BoyBrumby
Englishman
Well there's been a spate of best of/end of year threads &, not wishing to feel left out, I thought I'd add my contribution. Here's my selection for the World test XI to take on the rest of the universe based solely on 2005 performances:
1) M E Trescothick (1323 runs @ 55.13)
2) V Sehwag (815 runs @ 62.69)
3) R T Ponting (1533 runs @ 69.68, 1 wicket @ 19.00)
4) J H Kallis (996 runs @ 83.00, 17 wickets @ 42.88)
5) B C Lara (1110 runs @ 65.29)
6) Inzamam-ul-Haq (1000 runs @ 83.00)*
7) A C Gilchrist (836 runs @ 44.00, 46 catches, 4 stumpings)+
8) A Flintoff (68 wickets @ 24.41, 710 runs @ 30.87)
9) S K Warne (90 wickets @ 22.43, 416 runs @ 20.80)
10) M Muralitharan (52 wickets @ 18.52, 100 runs @ 11.11)
11) G D McGrath (59 wickets @ 21.49, 83 runs @ 9.22)
I'm a bit worried I've left myself a seamer light, but I couldn't bring myself to leave one of Ponting/Kallis/Lara/Inzi out. If I were to play the extra bowler (probably Vaas with 32 wickets @ 19.63 & 223 runs @ 22.30) I think I'd have to leave Lara out &, frankly, I don't wanna. Inzi to captain as he quite impressed me during our tour over there.
Fred plays as a specialist bowler as, Ashes aside, he's pretty much batted like one.
Perhaps interesting to note that, in the year we regained The Ashes, 3 Aussies (with maybe Hussey a bit unlucky to miss out with over 500 runs @ an average of 94) make my best XI but only two Englishmen. Happily we seemed to reserve our best form for that series!
1) M E Trescothick (1323 runs @ 55.13)
2) V Sehwag (815 runs @ 62.69)
3) R T Ponting (1533 runs @ 69.68, 1 wicket @ 19.00)
4) J H Kallis (996 runs @ 83.00, 17 wickets @ 42.88)
5) B C Lara (1110 runs @ 65.29)
6) Inzamam-ul-Haq (1000 runs @ 83.00)*
7) A C Gilchrist (836 runs @ 44.00, 46 catches, 4 stumpings)+
8) A Flintoff (68 wickets @ 24.41, 710 runs @ 30.87)
9) S K Warne (90 wickets @ 22.43, 416 runs @ 20.80)
10) M Muralitharan (52 wickets @ 18.52, 100 runs @ 11.11)
11) G D McGrath (59 wickets @ 21.49, 83 runs @ 9.22)
I'm a bit worried I've left myself a seamer light, but I couldn't bring myself to leave one of Ponting/Kallis/Lara/Inzi out. If I were to play the extra bowler (probably Vaas with 32 wickets @ 19.63 & 223 runs @ 22.30) I think I'd have to leave Lara out &, frankly, I don't wanna. Inzi to captain as he quite impressed me during our tour over there.
Fred plays as a specialist bowler as, Ashes aside, he's pretty much batted like one.
Perhaps interesting to note that, in the year we regained The Ashes, 3 Aussies (with maybe Hussey a bit unlucky to miss out with over 500 runs @ an average of 94) make my best XI but only two Englishmen. Happily we seemed to reserve our best form for that series!