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Not anytime soon seeing Say Jhah is taking over the reigns! There will be more corruption, more bad decisions and more ruining of once a beautiful sport called Cricket.
Mal Loye - A high-quality ex-Northants opener who will forever be associated with one shot. I just wish England had tried him in Tests to see if he would do it there too. Bilal Asif - Bilal Asif had a career in two parts: in 2015, he was picked as a white-ball opening batter despite never averaging over 20 in any form of cricket (I relate to him on that), and then in 2018 he was back as a specialist Test offie and excelled. Somehow he has only eight international caps, but limitless vibes. Rob Quiney - Not everyone knows where they were when Harmison took 7 for 12 (I was playing cricket with my parents in the back garden), or when Geraint Jones caught Mark Kasprowicz (hiding behind the sofa in a North Yorkshire apartment), or when Jack Leach scored his 1 not out (halfway through writing to a university to defer my start to a course), but I'm sure they all remember where they were for Rob Quiney's nine. Chris Lynn - I couldn't actually believe that Chris Lynn never scored an international 50, but sure enough it is so. At his peak, he could easily have played all three formats for Australia, but they didn't really start picking him often until his shoulder had started falling out on the regular. He's currently living his best life playing T10 in the Cayman Islands. Karun Nair - I do need to pick another actual good player here, so let's have a Northants and India batter with a Test triple century to his name. Yeah, his next-best Test score was 26 and he was dropped after only eight international caps, but what a player. Rahkeem Cornwall - RAHKEEEEEEEM! One of the most naturally gifted cricketers any of us have ever seen. If you are what you eat, then Rahkeem has eaten an immensely gifted all-rounder which would explain a lot. Concerns around his fitness, and specifically his willingness to improve it, have limited him at 10 Test caps. Paul Nixon - A fantastic wicket-keeper and a huge character. A great lower-order dasher, but crucially his highest international score was exactly 49. He's in my team, and he was also a big captaincy candidate. Luuk van Troost - Ultimately it's hard to look past a player so shite that, as captain, he dropped himself from his last World Cup match. Absolutely elite selflessness, he leads my side as a batting no-rounder at number eight. Jason Krejza - I've always been at least a bit of a Jason Krejza truther, but I was fully converted when I read Dan Brettig's fantastic piece about him and I realised just how much unrealised potential he had. I know that makes three off-spinners, but I really don't mind that as an off-spinner myself. Tapash Baisya - I honestly think the stats lie about Tapash Baisya. He was thrown to the wolves aged 19, and then cast aside aged 22. But if he'd been in a system that properly managed and coached young fast bowlers, I think he had genuine international quality. And he bowled well at Cardiff. Varun Aaron - A man with a rhyming name who bowled absolute gas, he was an automatic pick. He splattered Stuart Broad's nose all over his face, but crucially never took more than a three-wicket haul at any point in his career. What a pick to round off my side. Liam Dawson - He couldn't quite make my main XI because his Test-best 66 not out pushed that batting average up to 21, but if it didn't he'd be here and I think he deserves an honourable mention. I still really rate him.
STICK THIS QUOTE IN THE LOUVRE
Wish I read it when it was available.
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While I worry that this will end up being the future of Test cricket in ten years, I think a more interesting world test championship would be better.
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