The best eleven, not the eleven best

The focus of last week's List, after England fielded the same XI for the fifth Test in a row, was on countries which played unchanged teams for the most consecutive matches. This week we're looking at how many times a team has had the same XI players, not necessarily in successive games, and which particular combinations have won and lost the most matches.

It's a bit of a surprise that the most Tests played by a particular set of players is only 11. And it isn't a combination of the all-conquering Australians from the mid-1990s to the present who hold the record, but a West Indian outfit between 1988 and 1991. West Indies played 35 matches during that period and the team of Gordon Greendige, Desmond Haynes, Vivian Richards, Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper, Gus Logie, Jeff Dujon, Malcolm Marshall, Patrick Patterson, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh played together 11 times. West Indies used a total of 24 players and Dujon was the only player to feature in all 35 Tests, while Haynes and Walsh played 34.

Between 2001 and 2002, Australia's team sheet had Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath for nine out of 25 Tests. The nine other players that featured in the remaining 16 Tests were Damien Fleming, Simon Katich, Michael Kasprowicz, Colin Miller, Andy Bichel, Martin Love, Darren Lehmann, Michael Slater and Stuart MacGill.

Most matches played by the same XI - Tests

Team	Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	W/L
West Indies	1988-1991	11	6	1	0	4	6.00
CEL Ambrose, PJL Dujon, CG Greenidge, DL Haynes, CL Hooper, AL Logie, MD Marshall, BP Patterson, IVA Richards, RB Richardson, CA Walsh
Australia	2001-2002	9	5	1	0	3	5.00
AC Gilchrist, JN Gillespie, ML Hayden, JL Langer, B Lee, GD McGrath, DR Martyn, RT Ponting, SK Warne, ME Waugh, SR Waugh
South Africa	1906-1907	6	4	2	0	0	2.00
GA Faulkner, CMH Hathorn, AW Nourse, RO Schwarz, WA Shalders, PW Sherwell, JH Sinclair, SJ Snooke, LJ Tancred, AEE Vogler, GC White
England	1884-1885	5	3	2	0	0	1.50
W Attewell, W Barnes, W Bates, J Briggs, W Flowers, J Hunter, R Peel, JM Read, WH Scotton, A Shrewsbury, G Ulyett
Australia	1989-1989	5	3	0	0	2	-
TM Alderman, DC Boon, AR Border, IA Healy, TV Hohns, MG Hughes, DM Jones, GF Lawson, GR Marsh, MA Taylor, SR Waugh
South Africa	1994-1994	5	2	1	0	2	2.00
WJ Cronje, PS de Villiers, AA Donald, AC Hudson, G Kirsten, PN Kirsten, BM McMillan, CR Matthews, JN Rhodes, DJ Richardson, KC Wessels
South Africa	1999-2000	5	3	0	0	2	-
PR Adams, MV Boucher, WJ Cronje, DJ Cullinan, AA Donald, HH Gibbs, JH Kallis, G Kirsten, L Klusener, SM Pollock, JN Rhodes
South Africa	2007-2007	5	3	1	0	1	3.00
HM Amla, MV Boucher, AB de Villiers, HH Gibbs, PL Harris, JH Kallis, A Nel, M Ntini, AG Prince, GC Smith, DW Steyn
England	2008-2008	5	4	0	0	1	-
TR Ambrose, JM Anderson, IR Bell, SCJ Broad, PD Collingwood, AN Cook, MS Panesar, KP Pietersen, RJ Sidebottom, AJ Strauss, MP Vaughan
England	1881-1882	4	0	2	0	2	0.00
RG Barlow, W Bates, T Emmett, WE Midwinter, E Peate, R Pilling, WH Scotton, J Selby, A Shaw, A Shrewsbury, G Ulyett

Only one combination has won all four matches - the highest number for a 100% record - in which they played together. Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Michael Clarke, Martyn, Lehmann, Gilchrist, Warne, Kasprowicz, Gillespie and McGrath formed the Australian XI that beat New Zealand 2-0 and then took a 2-0 lead in the three-Test series against Pakistan during the summer of 2004-05. Australia dropped Lehmann permanently after the second Test and gave Shane Watson his debut at Sydney. They also replaced Kasprowicz with MacGill, who took 8 for 170 to complete a 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan.

