All-time World XI

It's 2am the pub doors are shut and the landlord slides the ash tray over and offers you a cigarette. In the dim lit quarters of the local boozer you are invited into what seems like a conversation of the utmost importance, and one you have no doubt mused over whilst Gower and co. revisit the flaws in Alastair Cook's batting for umpteenth time during a damp ODI at Old Trafford in mid-summer. The conversation that ensues regards the small issue of deciding cricket's all-time Test XI, and inevitably as you seek to defend the merits of modern day cricket whilst the barman lectures you on the good old days, no draft is put forward.

Unrivaled cricketing encyclopedists Cricinfo will soon take on this titanic challenge and unveil their all-time World XI lineup, after leading cricket buffs from the eight major Test-playing nations gave them a head start nominating their country's best ever team.

As I sit at home with little prospect of befriending a semi-drunk landlord I thought I would have a proverbial stab at this perpetual cricketing conundrum....brace yourselves....

1. Sir Jack Hobbs (England) - 15 Test centuries at 56.94 on pitches that would ruin the careers of many a modern day batsman, Hobbs played competitive cricket past the age of 50, maintaining an average of over 50 in first class cricket and amassing a ridiculous 61,760 runs in 834 matches dubbing him 'The Master.'

2. Virender Sehwag (India) - With a Test match strike-rate of 81.56 Sehwag is arguably the most destructive opening batsman of his generation, scoring his runs at a faster rate than any other batsman in history. 22 hundreds and 21 fifties at an average of 54.14 including 79 sixes is only half the story - truly unstoppable!

3. Sir Don Bradman (Australia) - The greatest batsman of all-time Bradman is honoured with the fabled number three slot, reserved for the team's best player. End of conversation.

4. Sachin Tendulkar (India) - Adored by millions Tendulkar is the complete modern batsman and has gone on to score more runs in international cricket than anyone else in history, as well as the most hundreds in Test match cricket. Over twenty years after his debut Test aged sixteen 'The Little Master' remains the textbook batsman and a hero to young and old worldwide.

5. W. G. Grace (captain) (England)  - A controversial inclusion seeing as no man alive can remember playing with or even seeing the great man. It is estimated that he scored over 101,000 runs in all forms of cricket, and took over 7,500 wickets in his mammoth tenure as a cricketer but it is his presence alone that merits his inclusion in the all-time XI.

6. Sir Garry Sobers (vice-captain) (West Indies) - Versatility personified Sobers could do anything and everything. An elegant batsman, multi-faceted bowler and exceptional fielder anywhere on the field Sobers was the quintessential all-rounder, within the confines of the boundary rope he was capable of near enough anything.

7. Kumar Sangakkara (wicket keeper) (Sri Lanka) - A more consistent performer than Gilchrist and a wily captain Sangakkara is the model 21st century wicket keeper/batsman. An average of 56.85 in Test matches puts him alongside today's finest strokemakers and having successfully kept wicket to Murali for over ten years Sangakkara has become one of the game's most skilled glovemen.

8. Malcolm Marshall (West Indies) - Seemingly able to make the ball talk on almost any surface Malcolm Marshall was quite simply a lethal weapon. Boasting an extraordinary strike rate of 46.7 and an equally impressive average of 20.94 including 22 five wicket hauls, Marshall was proficient in out-swing and in-swing bowling as well as possessing a fearful bouncer, he possessed an X-factor that demanded inclusion.

9. Wasim Akram (Pakistan) - 414 wickets in 104 Tests Wasim Akram was a wicket-machine. His left-arm approach provides the attack with something different and his ability to contribute with the bat was certainly a factor in his selection.

10. Shane Warne (Australia) - A true competitor Warne's enthusiasm for the game was matched by a supreme talent for leg-spin bowling. An ability to turn the ball at freakish angles he was Australia's go-to man for well over a decade and much like Grace and Sobers Warne's passion and desire to win renders him an invaluable member of the bowling attack.

11. Sydney Barnes (England) - A cricketing phenomenon Barnes was quite simply unplayable. In all cricket he took 6,229 wickets at a frankly stupid average of 8.33. Those who knew him say he sent a different delivery down each ball making fools of almost every man that faced him, the bowling trump card.

Honourable mentions: Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, George Headley, Brian Lara, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Adam Gilchrist, Alan Knott, Michael Holding, Muttiah Muralitharan, Curtly Ambrose.

The final team comprises of three Englishmen, two Australians, two West Indians, two Indians, a Sri Lankan and a Pakistani.

Do you agree?