Top 10 of the 21st Century by Country

[cricket_icon]

So, me and a few friends were just discussing who the top 10 cricketers would be for this century and then we decided that whittling down all the greats that have played over the last 16 years would be nigh on impossible and not something to be done over tea. An easier task was to come up with a top 10 per test playing nation.

I've always liked to rank guys based on their overall performance across all formats, so keeping that in mind, I decided to start with England. Then we came up with an interesting addition, not simply making a top 10 team but putting together an actual XI of players that have featured for their country in over 50 matches (tests and ODIs combined). It's been tricky, but I started off with England, so here goes:

England 21st Century XI

1. Alastair Cook
2. Marcus Trescothic
3. Michael Vaughan (c)
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Ian Bell
6. Paul Collingwood
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Alec Stewart (wk)
9. Darren Gough
10. Graeme Swann
11. James Anderson
​

Looking at that, I'm pretty impressed. Imagine if England managed to field these players at the same time, all of them near or at their best in one format or the other...this is a team for limited overs or test matches AND one which can be called upon on most conditions. Plus it managed to retain batting all the way down to 8, possibly 9 considering Gough could give it a whack. That's a very modern, English approach to the game.

I left out Broad as I felt Gough was a better bowler in the limited over formats and a far superior death bowler. It was tough leaving out Simon Jones, one of my fave players of the last decade and of course, that great work horse, Matthew Hoggard. Both could have made it into the team in different circumstances.

 

[bigred]

1. Cook
2. Trescothick
3. Trott
4. Pietersen
5. Thorpe
6. Flintoff
7. Prior
8. Swann
9. Broad
10. Gough
11. Anderson

Collingwood and Bell are my two favourite cricketers that I've left out. To be honest, although Vaughan was beautiful to watch, I felt that Trott was a better batsman in every format. Averaged 50 for most of his ODI career.

I found the bowlers very easy. Prior and Stewart was a toss up, but Stewart between '00 and '03 probably wasn't at his best and I just loved watching Prior bat. Buttler wasn't too far away for his contribution to one day cricket.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Pakistan 21st Century Xi

1. Saeed Anwar
2. Mohammad Hafeez (Yes, He actually can make it here)
3. Mohammad Yousuf
4. Inzamam-ul-Haq
5. Younis Khan
6. Azhar Mahmood^
7. Abdul Razzaq^
   
8. Rashid Latif†
9. Umar Gul^
   
10. Wahab Riaz^
    
11. Shoaib Akhtar^

We really have had not much luck finding the kind of bowlers Pakistan had in the 90s, the only "great" bowler in this team is Shoaib Akhtar, who is also a 90s bowler.

 

[AliB]

India (21st Century XI)

Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Sourav Ganguly
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ashish Nehra

 

[stefan]

South Africa:

1.Smith
2.Kirsten
3.Amla
4.Kallis
5.ABDV
6.Ashwell Prince
7.Boucher
8.Pollock
9.Philander
10.Harris
11.Steyn

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

South Africa:

1.Smith
2.Kirsten
3.Amla
4.Kallis
5.ABDV
6.Ashwell Prince
7.Boucher
8.Pollock
9.Philander
10.Harris
11.Steyn

Having Philander instead of Ntini is a joke.

 

[zwarrior]

India (21st Century XI)

1.V.Sehwag
2.S.Tendulkar
3.R.Dravid
4.V.Kohli
5.S.Ganguly
6.M.S.Dhoni
7. I.Pathan
8.H.Singh
9.Z.Khan
10. A.Kumble
11. J.Srinath (yes, he retired after 2003)

It was hard to omit Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, G Gambhir. Yuvi was a great one day player. But never really made an impact in Tests. Same goes for VVS. He was a classic Test player, but not a great one day player. Even though Gambhir was great in both tests and one day, I couldn't find a place for him in my top XI. Inclusion of Pathan is solely based on the fact that at his peak, he was a great bowler. Although now, he is not even half good as he was before. These are my opinions. No hate please. I might have missed some great player, but this is from the top off my head.

