The Hundred: 20 to 11

20: Shane Warne

Let’s face it. Shane Warne would have made this list just for That Ball to Mike Gatting in 1993. Add in his almost single-handed revival of the leg-spinner’s art, his memorable battle with Muralitharan to set new Test wicket records, his astute captaincy for Hampshire and astonishing bowling for Australia in the 2005 Ashes series, and he was a top 10 shoo-in. However his mid-career boorishness and his shiny-toothed, poker-playing late-career IPL persona let home down a tad but I still wouldn’t argue with any claim that SK Warne is one of the greatest bowlers ever. 

19: James Taylor

This corker of a batsman drew my attention in the late Noughties when his teenage batting accomplishments for Leicestershire leapt out of the scorecards and Fantasy Cricket webpages. Cricinfo told me he was only 5 feet 4 (although he has apparently grown two inches since then!) which served to – er – heighten his appeal. Switching to Notts got him noticed by England and he was already an ODI regular when in April 2016 he was diagnosed with an incurable heart condition, prompting immediate retirement at just 26. A huge loss as a player but he’s now a respected selector. 

18: Chaminda Vaas

Sri Lanka’s golden era in the late 1990s and Noughties is often characterised by the feats of Murali, Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara but for me, the left-arm pace bowler Chaminda Vaas was just as important. As well as claiming 355 Test victims, he remains one of the most successful ODI wicket-takers in history, and nobody else has ever taken eight in a single innings. A true class act. I also love the fact that his initials (WPUJC) are longer than his family name! 

17: Keith Boyce

Perhaps his greatest moment came for the West Indies with the ball in the 1973 Oval Test when his lovely languid action and deceptive pace captured 11 England wickets. However, my primary personal memory of KD Boyce hails from his long spell with Essex. It wasn’t so much his bowling or his explosive late-order hitting but his extraordinarily fast and athletic throwing from the boundary. In the first match I ever attended I tried to capture him in action but it was all a blur. Sadly a chronic knee injury forced an early retirement and he succumbed to alcoholism aged just 53. 

16: Kumar Sangakkara

Many top cricketers see their form tail off towards the end of their careers but Kumar Sangakkara seemed to improve with age. Even more elegant than his long-time colleague in the Sri Lanka engine room, Mahela Jayawardene, he not only spent many hours at the crease but huge chunks behind the stumps as ‘keeper but his most successful year in Tests came in 2014 aged 37 and he retired with an extraordinary batting average of 57. A tidy scorer in ODIs and a fine IPL captain, I also recall Sanga’s glorious run of centuries for Surrey in his final seasons. Whether in World Cup Finals or a dull day in Derby, he was always a credit to the game. 

15: David Gower

If Sangakkara epitomises the classical left-hander of the twenty-first century, then his 1980s equivalent would have to be David Gower. His air of effortless superiority as a commentator was matched by his batting for Leicestershire and England. His cover drive was a thing of extraordinary beauty but opposition slips would usually lick their lips in anticipation of an edge! He may have seemed over-nonchalant but that was his style. As captain he won the 1985 Ashes but was unfortunate to lead poor sides to 5-0 defeats against the Windies. He also played on his aristocratic air with laid-back humour on the comedy quiz They Think It’s All Over.

 14: Asif Iqbal

As a boy I loved watching Asif Iqbal play, but with hindsight he’s not an obvious choice. He wasn’t the most exciting member of Pakistan’s excellent side of the Seventies but he always seemed such a slim, trim, tidy batsman with a dashing blade and an effective medium-pace bowling action. When he wasn’t on the TV captaining his country in World Cups, Asif was a crucial all-round cog of Kent’s successful machine, winning plenty of trophies in the early part of that decade.  A player I aspired to imitate – an ambition doomed to fail miserably….. 

13: Michael Holding

What boy wouldn’t want to copy Michael Holding’s bowling action? But it’s one thing to run rhythmically with both hands sitting easy at the waist, and another to deliver explosive 90mph bouncers or yorkers. He really was poetry in motion, although that probably wasn’t the phrase used by his victims. ‘Whispering Death’, indeed. His 14-149 for the West Indies at The Oval in ’76 set the standard for a career punctuated by injuries and he remained a highly effective paceman well in to the Eighties. 

12: Kane Williamson

A 20 year-old Williamson first drew my attention on BBC West’s regional news programme. He spoke intelligently about developing local talent in Bristol and I have subsequently followed his rapid rise from Gloucestershire novice to New Zealand skipper with great interest. He’s one of the favoured few contemporary cricketers who make batting look so easy, and it doesn’t matter whether he’s striking a red or white ball. His Test average tops 50 but it’s Kane the citizen I also admire.

