I think I know who you want KP, and sorry, he's mine
However, for Australia, I could have picked someone like Mark Waugh, Langer, Boon, Mark Taylor, Ian Chappel, Bill Lawry, Stan McCabe, Bill Ponsford, Victor Trumper, Kim Hughes...but I won't. Instead, I'll go for yet another unconventional pick:
Archie Jackson
There are those who argue to this day that had he lived, Archie Jackson would have rivaled Don Bradman as the greatest batsman off all time. Jackson's death from tuberculosis at the tragically young age of 23 meant that he gave only glimpses of what might have been.
Archie Jackson made his FC debut for NSW at the age of 17, and was picked to tour New Zealand with Australia within a year. Unfortunately, he didn't get a game. He finally made his first appearance at Test level in the 4th Ashes test in 1928-1929, opened the batting. and promptly hammered 164 against an England attack containing Larwood, Tate and 'Farmer' White. He drove confidently against Larwood's pace and was one of the few Aussie batsmen who could use his feet against White's containing spin. All at the tender age of 18.
It wasn't long till he was being herald as the next great Australian batsman, to follow The Don. And while his style of play was seemingly inspired by Victor Trumper, his returns were positively Bradmenesque. At 17 he scored 464 runs in Sheffield Shield cricket at an average of 58, and the next year he was the youngest to score two centuries in the same match.
After his test debut, he scored 182 in the Australian Test Trial match, regarded by those who watched it to be his finest innings. This ensured he was selected for the 1930 tour to England -at only 21 years old- and even though he scored over 1000 runs that tour, many claimed he wasn't at his best, till he scored 73 in the final Test match in a 243 run partnership with Don Bradman for the fourth wicket, at the time a record for England vs. Australia.
His next few years were plagued with illness, and his appearances were sporadic and far apart. He eventually passed away in his hospital bed at the age of 23, tragically young, and the cricketing world was robbed of one of it's finest talents. In all, Archie managed 11 centuries and 23 fifties in 70 FC games with an average of 45.65. His test record was an average of 47.40 after 8 tests, his 164 being his only century.
1.
2. Stewie Dempster
3. Jacques Kallis
4. George Headley
5. Keith Miller
6. Archie Jackson
7. Kapil Dev
8. Prasanna Jayawardene (+)
9. Malcom Marshall
10. Fazal Mahmood
11. Hedley Verity
Batting seems a bit untested - Dempster, Headley, Jackson and with Miller at 5. But if they all live up to their reputations, this could be a dangerous lineup.
