to score a hundred at test level. His test average of 56.94 would surely have been higher if not for the interruption to his career caused by World War I and if he didn't adopt the attitude of getting out soon after reaching his century, to ensure others could have a bat.

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Paul McIndoe writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

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