The best England XI from every county

A niche follow-up

This is something I wrote up to entertain my father with in June 2022. He then responded with his own thoughts, and I’ve incorporated many of the changes to the XIs that he suggested. A couple of players have been added to the teams since then.

Because this is written for my father, the remarks I make about both teams quite often focus on the players before his time (1973 was the first season he followed). His knowledge of cricket is absolutely vast and I fully understand that this article takes his knowledge - and to a lesser extent my own - for granted. This Wikipedia page was invaluable.

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This is an XI from every county of players who represented England in Test cricket. Players are judged more on their performances for England than for their county - i.e. Kevin Pietersen would never in a million years make an all-time Hampshire XI, but obviously he has to be there. Players can only play for the county they last played for before their first test. 

I have employed liberal amounts of recency bias. I have tried to keep the teams as post-1960 as possible, and pre-WW2 players are only there if they really are outstanding (or if there are no alternatives). I've also tried to make the teams as balanced as possible, while also reflecting the fact that, say, some counties produce lots of spinners. That said I have tried to clamp down on having too many spinners whose records are inflated by bowling on uncovered pitches.

Two counties - Durham and Glamorgan - have never produced an England wicket keeper, while Leicestershire's Roger Tolchard kept wicket at county level but only played for England as a specialist batsman.

Here they are, from worst to best.

18: Glamorgan

1. Steve James

2. Hugh Morris

3. Tony Lewis

4. Matthew Maynard

5. Allan Watkins

6. Peter Walker

7. Robert Croft

8. Greg Thomas

9. Simon Jones

10. Steve Watkin

11. Jeff Jones

In 90 years as a first class county, Glamorgan have never produced a long-term England Test player. Robert Croft with 21 Tests holds the record. Allan Watkins made 15 appearances from 1948-1952. Jeff Jones holds the same number in the mid-50s (with a pretty hopeless record, though he was an excellent county bowler) and Simon Jones - probably the best player here - had his career cruelly cut short by injury. He managed 18 tests and never played after the 2005 Ashes. But really this is just a very competent county team.

17: Derbyshire

1. Kim Barnett

2. Denis Smith

3. Stan Worthington

4. Donald Carr

5. John Morris

6. Geoff Miller

7. Bob Taylor (wk)

8. Dominic Cork

9. Alan Ward

10. Mike Hendrick

11. Devon Malcolm

No county has gone as long without an England Test representative as Derbyshire - Cork was the last in 2002. What stands out here is the complete dearth of batsmen. Devon Malcolm (average 6.05) is their fifth highest runmaker in Tests out of 24 players. They’ve produced some good seamers - Ward and Malcolm were both quick and Hendrick had a very good England record - but almost nothing else. Barnett scored more runs for Derbyshire than anyone else, with Worthington (1930-37 for England) second. Carr and Smith played two Tests each in the 50s and 30s respectively. The bowling isn’t bad but the batting is hopeless.

16: Worcestershire

1. Peter Richardson

2. Nawab of Pataudi

3. Graeme Hick

4. Basil d’Oliveira

5. Moeen Ali

6. Steve Rhodes (wk)

7. Richard Illingworth

8. Gareth Batty

9. Norman Gifford

10. Josh Tongue

11. Len Coldwell

Basil D’Oliveira (average 40) is really the only Worcestershire batsman to have had a very good England career. He is third on their list of highest appearance makers with 44, with Hick (65) and Moeen Ali (64) ahead of him. Peter Richardson was a handy opener in the late 50s and early 60s (24 Tests, average 37.5). The attack is quite spin-dominated. Josh Tongue looks promising, and Len Coldwell averaged 27 with the ball in his seven Tests. This is another long-tail.

15: Durham

1. Alex Lees

2. Keaton Jennings

3. Scott Borthwick

4. Paul Collingwood

5. Ben Stokes

6. Liam Plunkett

7. Matty Potts

8. Mark Wood

9. Steve Harmison

10. Simon Brown

11. Graham Onions

Happily there have been exactly 11 Durham players who have played Test cricket since they became a first class county, although none kept wicket. That means, however, that the team is inevitably unbalanced. Stokes would probably be the sixth or seventh choice bowler here. Borthwick played down the order for England but has become more of a batsman for Durham. One of the batsmen would have to keep wicket - maybe Collingwood would do well given he was such a good fielder. Even though it's totally unbalanced this is a pretty impressive haul of talent over only 32 years.

14: Leicestershire

1. Darren Maddy

2. Chris Balderstone

3. David Gower

4. Aftab Habib

5. James Whittaker

6. Roger Tolchard (wk)

7. Chris Lewis

8. Rehan Ahmed

9. Stuart Broad

10. Philip DeFreitas

11. Alan Mullalley

The average quality here is probably worse than Durham but because it's balanced it comes just ahead. Gower dominates their batting to a ridiculous extent - over two thirds of the runs scored by Leicestershire players for England have been scored by Gower. Broad dominates the bowling, supported a decent group of seamers from the 90s (Leicestershire won the Championship in '96 and '98). The batting is really poor minus Gower though. The remaining five of the top six only have 12 tests between them. Maddy is also the only opener they’ve produced; Balderstone - the last high profile person to play both football and cricket professionally at the same time - generally batted at 3.