Three teams have managed to play five matches without a loss. Allan Border's Australians, who won the 1989 Ashes 4-0 with two draws, were the first to do it. Ten players featured in all six Tests while Greg Campbell, Ponting's uncle, was replaced by Trevor Hohns after the first match. A South African XI led by Hansie Cronje played five Tests between 1999 and 2000 without defeat while England's current bunch is the most recent team to do it.

Another England XI, which had several players in common with the current team, played three matches in 2007 without a victory. The two differences between that team and this one are that Matt Prior was the wicketkeeper instead of Tim Ambrose and the fast-bowling attack had Chris Tremlett instead of Stuart Broad. Had that combination played one more match without victory they would have drawn level with three other XIs that hadn't won any of the four Tests they played in.

England played an unchanged XI, led by Alfred Shaw, during the 1881-1882 Ashes in Australia, a four Test series which they lost 0-2. The same XI never played again. During the 1964 Ashes which Australia won 1-0, they chose the same XI for four out of five Tests. In the 3rd test Bob Cowper replaced the injured Norm O'Neill and it was ironically the one that Australia won by seven wickets.

Most matches without a win by the same XI - Tests

Team	Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	W/L
England	1881-1882	4	0	2	0	2	0.00
RG Barlow, W Bates, T Emmett, WE Midwinter, E Peate, R Pilling, WH Scotton, J Selby, A Shaw, A Shrewsbury, G Ulyett
Australia	1964-1964	4	0	0	0	4	-
BC Booth, PJP Burge, GE Corling, ATW Grout, NJN Hawke, WM Lawry, GD McKenzie, NC O'Neill, IR Redpath, RB Simpson, TR Veivers
Australia	1884-1884	3	0	1	0	2	0.00
AC Bannerman, JM Blackham, GJ Bonnor, HF Boyle, G Giffen, PS McDonnell, WE Midwinter, WL Murdoch, GE Palmer, HJH Scott, FR Spofforth
Australia	1893-1893	3	0	1	0	2	0.00
AC Bannerman, JM Blackham, W Bruce, G Giffen, H Graham, SE Gregory, JJ Lyons, RW McLeod, GHS Trott, H Trumble, CTB Turner
England	1930-1930	3	0	0	0	3	-
MJC Allom, F Barratt, EH Bowley, WL Cornford, EW Dawson, KS Duleepsinhji, AHH Gilligan, GB Legge, MS Nichols, FE Woolley, TS Worthington
West Indies	1930-1931	3	0	3	0	0	0.00
IM Barrow, EL Bartlett, LS Birkett, LN Constantine, GN Francis, GC Grant, HC Griffith, GA Headley, FR Martin, CA Roach, OC Scott
South Africa	1931-1932	3	0	3	0	0	0.00
AJ Bell, HB Cameron, JAJ Christy, SH Curnow, Q McMillan, B Mitchell, DPB Morkel, NA Quinn, HW Taylor, KG Viljoen, CL Vincent
South Africa	1949-1950	3	0	3	0	0	0.00
JE Cheetham, CN McCarthy, NBF Mann, JD Nel, AD Nourse, EAB Rowan, VI Smith, HJ Tayfield, WW Wade, JC Watkins, OE Wynne
Pakistan	1955-1955	3	0	0	0	3	-
Alimuddin, Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmed, AH Kardar, Khan Mohammad, Mahmood Hussain, Maqsood Ahmed, Shujauddin, Waqar Hasan, Wazir Mohammad
Australia	1965-1965	3	0	2	0	1	0.00
BC Booth, RM Cowper, ATW Grout, NJN Hawke, WM Lawry, GD McKenzie, LC Mayne, NC O'Neill, PI Philpott, RB Simpson, G Thomas

In one-day internationals, the XI which has played together the most times is a Sri Lankan team comprising Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharna, Asanka Gurusinha, Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hashan Tillakaratne, Kumara Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Pramodya Wickramasinghe. They played ten matches between 1995-96 out of which Sri Lanka won seven and lost two with one no result. Ten of those players also played in eight matches in 1997, winning seven and losing one, the only change being Sajeewa de Silva replacing Gurusinghe.