2013 xi

[Cricketman]

What is the team of the year?

My crack at it:

Murali Vijay - Didn't think he would make the cut but he averages 54 this year!
Graeme Smith
Cheteshwar Pujara
Hashim Amla
Michael Clarke
AB de Villers (wk)
R Ashwin
Stuart Broad
Mitchell Johnson
Dale Steyn
Saeed Ajmal

Rest of squad: Vernon Philander, James Anderson, Virat Kohli

 

[Aalay]

I have pushed Amla as the second opener and only 4 bowlers for me. There is no 5th bowling option but I think this attack is good enough to take 20 wickets.

Graeme Smith
Hashim Amla
Cheteshwar Pujara
Michael Clarke (C)
Ross Taylor
Shiv Chanderpaul
AB De Villiers (WK)
Mitchell Johnson
Ryan Harris
Dale Steyn
Saeed Ajmal

 

[sifter132]

Apologies for digging up the thread a little...but made a team for myself this morning and thought I'd share:

Test Team of 2013
1 Graeme Smith (c)
2 Cheteshwar Pujara
3 Virat Kohli
4 AB de Villiers
5 Shiv Chanderpaul
6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) - deserves some love.
7 Ravichandran Ashwin
8 Ravindra Jadeja
9 Vernon Philander
10 Mitchell Johnson
11 Ryan Harris

Dale Steyn 12th man


ODI Team of 2013
1 Shikhar Dhawan
2 Shane Watson (Rohit Sharma a bit unlucky, just wanted a 6th bowling option)
3 Jonathon Trott - under the radar, but had a great year in ODIs, averaged 60 @ 86 S/R.
4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
5 AB de Villiers (c)
6 George Bailey
7 Ravindra Jadeja
8 Ryan McLaren
9 Dale Steyn
10 Saeed Ajmal
11 Mitch McClenaghan

 

[Ohm]

Apologies for digging up the thread a little...but made a team for myself this morning and thought I'd share:

Test Team of 2013
1 Graeme Smith (c)
2 Cheteshwar Pujara
3 Virat Kohli
4 AB de Villiers
5 Shiv Chanderpaul
6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) - deserves some love.
7 Ravichandran Ashwin
8 Ravindra Jadeja
9 Vernon Philander
10 Mitchell Johnson
11 Ryan Harris

Dale Steyn 12th man


ODI Team of 2013
1 Shikhar Dhawan
2 Shane Watson (Rohit Sharma a bit unlucky, just wanted a 6th bowling option)
3 Jonathon Trott - under the radar, but had a great year in ODIs, averaged 60 @ 86 S/R.
4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
5 AB de Villiers (c)
6 George Bailey
7 Ravindra Jadeja
8 Ryan McLaren
9 Dale Steyn
10 Saeed Ajmal
11 Mitch McClenaghan

Why not Amla?

Btw, My Test XI:

Alastair Cook [Excluding Ashes] (Graeme Smith)
Cheteshwar Pujara
Hashim Amla
Michael Clarke (C)
Shiv Chanderpaul (Virat Kohli)
AB De Villiers
Kumar Sangakkara [WK] (Brad Haddin)
Ravichandran Ashwin (Graeme Swann)
Mitchell Johnson
Vernon Philander (Ryan Harris as cover for all three)
Dale Steyn


ODI XI:

Hashim Amla (Shikhar Dhawan)
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Jonathan Trott
Kumar Sangakkara (AB De Villiers)
George Bailey
MS Dhoni (C) [WK]
James Faulkner (Ravindra Jadeja for turning tracks)
Saeed Ajmal (Ravichandran Ashwin)
Dale Steyn
James Anderson (Junaid Khan)

 

[sifter132]

Why not Amla?

Hmm, it's probably because I watched him in the India-SA series, but not the ones vs Pak or NZ! Bashing up Pak and NZ at home is still respectable I guess, just thought he would have coasted into my Test XI on name value, rather than having a truly great year.

And for ODIs he had a real slump in the middle of the year. Zero guilt from me in picking Dhawan, Watson or Rohit ahead of him.