World Cup XIs from what you have seen

[noducksallowed]

The CWC is not too old, the final jus ta couple of weeks ago and there's a draft ongoing with regards to the best world cup performers...so I thought why not have the members here pick their best XI for each of the world cup they have seen.
Could it be quite interesting depending on the age of the members.

I have watched every CWC from 1999 onward (I have very vague memories of 96 but I won't use them).
The only criteria is that the players you pick must have represented their country in that particular edition and played 3 or more matches.

My 1999 XI:

1. Tendulkar
2. Anwar
3. Dravid
4. Ponting
5. S. Waugh c
6. Moin Khan wk
7. Klusener
8. Akram
9. Warne
10. Allott
11. McGrath

Looking back at this world cup, it was a bit of a weak one for the batting but just phenomenal from a bowling perspective. In any other tournament Akhtar, Saqlain, Donald, Razzaq, Mahmoud would be vying for a place in the XI.

2003 XI:

1. Tendulkar
2. Gilchrist wk
3. Ponting c
4. Ganguly
5. Martyn
6. Symonds
7. Oram
8. Murali
9. Vaas
10. Lee
11. McGrath

Tbc...

 

[icyman]

Nice thread this one. I shall start with 1996 onwards here:

1996:
Gary Kirsten
Sachin Tendulkar
Mark Waugh
Aravinda de Silva
Ritchie Richardson
Hansie Cronje (c)
Rashid Latif (wk)
Shane Warne
Anil Kumble
Curtly Ambrose
Damien Fleming

12th man- Waqar Younis

I am sure the fact that I havent included Jayasuriya, Kalu might raise eyebrows. However, if one were to look at the quantum of runs scored by these guys, it puts everything else into perspective.
As for my keeper, having a keeper from the sub-continent helps here. Latif was a good hand behind the stumps and knew how to keep on slow, low and turning tracks. My captain for the 1996 XI would be Cronje- a person I admire till date and feel was one of the best captains ever. I shall follow this up with 1999 and the other editions a little later.

 

[noducksallowed]

Nice thread this one. I shall start with 1996 onwards here:

1996:
Gary Kirsten
Sachin Tendulkar
Mark Waugh
Aravinda de Silva
Ritchie Richardson
Hansie Cronje (c)
Rashid Latif (wk)
Shane Warne
Anil Kumble
Curtly Ambrose
Damien Fleming

12th man- Waqar Younis

I am sure the fact that I havent included Jayasuriya, Kalu might raise eyebrows. However, if one were to look at the quantum of runs scored by these guys, it puts everything else into perspective.
As for my keeper, having a keeper from the sub-continent helps here. Latif was a good hand behind the stumps and knew how to keep on slow, low and turning tracks. My captain for the 1996 XI would be Cronje- a person I admire till date and feel was one of the best captains ever. I shall follow this up with 1999 and the other editions a little later.

I dunno about Cronje but that's a well put together team. I can't remember 1996 enough and dont want to go off just stats but those are some top performers in there.

Anyway, my 2007 XI:

1. Hayden
2. Jayasuriya
3. Ponting c
4. Jayawardene
5. Kallis
6. Gilchrist wk
7. Flintoff
8. Murali
9. Vettori
10. Malinga
11. McGrath

Just a great farewell to the likes of McGrath, Haydos and Jaya. Also, as much as I dislike this tournament (similar to 2003) but there is much more quality on show here across bat and ball than we saw in 2003. The fact that the likes of Bracken, Tait, Hogg and ABD can't even get in is a show of quality from the others.

2011 XI:

1. Dilshan
2. Tendulkar
3. Gambhir
4. Jayawardene c
5. Sangakkara wk
6. ABD
7. Yuvraj
8. Afridi
9. Z Khan
10. Malinga
11. Gul

An improvement on the previous two world cups here with quite a focus on Asian cricketers, which probably isn't much of a surprise. There's a clear drop in quality in terms of the bowling but Gul and Malinga were rivals in who could be better death bowlers (their T20 performances are what they would become known for from this point on) and a last hurrah by Tendulkar and a coming of age for Dilshan.

