AN Ashes series heralds much debate over what might happen, with the occasional nostalgic thought of what has already happened.
With nostalgia in mind, I’ve ranked my top 25 Ashes performers and I chose 1972 as the starting point. But why 1972?
It was a watershed Ashes year for the Australian team with a meritorious drawn series against a strong England side, which convinced the tourists they could match it with any opponent.
This was the genesis for the highly successful Australian teams of the early to mid-70s and many of those players feature strongly on this list.
Choosing a mere 25 players from such an illustrious list is difficult…
It also means some fine players from both sides miss out; names like Bob Willis, Matthew Hayden, Mark Taylor and Graham Gooch.
However, the list is entirely subjective and unless I go bar-hopping next week I won’t be bombarded with a plethora of alternative opinions.
In selecting my 25 players I relied mainly on the eye test, with the occasional reference to statistics.
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Like all “best of” selections there’s a tendency to rank highly players from your own era.
Firstly because you saw close up how good they were and secondly, what they had to endure to reach such heights.
England's Ashes Test schedule
Nov 23-27 First Test (Brisbane)
Dec 2-6 Second Test (Adelaide)
Dec 14-18 Third Test (Perth)
Dec 26-30 Fourth Test (Melbourne)
Jan 4-8 Fifth Test (Sydney)
And finally there’s a bias towards players who sought victory in preference to personal glory.
Cricket is not a statistical exercise and I didn’t want selfish players on my team, hence the absence of Geoff Boycott and Steve Waugh.
These are my best 25 Ashes players from 1972 onwards…
1. Dennis Lillee
29 Ashes Tests
167 wickets at 21. BBM 11-138. 4x10WM, 11x5WI
A captain’s dream and a batsman’s nightmare.
If an opponent was able to overcome his many skills — a rare occurrence — he then had to deal with his iron-clad will.
He was always the last man in the team to believe victory was impossible.
2. Shane Warne
36 Ashes Tests
195 wickets at 23.25. BBM 12-246. 4x10WM, 11x5WI
A highly skilful and accurate leg-spinner with an extremely alert cricket brain.
He was the type of bowler — similar to Lillee — that attracted fans to the ground because whenever he was operating they felt “something is about to happen”.
3. Greg Chappell
35 Ashes Tests
2610 runs at 45.94. HS: 144. 9x100s, 12x50s
This is not nepotism.
Greg was the best mentally organised batsman of my time and his elegant stroke play effectively disguised a ruthless streak to his occupation of the crease.
It was early on in the family backyard that I was alerted to his determination to succeed.
4. Ricky Ponting
35 Ashes Tests
2476 runs at 44.21. HS: 196. 8x100s, 9x50s
One of those rare talents that could drive with the best of them and yet was still in position to deal severely with any short-pitched delivery.
He had a highly developed competitive streak that under-pinned his success but also told him when it was time to retire.
5. Glenn McGrath
30 Ashes Tests
157 wickets at 20.92. BBM 9-82. 10x5WI
He relied on a simple, metronomic action to produce water-tight accuracy that lured batsmen into his web.
A smart bowler who always wanted the ball and when he occasionally strayed from his plan he was extremely hard on himself.
6. James Anderson
26 Ashes Tests
87 wickets at 35.87. BBM 10-158. 4x5WI, 1x10WM
He is the best swing bowler I’ve seen.
He certainly is the only one to move it both ways consistently over such a long career.
Like all great bowlers he’s constantly seeking improvement and he’s been able to find ways to take wickets when the ball isn’t swinging.
7. Adam Gilchrist
20 Ashes Tests
1083 runs at 45.12. HS: 152. 6x50s, 3x100s
89 catches, 7 stumpings
An adequate gloveman, he was one of those rare batsmen who was only ever a boundary shot away from being back in form.
A brave player who counter-attacked no matter what the circumstances, he could change the course of a game in a session.
8. Doug Walters
36 Ashes Tests
1981 runs at 35.37. HS: 155. 13x50s, 4x100s
A match-winning genius who three times in Test cricket scored a century in a session.
To the opposition he was a pest — counter-attacking brilliantly when they felt they were on top — and similarly he was a nuisance in his own dressing room with his magic tricks.
He achieved great success on 80 cigarettes a day and very little sleep.
9. David Warner
13 Ashes Tests
1079 runs at 44.95. HS: 124. 2x100s, 8x50s
It takes a special player with a very strong mind to attack the new ball with such ferocious commitment; Warner does it as well as anyone.
His brilliance at the top of the order provides an enormous advantage to his team and quickly deflates the opposition. He’s a match winner.
10. Kevin Pietersen
27 Ashes Tests
2158 runs at 44.95. HS: 227. 4x100s, 13x50s
A player who polarises, but he enhanced his team’s chances of victory.
He could score quickly and was prepared to take risks to dominate the opposition bowlers; the ideal player to build on a steady start.
A player who the opposition thought, “He’s a bastard but we’d like him on our side.”
11. Jeff Thomson
21 Ashes Tests
100 wickets at 24.18. BBM 9-105. 5x5WI
For two and a half years [1974-75 to 1976-77] until he busted his shoulder he was the most lethal fast bowler I’ve ever seen.