 

[PokerAce]

Sounds fun, here is a list for the best 21st century XI for ALL (or as many as I could do) teams, taking into account overall impact in both formats who played at least some cricket in the 21st century. So lots of players who retired in the early 2000s will feature.

Australia
Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Clarke
Michael Hussey
Gilchrist
Mitchell Johnson
Warne
Brett Lee
Gillespie
McGrath

I mean seriously good luck to whoever has to face this side

England
Cook
Strauss
Trott
KP
Bell
Flintoff
Prior
Broad
Swann
Gough
Anderson

India
Sehwag
Dravid
Kohli
Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Javagal Srinath


New Zealand
Nathan Astle
Brendon McCullum
Stephan Fleming
Kane Williamson
Ross Taylor
Craig McMillan
Vettori
Southee
Shane Bond
Boult
Chris Martin

A champion side, if they all played together, that bowling line up damn !!

Pakistan
Saeed Anwar
Misbah (Cant find another opener, he may as do it)
Md. Yousuf
Inzamam
Younis Khan
Abdul Razzak
Moin Khan
Wasim Akram
Saqlain
Waqar
Shoaib

South Africa
Graeme Smith
Kirsten
Kallis
Amla
ABD
Klusner
Boucher
Pollock
Steyn
Ntini
Donald

Sri Lanka
Jayasurya
Attapattu
Arvinda De Silva
Sangakarra
Jayawardene
Angelo Mathews
Hasan Tilakratne
Vaas
Herath
Malinga
Muralitharan

WI
Gayle
Hinds
Sarwan
Lara
Marlon Samuels
Hooper
Dwayne Bravo
Ramdin
Jerome Taylor
Roach
Narine

 

[stefan]

Having Philander instead of Ntini is a joke.

Average of 28 in test cricket vs average of 22. Watched both bowl every ball they have ever bowled in international cricket. Philander is more skilled bowler + he the better batsman. Ntini a great bowler but the vern makes my team.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Average of 28 in test cricket vs average of 22. Watched both bowl every ball they have ever bowled in international cricket. Philander is more skilled bowler + he the better batsman. Ntini a great bowler but the vern makes my team.

Okay, but Philander has less experience.

 

[cricket_icon]

Australian 21st Century XI
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Justin Langer
3. Ricky Ponting (c)
4. Michael Clarke
5. Mike Hussey
6. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
7. Mitchell Johnson
8. Shane Warne
9. Brett Lee
10. Jason Gillespie
11. Glenn McGrath
​

Good call @PokerAce literally the same as my team. It's such a strong side, McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, Johnson (even if he has his off day, the others can pick up the slack) and of course Lee. I'm not sure many batsmen will be able to handle this bowling line up and that batting. It finishes a bit earlier than England but how many times are Hayden, Langer, Ponting AND Clarke likely to fail all at once? Terrific team.

@stefan I gotta agree with the other poster, you can't keep out Ntini. Yes Philander averages better but he has only played a FRACTION of the matches and is nowhere near the bowler Ntini was across all formats and multiple years of hard international cricket.

 

[cricket_icon]

I'm going to pick an XI for one of my fave teams to watch in recent years, those skillful Sri Lankans:

Sri Lanka 21st Century XI
1. Sanath Jayasuriya
2. Tilakaratne Dilshan
3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
4. Mahela Jayawardene (c)
5. Dinesh Chandimal
6. Angelo Mathews
7. Chaminda Vaas
8. Muttiah Muralitharan
9. Ajantha Mendis
10. Rangana Herath
11. Lasith Malinga
​

I know, that's a pretty long tail but Vaas was more than useful with the bat. The likes of Attapatu and Silva don't make it into my team as I feel Dilshan is a better option, after all, he could bowl a bit too. Speaking of bowling, there's so many options here, Vaas and Malinga to open, Mathews for his decent enough bowling and of course the spin of Herath, Murali and Mendis, not to mention Dilshan and Jayasuriya if need be.