13: Hampshire

1. Chris Smith

2. James Vince

3. Phil Mead

4. Robin Smith

5. Kevin Pietersen

6. George Brown (wk)

7. Liam Dawson

8. Shaun Udal

9. Derek Shackleton

10. Chris Tremlett

11. Bob Cottam

It’s easy to forget that, before they moved to the Rose Bowl, Hampshire were a fairly lowly county side. This team is saved by a brilliant middle order. Phil Mead is the fourth highest run-scorer in first class history (behind Hobbs, Hendren and Woolley) and averaged 49 in his 17 Tests between 1911 and 1928. Robin Smith averaged 42 and then there’s Pietersen. Beyond that though it’s distinctly average, with a long tail led by two unthreatening spinners. Chris Tremlett (only 12 Tests, though in a strong period) is the pick of the seamers.

12: Northamptonshire

1. Ben Duckett

2. Wayne Larkins

3. Colin Milburn

4. Allan Lamb

5. Raman Subba Row

6. David Steele

7. Peter Willey

8. Geoff Millman (wk)

9. Frank Tyson

10. Monty Panesar

11. David Larter

For a small county this is a pretty competent, if unspectacular side. Despite a relatively mediocre county record, Milburn averaged 46 for England before a car accident ended his career. The middle order is solid and backed up by two all-rounders, who give protection to a long tail. Millman was very much an old-fashioned non-batting wicket-keeper and Larter averaged 3.2 in his ten Tests. Frank Tyson has a brilliant average - 18 across ten matches from 1954-59.

11 - Nottinghamshire

1. Chris Broad

2. Tim Robinson

3. George Gunn

4. Derek Randall

5. Alex Hales

6. Joe Hardstaff

7. Chris Read (wk)

8. Graeme Swann

9. Eddie Hemmings

10. Bill Voce

11. Harold Larwood

Nottinghamshire are strange because their players were very prominent in early Test cricket but have produced surprisingly little since the war. They have produced 41 Test players by my criteria - more than most - but Swann has the most appearances with only 60, and Randall (47) is the only other person above 30. Gunn at 3 is seen as their best ever player - he made 15 appearances from 1907-1930, averaging 40. Hardstaff averaged 47 across 23 Tests either side of WW2. Wicket keeper could also have been Bruce French. Larwood is a superstar and Swann is England’s best spinner since Derek Underwood, but beyond that the bowling is weak and and light on quicks.

10: Somerset

1. Marcus Trescothick

2. Nick Compton

3. Brian Rose

4. Mark Lathwell

5. Jos Buttler (wk)

6. Ian Botham

7. Vic Marks

8. Neil Mallender

9. Craig Overton

10. Andy Caddick

11. Jack Leach

If you'd compiled this list in say 1990 then Somerset would be down there with Derbyshire and Glamorgan. This is probably the 'youngest' side here. The bowling attack can be split nicely into three - two very good fast bowlers in Botham and Caddick, two okay support bowlers in Overton and Mallender, and two reasonable spinners in Marks and Leach. The batting is not great beyond Trescothick and, as with a lot of these teams, the tail is long.

9: Gloucestershire

1. W. G. Grace

2. Geoff Pullar

3. Wally Hammond

4. Tom Graveney

5. Arthur Milton

6. Gilbert Jessop

7. Jack Russell (wk)

8. John Mortimore

9. David Allen

10. Jon Lewis

11. David Lawrence

Grace is somewhat hard to judge, but I think we can assume he was seriously good when compared to others of his era (and because of his reputation). The batting plus Russell is really excellent. Hammond has a reasonable claim to being England's greatest batsman of all time, while Graveney's 79 Tests with an average of 44 is an extremely good and long record for the era he played in. Milton is the weak link in the middle order. Mortimore and Allen could be substituted for their predecessor spin partnership of Charlie Parker and Tom Goddard but Mortimer and Allen played more, and more recently. Fast bowling is where we are weak, although Lewis should have played more than one Test - Mike Smith could also be here somewhere. Fortunately Hammond, Jessop and Grace could all bowl, and pretty well too (particularly Grace).

8: Essex

1. Graham Gooch

2. Alastair Cook

3. Nasser Hussain

4. Keith Fletcher

5. Ravi Bopara

6. Trevor Bailey

7. James Foster (wk)

8. Derek Pringle

9. Neil Foster

10. John Lever

11. Peter Such

That opening partnership - wow. England's first and third highest ever run scorers. Once you get beyond Hussain, Fletcher and Bailey then long-term regulars become thin on the ground. Fletcher was a seriously good batsman who scored a double century in his penultimate test - he couldn’t cope with Lillee and Thomson. The four frontline bowlers are all competent, but none are anywhere near outstanding. Dan Lawrence could come in for Ravi Bopara while Barry Knight could play as an extra all-rounder.

