**Official** 'My Current World XI' Thread

[badgerhair]

If you're going by the last ten games, keep in mind their opposition as well, and where they're playing (some places suit the bat more than the ball etc). I'm not taking a side in this one but I do think you shouldn't go by only ten matches without at least noting where they were playing.

That's reasonable.

Flintoff played in England against South Africa, in Sri Lanka, and in WI.
Pollock and Kallis played in England, home to WI and in NZ.
Cairns had three matches in Australia, and then played at home against Bangladesh, England , Pakistan and South Africa.
Jayasuriya played two in WI and eight at home against NZ, England and Australia. Razzaq had two games in NZ, one in SL, one in RSA, two in UAE (v WI and Aus), and home games against SL, NZ, RSA and India.
Streak had 2 games each in India, Australia and England, and 4 home games against the Bangles and WI.

And for those not watching closely, "last 10 games" excludes Freddy's 142 at Lord's last year, so it's not as though it's a filter chosen deliberately to make him look good.

Though going back more than 11 games with him is a bit unfair on the grounds that he's changed his bowling action and it's only the last 11 which represent the way he currently bowls. The same argument does not apply to his batting, however.

I don't care whether or not anyone picks him for a World XI (or anyone else, for that matter), but you can either make a World XI "My Favourite Players", in which case recent form doesn't have to account for anything very much, or you can try and do it on the basis of who would be the best people to pick for a match taking place next week, in which case surely recent form ought to count for a great deal more than previous reputation based on the deeds of the late 1990s.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[luckyeddie]

What is it with the all-rounders already?

Unless you have a truly world-class performer with both bat and ball (and I think we all agree that there isn't one in world cricket at the moment - and hasn't been since insert your favourite here), why bother selecting one?

Cricket is an 11-a-side game, and whilst I appreciate that the temptation is always there to squeeze 12 players into that 11, with a world team you don't have to.

 

[a massive zebra]

What is it with the all-rounders already?

Unless you have a truly world-class performer with both bat and ball (and I think we all agree that there isn't one in world cricket at the moment - and hasn't been since insert your favourite here), why bother selecting one?

Cricket is an 11-a-side game, and whilst I appreciate that the temptation is always there to squeeze 12 players into that 11, with a world team you don't have to.

Kallis more than merits a place in my opinion. His record is similar to Sir Garfield Sobers and that suggests he is either a massive overachiever or one of the most underrated players in history.

Pollock is a world class bowler and his reasonable batting only adds to his claim for selection in a world team. I would pick them both in my world team as I stated earlier in this thread.

Cairns has been reasonable at both batting and bowling but unexceptional at either - similar to Kapil Dev.

Streak is past it as a bowler, Jayasuriya is a batsman who bowls rather than an allrounder in my book while Flintoff and Razzaq are average.

 

[badgerhair]

Some people feel that four bowlers isn't enough. And I'd agree with that, because there's always the possibility that the opposition might last 140 overs and the four main ones need a break. Especially if one of them does a hamstring or something.

But you're right to say that you don't need an all-rounder for that spot. Kallis's bowling may be little better than Adam Sanford's, but as a *fifth* bowler, that's surely acceptable, and obviously Kallis's recent batting record makes him a shoo-in for selection as a specialist bat. If he weren't in the running, though, you'd have to pay some attention to which specialist bats you picked so as to make sure that there was at least one bloke you could rely on to turn his arm over for 10 non-embarrassing overs.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[a massive zebra]

Unless you have a truly world-class performer with both bat and ball (and I think we all agree that there isn't one in world cricket at the moment - and hasn't been since insert your favourite here), why bother selecting one?

There has probably never been a world class performer with both bat and ball in all history.

Sobers, Grace and Kallis were world class batsmen and Imran, Hadlee, Botham, Miller and Pollock were world class bowlers at their best, but neither of them were world class at both. It may be beyond the limits of human stamina to be truely world class at both batting and bowling.

 

[badgerhair]

There has probably never been a world class performer with both bat and ball in all history.

Sobers, Grace and Kallis were world class batsmen and Imran, Hadlee, Botham, Miller and Pollock were world class bowlers at their best, but neither of them were world class at both. It may be beyond the limits of human stamina to be truely world class at both batting and bowling.

For various unfortunate reasons, we never got to find out whether Mike Procter would have filled the bill.

 

[Linda]

Some people feel that four bowlers isn't enough. And I'd agree with that, because there's always the possibility that the opposition might last 140 overs and the four main ones need a break. Especially if one of them does a hamstring or something.

140 overs? Hamstrings? What are you on? These World XI's are INVINCIBLE!

 

[Neil Pickup]

I disagree with Taibu as keeper. What exactly makes everyone so enamored of him? Must be his wily off-spinning ways. Sangakkara, Boucher, Moin Khan, these are all better keepers than Taibu. I suppose if there was a restriction that Zimbabwe needed a representative, then it would have to be Taibu now, but otherwise, why him?

I've picked Taibu because, like Eddie said, batting isn't a concern down at number 7/8. In my book he is the best keeper in the world.

Sangakkara isn't even the best keeper in Sri Lanka (Prasanna Jayawardene, who unfortunately cannot bat), whilst Moin Khan is behind Rashid Latif and Kamran Akmal in terms of glovework talent in Pakistan. As for Boucher v Taibu, I saw quite a bit of each last summer, and Taibu was the superior.

 

[garage flower]

My XI:

Sehwag
Hayden
Dravid
Lara
Ponting
Kallis
Gilchrist
Gillespie
Pathan
Murali
Harmison

This is based, as was suggested ealier in the thread, on current form as much as proven ability.

