Jimmy Adams names his All Time XI

Former Jamaican cricketer, Jimmy Adams recently came up with his All Time Playing XI. The team composition by Adams doesn’t disappoint as it covers names of some of the best that the game has ever seen. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Shane Warne adorn the spectacular line-up.

49-year-old Adams is known widely for the dream run that he attained in the early days of his career. After 12 Tests, the southpaw had accrued 1122 runs at an incredible average of 86.31, with only Bradman having better figures than he. Adams also captained the West Indian side during a period of severe turmoil in Caribbean cricket. Earlier this year, he took over as the Director of Cricket for West Indies.

Jimmy Adams lists his All Time squad

Adams starts off his All Time XI by naming Graham Gooch of England and Desmond Haynes of West Indies as the two openers. Talking about the two men, Adams considers them as the most capable for being suited with the onus of opening the innings, especially because the two could handle pace bowling with extreme ease and “scored well in the subcontinent”. Statistics corroborate to this appointment with Gooch and Haynes having scored 8900 runs in 118 innings and 7497 runs in 116 innings, respectively.

At number 3, Adams names Sir Vivian Richards of West Indies; one of the finest that the game has ever produced. Richards was known for his flamboyance in the field and his ability to demolish the opposition at will. Adams terms Sir Richards as the “Legend from the Caribbean” and the best batsman that he’s ever seen. Next up, he goes on to include the “Prince of Trinidad”, Brian Lara in the squad. Lara, as he rightly pointed out, he is statistically the best batsman for the Windies, with astounding figures of 11953 runs in 131 Tests.

Adams enlists batting legend, Tendulkar at number 5. The inclusion hardly comes as a surprise, given he created and broken countless records throughout his career and is the only cricketer ever to have scored 100 centuries in international cricket. At number 6, comes the all-rounder for the squad and Adams makes a judicious choice in the form of former South African player, Jacques Kallis. Often regarded as the greatest all-rounder of all times, Kallis scored 13289 runs and scalped 292 wickets in the 166 innings that he played.

As the wicketkeeper for the squad, it is former Sri Lankan captain, Kumar Sangakkara. With a cool head and impeccable glove work behind the stumps, Sangakkara held the responsibility for the Lankan team for over a decade and Adams feels that his inclusion in his all-time squad would strengthen the batting down the order, owing to Sangakkara’s exquisite batting skills.

For his three seamers, Adams names Sir Richard Hadlee of New Zealand, Wasim Akram from Pakistan and Malcolm Marshall of West Indies. While Sir Hadlee possesses remarkable figures of 431 wickets in 86 matches at an average of 22.29 and Marshall’s  bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets, Adams calls Akram the “best and the most gifted fast bowler” of his own generation.

Rounding up his squad, Jimmy Adams names Shane Warne as the spinner in the squad. Warne, who picked up 708 wickets in the 145 Tests that he played, and is till date, considered as the “master of spin”. It was his magical spin bowling that yielded the “Ball of the Century” against England batting maestro, Mike Gatting.

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