The Ashes is underway. By the time you read this at least a day of the Gabba Test will have elapsed and you will be either mildly optimistic or already kicking the cat. Ashes Tests in Brisbane are emotive affairs. The lengthy build-up, the verbal sparring, the national anthems on the first morning and the hostile nature of Brisbane itself all seem to bring the whole ancient rivalry to a head. This leads to extreme occurrences: Steve Harmison’s famous double wide, England captain Andrew Strauss cutting the third ball of the 2010/11 series straight to gully, a Peter Siddle hat-trick, public enemy No.1 Stuart Broad taking five wickets the last time England were in Brisbane, followed by Mitchell Johnson’s devastating bowling which ultimately dismembered several Test careers. That’s why they call it the Gabbatoir.
Weight of runs will decide the Ashes and England do at least possess two of the best batsmen this country has ever produced: Alastair Cook – the man who is England’s leading Test run-scorer, and Joe Root – the man who surely one day will be. After 60 Tests, Cook had 4,363 Test runs. In the same number of games Root has 5,323. He is almost 1,000 runs ahead of England’s master of accumulation. It seemed as good a time as any to debate who is England’s greatest batsman of all time. The Cricketer asked a hearty collection of our best cricket writers, commentators, pundits and explayers – including five former England captains – to name their top five English batsmen. The feature starts on page 40. And let no one be accused of contemporary bias.