Iceland Cricket has announced the greatest all-time Test team with a maximum of one player per country. Not so long ago, Iceland had revealed a special World XI featuring only those captains of the limited-over formats who have won either ODI or T20I World Cups.
As mentioned above, the all-time Test XI has a maximum of one player per nation, and the openers are from England and South Africa. Iceland Cricket has picked legendary Jack Hobbs and Jacques Kallis.
Notably, Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and represented England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. He was known as ‘The Master’ for his jaw-dropping consistency and was regarded as one of the greatest batters in the history of cricket. The Cambridge-born amassed 61,760 runs from 834 matches in First-Class cricket, including 199 centuries and 273 fifties, which is still a world record.
Similarly, Kallis is considered one of the greatest all-rounders the game has ever seen. The Cape Town-born cricketer played 166 Tests for the Proteas, smashing 13,289 runs with the help of 45 hundreds and 58 half-centuries. Kallis also picked up 292 wickets, including 5 five-wicket hauls and 7 four-wicket hauls.
When it comes to the middle order, Iceland Cricket went with Donald Bradman from Australia, Indian batting phenom Sachin Tendulkar and Andy Flower from Zimbabwe, who was also given the wicketkeeping duties. Bradman, widely known as the greatest cricketer of the 20th century, played only 52 matches but ended up scoring 6996 runs at an eye-catching average of 99.94 with 29 tons and 13 fifties.
The only player who came next to Bradman was the Indian maestro Tendulkar, who again needs no introduction. Tendulkar, the most complete batter of all time, holds the record for the maximum runs and hundreds in the longest format. He amassed an unbelievable 15921 runs from 200 Tests at an impressive average of 53.78, including 51 centuries and 68 half-tons.
Similarly, Flower was for a long time Zimbabwe’s only batter of true Test quality, irrespective of the conditions. The wicketkeeper-batter went on to score 4794 runs in 63 Tests at an average of 51.54 with 12 hundreds and 27 fifties.
Iceland Cricket then picked Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Pakistan’s Imran Khan, and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan as the all-rounders. Shakib has 4367 runs to his name in 65 Tests and has taken 231 wickets. Similarly, Imran scored 3807 runs in 88 Tests and took 362 wickets, while Rashid has so far played only 5 Tests, scoring 106 runs and picking 34 scalps.
Regarding the bowling attack, Iceland Cricket picked New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee, West Indies great Malcolm Marshall and Sri Lanka’s wizard Muttiah Muralitharan. Hadlee picked up 431 wickets in 86 matches with nine 10-wicket hauls, while Marshall bagged 376 scalps from 81 Tests. Muralitharan, on the other hand, holds the record of most Test wickets. The tweaker picked up 800 wickets in 133 games with the help of 22 10-wicket hauls, and 67 5-wicket hauls.
Iceland Cricket’s Greatest Test team of all time (maximum one player per nation):
Jack Hobbs, Jacques Kallis, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Andy Flower (WK), Shakib Al Hasan, Imran Khan, Rashid Khan, Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall, Muttiah Muralitharan
The greatest Test team of all time, with max. one player per nation.
J Hobbs
J Kallis
D Bradman
S Tendulkar
A Flower (WK)
S Al Hasan
I Khan
R Khan
R Hadlee
M Marshall
M Muralitharan— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) January 30, 2023
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