All time England XI

Cricinfo has recent taken on the impossible, compiling an All-Time team, which is always a funny exercise as it's almost impossible to agree on one.
their team is Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Wally Hammond, Ken Barrington, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Botham, Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, Harold Larwood, Fred Trueman, Sydney Barnes.

The team decided on takes people from all ages, which makes it impossible. My contributions were almost exclusively ones that i've seen because i find it hard to pick people that i don't know.
I never saw boycott, botham, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Wally Hammond, Ken Barrington, Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, Harold Larwood, Fred Trueman, Sydney Barnes etc. so I find it hard to pick them.
Mine, only based on those i've seen would be:

Atherton
Gooch
Vaughan
Pietersen
Thorpe
Stewart
Flintoff
Giles
Gough
Caddick
Hoggard

which probably explains why there are so few contemporary players in the Cricinfo team, as there are not too many 'great' players to have played in the last few years, spinner especially. I've just gone for Giles over Tuffnel as the former made the most of his ability, while the latter always had unfulfilled potential.

It's hardly a great team

there is also a point about the pitches. these days most pitches are roads, wayed far too heavily in favour of the batting and against the bowling which makes for boring cricket