It's every cricket fan's favourite past-time but if you were given free reign to pick your all-time Ashes XI who would you have selected?

Is Steve Waugh a better captain than Don Bradman or Mark Taylor? Did Mark Nicholas really pick Shane Warne as his skipper ahead of all other claimants? Would you have room for both Keith Miller and Ian Botham? Is Adam Gilchrist really the best wicket-keeper/batsman to have played in an Ashes Test? No room for David Gower or Geoff Boycott, Mark Waugh or Michael Slater?

We asked some of our most esteemed colleagues at Channel 4 and these were the teams they came up with.

Mark Nicholas' XI: Jack Hobbs (left), Len Hutton, Don Bradman, Greg Chappell, Walter Hammond, Ian Botham, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Bill O'Reilly, Shane Warne (capt), Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath.

Ian Healy's XI: Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Don Bradman (capt), Greg Chappell, Ken Barrington, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Keith Miller, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee (left), Terry Alderman.

Dermot Reeve's XI: Ken Barrington, Herbert Sutcliffe, Don Bradman (left), Allan Border, Steve Waugh (capt), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Ian Botham, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Glenn McGrath.

Simon Hughes' XI: Graham Gooch, Mark Taylor (capt), Don Bradman, Walter Hammond, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ian Botham, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Warne (left), Glenn McGrath, Dennis Lillee.

Richard de Costobadie's XI (the editor): Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Don Bradman (capt), Walter Hammond, Ken Barrington, Ian Botham (left), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Keith Miller, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee, Fred Trueman.

Colin Spiro's XI (deputy editor): Syd Barnes, Herbert Sutcliffe, Don Bradman, Maurice Leyland, Ken Barrington (left), Steve Waugh (capt), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Warne, Frank Tyson, Dennis Lillee, George Lohmann.

25 Oct, 2002