It's said that control of the present brings control of the past. With the Cricinfo all-time XI project announcing the selection of the all-time England team, the internet has cemented itself as the primary voice of cricket - present and past.
The flexibility and global reach of the internet is ousting the elite position of print throughout the media, and cricket, hardly the most global sport, has embraced the internet like no other.
As cricket’s online HQ, Cricinfo has a responsibility to foster interest and education on the sport's history. The all-time project is clearly a recognition of this.
It is a pity that all members of the selection panel were English, it would have been fascinating to see how English cricketing history is filtered through India or Pakistan, for example.
Nevertheless, the chosen England XI has already sparked debate on the blogs. Predictably, most posts are from people who, like me, began their obsession in the 1990s. Yet it has given us the forum to carry cricket’s past into the future.
My All-Time England XI* (*Since 1993)
Trescothick
Atherton
Vaughan (c)
Thorpe
Pietersen
Stewart (wk)
Flintoff
Swann
Gough
Fraser
Hoggard
12th Man: Nasser Hussain
Coach: Duncan Fletcher
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