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Answer: Colin Cowdrey

Michael Colin Cowdrey (1932-2000) was born in Ootacamund, India, where his family ran a tea plantation. His 7,624 Test runs for England between 1954 and 1975 put him in tenth place in the list of top-scoring England Test batsmen, as of 2023. These included 22 centuries, with a top score of 182, against Pakistan in 1962. Outside his international career, he played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950-76.

In the Queen's 1997 Birthday Honours he was awarded a life peerage, becoming Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge.

Answer: Ian Bell

Ian Bell was born in 1982 in Coventry, West Midlands, and played county cricket for Warwickshire between 1999 and 2020. He made his England test debut in 2004 against the West Indies, scoring 70 in his first innings. In his 118 Test matches he scored 22 centuries, which as of 2023 put him fourth equal in the total of England Test centurions. One of these was a double century: 235 not out, against India at the Oval in 2011.

He retired from professional cricket in 2020.

Answer: Mike Atherton

Mike Atherton was born in 1968 in Failsworth, Lancashire, and played for his home county from 1987-2001. He played his first Test for England in 1989, in the last match of the Ashes series against Australia, and his last in 2001 at the end of another Ashes series.

He played in a total of 115 Test matches, and his total of 7,728 runs included 16 centuries. His highest Test score was 185 not out, against South Africa in 1995. Since retiring as a player in 2001 he became a cricket commentator on television and radio, as well as a successful writer on the sport.

Answer: Geoffrey Boycott

Sir Geoffrey Boycott was born in 1940 in the Yorkshire mining village of Fitzwilliam, near Wakefield. He played his first match for his home county of Yorkshire in 1962 and continued to play for them until 1986. His Test career began in 1964, against Australia, in which he scored 48 runs, and he made his last appearance in 1982 against India. During this 18-year Test career he played in 108 matches, and scored 8,114 runs, becoming the first England player to pass 8,000 Test runs.

He scored 22 Test centuries, with a highest score of 246 not out against India at his home ground of Headingley in 1967.

Answer: Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen was born in 1980 in Pietermaritzberg, South Africa, and began his cricket career in that country, before moving to England in 2000. He played for four years for Nottinghamshire, after which qualifying period he became eligible for selection for the England Test team.

He represented his adopted country for 11 years, between 2004 and 2014, playing in a total of 104 Test matches. He scored a total of 8,181 Test runs, including 23 centuries, and a top score of 227. His resignation as captain followed a series of disagreements with the then England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked from his post at the same time. Pietersen made his last appearance for an English county side in 2017 (Surrey), and retired full-time as a player in 2018.

Answer: David Gower

David Gower was born in 1957 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, although his county playing career was for Leicestershire (1975-89) and Hampshire (1990-93). He played his first Test match for England in 1978 at Edgbaston (Birmingham) against Pakistan, scoring 58 runs in England's first and only innings.

In total he played in 117 Test matches between 1978 and 1992, amassing 8,231 runs. These included 18 centuries, and a top score of 215. Following his retirement from playing, he became a successful commentator on television and radio, as well as serving as a team captain on the light-hearted BBC television sports quiz "They Think It's All Over" between 1995 and 2003.

Answer: Alec Stewart

Alec Stewart was born in the London suburb of Merton Park in 1963. His father, Mickey Stewart, was also a cricketer, who played in eight Test matches for England. Alec surpassed this by some margin, notching up a total of 133 Tests between 1990 and 2003, in many of which he played as wicketkeeper as well as batsman.

His 8,463 Test runs included 15 centuries, with a top score of 190. He followed in his father's footsteps by playing county cricket for Surrey, between 1981 and 2003. The first six were: Jack Russel in 1923 v South Africa, Herbert Sutcliffe in 1925 v Australia, Wally Hammond in 1929 v Australia, Herbert Sutcliffe (again) in 1929 v South Africa, Eddie Paynter in 1938 v South Africa, Denis Compton in 1947 v Australia, and Graham Gooch in 1990 v India.

Answer: Graham Gooch

For such a successful Test cricketer, Graham Gooch's Test debut (against Australia in 1975) was singularly unsuccessful, being bowled for a duck (no runs) in both innings. He made up for this over the next 20 years, ending his long Test career with a total of 8,900 runs in 118 matches.

It is worth noting that this includes a three-year hiatus between 1982-84, Gooch having been banned from Test cricket for three years after taking part in a 1982 "rebel tour" of South Africa, at a time when that country was banned from official international matches.

His Test total included 20 centuries, one of which was the 333 runs against India at Lord's - followed by a further 123 runs in the second innings. At county level he had a long career with Essex, from 1973-97.

Answer: Joe Root

Yorkshire-born Joe Root (born Sheffield, 1990) made his first-class debut for the county of his birth in 2009 at the age of 18. Three years later, in 2012, he made his England debut against India, scoring 73. At the time this quiz was written (June 2023) he had played in 130 Test matches, and scored 29 Test centuries, with a top score of 254 against Pakistan in 2016.

In June 2022 he reached 10,000 Test runs, the second England player to reach that total. His record-breaking tenth-wicket partnership was against India at Trent Bridge. Root ended his innings on 154 not out, while Anderson scored 81.

Answer: Alastair Cook

Sir Alastair Cook was born on Christmas Day 1984 in Gloucester, although his family moved to Essex when he was a boy, and it was for that county that he made his professional debut in 2003. His first Test match for England was in 2006, against India, scoring 60 in his first innings and 104 in his second (incidentally, the 3000th century to be scored in all Test cricket).

He went on to play in 161 Test matches, his record 12,472 runs including 33 centuries (also an England record) and a top score of 294. His final Test match was against India at the London Oval in 2018, in which he made a score of 147 in his second innings, having thus scored centuries in both his first and last Test matches - both against India. During this final innings he also moved up into fifth place in the list of overall Test scores, just ahead of Kumar Sangakkara. Despite retiring from Test cricket, he was still playing for Essex in 2023.