Bradman captain Wisden's all-time XI

Although Bradman played his last Test in 1948, no batsman before or since has come anywhere near his staggering Test batting average of 99.94.

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Also included is his compatriot Shane Warne, who during the 1990s established himself as arguably the greatest legspinner cricket has known.

Given that it is a UK-based publication built around the events of the previous English season, albeit one now encompassing the whole of senior international cricket, it is perhaps unsurprising there are four England players in the side.

W.G. Grace, the 19th century star who invented the fundamentals of batting, opening great Jack Hobbs, wicketkeeper Alan Knott, a mainstay of England teams of the 1970s and Sydney Barnes, a master of both swing and spin and reckoned by many to have been England's greatest bowler of all time, make it into the side.

West Indies provide three players in Vivian Richards, widely regarded as the best batsman of his generation, Garfield Sobers, frequently referred to as the greatest allrounder cricket has known and Malcolm Marshall, viewed as arguably the best in a long line of top-class Caribbean fast bowlers.

India provide one player in the soon-to-retire Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket's leading run scorer of all-time, with the team completed by Pakistan's Wasim Akram, long esteemed as the best left-arm fast bowler cricket has known.

Hobbs, Bradman, Richards, Sobers and Warne were named as Wisden's five players of the 20th Century in 2000.