He could make the ball lift to throat height from just short of a length and was the only one I faced who I thought was un-hookable.
His laconic description summed up his unique action; “Aw mate, I just shuffle up and go wang.”
12. Steve Smith
18 Ashes Tests
1339 runs at 43.19. HS: 215. 5x100s, 4x50s
His rise from a leg-spinning number eight to a highly successful top order batsman says a lot about Smith’s mental strength.
He’s one of those rare characters who “does it his way” and isn’t side-tracked by other people’s opinions.
His way has been mighty successful.
13. Joe Root
14 Ashes Tests
991 runs at 41.29. HS: 180. 3x100s, 4x50s
A busy batsman who constantly looks for ways to score.
He’s technically solid but isn’t afraid to be innovative if he thinks it’ll bring him an advantage.
He possesses that unmistakably Yorkshire trait of abundant self-belief.
14. Ian Botham
32 Ashes Tests
128 wickets at 28.04. BBM: 10-253. 1x10WM, 7x5WI
1486 runs at 29.13. HS: 149*. 3x100s, 6x50s
I don’t rate Botham as highly as some because he was a bully-boy cricketer; he excelled against opponents who allowed him to push them around.
In the 1981 Ashes series he shoved Australia off a cliff.
15. Ben Stokes
9 Ashes Tests
480 runs at 30. HS: 120. 2x50s, 1x100s
26 wickets at 33.07. BBM: 8-161. 2x5WI
A highly skilful and extremely competitive cricketer he excels with bat, ball and in the field.
He could well become England’s best modern day all-rounder; he’s already a better fighter than Botham.
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16. Rod Marsh
42 Ashes Tests
1633 runs at 27.21. HS: 110*. 9x50s, 1x100s
141 catches, 7 stumpings
With legs like a billiard table he was able to propel himself a long way to either right or left to take blinding catches.
He covered more ground standing back than anyone I’ve seen and worked hard to improve his keeping standing up to the spinners.
17. Alan Knott
34 Ashes Tests
1682 runs at 32.98. HS: 135. 11x50s, 2x100s
97 catches, 8 stumpings
As superstitious as Friday the thirteenth and quirky as a three dollar bill but boy could he keep.
Knotty was a genius standing up to Derek Underwood on a damp pitch, gloving lifters by his ear or shooters at his boot laces with the same graceful ease.
18. Ian Healy
33 Ashes Tests
1269 runs at 30.95. HS: 134. 2x100s, 6x50s
123 catches, 12 stumpings
No keeper has handled the arduous task of taking spinning and spitting deliveries out of the rough better than Healy.
Received the ultimate compliment on the 1997 Ashes tour when both Knott and Godfrey Evans, two of England’s finest glovemen, asked me to pass on their deepest admiration for his work behind the stumps.
19. Mark Waugh
29 Ashes Tests
2204 runs at 50.09. HS: 140. 6x100s, 11x50s
One of those rare batsmen who made a difficult task look simple.
He complemented this trait by doing exactly the same in field.
Mark was a player who fans went to watch because “today could be the one when he produces something magical.”
20. David Gower
38 Ashes Tests
3037 runs at 46.01. HS: 215. 9x100s, 11x50s
Gower was the English equivalent of Mark Waugh; his languid stroke play, especially through the off-side, made spectators drool.
His quirky nature also appealed to Australians but not necessarily the English hierarchy.
They fined him for taking a joy ride in a plane over the very ground on which he was supposed to be playing.
21. Graeme Swann
18 Ashes Tests
62 wickets at 39.98. BBM 9-122. 3x5WI
An attacking off-spinner who put plenty of revolutions on the ball, he kept opposition batsmen thinking.
He complemented perfectly the potent pace pairing of Anderson and Stuart Broad.
22. Michael Slater
20 Ashes Tests
1669 runs at 45.10. HS: 176. 4x50s, 7x100s
A right-handed and slightly technically superior version of Warner, he took the attack to the opposition from the opening delivery.
What is often forgotten is the quality of pace bowlers that Slater attacked.
In the 1990s, opening the batting was the toughest gig in Test cricket.
23. Mitchell Johnson
19 Ashes Tests
87 wickets at 25.81. BBM: 9-82. 5x5WI
In the history of the game there have been surprisingly few genuinely fast left-arm bowlers.
Johnson was a rare one and at his best — like he was in the 2013-14 Ashes series — he could be devastating.
24. Allan Border
47 Ashes Tests
3548 runs at 56.31. HS: 200*. 21x50s, 8x100s
A talented and gutsy batsman his anchor was a pessimistic outlook regarding the team’s fortunes.
To Border, the fall of an Australian wicket was an impending collapse.
However, there was none better when it was time for backs-to-the-wall batting, as he displayed in Trinidad in 1983-84 when he defied the much-vaunted West Indies pace attack.
25. Alastair Cook
30 Ashes Tests
2117 runs at 39.20. HS: 235*. 11x50s, 4x100s
Batsmen studiously avoid ducks during their career but Cook is both obdurate and obstinate as an opener.
He has made the absolute most of his talent during a successful career.
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