Your World Elevens

[SJS]

What about Inzamam?

I didnt say ALL Pakistani cricketers are the handosmest I said the handsomest cricketers are from Pakistan !!

Inzemam could be in the Most Stately eleve captained by WG and including Milburn, Cowdrey, Graveney etc

Seriously, I think the best looking men in our part of the world come from Western Punjab and the area further to the west of it where the Pathans come from. Most Pakistani pace men, and a lot of their batsmen too come from there.

Those from other areas like Sindh for example have different looks and builts. Inzemam, Miandaad etc come from Sindh.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Australia definately gets the ugliest team award, there's not a single good looking player among those who played in India. Michael Clarke is probably the best looking, and he's not exactly stunning.

England are pretty ugly these days as well.

 

[tooextracool]

Sarwan got 12th man,

which still puts b.lee and ponting ahead of him.....

and Ponting got in ahead of him because of his captaincy and his performances against the best in the world (see WC final 2003).

which was 1.5 years ago.....current form suggests that hes struggling. and anyone can lead an aussie side and indeed this world XI, so id say that ponting should be picked on the basis of his batting not his captaincy.

If Sarwan performs against Australia this summer I might be convinced, but it would take a fair bit to warrant putting him in the side ahead of Ponting..

it is current form....ponting hasnt done much in ODIs off late, sarwan has.

And as far as Gayle is concerned... well, would you prefer I dropped Tendulkar or Gilchrist? He's a fair player, but he has never done anything to warrant opening the world XI.

how about afridi? the man who doesnt deserve to make it into the **** side. gayle isnt exclusively an opener you know, hes quite capable of batting down the order and is a fairly capable bowler.

And Lee has a wonderful ODI record that has continued even when his form in tests dropped off.

err no it hasnt, he was hammered in SL, hammered in the natwest intl and hammered again in the icc championships.
and its not like his ODI record is exceptional given that his ER is 4.73.

 

[marc71178]

And as far as Gayle is concerned... well, would you prefer I dropped Tendulkar or Gilchrist? He's a fair player, but he has never done anything to warrant opening the world XI.

Hasn't he topped the ratings recently and been consistently in the top 5 or 6 for a long while?

Add in his bowling which makes him about the nearest challenger to Flintoff and he's a player that should be in IMO.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Australia definately gets the ugliest team award, there's not a single good looking player among those who played in India. Michael Clarke is probably the best looking, and he's not exactly stunning.

England are pretty ugly these days as well.

The 70's was the golden age of handsome Aussies.

 

[SJS]

The 70's was the golden age of handsome Aussies.

handsome Aussies ?...

....something like Clean Pigs ?

....or Obese Playboy Bunnies ??

....or carnivorous vegetarians ???

Kidding !!

 

[LongHopCassidy]

which was 1.5 years ago.....current form suggests that hes struggling. and anyone can lead an aussie side and indeed this world XI, so id say that ponting should be picked on the basis of his batting not his captaincy.

I disagree.

Not everyone can lead a World XI. Look at Inzamam - his team, with a skipper like Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud or Mike Brearley would cane any current side with impunity. Inzi's tactical savvy is laughable. The only positive coming from Inzi's captaincy is his batting, because his form has skyrocketed with responsibility. Stephen Fleming, on the other hand, has worked wonders with what he's been given. He has gotten the better of Australia more times than any other nation can hope to attain, with a team of inconsistent batsmen and piddling allrounders (Granted, with a few exceptions). Given a team like Australia, I believe his ability as a tactician and leader of men would see him bowling out sides for 100.

I also think Ricky Ponting is a fine tactician in his own right, and to claim his batting alone carries his team is something I contest.

 

[tooextracool]

and inzys team is nowhere near as good as the world XI or even the australian XI, so much so that there was no pakistani player in that current world XI(selecting afridi was obviously a joke).
and actually i do believe that ponting is a fairly good captain, but i dont think a 'fairly good' captain makes a difference when you have such a quality side.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

I think Steve Waugh, Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud and Mike Brearley were also merely "fairly good" during their first few Tests as captain.