 

[dp458]

So, me and a few friends were just discussing who the top 10 cricketers would be for this century and then we decided that whittling down all the greats that have played over the last 16 years would be nigh on impossible and not something to be done over tea. An easier task was to come up with a top 10 per test playing nation.

I've always liked to rank guys based on their overall performance across all formats, so keeping that in mind, I decided to start with England. Then we came up with an interesting addition, not simply making a top 10 team but putting together an actual XI of players that have featured for their country in over 50 matches (tests and ODIs combined). It's been tricky, but I started off with England, so here goes:

England 21st Century XI

1. Alastair Cook
2. Marcus Trescothic
3. Michael Vaughan (c)
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Ian Bell
6. Paul Collingwood
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Alec Stewart (wk)
9. Darren Gough
10. Graeme Swann
11. James Anderson
​

Looking at that, I'm pretty impressed. Imagine if England managed to field these players at the same time, all of them near or at their best in one format or the other...this is a team for limited overs or test matches AND one which can be called upon on most conditions. Plus it managed to retain batting all the way down to 8, possibly 9 considering Gough could give it a whack. That's a very modern, English approach to the game.

I left out Broad as I felt Gough was a better bowler in the limited over formats and a far superior death bowler. It was tough leaving out Simon Jones, one of my fave players of the last decade and of course, that great work horse, Matthew Hoggard. Both could have made it into the team in different circumstances.

Australian 21st Century XI
1. Matthew Hayden
2. Justin Langer
3. Ricky Ponting (c)
4. Michael Clarke
5. Mike Hussey
6. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
7. Mitchell Johnson
8. Shane Warne
9. Brett Lee
10. Jason Gillespie
11. Glenn McGrath
​

Good call @PokerAce literally the same as my team. It's such a strong side, McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, Johnson (even if he has his off day, the others can pick up the slack) and of course Lee. I'm not sure many batsmen will be able to handle this bowling line up and that batting. It finishes a bit earlier than England but how many times are Hayden, Langer, Ponting AND Clarke likely to fail all at once? Terrific team.

@stefan I gotta agree with the other poster, you can't keep out Ntini. Yes Philander averages better but he has only played a FRACTION of the matches and is nowhere near the bowler Ntini was across all formats and multiple years of hard international cricket.

For england i think you have to have Strauss, and id have Trott over Bell

Australia you dont need the extra bowler with that attack, id lose MJ and pick another batsman, id be tempted with Warner for his impact on the pace of the game

 

[cricket_icon]

For england i think you have to have Strauss, and id have Trott over Bell

Australia you dont need the extra bowler with that attack, id lose MJ and pick another batsman, id be tempted with Warner for his impact on the pace of the game

I think Trott is too weak mentally and inferior to the strength that Bell has shown over the years. And no, I'm not talking about his "depression", he's weak because he admitted to lying about those issues and then backtracked following some criticism. I'd rather have a solid, honest player like Bell whos stats are pretty good anyway and has shown he can play across multiple conditions.

Strauss is of course a tough leave but Trescothick was better in the ODI game.

 

[cricket_icon]

On we move to a very topsy, turvy team in this century. At times, they have looked like world beaters, put together a great t20 side and a very consistent test side. At other times, they have lost to the likes of Ireland and Bangladesh and have yet to produce a world class opener post Anwar.

Pakistan 21st Century XI
1. Saeed Anwar
2. Kamran Akmal (wk)
3. Younis Khan
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Inzamam Ul-Haq
6. Misbah Ul-Haq (c)
7. Shahid Afridi
8. Wasim Akram
9. Saeed Ajmal
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Waqar Younis
​

I feel like the opening is flimsy, as I picked Akmal simply because there was no one else, or if I had picked an out and out opener, then that would limit the batting, menaing no all rounder and I just couldn't have that. Afridi gets the nod above fan favourite Razzak simply because the bowling line up would have become too one paced. With Afridi and Ajmal, there's two legitimate spin bowling options, freeing up space for the pace of Akram, Younis and AKhtar.