The Ws

I've been invited by Bharat to make some contributions to this blog, which is very flattering. In the mid 1990s I made a series of posts to the newsgroup rec.sport.cricket containing my idea of the best XIs where the members' surnames began with the same letter of the alphabet. I don't have copies of all those posts now, but here's one that I do still have: the Ws. I haven't updated it in any way. Nowadays Steve Waugh would have to be put in the first XI, of course. (Note that when it was written Courtney Walsh still had fewer than 300 Test wickets.) Off-hand I can't think of any more recent players who would demand inclusion, though I'm probably overlooking someone obvious, as increasingly seems to happen as I get older. Unfortunately W is not a letter that shows Indian players to great advantage.

We finish on a high note with a very strong eleven. (X, Y and Z havealready been taken care of, in a QUXYZ eleven.) In fact there were somany strong candidates, I've drawn up both a first and a second eleven (and still had to omit some fine players).

First Eleven:

Bill Woodfull (A)
Frank Woolley (E)
Doug Walters (A)
Everton Weekes (WI)
Clyde Walcott (WI)
Frank Worrell (WI) (capt)
Wasim Akram (P)
Wasim Bari (P) (wk)
Shane Warne (A)
Waqar Younis (P)
Bob Willis (E)

Most of this eleven more or less selected itself. Frank Woolley's Test batting statistics were comparatively modest, but at his best he was one of the all-time greats, and his slow left-arm bowling and slipfielding will also come in useful. It was close for the number 11 spot between Bob Willis and Courtney Walsh, but you can't really argue with 300 Test wickets.

Second eleven:

Cyril Washbrook (E)
John Wright (NZ)
Kepler Wessels (A/SA)
Mark Waugh (A)
Bob Wyatt (E) (capt)
Steve Waugh (A)
John Waite (SA) (wk)
Max Walker (A)
Johnny Wardle (E)
J.C. "Farmer" White (E)
Courtney Walsh (WI)

This eleven could give a lot of the alphabetic first elevens a run for their money.
Other players who deserve a mention are:
Batsmen:
Cyril Walters, Pelham Warner, Barry Wood, Willie Watson, Peter Willey,T.S.Worthington, Bob Woolmer, Alan Wells, A.J.Watkins, Wilf Wooller (E); Graeme Wood (A); Ajit Wadekar (I); Wasim Raja,Wazir Mohammed (P); Syed Wettimuny (SL).
All-rounders: Rockley Wilson (E); Sammy Woods (E/A).
Spinners: Doug Wright, Don Wilson (E).
Fast bowlers: John Warr (E); Tom Wall (unlucky not to make the secondeleven) and Mark Whitney (A).
Wicketkeepers: Ken Wadsworth (NZ), Arthur Wood (E).