Masters in the middle
The toughness of Border and Boon, the style of Harvey and Chappell - which of them makes it to the side?
Peter English
24-Jun-2009
This batting engine room purrs with 10 talents, and if choosing two openers was hard, picking the core of the side will be even more difficult. After scanning through the list it's tempting to want all of them. Only Don Bradman seems a certainty, boasting an unrivalled career over 20 years, but in this field cases can be made for leaving everyone out.
Allan Border and Steve Waugh were responsible for pushing Australia to the top of the world, but are their deeds with the bat good enough to earn places? Greg Chappell and Mark Waugh were almost peerless as stylists and their output was impressive, while Ricky Ponting could end his career as Test cricket's leading run-scorer.
Looking back to the first half of the 20th century, Charles Macartney and Stan McCabe were capable of ruining attacks, and Neil Harvey stepped up between 1948 and 1963 to earn the tag of the country's greatest left-hand batsman. Finally there is David Boon, one of Australia's toughest and most uncompromising players.
The balance of the team becomes important here, with three or four options available depending on whether you want the allrounder, which will be voted on next, to qualify for the middle order.
The contenders
Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo