Papa_Smurf
International Cricketer
Monty Noble
A poor man's Gary Sobers, Monty is regarded as one of the finest all-rounders produced by Australia. He was a daring, but controlled, batsman; a bowler who could bowl both off-spin and medium pace; a brilliant fieldsman, and a tactically sound captain.
His highlights are probably the Ashes series of 1897/98, where he had the best bowling average from both teams; the 1899 Ashes where he scored 367 runs at an amazing average of 52.42 (along with 13 wickets); or the 1901/02 Ashes, where he took 32 wickets at an average of 19.00 (along with 132 runs).
His most famous innings is probably when he saved the match for Australia in the 1899 Manchester match. He batted for over 8 hours while following on. While he was patient and skilled in defence during that innings, he was not afraid to go at the ball, as Wisden put it - "he used his height and reach with full effect in driving, pulling, forcing the ball off his legs, and cutting either square or late - a batsman of rare style and execution without any sign of weakness." The innings earned him to be the cricketer of the year in 1900.
For being one the greatest allrounders of his country, and certainly the best in his time, Monty Noble makes my XI with final stats of:
Matches: 42
Runs: 1997
Average: 30.25
Wickets: 121
Average: 25.00
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Zaheer Abbas
There were about 4 batsman I was considering from this round to complete my middle-order. At the end, I decided to choose the classiest of them all. The Asian Bradman.
He was given that title not because of the bulk of his runs, or his style, or his average. But for his presence. When in full flow, his aura and flow of runs were only matched by The Don. But unlike the Don, he was beautiful to watch. Note the word - beautiful. I only wish I could have watched him live, as everywhere I read, his batting is described as poetry in motion. Just read his cricinfo profile - it's like someone is describing one of Mozart's symphonies; a Dickens novel; a DaVinci painting; rather than someone whacking the ball around. Gavaskar once stated that he was the perfect foil to Sir Viv. One was the personification of absolute power, while the other was of complete grace. And he did have an appetite equal to Viv and Don. He's the only Asian to have more than 100 FC tons (take that Sachin); holds the world record for most twin tons in FC (8); and took the mysterious Indian spin quartet to pieces when he scored 507 runs in 3 consecutive innings.
Here's a video of his 2nd match against England where he scored a double (uploaded by Robelinda).
Even the shot he got out to was a beautifully played sweep. Such class and elegance! To describe him as a run machine would be an insult.
Of being one of the greatest batsman in the 70's, and arguably the most elegant batsman to have graced the game, Zaheer Abbas makes my XI with final stats of:
Matches: 78
Runs: 5062
Average: 44.79
The Papa XI:
1)
2) J Darling (c)
3) W Hammond
4) E Weekes
5) Z Abbas
6) M Noble (vc)
7) W Rhodes
8)
9) W Akram
10) D Lillee
11) C Turner
Loving it. Absolutely loving it
Just check out the class of that middle order.----------
Thanks for doing that write-up Swacker
Think you may have left that last sentence un-finished, as it makes absolutely no sense 
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Mead has a great average, but he spent most of his career out of the Test side ie. he was a 2nd XI/reserve player who just did very well when he filled in at Test level. Sometimes you have to ask why an apparently awesome batsmen who played 30 years of FC cricket only played 17 Tests. WW1 is one answer of course, but that didn't stop Hobbs or Hendren from racking up the Tests. Whereas Clem Hill was always a first choice in the Aussie side and was the leading Test run scorer of his time until Hobbs came along. 
