Pressure picks

Fred Tate
Despite an impressive first-class career, England seamer Tate is remembered for his hapless performance in the third Test of the nip-and-tuck 1902 Ashes. His bowling was ineffective, he dropped a key catch, and was last man out, clean bowled with England three runs from victory, so nervous he reportedly could hardly hold the bat. Not only did he never play again, it emerged he had been a pawn in a battle between the selectors and Archie MacLaren, the captain. In the previous match MacLaren had scoffed at the side selected and unilaterally summoned SF Barnes to bolster the team, with great success. But the establishment was not going to take that on the chin, and so sent MacLaren a squad of 12 for the Old Trafford match, with key names such as Barnes, CB Fry and Gilbert Jessop missing. They also included Tate in the belief that he wouldn't be played and so guaranteeing their preferred XI took the field. MacLaren famously muttered "My God… look what they've sent me" and immediately proved as awkward as the selectors by omitting allrounder George Hirst and playing Tate. And so the Ashes were decided by a battle of egos.

Wilfred Rhodes
Wilfred Rhodes was almost 49 - and it had been five years since his last Test (and 27 since his first) - when the selectors recalled him for the Ashes decider at The Oval in 1926, although it was not such a gamble as it might seem, since despite his age he was leading the national bowling averages. Rhodes more than repaid the gamble, with two first-innings wickets and then, exploiting a worn pitch, 4 for 44 in the second, including three top-order batsmen, as England won the match by 289 runs, and secured their first series win over Australia since 1912.

Vinoo Mankad
It came to be called Mankad's Test, but before it, he had been in danger of not playing in the series, against England, following a dispute with the Indian board; he was instead playing for Haslingden in the Lancashire League. On the eve of the first Test, at Headingley, the Indian manager, Pankaj Gupta and the captain, Vijay Hazare, cabled their board for permission to play Mankad. It was given and Mankad arrived at the team hotel, but the board failed to come to an agreement with Haslingden and Mankad couldn't play. Fred Trueman reduced to India to 0 for 4 in the second innings and India lost by seven wickets. By the time the second Test came round, Mankad was released unconditionally - a gesture the Times of India reported as "one of the most generous on record". In the first innings, Mankad top-scored with 72 and send down 73 overs to pick up 5 for 196. In the second innings, he top-scored again, with 184 (the next highest Indian score was Hazare's 49). Though India lost the game, Mankad became the first player in more than 30 years to score a hundred and take five wickets in the same Test, and the first Indian to achieve the feat.

Cyril Washbrook, David Sheppard, Denis Compton
Selectors get the brickbats when their choices fail but little praise when things go right. In 1956, England's selectors enjoyed a rare Ashes summer when almost everything they touched turned to gold. Going into the third Test one down, when they met to pick the side they asked one of their colleagues, 41-year-old Lancashire opener Cyril Washbrook, to leave the room. When he returned, they asked if he would play at Headingley; he did and made a match-turning 98 as the series was squared. For the fourth Test they summoned Sheppard, whose commitments to the church meant he had batted only four times all summer. He top-scored with 113 in a game famous for Jim Laker's 19 wickets. For the final match, at The Oval, they opted for another left-field pick, Compton, written off after having his kneecap removed the previous November; limping but unbowed, Wisden noted he unfolded "all the familiar strokes of his golden days" as he made 94. The Test was drawn, the Ashes were England's, and the selectors could afford a self-satisfied grin.

Basil D'Oliveira
D'Oliveira, who had had a poor series against West Indies, was picked to play in the first Test against Australia in 1968. England were thumped by 159 runs after they collapsed in the second innings - though D'Oliveira top-scored with an unbeaten 87. However, he was dropped for the second Test, but when Roger Prideaux withdrew from the team for the final Test, D'Oliveira got another chance. He imposed himself with a fine 158 at The Oval, as England won the Test to tie the series. However, it went on to lead to the cancellation of England's tour of South Africa later that year after the apartheid government objected to D'Oliviera's inclusion in the touring side. Peter Oborne wrote: "The runs were scored under conditions of unspeakable personal difficulty, against an attack comprising South Africa's Prime Minister Johannes Vorster and South African Apartheid at its most savage and corrupt, supported by the weight of the British establishment. D'Oliveira was initially dropped for the tour, despite that 158, but then picked when Tom Cartwright pulled out with injury. The South African government promptly declared he would not be welcome and the tour was cancelled. South Africa was banned for the next 23 years until apartheid was finally abolished.