 

[noducksallowed]

Ok, I feel like rubbing my hands together at the quality of the next couple of tournaments -

2015 XI:

1. Guptill NZ
2. McCullum c NZ
3. Sangakkara SL
4. Smith AUS
5. ABD SA
6. Dhoni wk IND
7. Maxwell AUS
8. Vettori NZ
9. Starc AUS
10. Boult NZ
11. Shami IND

2019 XI:

1. Bairstow ENG
2. Roy ENG
3. Williamson c NZ
4. Root ENG
5. Babar PAK
6. Stokes ENG
7. Latham wk NZ
8. Shakib BANG
9. Starc AUS
10. Ferguson NZ
11. Archer ENG

Starc is in back to back XIs and the 2019 side is very much skewed towards England, not just their players but the style of play they brought to the tournament. It's also sad that this was one of the last times we saw a prime Archer.

Now onto my least favourite CWC since 2007, a dire tournament at times with a handful of good matches and of course, one all time great style bowling tournament from Shami. So here goes:

2023 XI:

1. Sharma IND
2. Warner AUS
3. Ravindra NZ
4. Kohli IND
5. Rahul wk IND (for his keeping)
6. Markram SA
7. Maxwell AUS
8. Cummins c AUS
9. Bumrah IND
10. Shami IND
11. Zampa AUS

 

[pillowprocter]

5. Rahul wk IND (for his keeping)

for his keeping

for his keeping

 

[Bevab]

His keeping was pretty good until that final in all fairness.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

England would beat the life out this stat padding middle order

2019 XI:

1. Bairstow ENG
2. Roy ENG
3. Williamson c NZ
4. Root ENG
5. Babar PAK
6. Stokes ENG
7. Latham wk NZ
8. Shakib BANG
9. Starc AUS
10. Ferguson NZ
11. Archer ENG

 

[noducksallowed]

Rahul was not just a very good keeper, he was one of the best in voting for or against reviews which one needs in hot headed situations.

Post automatically merged: Nov 29, 2023

England would beat the life out this stat padding middle order

Dunno what you're trying to say here...the middle order is Root, Babar and Stokes. Are you trying to say Babar is just a stat padder? (because he apparently can pick and choose who he wants to play against in a world cup lol) stupidness aside...actually no, its pretty stupid considering 2 of the 3 middle order are English!

Just come out and say you don't want Azam in the team, its ok I'm not India and wont hound you online.

Or have I misread what you miswrote?

 

[pillowprocter]

His keeping was pretty good until that final in all fairness.

I just remember him getting nutmegged in the group stage. Those moments tend to be rememberable

 

[Bevab]

I just remember him getting nutmegged in the group stage. Those moments tend to be rememberable

He has a tendency to do that.

 

[Aravind.]

Rohit not there in 19 ???

 

[icyman]

I'd have Rizwan over KLR tbh anyday.

 

[noducksallowed]

Rohit not there in 19 ???

Noway was I going to split up one of the best opening pairs in ODI cricket in the last decade.

Plus the 5 centuries are ab it misleading as only 2 came against the other top 4 teams in that tournament and only one of those even resulted in a win. In the semi-final he then just scored 1

 

[icyman]

1999
Saeed Anwar
Sourav Ganguly
Rahul Dravid
Jacques Kallis
Steve Waugh (c)
Neil Johnson
Moin Khan (wk)
Lance Klusener
Shane Warne
Geoff Allott
Glenn McGrath

My XI is almost similar to that of @noducksallowed with the exception of SRT- I felt he was hyped way too much post that 140 he scored- other than that, SRT didn't really set the stage on fire.

The remainder kind of select themselves- all batsmen were amongst the runs- the bowling is self explanatory. I did have some doubt over Steve Waugh, cause wasn't a big fan of his captaincy. Wasim Stephen Fleming were options, but then, their inclusions would impact the balance of the side.

 

[icyman]

2003
S Tendulkar
S Ganguly
R Ponting
D Martyn
PA de Silva
D Lehmann
A Gilchrist
WPUJC Vaas
B Lee
G McGrath
S Bond

Easy picks really, with the exception of the middle order- was difficult to pick a balanced side- added in de Silva and Lehmann as both had shown the ability to roll their arm over and pick up a few handy wickets.