^We already had Stephen Fleming named in an XI for his captaincy by someone. How much is captaincy worth??
I've just realised I haven't named mine yet...I've been hanging around criticising everyone elses
Here's how I picked it, forgetting all-rounders and picking specialists first:
4 best bowlers: Pollock, Murali, McGrath, Akram
5 best top/middle order batsmen: Richards, Tendulkar, Ponting, Gilchrist, Lara
2 best lower order batsmen (used to batting at #5 or lower): Dhoni, Symonds (Symonds beats Bevan out with fielding breaking the tie)
Then it's just a simple matter of balancing and seeing what skills are needed. I've got TWO keepers, so that area's covered. Gilchrist can keep to pace, Dhoni to spin
For bowling, Richards and Symonds could cover 10 overs, but I probably need more. Option A is to replace a batsman with batting all-rounder, or option B to replace Symonds with a better bowling all-rounder like Kapil Dev or even Richard Hadlee since Pollock and Akram can bat (3 good #8s would theoretically cover 7-9). But I went option A and chose Jayasuriya. Kallis could be an option too depending on if 4 seamers are required, or if Tendulkar and Ponting can't handle batting one spot lower. Lara was the man replaced: about the same batting record as Ponting, but lost the fielding tie-breaker.
Final XI
1 Adam Gilchrist
2 Sanath Jayasuriya.....Brian Lara (if happy with Richard and Symonds bowling a lot)/Jacques Kallis (if a 4th seamer or middle order player required)
3 Sachin Tendulkar
4 Ricky Ponting
5 Viv Richards
6 Andrew Symonds......Kapil Dev/Richard Hadlee (if more bowling is needed)
7 MS Dhoni
8 Shaun Pollock
9 Wasim Akram
10 Muttiah Muralitharan
11 Glenn McGrath
Plenty of batting so Gilchrist and Jayasuriya can attack with impugnity, a mix of stifling and brilliant bowlers, and as a bonus the team is littered with captains (only Symonds, Murali & McGrath have never led their country) and some world class fieldsmen in Ponting, Richards and Symonds.
I'll come back next month when my XI will have completely changed...