ESPNcricinfo World XI

[vcs]

Bagapath to hate this XI because being of good character and nice is irrelevant.

Prince and vcs to crack it as well because it's a World XI based on something subjective, and hence should never be done.

Hey, I've never had a problem with it. Though, personally, I've never bothered picking an All-time XI as I find it a somewhat futile and unrewarding exercise. Too many cricketers I like have to be left out. Prefer these "wacky" XIs.

 

[Jono]

Also for the record reckon Dravid should have been in that list. Easily for me the nicest guy in the sport.

Kumble is a principled man, and would be a gentleman. But he'll also tell you where to go if need be. Not sure if he necessarily fits the description of 'nice' though.

 

[robinjr]

The experts xi can almost be foreseen.Bradman and Sobers unanimously will take the 3rd and 6th spots.Two out of Hutton,Hobbs or Gavaskar will open and the rest of the two remaining spots in the top six would go to Tendulkar and Richards.

Keeper's selection depend on whether they prefer a specialist keeper or not which i suspect they will so if thats the case then it'll be Grout(check spelling) or Knott.Otherwise it'l be Gilly.

Bowling attack would usualy be 3 quicks and a spinner which i guess would be Warne(purist tend to go for Warne more often than they do for Murali).3 quicks would be made up with two right armers and a one leftarmer and that left armer would mostlikely be Wasim.Marshall would be selected ahed of the likes of Lillee,Hadlee,McGrath,Trueman,etc and the other vacant fast bowling option would go to a pre war bowler like Lohman or Barnes for their sheer statistical brilliance.So the experts xi imo would go down like

Hobbs
Hutton
Bradman c
Tendulkar
Richards
Sobers
Knott wk
Wasim
Warne
Marshall
Barnes

no prediction over the readers xi though.Indian fans comprehensively outnumber the rest at the Cricinfo so i wouldnt surprize if the likes of Sehwag or even Dhoni for that matter makes the final cut..

 

[Faisal1985]

Would bet Akram and Imran to make it...

 

[Prince EWS]

Bagapath to hate this XI because being of good character and nice is irrelevant.

Prince and vcs to crack it as well because it's a World XI based on something subjective, and hence should never be done.

Haha I never said those other elevens shouldn't be done - I just said I found it typical of Chappell to do the one he did. It'd be like if I - as someone suggested - picked a Prince's Robots XI. Everyone would just roll their eyes.

 

[Matt79]

With the nice XI and the thread about Brad Hodge being dirt in selectors eyes being on the front page simultaneously, maybe a "Personality is own worse enemy XI" is appropriate - for the guys who by virtue of real or perceived personality fault screwed themselves out of playing more cricket for their country than might otherwise have been possible. Whether the exclusion was fair or not is besides the point, just that it happened. Let's leave match fixing out of this though - that's a major rule breach, whereas I'm thinking more of general knobbiness or attitude costing players.

Sydney Barnes
Michael Slater
Matthew Elliott
Bradley Hodge
Jesse Ryder
Andrew Symonds
Tim Zoehrer
Billy Barnes
Roy Gilchrist
Shoaib Akhtar
Stuart MacGill

Off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many more, including many more from pre-WW2 when there were certainly a lot of characters in the game.

 

[smash84]

Would bet Akram and Imran to make it...

I wouldn't bet on Akram

 

[Avada Kedavra]

I wouldn't bet on Akram

Is a fair shout if the experts feel they need some variety.I dont see davidson making it ahead of Akram.

 

[smash84]

Is a fair shout if the experts feel they need some variety.I dont see davidson making it ahead of Akram.

With Sobers in the team Akram would seem somewhat redundant (although not completely). Obviously Wasim is a much more accomplished bowler but Sobers can bowl decent left arm seamers. Other than that you have Imran who can reverse the ball really well. So I don't see how Akram has a good chance. I would be surprised if he makes the final XI.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah awta. Sobers obviously not a patch on Wasim as a bowler, but he offers left arm seam and is already almost certainly in the team. If the only reason for opting for Wasim over a right-handed bowler is his left-handedness, that then becomes a less persuasive argument.

 

[zaremba]

With the nice XI and the thread about Brad Hodge being dirt in selectors eyes being on the front page simultaneously, maybe a "Personality is own worse enemy XI" is appropriate - for the guys who by virtue of real or perceived personality fault screwed themselves out of playing more cricket for their country than might otherwise have been possible. Whether the exclusion was fair or not is besides the point, just that it happened. Let's leave match fixing out of this though - that's a major rule breach, whereas I'm thinking more of general knobbiness or attitude costing players.

Sydney Barnes
Michael Slater
Matthew Elliott
Bradley Hodge
Jesse Ryder
Andrew Symonds
Tim Zoehrer
Billy Barnes
Roy Gilchrist
Shoaib Akhtar
Stuart MacGill

Off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many more, including many more from pre-WW2 when there were certainly a lot of characters in the game.

Botham scores high on both knobbiness and pissing his talent away plus the drug suspension etc

Out of interest, what's the issue with Matt Elliott?

 

[Matt79]

Seemed to have not been liked by the established guys on the team. No idea as to whether it was deserved. If unsure about him, try Chris Rogers v

 

[Teja.]

With the nice XI and the thread about Brad Hodge being dirt in selectors eyes being on the front page simultaneously, maybe a "Personality is own worse enemy XI" is appropriate - for the guys who by virtue of real or perceived personality fault screwed themselves out of playing more cricket for their country than might otherwise have been possible. Whether the exclusion was fair or not is besides the point, just that it happened. Let's leave match fixing out of this though - that's a major rule breach, whereas I'm thinking more of general knobbiness or attitude costing players.

Sydney Barnes
Michael Slater
Matthew Elliott
Bradley Hodge
Jesse Ryder
Andrew Symonds
Tim Zoehrer
Billy Barnes
Roy Gilchrist
Shoaib Akhtar
Stuart MacGill

Off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many more, including many more from pre-WW2 when there were certainly a lot of characters in the game.

Haha, Sidhu just has to be there. He swore on air and got sacked, then commited culpable homicide by inflicting injuries on an old man, then thanks to the Indian system, got off and is now a politico.

 

[Jono]

Not enough is made of that IMO. Still freaks me out.

 

[bagapath]

Bagapath to hate this XI because being of good character and nice is irrelevant.

Prince and vcs to crack it as well because it's a World XI based on something subjective, and hence should never be done.

okay jono... here is an all-time screw_you XI to take on momma's boys... combination of heavy drinkers, smokers, street fighters, womanizers and one asshole (akhthar)

boon
afridi
miandad
hammond
walters
botham
rod marsh (wk)
warne
lillee
akhthar (c)
jeff thommo

 

[Jono]

What'd David Boon ever do?

Edit: I see you included drinking lol

 

[bagapath]

What'd David Boon ever do?

downed 52 cans of beer on a flight from from australia to england

 

[Jono]

Yeah lol I saw you included drinkers and edited my post.

 

[ankitj]

On selection of Hazare in nice guys XI - I vaguely remember having come across some accounts on how Vijay Hazare was responsible for limiting Vijay Merchant's test career. Haven't found much their rivalry on web. Is there some light any CW member can throw on that?

 

[Avada Kedavra]

With Sobers in the team Akram would seem somewhat redundant (although not completely). Obviously Wasim is a much more accomplished bowler but Sobers can bowl decent left arm seamers. Other than that you have Imran who can reverse the ball really well. So I don't see how Akram has a good chance. I would be surprised if he makes the final XI.

Thats a fair point.