I, after numerous arguments with my foolish and idiot friends(Sandeep Ganesan on top of that list), now decided to duck the questions like, How dare I think this and that to be The Greatest player or better than their choices...
I many times answered but every time the argument got so intense that I just escaped to be part of countless wrestling matches...
So now I decided to put The Greatest XI on this blog to end the direct arguments for once and for all because here it can never get physical....
On a serious note, undoubtedly these are The Greatest Cricket Players of All time..
There are many others but, as Sports is a draconian path where one always had to leave way for the other, only 11 spots are available.....
As this team consists of players from 1877 to 2009 so please give me liberty to choose them from all across the history....
OPENERS....
JACK HOBBS---- The Best Opener Ever... Along with "Herbert Suttcliffe" he dominated the World Cricket for 2 decades(1910s and 1920s).. Still holds the World record of 197 first class centuries, he made 62000 runs in process...
VICTOR TRUMPER----The Grandest of All..He is considered as one of the two finest batsmen ever who walked on a cricket pitch(Bradman the other).. He as said was the batsman who can score even if the pitch is made on a swamp.. He was whole and soul of Australian batting for first 15 years of 20th century and died at age of 37..

3.
DONALD BRADMAN----Only 1 sentence for him..... Cricket is a game of uncertainties, unless you have a Bradman...

4.
W G GRACE---- Father of Cricket, Captain of England, Captain of MCC, Captain of Gentlemen(Cricket Club)...Played from 1865 to 1913, He 29 times made 1000 runs in the month of May. Greatest Athlete who played first class cricket till the age of 65 (debut at 17).. In a survey, 110 years ago, he was second most recognised face in Great Britain in whole 19 century(Prime Minister Gladstone being the first)..
Doctor by profession, he never gave up his tag of amatuer and never became a professional, but his salary could be imagined by this, in his times "Everton" was the biggest football club and salary of top 12 players of Everton was equal what his club used to pay WG !!!!
In 1880s his annual income through Cricket was 30,000 pounds. Stadium signboards those days usually displays, 6 pence if WG will play and 3 if he wont !!!!

5.
GARFIELD SOBERS---- A man who can perform any(any means any) job on a cricket field.. He can bowl at 80 miles per hour with new ball, can bowl spin, can bat at any order and whatever else you cannot even imagine.. Look at an example of his greatness.. When he retired from Test cricket he held 3 main records(of course many others too).. Maximum runs,Maximum wickets and Maximum catches in Test cricket....

6.
STEVE WAUGH (
CAPTAIN)---- Hard,Uncompromising, Rare and Eternal like Diamond... He transformed a group of boys into the most lethal and Horrendous Team in the history.. Broke the 80 year standing record of Warwarik Armstrong and above all in the process, became a player with uncomparable will-power and infinte surrender potential... In modern cricket He The Man among Boys....

7.
ADAM GILCHRIST(
WK)---- Undoubtedly he is most fierce hitter of cricket ball who also took the gloves behind the wicket.. I would have loved to choose Viv Richards but he can not keep wickets or Allan Knott who do not have such dominant batting skills... Also I need a Hitter as keeper because such a batting line up needs a quick run getter so that captain can declare the innings early and no keeper can deliver this better than Adam Gilchrist....

8.
SHANE WARNE---- Magician !!!! The Best Spinner in 130 years of Test Cricket.. His number of preys cannot (although they are 708) match his skills and perfection.. The bowler who if takes 3 wickets in an innings, Those 3 will obviously be top batsmen of the side..
A man who revolutionized the whole scene of the cricket in early 90s with his magic deliveries, even when he will be 70, can get a place in any test team..
If you think he is the lone spinner without partner so there is always Sir Gary Sobers to share the old ball with him...

9.
HAROLD LARWOOD---- The Fastesssst... A man who in a single series created a impact on the World Cricket which could never be paralleled.. Larwood was the original and peerless executioner of unfamed "BODYLINE"... Douglas Jardine once said, You keep a coin on pitch and this man can pith the ball over that coins 6 times in an over... Unfortunate for us, speed measuring machines were not at his times but nearly all claims he was a lot faster than many 100 miles bowlers along with his pin point accuracy... Many times in english cricket, First Class County sides refused to play against Larwood on grassy tracks...
He holds the record of highest score by a nightwatchman(98 runs) for nearly 7 decades which Alex Tudor breaks in 1999 against New Zeland....
His career was short as he never got oppurtunity to play after bodyline series of 1932-33 but he truly deserved what he never got...

10.
FREDRICK SPOFORTH---- Nickname as "The Demon".. He is the man responsible for what we today know as "The Ashes".. In 1882 he devastated England where he took first hat-trick of test cricket.. He did not let them make 10 runs with 7 wickets left which is considered as most lethal spell of all times... That Oval Test later laid foundation for Ashes...
He was the bowler who many times was, by english batsmen(including WG), given money for not to tour Britain so they dont have to face the troubles of his ferocious pace..
The first bowling superstar, The Demon, is really will be a fitting opening bowler for such a team...

11.
SYDNEY BARNES---- Most Successfull bowler ever... Considered as "Bradman of Bowling".. He took 189 wickets in 22 matches with unbelievable average of 16 which is still a record(My all time favourite Mcgrath is second with 22)... His duel with Victor trumper was one of the finest duels in sporting history... He is believed to be The Finest bowler by all who saw him or played with or against him...

12th Man..
FRED TRUEMAN---- LEGEND!!!! He ruled the world cricket for 15 years, in exactly mid of 20th century, Fred Trueman was a true Fast Bowler in all respect.. The first bowler to take 300 wickets, he worked whole his childhood in mines and as said his game always showed how one can fight a new battle each day...