David Steele
England entered the second Test of 1975 shell-shocked by the raw pace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, and with five Ashes Test losses in seven since the previous November. Under a new captain, Tony Greig, they surprised pundits by giving a debut to David Steele, a 33-year-old, prematurely grey, bespectacled batsman from unfashionable Northamptonshire, described by the Sun's Clive Taylor as "the bank clerk who went to war". It was very much Greig's call. He wanted someone to battle, and after asking umpires across the country he made his choice. Steele had scored only 16 hundreds in 12 seasons with an average of 31. Dogged but unspectacular - and two years older than any of the Australians - he was unbowed by the occasion (he came in at 49 for 4) or the bowling, and made 50 and 45. When a snarling Lillee bounced him, he hooked him three times for four, and finally England had someone who would not buckle. The series was Australia's but the summer was Steele's.

Brian Close
When Greig wanted someone to stand up to the fearsome West Indies pace attack at the top of the order in 1976, he turned to Somerset's Brian Close. Nobody doubted Close's courage, but he was 46 and hadn't played a Test for nine years. The seeds of his recall were sown when a strong MCC side were blown away by West Indies at Lord's, and then Close made 88 and 40 in a tour match. The gamble did not come off, although in fairness few could have done any better. Close made 60 at Lord's but at Old Trafford he and partner John Edrich were subjected to one of the most brutal fast-bowling barrages ever seen. Both were dropped, but neither had failed their country so much as it being, according to the Times, an "admission of failure by the selectors".

Javed Miandad
Four weeks before the 1992 World Cup, Miandad strained his back during training and was not picked for the tournament. A surprised Miandad, who thought his injury was minor, rang Intikhab Alam, the manager, and let him have it. Miandad later wrote in his autobiography, "Just wait for the team to be put to the test in Australia, I told myself; they will be soon calling for Miandad." That was exactly what happened. Pakistan struggled in the warm-up games and Miandad got calls from the board's top officials. There was also speculation that political heavyweights had urged the board to fall in line. Miandad went on to star in the World Cup, finishing with the second highest run-aggregate, behind Martin Crowe, and helping Pakistan take the title.

Wayne Phillips
Geoff Marsh was controversially dropped for the last Test against India in Perth in 1992 and replaced with Phillips, the Victoria batsman - a decision that displeased Allan Border, the captain, no end. The selection was announced on the last day of the penultimate Test, and Border didn't come out for about 45 minutes after he heard: Marsh led Australia when they went out to bowl. At the end of the Test the rest of the team flew straight to Perth, but Border didn't arrive for about a day and a half. It was this pressure-cooker situation that Phillips came into. It was said he didn't get much support from his team-mates in the field. He scored only 8 and 14 in the game and never played for Australia again.

Sourav Ganguly
Many considered Ganguly a quota selection when he made his debut in 1996; not many thought he would be successful. Moreover, considering he was replacing Sanjay Manjrekar, the weight of expectation was enormous. Ganguly duly hit a gorgeous 131, the highest score by a debutant at Lord's, to stave off the heat. Years later, in 2006-07, he made a fairytale comeback in South Africa where, again, many had thought he would fail, going on to become the highest run-scorer in the Tests.

Adam Gilchrist
One of the modern players likely to feature in an all-time XI made his Test debut to a chorus of boos in Brisbane against Pakistan. The fans still wanted Ian Healy, who had been dropped by the selectors, despite his request to be allowed to play at least one farewell game in front of his home fans. Gilchrist, unfazed by the hostile reception, hit a rapid 81 and followed it up with a century in the next game in a miracle chase alongside Justin Langer.