I also think the Pakistani side has talent to burn. India are only superior to them because of their recent discovery of discipline.

 

[twctopcat]

England are pretty ugly these days as well.

I like Freddy's little beard.

 

[BoyBrumby]

England are pretty ugly these days as well.

That's well harsh. Speaking purely as a heterosexual bloke ( coughs & adopts deeper voice...) Andrew Strauss, Jimmy Anderson & both the Joneses (Geraint & Simon) aren't bad looking lads. Vaughany probably has his follows amongst the ladies too.

Rob Key & Matt Hoggard are the only child-scarers we have at the moment.

 

[bryce]

Current Test XI

1.M.Hayden
2.J.Langer
3.R.Ponting*
4.B.Lara
5.R.Dravid
6.J.Kallis
7.A.Gilchrist+
8.J.Gillespie
9.M.Muraliduran
10.S.Harmison
11.G.McGrath


Current ODI XI

1.Gayle
2.Gilchrist+
3.Ponting*
4.Lara
5.Tendulkar
6.Kallis
7.Flintoff
8.Akhtar
9.Gillespie
10.Muraliduran
11.McGrath

imo it would be tough to argue these sides, then again they are my teams.

 

[bryce]

btw freddie flintoff is a troll

 

[BoyBrumby]

btw freddie flintoff is a troll

Any country with Chris Harris in their team is on thin ice criticising the looks of others!!!

 

[marc71178]

One thing I would say about your sides Bryce is that the tail is a bit long in each!

 

[honestbharani]

One thing I would say about your sides Bryce is that the tail is a bit long in each!

I guess that if his top 7 do their job, then the last 4 will not even be required to bat.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Simple... he is the best late order ODI hitter in the world. His bowling is handy, but not a major selling point. Those sorts of players have as much of an impact on the result of a one day match as anybody else.

If we're talking purely of late innings hitting with no regard for average, Ricardo Powell and Dwayne Smith could argue you there.

 

[nightprowler10]

All Time

Tests

Jack Hobbs
Sunil Gavaskar
Don Bradman (cpt)
Graeme Pollock
Walter Hammond
Garry Sobers
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Imran Khan
Malcolm Marshall
Muttiah Muralitharan
Sydney Barnes

One-Day

Gordon Greenidge
Sachin Tendulkar
Viv Richards (cpt)
Brian Lara
Dean Jones
Michael Bevan
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Richard Hadlee
Curtley Ambrose
Joel Garner
Muttiah Muralitharan

Current

Tests

Matthew Hayden
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid (cpt)
Brian Lara
Ricky Ponting
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shaun Pollock
Steve Harmison
Muttiah Muralitharan
Shoaib Akhtar

One-Day

Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Matthew Hayden
Sachin Tendulkar
Jacques Kallis
Ricky Ponting
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Yousuf Yohanna
Andrew Flintoff
Shaun Pollock
Chaminda Vaas
Muttiah Muralitharan

Its great to see Youhana mentioned. I think he's one of the most under-rated batsmen currently playing.

On another note, Vaas?! He's only good at home ground, I'd rather pick Pathan, just as inconsistent, but I love to watch him bowl.

 

[tooextracool]

On another note, Vaas?! He's only good at home ground, I'd rather pick Pathan, just as inconsistent, but I love to watch him bowl.

interesting that, i was going to refute what you said about vaas before i looked at his record and realised that hes struggled outside the sub continent.....requires richards explanation as to why he is such a good ODI bowler again.....

 

[tooextracool]

I think Steve Waugh, Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud and Mike Brearley were also merely "fairly good" during their first few Tests as captain.

i dont know much about ian chappell and richie benaud as captain, but steve waugh was at no point of his career a fairly good captain. he was decent and did his job well enough. rather he lived off the success that taylor and border built up.

I also think the Pakistani side has talent to burn. India are only superior to them because of their recent discovery of discipline.

oh they have talent, i havent denied that. but they are far far from the talent that they had in the 90s, or the talent that australia and that world XI has.