[Matt79]

Really hard - I have 4 stand outs as the best teams of the lot, but all of which have at least one major reservation hanging over them - how do you rank how those reservations measure against one another.

My best three, in no particular order, and with apologies to Team I, are:
Team B
Team F
Team H,

Overall, I ended up marking down a couple of teams (that otherwise would be clear winners) becuase of the lack of a spinner, and in some cases, going with poorer wicket-keeping options.

Otherwise, my brief thoughts on each team are:
Team A:
Strengths: Bats deep, great opening bowling pair.
Weaknesses: Lots of very good players, lacking X-factor, aside from Ambrose, and maybe Tyson. Tyson’s limited record. Greigy at number 6 in this company.

Team B:
Strength: Pace attack nearly as good as the vaunted team H attack. Great opening pair. Great middle order.
Weakness: Only weakness is a lack of a quality spin option – if somehow one had been squeezed into this team, maybe at the expense of Steyn, this team would be the winner in my view.

Team C:
Strengths:
Bradman. Rhodes. Nuff said really.
Weaknesses:
Walcott as a keeper – not convinced that he’s a good enough keeper to not cost the team severely at some point via dropped catches/missed stumpings, and also think its dubious that his record as a batsman would be what it turned out if he had had to keep on as wicketkeeper.

Team D:
Strengths: Kallis is a genuine allrounder. Murali, and Sanga to keep to him at 7. Hutton as opener.
Weaknesses: Bowling line up is nothing special in this company, besides Murali. Middle order only very good, not great.

Team E:
Strengths: Good spin combo, Wasim, plus Border’s grit.
Weaknesses: Batting line up a bit uninspiring, Boucher is not a good enough batsman to be at 6 in this company. In Vaas and Lee the pace attack is good, but only Wasim is great.

Team F:
Strengths: Best top 3 out of any team. Very well balanced, genuine five man attack.
Weaknesses: Rest of the top order is good, but not great. Stewart will struggle to perform at his best with the bat AND keep.

Team G:
Strengths: Sobers, Tendulkar are top-flight. Sobers makes for a very balanced attack, as does Laker.
Weaknesses: Not sure how Marsh will go keeping to Laker.

Team H:
Strengths: Great fast bowling attack, with some good variety given they’re all RF, or RFM, with Garner’s height and Statham’s line-and-length, complementing two very complete bowlers in Marshall and Donald. Solid batting line up, going down to 7.
Weaknesses: No spinner – serious flaw to my way of thinking, given the brief to be competitive in all conditions. Ponting is going to have to do a lot of fast scoring to avoid draws with Boycott and Barrington in the same top order. Dhoni only an average gloveman, despite his usefulness with the bat, and recent improvements – dropped catches can lose matches.

Team I:
Strengths: Genuine keeper, who is also good enough to bat at 6 and allow five real bowling options. In their pomp, the fast men are as good as any. Magical match winners in Botham and Warne.
Weaknesses: Botham and Thomson, statistically, as likely to be mediocre as they are great, and Procter’s limited test experience – in theory it should all work, but…
Not sure about Macartenay as an opener against some of the bowling lines ups going around.

Team J:
Strengths: Gilchrist at 7, well balanced pace attack.
Weaknesses: Sutcliffe aside, the batting is very good, but maybe not great.

Team K:
Strengths: Lara, Hadlee are two pillars you can build any team around. Benaud is a commonly under-rated top class spin option, and a great leader. Healy is a fantastic genuine keeper. Flintoff, if firing, is a match winner.
Weaknesses: Some fine players who nevertheless, might struggle in the very rarefied air of this comp. One all-rounder too many, and Vettori’s selection is a puzzle.

Team: M
Strengths: Miller will dominate with the quality of bowler to spare him from being overworked with the ball. Good batting line up, strengthened by Ames at 7.
Weaknesses: Miller and maybe Richards and Gregory aside, this team, while quite even and very solid, just lacks a bit of X-factor in terms of match-winners who’ll dominate in this kind of company.