7: Sussex

1. K. S. Duleepsinhji

2. David Sheppard

3. Ted Dexter

4. C. B. Fry

5. Tony Greig

6. Jim Parks

7. Matt Prior (wk)

8. Maurice Tate

9. Ollie Robinson

10. John Snow

11. Jofra Archer

A relatively old team, with six of the 11 coming before my father’s time.  Ranjitsinhji could come in for either his nephew Duleepsinhji or CB Fry, though CB Fry's bowling ability gets him a place. There aren't really any major weaknesses here, except for Archer’s ridiculous injury record. John Snow was probably England's best bowler over a 5-year period while Prior is as good a batsman-wicket keeper as we've ever had. Terrific middle order with depth in bowling with Greig and Fry as all-rounders. Ian Salisbury would have been the modern-day spinner over Tate (who averaged 26 with the ball in the 1930s and could bat).

6: Warwickshire

1. Dennis Amiss

2. Dom Sibley

3. M. J. K. Smith

4. Jonathan Trott

5. Ian Bell

6. Tim Ambrose (wk)

7. Chris Woakes

8. Ashley Giles

9. Gladstone Small

10. David Brown

11. Bob Willis

This is where we start getting to some really top class XIs. Amiss, Smith, Trott, Bell and Willis would get into virtually any of these sides. Willis is well-supported. Woakes and Giles can both bat while David Brown in particular had a pretty good test record. Dom Sibley could be replaced with Nick Knight, though Sibley has the superior Test average. John Jameson from the 70s is another good option to open the batting. Eric Hollies could come in as a bowler.

5: Middlesex

1. Andrew Strauss

2. Patsy Hendren

3. Denis Compton

4. Mike Gatting

5. Mike Brearley

6. Paul Downton (wk)

7. Fred Titmus

8. John Emburey

9. Phil Edmonds

10. Steven Finn

11. Angus Fraser

Patsy Hendren (who also made 300+ appearances for Brentford) averaged 48 over 51 Tests from 1920-35. Only Hobbs has more first class centuries, and only Hobbs and Woolley have more first class runs. Strauss, Compton and Gatting make up a top order that would be very hard to get through, but the tail is long and there are almost too many spinners to pick. Phil Tufnell, for example, does not make this team because of how bad his batting was. Peter Parfitt could come in if the batting order needed to be bolstered, while Norman Cowans would probably be the next fast bowler off the rank.

4: Kent

1. Mike Denness

2. Zak Crawley

3. Chris Tavaré

4. Colin Cowdrey

5. Frank Woolley

6. Bob Woolmer

7. Alan Knott (wk)

8. Richard Ellison

9. Graham Dilley

10. Derek Underwood

11. Dean Headley

In the 52 years between 1929 and 1981, there were only about eight when England's first choice wicket-keeper did not play for Kent. Godfrey Evans replaced Les Ames after the war, and then there was a gap until Alan Knott's debut in 1967. Woolley, Underwood and Cowdrey are the other stars in this team. Rob Key and Joe Denly miss out, while Brian Luckhurst could come in for Crawley as opening batsman.

3: Lancashire

1. Michael Atherton

2. David Lloyd

3. Graeme Fowler

4. Eddie Paynter

5. John Crawley

6. Andrew Flintoff

7. Warren Hegg (wk)

8. Ken Higgs

9. Brian Statham

10. James Anderson

11. Sydney Barnes

The top two teams have by far the best batting line-ups of any county, but Lancashire might have a very good claim to having the best all-time bowling attack. Higgs was Statham's partner in the 50s and 60s. Barnes had a strange career as he mostly played as an amateur, but he did play a few seasons for Lancashire. Otherwise Lancashire produces a lot of openers. Cyril Washbrook, who was Len Hutton's main partner, could come in for one Lloyd, Fowler or Crawley.

2: Surrey

1. Jack Hobbs

2. John Edrich

3. Peter May

4. Douglas Jardine

5. Ken Barrington

6. Graham Thorpe

7. Alec Stewart (wk)

8. Jim Laker

9. Alec Bedser

10. Geoff Arnold

11. George Lohmann

A pretty incredible team and one that was very easy to pick. Mark Butcher is the player with the most tests not to appear in his all-time county team. Barrington's record is incredible - averaged 59 over 82 tests. There are other batsmen from prehistory who would make most sides like Andy Sandham and Bobby Abel. Fast bowlers, however, are where they slightly fall down, though they are rich in spin - Tony Lock is another high profile player not to make this side.

1: Yorkshire

1. Geoffrey Boycott

2. Len Hutton

3. Herbert Sutcliffe

4. Joe Root

5. Michael Vaughan

6. Jonny Bairstow (wk)

7. Wilfred Rhodes

8. Ray Illingworth

9. Fred Trueman

10. Darren Gough

11. Matthew Hoggard

If Essex have had England's two greatest openers since 1980 then Yorkshire dominated the spots before that. Sutcliffe averaged 61 in his 54 test matches from 1924-35. Otherwise this team pretty much picks itself. You could have Hedley Verity in for Ray Illingworth, but I feel it would be wrong not to have Illingworth. Chris Old could also play instead of Hoggard.