Botham, Flintoff or Stokes? Your chance to vote for England’s greatest all-rounder and wicketkeeper

The shortlist for our all-time England Test XI has been picked by Scyld Berry, our chief cricket writer. Now we are asking you, the readers, to pick the players who should make the final team, for a match to be played in England. We have divided our nominees into six categories:

1. Openers (pick two)

2. Middle-order batsmen (pick three)

3. All-rounders (pick two below)

4. Wicketkeepers (pick one below)

5. Spinners (pick one)

6. Seamers (pick two)

Players have been selected for the shortlist on the basis of their entire Test careers, rather than one great series, and have been listed below in chronological order. Think we have missed an obvious candidate? Let us know in the comments.

Voting continues on Tuesday with the all-rounders and wicketkeeper. Voting for the batsmen is still open and you can come back on Wednesday to vote for the bowlers. The readers’ team (alongside Scyld Berry’s preferred XI) will be announced on Thursday afternoon, with one final vote, to pick the captain.

All-rounder

Wilfred Rhodes

Debut: 1899. 58 matches; 2,325 runs @ 30.19 (2 hundreds); 127 wickets @ 26.96
As a left-arm spinner, arguably England’s finest ever at his peak, he took 66 wickets against Australia at 17 in his first 13 Tests, such was his spin and drift. Then he concentrated on batting and became Jack Hobbs’s opening partner. So, normally, he either batted or bowled, not both simultaneously – until his last, triumphant, Ashes Test in 1926, aged 48.

Ian Botham

Debut: 1977. 102 matches; 5,200 runs @ 33.54 (14 hundreds); 383 wickets @ 28.40
At his peak Botham could do both disciplines superlatively, which is extremely rare. Until a back injury in April 1980 he could bowl fast outswingers and, of course, plenty of bouncers; and until 1986-87 he reeled off Test centuries which, like Jonny Bairstow’s last summer, were scored so quickly that he demoralised opponents. Nobody in this team would prevent him fielding at second slip.

Andrew Flintoff

Debut: 1998. 79 matches; 3,845 runs @ 31.77 (5 hundreds); 226 wickets @ 32.78
The finest, most successful Test series that any England cricketer has enjoyed has to be Flintoff’s in the 2005 Ashes. When driving Shane Warne for six and demystifying him, or bowling fast reverse-swing in long spells, he appeared even more massive than he was. Everything came together for him to peak during that golden summer. But selections for this team should be based on the whole career.

Story continues

Ben Stokes

Debut: 2013. 89 matches; 5,602 runs @ 36.14 (12 hundreds); 193 wickets @ 31.99
We tend to think of Stokes as a batsman who bowls yet he is only seven short of 200 Test wickets, and does everything that could be asked of a fourth seamer and more, like bouncing out tail-enders. As for batting, he may not be consistent enough to be labelled a great batsman without qualification, but without question he plays great innings, notably his 135* at Headingley in 2019, widely considered the finest England innings in history.

Pick your all-rounders

Pick two players. The men with the most votes go through.

Wicketkeepers

Les Ames

Debut: 1929. 47 matches; 72 catches, 23 stumpings; 2,434 runs @ 40.56 (8 hundreds)
England’s first wicketkeeper/batsman, as he averaged 40 and batted at Nos 5 and 6 as well as 7. If he is not a shoo-in, it is because his batting record was less convincing in the Ashes: he averaged 27 against Australia overall, and 17 in ten Tests in Australia. Also, diving down the legside was considered indecorous in the 1930s and he conceded more byes – about 20 per Test – than most moderns.

Godfrey Evans

Debut: 1946. 91 matches; 173 catches, 46 stumpings; 2,439 runs @ 20.49 (2 hundreds)
He was the first England wicketkeeper who consistently dived down the legside to stop the ball and byes – and in the process pulled off one of the all-time important catches, when Neil Harvey leg-glanced Frank Tyson during the 1954-5 Ashes. A very busy batter and stocky hitter, but more cameos than match-winning hundreds, so his average was modest.

Bob Taylor

Debut: 1971. 57 matches; 167 catches, 7 stumpings; 1,156 runs @ 16.28 (0 hundreds)
Shortly before Alan Knott, Bob Taylor set new standards for English wicketkeeping with a new method he had learned from Keith Andrew at Northampton – using his feet to move to the legside, instead of diving as Evans had theatrically done. To this day, nobody has made more first-class dismissals, such was the neatness of his footwork and glovework. Taylor’s batting? His Derbyshire and England team-mate Mike Hendrick would say: “middling.”

Alan Knott

Debut: 1967. 95 matches; 250 catches, 19 stumpings; 4,389 runs @ 32.75 (5 hundreds)
Difficult to keep him out. Physically, he had the salmon-like flexibility of Jack Russell and Ben Foakes, so that his span – the ground he could cover – was beyond that of other keepers. And he was supreme when keeping to spinners, as he did much of the time, having Derek Underwood on his side. Others may have been as good standing back but nobody so practised and accomplished standing up.

Alec Stewart

Debut: 1990. 133 matches; 227 catches, 14 stumpings; 8,463 runs @ 39.54 (15 hundreds)
It is easy to forget what a dazzling stroke-player he was against pace bowling when he opened for England briefly as a specialist batsman. But he soon had to bat down the order and keep wicket instead of Jack Russell, which he did very competently, but without playing to his greatest strength. He averaged 46 as a specialist Test batsman, 34 when keeping.

Matt Prior

Debut: 2003. 79 matches; 243 catches, 13 stumpings; 4,099 runs @ 40.18 (7 hundreds)
Not the most natural gloveman but he made himself into the pivot of England’s strongest Test team, or at least when they were the official world No 1, and he was the first England keeper since Ames to average 40 with the bat. A pretty complete batsman too as he could counterattack or block in a crisis. Demonstrative, vocal and wound up opponents, if that is what you want from your keeper.

Jonny Bairstow

Debut: 2012. 89 matches; 180 catches, 13 stumpings; 5,482 runs @ 37.04 (12 hundreds)
We cannot, alas, have the best of both worlds: Bairstow keeping wicket and batting as he has done in the last calendar year as a specialist batsman at No 5. It would be an unsustainable burden. But he did a fine job of keeping wicket and batting at seven, averaging 37 in that position as a counter-attacker, so he is a candidate for this dual role.

Pick your wicketkeeper

Pick just one player. The man with the most votes goes through.

Come back on Wednesday to vote for your bowlers, and vote for the batsmen here. Voting in all polls closes on Thursday at 12pm.