Now that I know the make-up the team is going to take, I'll take a look at the other options for opening batsmen.

Looking at some of the greats, I've narrowed it down to Hutton, Hobbs, Hayden and Gavaskar. Some of the qualities a batsmen needs to open the batting is agression, as the best way to get on top of a bowling attack is to go after them early on, and that is what I would be looking for from my openers. While an opening batsmen must be a good hooker of the ball, or at least be able to negotiate the short ball.

We'll take a look at the records of the four players I've got it down too:

Len Hutton        6971 runs at 56.67   Refined: 6815 runs at 55.40
Jack Hobbs	  5410 runs at 56.94   Refined: 5347 runs at 56.29
Matt Hayden       2976 runs at 53.14   Refined: 2918 runs at 52.11
Sunil Gavaskar   10122 runs at 51.12  Refined: 10031 runs at 50.66

Hutton's big strength as that he has a great technique and a superb hook shot. He is also good anywhere throughout the world, against any team. What makes me like Gavaskar is the fact that he has an excellent record against the West Indies, who had the most fearsome of bowling attacks during that period.

Jack Hobbs is a great batsmen, however the big problem i have with him is that he is a very defensive batsmen and can get bogged down, which can cause problems with the other batsmen. He was a very good strokemaker around the wicket, and is considered by some English to be as good as Bradman. As good as batsmen as he is, i think that is a big overrating. Technically as good as batsmen as any, however hes ability to get bogged down doesn't sit well with me, as this team is also about which players would be best together.

Hayden, as we've seen is excellent with the short ball, and is easily the most attacking of the 3 batsmen. Also being left handed goes down well as it gives variety up the top. He is also very good against all teams, with only the Windies having the edge on him, and that stems mainly from his young days when Ambrose dominated him.

Gavaskar has a great record against the West Indies. However in researching deeper, in the early 80's against the Windies quicks when they were really strong, he wasn't as good, only having 4 scores over 50 from 11 matches, which included 3 centuries. Making his average 41 from the matches against the best quick attack ever. So now Gavaskar's big attraction over the three has depleted a bit i've narrowed it down to between Hayden and Hutton. And I think Hutton is the man from there, given the fact he has a better record over such a prolonged period.

So the opening pair will be Hutton and Sutcliffe.