I did something similar to this for the Ashes during last year's contest. This is to collect by vote a world Test XI since 1965. So probably recent enough for your parents to have seen... More or less. Any stats shown are from games against top eight sides and not including the ICC XI game.
First up are the openers. These openers have scored 4000 Test runs against top eight sides, only including their runs made as opener. But with one exception. I withheld Roy Fredericks due to his small number of tons (eight), and added Dennis Amiss, who is the top averaging opener of anyone with over 3000 Test runs (52) made after 1965. Runs made before 1965 are ignored in view of positions on the list and linked stats in this series (so, for Boycott, in this case).
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=battingPlayers are named in order of average.
Below, best averages of openers to score 3000+ runs. Lawry, Edrich, Saeed Anwar all average 45+ on this list. If you want to pick a player not in the poll, just name him and I'll add them to the result.
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=battingVOTE NOW!
Poll is open for seven days. Every three days I'll add another category.
I always say that everybody's right.