Help appreciated in a long running pub debate between myself and an Aussie mate on the composition of a side who for whatever reason (be it selectorial incompetence/bias, political isolation or simply having a career that unfortunately overlapped that of some alltime greats) for all their domestic exploits never got the opportunity to test themselves at the highest level. At the moment we have just about agreed on;
(those in bold are the absolute bankers)

Sam Trimble (Aus)
Andy Moles (Eng)
Jamie Siddons (Aus)
Jamie Cox (Eng)
Edgar Oldroyd (Eng)
Clive Rice (SA)
Darren Berry (Aus)
Franklyn Stephenson (WI)
Tom Pritchard (NZ)
Don Shepherd Eng)
Vince van der Bijl (SA)

Aside from my failure to talk Keith Piper into the side as keeper ahead of Berry my main worry is a lack of spinner and this is where I'd appreciate help from fans from India and Pakistan as I admit a complete and utter lack of knowledge about the unsung and uncapped domestic giants of the subcontinent.

This might end up with about nine or ten South Africans from the 70s and 80s. Garth Le Roux and Ken McEwan were pretty useful players, in fact Le Roux was probably better than that.

Piper is a good call (should have had a stack of caps: Russell being preferred was at least intelligible... but it's a complete disgrace that Stewart ever kept wicket when Piper could have done).

The obvious England-qualified spinner of recent years would be Gary Keedy: should have played a fair bit in between the Tuffers era and the Panesar era. That said.... I'm sure some excellent spinners were overlooked in the eras of Laker, Lock, Underwood, Wardle and so on.

In truth... I've read about one from that era who was described as singularly unlucky.. as he'd have been 1st choice for most of the last generation... but I can't recall the name

Well Rach I could just about accept Piper being overlooked for Russell and through gritted teeth Stewart but being left out for messers Blakey, Rhodes, Hegg ........ Still Berry was fortunate enough to keep (and from all accounts keep brilliantly) to a great wrist spinner something that Piper for all his brilliance standing up to medium pacers and run of the mill finger spinners never had the opportunity to test himself against and that was what tipped the scale in their head to head. Plus Keith's modest batting record was unlike Berry not down to a lack of ability but a real lack of effort and application on his part.

In terms of Keedy decent pro (who should IMO be going to Sri Lanka ahead of Swann) but I wouldn't put him above South African Alan Kourie or Gloucestershire's pre-war star George Bennett in terms of uncapped SLA.

Graham Rose of Somerset was more than a useful all-rounder and never played any tests. After Clive Rice, Rose should be one of the considerations.

Brian Davison of former Rhodesia was a good batsman who missed out because of the times.

Well I'm not from the subcontinent, but an uncapped spinner worth a look is Australia's Cecil Pepper, a handy allrounder who didn't really get on well with the establishment. Also, Jamie Cox is primarily an opener, so shouldn't be at no. 4 (he's Tasmanian, by the way). Maybe he could be replaced by Brian Davison (as mentioned by Nostromo) or another modern day uncapped giant, Steve Tikolo of Kenya. It sounds like a strange choice, but he's maintained a more-than-decent ODI record in a team where no one else has averaged more than 25, and I'm sure that he could get into any other team in the world. Plus his tidy offspinners would complement Pepper's leggies and wrong'uns well.

Glenn Chapple has a record which stands up over a long period of time, 6000 runs @ 24 and 650 wickets @ 28 is an excellent career and he is probably the best modern English candidate.

If you set the bar at "few" Tests rather than "no" Tests you could easily get a decent side together from recent England players: off the top of my head I'd kick off with the following... which would be better than some England sides of recent years!

Steve James
Hugh Morris
Chris Adams
Matthew Maynard
Ali Brown
Ben Hollioake
Glen Chapple
Martin Bicknell
Keith Piper
Mike Smith
Gary Keedy

Honourable mentions: Ed Giddens, James Foster and Tim Munton.

True, but that would be cheating, even if you specified what "few" meant...eg under 10 Tests. I think esc's original concept is more challenging.

Well, I guess maybe now would be a good time to start finalising the team. I've got:

1. Sam Trimble (AUS)
2. Andy Moles (ENG)
3. Jamie Siddons (AUS)
4. Brian Davison (RHO)
5. Steve Tikolo (KYA)
6. Clive Rice (c) (RSA)
7. Franklyn Stephenson (WI)
8. Cec Pepper (AUS/ENG) / Alan Kourie (RSA)
9. Darren Berry (w) (AUS)
10. Garth Le Roux (RSA)
11. Vince van der Bijl (RSA)

I don't know a great deal about Trimble or Moles, but I'm happy to have them if everyone else is. I've never heard of Edgar Oldroyd before, but if anyone can make a case for him instead of Tikolo... And, as I said, Jamie Cox isn't a middle-order batsman. I could go either way on the spinner, but I think the rest of the bowling attack is probably a lock- imagine facing THAT first up! I wonder how they'd fare against the Windies' pace attack...