11: James Hildreth

Somerset have developed a load of brilliant batsmen over the decades, from Botham to Banton but surely none have been better, without gaining full international honours, than James Hildreth. He’s been mediocre so far this summer but for ages he’s been one of the county’s most consistent and prolific batsmen. I can’t believe it’s eleven years since his eye-opening triple century and fifteen since he scored the winning runs (off Jimmy Anderson!) to win the Twenty20 Cup. However, it was only last May when I witnessed Hildy steering Somerset to 50-over glory with 69 not out.

England v New Zealand - the story so far

In the forty-odd years I've been following cricket, England have played only 29 Tests at home to New Zealand and sadly 2013 will add only two more to the total. In this period, the visitors have managed a mere four victories yet they was sufficient to win two out of the nine series contested since the start of 1973.

In that year, a Geoff Boycott century and eight wickets from Geoff Arnold clinched the three-Test rubber with an innings triumph at Headingley while five years later England enjoyed a 3-0 whitewash. The First Test contained some very slow scoring, typified by NZ's second innings in which spin duo Geoff Miller and Phil Edmonds wheeled away for 68 overs, conceding just 55 runs! 21 year-old David Gower struck the game's only hundred en route to a 7-wicket success, then Boycott's batting and Ian Botham's bowling wrapped up an innings defeat. Botham (again) and Willis flattened Mark Burgess's side for 67 in the Lord's finale to complete the summer rout.

In the 1980s, New Zealand were a very different proposition, featuring the likes of Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, John Wright, Lance Cairns and Doug Bracewell's uncle John. Thirty years ago, England won three out of four, but in Leeds, ten wickets for Cairns and solid first innings batting from Wright, Edgar and Hadlee out-performed another Gower century to run up a five-wicket consolation prize. Three years later, England failed to win any of the three Tests played. Mike Gatting's side managed two draws but lost the series at Trent Bridge where it was Hadlee's turn to claim a ten-for, alongside a fine 68.

The 1990 series spanned the announcement of Richard Hadlee's knighthood and I recall seeing the newly-named Sir Richard amble onto the pitch at Chelmsford in the Essex tour match. Surely never has a twelfth man being cheered so heartily by an opposing crowd! In the Tests, things didn't go his way although in the Edgbaston decider, his 5-53 set up the chance of a 345-run chase to take the series 1-0. However, Devon Malcolm took 5-46 and victory went instead to Graham Gooch's team.

Gooch may have been in his 40s by 1994 and the captaincy had transferred to Mike Atherton, but the Essex man's 210 was the decisive factor in an innings victory at Trent Bridge, which proved to be the only decisive result of that three-match series. However, in 1999 New Zealand achieved the rare feat of beating England not once but twice in an away rubber. England edged the First Test thanks to that memorable 99 not out by nightwatchman Alex Tudor. However, a new Cairns, Chris having replaced dad Lance in the side, turned the series on its head. In the second game, he claimed eight wickets en route to a nine-wicket win then in the fourth his 5-31 and rapid-fire 80 laid the foundation for a decisive 83-run victory, and embarrasmment for Nasser Hussain and co. Five years on, and Fleming was still captain and in top form with the bat. Nevertheless that wasn't enough to prevent a rapidly-improving England dominating the series 3-0. Trescothick, Strauss and Harmison shone for the home side that year.

The last time New Zealand came to these shores was in 2008, by which time Daniel Vettori and Michael Vaughan were the opposing leaders. The opener was a weather-affected draw, remembered best for some typically rumbustuous striking by Brendan McCullum and Jacob Oram. Ross Taylor thumped a magnificent 154 at Old Trafford and Vettori's 5-66 put his side in a great position after day two. However, Monty Panesar delivered a devastating 6-37 to reverse fortunes and 106 from Andrew Strauss helped finish things off with a day to spare. England had really hit their stride by Trent Bridge, where the series finale was hopelessly one-sided. Jimmy Anderson (7-43) in the first innings and Ryan Sidebottom (6-67) in the second gave the big-hitters no opportunity to show their talents and the winning margin was an innings and nine runs.

What about the forthcoming contests? Well, I simply can't see New Zealand troubling England, especially with Tim Southee struggling with injury. Vettori, of course, remains out of the picture, too, so the home team ought to win comfortably. I'll focus on some of the best individual players to have participated in England-NZ Test matches in the next blog.