Although Pathan is probably a controversial choice, he's been my pick of the bowlers in the current Pakistan-India test series and will always be dangerous as a left-armer who seems to be able to swing the ball consistently. Pollock would be an obvious alternative, but his batting wouldn't be needed and I'm not sure whether his bowling is particularly incisive these days.

I couldn't imagine leaving any of the top 6 out, though Laxman may have squeezed in a couple of months ago, and I'm surprised that anyone would consider leaving out Gilchrist. It seems to be fashionable to criticize his 'keeping, but I don't think there's anyone significantly better behind the stumps.

 

[badgerhair]

Why Murali rather than Warne, who outbowled him in identical conditions just last month?

I haven't actually watched any of the India-Pakistan games, but the reports coming out of them suggest that Pathan is no bad pick at all.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[hourn]

Matt Hayden
Graeme Smith
Ricky Ponting
Brian Lara
Rahul Dravid
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Shoaib Akhtar
Muttiah Murlitharan

12th man: Jason Gillespie

If the wicket wasn't suited to the spinners bring in Gillespie for Murali.

 

[Raj123]

This is my XI:

Matt Hayden
Graeme Smith
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Ricky Ponting
Adam Gilchrist
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne(but McGrath in 6 months time)
Shoaib Akhtar(but Shane Bond in 6 months time)
Muttiah Murlitharan

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

there was only one place that i could put kallis and that was at no 6. then i saw that there was no point having a defensive player like him at 6....if hes in the squad he should bat in the 3-4-5s and well who should i drop ponting,dravid or lara?

Kallis has been anything but defensive of late though.

 

[a massive zebra]

Why Murali rather than Warne, who outbowled him in identical conditions just last month?

Warne didn't outbowl Murali. Murali took more wickets and his average was only 3 runs higher against a much stronger batting lineup. Murali has been in a completly different league to all other spinners this century. Murali has taken 286 wickets at 19 in 40 tests this century, Warne 166 at 24 in 30. All Murali's career stats are better too, and he has done quite well against India while Warne has been a joke against them. Murali has also done better against 6 of the 7 teams both bowlers have played against. Warne has a better record against Pakistan because they fielded teenagers against him. Murali has a better strike rate despite Warne often coming on with all the best players out, and Murali being played more defensively because he is the only real threat in the side. I could go on ...............................................................................................
and on...........................................................................
.........................................................................
.............................................................

but i will not.

 

[V Reddy]

I've picked Taibu because, like Eddie said, batting isn't a concern down at number 7/8. In my book he is the best keeper in the world.

Sangakkara isn't even the best keeper in Sri Lanka (Prasanna Jayawardene, who unfortunately cannot bat), whilst Moin Khan is behind Rashid Latif and Kamran Akmal in terms of glovework talent in Pakistan. As for Boucher v Taibu, I saw quite a bit of each last summer, and Taibu was the superior.

Sangakkara keeps mostly to spinners while Taibu mostly to seamers. Sangakkara is a good keeper against seamers. No need for me to tell who is harder to keep to. If you go by keeping to pacers then Patel would be right up there too. He takes some blinders against seamers and is very solid too while the same can't be said about his keeping to spinners. I agree he is a good keeper but you just can't access his ability based on his keeping against seamers.

 

[V Reddy]

My team would be

Hayden
Sehwag
Dravid
Ponting
Lara
Kallis
Gilchrist
Pathan
Gillespie
Akhtar
Murali

I didn't pick McGrath b'coz i don't think he will be the same again and the same thing applies to Pollock as well.

 

[tooextracool]

Warne didn't outbowl Murali. Murali took more wickets and his average was only 3 runs higher against a much stronger batting lineup. Murali has been in a completly different league to all other spinners this century. Murali has taken 286 wickets at 19 in 40 tests this century, Warne 166 at 24 in 30. All Murali's career stats are better too, and he has done quite well against India while Warne has been a joke against them. Murali has also done better against 6 of the 7 teams both bowlers have played against. Warne has a better record against Pakistan because they fielded teenagers against him. Murali has a better strike rate despite Warne often coming on with all the best players out, and Murali being played more defensively because he is the only real threat in the side. I could go on ...............................................................................................
and on...........................................................................
.........................................................................
.............................................................

but i will not.

warne out bowled murali for me. i dont see how u could possibly say that murali did it against a better batting side because SL are definetly better players of spin than australia and this coupled with their home advantage means that warne outbowled murali.heres another reason why warne should be on ur squad too.
SK WARNE
home : 26.16
away 24.86

MURALI
home 20.09
away 28.81

i'll go on and say that the only reason murali got so many wickets against australia was because the rest of the SL bowlers were so incapable of getting any wickets.if warne were playing half his test matches in SL he would definetly have a better average than murali.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I must say, I reckon Warne is better than el chucker. (I will get slated for that....)

But Murali too is world class, as long as you skip the chucking. So put both in the team.

 

[age_master]

Warne didn't outbowl Murali.

he most certainly did not

 

[garage flower]

Why Murali rather than Warne, who outbowled him in identical conditions just last month?

I haven't actually watched any of the India-Pakistan games, but the reports coming out of them suggest that Pathan is no bad pick at all.

Cheers,

Mike

I didn't see the series though, as has been posted here, there wasn't much between their stats. Generally, from what I've seen of them both, I think Murali's the better bowler and I'm probably also influenced by the series against England in which Murali was made to look almost unplayable. Obviously, I haven't seen Warne bowl for over a year either.

I'm surprised so many people are going for Shoaib. He looked completely out of sorts against India. Harmison, albeit based larely on one series aginst fragile opposition, looks a much better bet.