Today, at lunch on the third day of the 4th nPower Test, Richie Benaud made the final additions to his Greatest XI.

All that was left for Richie to select was his bowling attack and he wasted no time in naming Shane Warne as his choice for greatest spinner of all time. It appears that not many people would argue with him as 85% of the public vote went to the Australian master too.

One question that Mark Nicholas had to ask was 'why no Jim Laker or Muttiah Muralitharan?'. Richie pointed out that, in his opinion, the deadliest attacks combined pace with over the wrist spinning. Had he wanted an off spinner then maybe he would have gone for a different choice but, in many ways, he had to select his greatest tactics too.

Two slots still remained open for the fast bowlers. The Englishman Sydney Barnes took the first. Richie noted that both the English and Australian players of his generation regarded him as the best bowler to have ever picked up a cricket ball but he also took into account Barnes' abilty to take the wickets of batsmen where other bowlers could find no way through.

Only 7% of the public vote went with Barnes but that was no real surprise considering the time in which he dominated the game. Instead Fred Trueman, being English, was a favourite with the nation.

As for the final position in the Greatest XI, this went to Dennis Lillee. Describing him as simply a 'superb' bowler, the Australian legend would be just the man that Richie would like to see steaming into the wicket.

However, Richie still needed to name a 12th man and coach for his perfect XI.

Kieth Miller, the greatest all-rounder that Richie ever played against took the position of 12th man and the West Indian Frank Worrell was selected as coach, for being the best man-manager the game has ever seen.

But there was one question, if the number of emails received is anything to go by, that still needed to be resolved. Why would Richie pick Imran Kahn over Ian Botham as his all-rounder? Apparently, there was nothing in it but Richie felt that Imran just had 'a feel about his cricket'. The public will take some persuading.

However, with these last selections made, here's how the team lines up.

Richie's Greatest XI:

1 Jack Hobbs
2 Sunil Gavaskar
3 Don Bradman (Cap)
4 Viv Richards
5 Sachin Tendulkar
6 Sir Garfield Sobers
7 Imran Kahn
8 Adam Gilchrist
9 Shane Warne
10 Dennis Lillee
11 Sydney Barnes

12th Man Keith Miller
Coach; FMM Worrell

21 Aug, 2004