Poll: Which world-famous sportsman do you wish was English?
Published:
The celebrations surrounding St George’s Day may be a little muted in comparison to those of our Irish neighbours and their respective patron saint, but here at Ladbrokes News we’ve decided to bang the drum for the slayer of dragons.
Keen to get on the April 23rd bandwagon, we’re dedicating our latest poll to all things English…well sort of.
Actually, what we are asking you to do is choose a sporting hero from our list of nominees who you wished represented England on the world stage.
From Lionel Messi through to Floyd Mayweather – have you ever seen a sportsman at the top of their game and wished they were flying the flag for England? Here are chosen five.
Chris Gayle
The kind of big-hitter the barmy army would have loved to get behind, Gayle is one of just four players to manage two triple centuries at Test Level.
He’s also the first player to hit a six off the first ball of a Test Match and once managed a 30-ball century. At the recent World Cup he managed to reach 200 off 138 balls against Zimbabwe – need we say more?
Floyd Mayweather Jr
Undefeated in 47 bouts, winning 26 contests by knock out, the man known as ‘Money” is a five-division world champion and has won 10 world titles.
Winner of the Best Fight Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly award for each of the past three years, Mayweather is also notable for dispatching our beloved Ricky Hatton with ease – would we adore ‘Pretty Boy’ a little more if he was turning out for England though?
Dan Carter
The holder of the record for the highest points scorer in Test match rugby history, Carter also helped New Zealand to the 2011 Rugby World Cup and is regarded as the best fly-half in the history of the game by some.
A four-time Super Rugby title winner and six-time Tri-Nations and Rugby Champions victor with New Zealand, he would still walk into any England team.
Lionel Messi
Winner of the Ballon d’Or on three separate occasions and winner of the FIFA Golden Ball as the best player at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Messi has also won six La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys and a further three Champions League crowns with Barcelona.
Still only 27, the little magician has also managed a whopping 400 goals in 472 outings for the Catalans and is arguably the best player in the world. How Roy Hodgson would love to be able to call on him next time out for the Three Lions.
Novak Djokovic
The Mr Consistent of men’s tennis at present, the Serbian has made a dream start to 2015, winning the Australian Open as well as the first three Master Series tournaments – a feat never before reached in the modern game.
With eight grand slam titles to his name already, we may not have even seen the best of the 27-year-old yet, with Djokovic sweeping all those before him. We’d trade him for James Ward in a heartbeat.
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