Test Match Special summariser Vic Marks names his favourite players past and present.

Garfield Sobers & Viv Richards

I was of the vintage of Garfield Sobers.

Garfield Sobers Left-handed batsman & left-arm bowler West Indies 93 Tests (1954-74) 8,032 runs @ 57.75 235 wickets @ 34.04 Viv Richards Right-handed batsman West Indies 121 Tests (1974-91) 8,540 runs @ 50.24

The first summer I was aware of cricket would have been 1961 - 1960's a blank - and from thereon in I was always into it.

I would have been aware of Sobers in 1963 when the West Indies toured, and certainly three years later when they returned under his captaincy.

He was in his pomp in that series, finishing with a mammoth 722 runs at an average of more than 100. For good measure he also got 20 wickets.

I vaguely remember trying to bowl left-handed, an experiment that panned out to the extent that I tried it in a Test match.

A game in Faislabad was dead and petering out into a draw and I thought it would be clever if I bowled left-arm over to Zaheer.

I propelled a very, very slow delivery, but I didn't feel quite so clever when Zaheer came down the wicket and whacked it for four.

Admittedly it wasn't quite in the Sobers style, but clearly he had an impact on me, as did another West Indian, Viv Richards.

Viv was the best batsman I've ever played with or against.

Sachin Tendulkar

Nobody out of the ordinary springs to mind from the modern day game.

Right-handed batsman India 105 Tests (1989-present day) 12,229 runs @ 44.43

You can list the obvious lot, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan, a special mention for Somerset's own Marcus Trescothick, although I suppose Sachin Tendulkar stands out.

You still lick your lips watching the likes of Tendulkar and it was wonderful seeing him in the World Cup.

And it's not just the actual sight of him at the crease that sticks in the mind, but also the anticipation of seeing him play.