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A truly ‘professional’ World XI

BY KERSI MEHER-HOMJI

It was England’s current wicket-keeper Ollie Pope that got me thinking. Or rather, it was his illustrious surname.

How well are the ‘professions’ represented amongst world cricketers?

I’ve taken a look, and have come up with a veritable ‘Professional’ World XI - where surnames of Test cricketers represent different professions, namely Engineer, Contractor, Bishop, Butler, Turner, Miller, Archer, Smith and Merchant as you holler for a Marshall.

So here is my ‘Professional’ team of Test cricketers in batting order:

• Vijay Merchant (Ind), Alastair Cook (Eng), Graeme Smith (SA, capt.), Steve Smith (Aus, vice-capt), Keith Miller (Aus), Basil Butcher (WI), Farokh Engineer (Ind, WK), Colin ‘Funky’ Miller (Aus), Malcolm Marshall (WI), Ian Bishop (WI) and CTB ‘Terror’ Turner (Aus).

• 12th man: Mark Butcher (Eng).

• Reserves: Nari Contractor (Ind), Stuart Clark (Aus), Mike Smith (Eng), Ian Butler (NZ), Ron and Ken Archer (Aus), Bob Barber (Eng), Seymour Nurse (WI), Terry Alderman (Aus), Harold Butler (Eng), Mark Butcher (Eng), Ronald Pope (Aus), Harry Dean (Eng), John

Shepherd (WI), Barry Shepherd (Aus), Ollie Pope (Eng) and Ghulam Guard (Ind).

(And believe me, Ghulam Guard was by profession a policeman in India!)

I was tempted to take poetic license and include Australia’s Mark and Peter Taylor, Craig Serjeant and Michael Clarke as also England’s wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler. Given their inaccurate (or inauthentic) spellings, I made the umpire’s call and decided against.

As many of the players I’ve listed come from different eras, I’m aware that an introduction is needed for Gen Z readers. Merchant, who played Test cricket from 1933 to 1951, was known as the Bradman of India: his first-class batting average of

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