World Test Team

[Leggie]

He was never an express bowler though and he's said that, His main aim was to concentrate on line and lentgh and therefore managing to swing the ball.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

A better Test opener than Hayden, Smith, Cook, Strauss, Katich, Gambhir, McKenzie, How and Vandort?

To be fair, I'd prefer Tamim to How/Vandort...

Hayden
Smith
Ponting
Pietersen
Hussey
Sangakkara (WK)
Flintoff
Steyn
Muralitharan
Mendis
Sharma

Batsman are there to make the runs, bowlers win a Test match. There aren't 6 better batsmen in world cricket at the moment that beat any of those 6 for my money. You've then got some batting from Freddie. The top 7 get the runs, and then it's up to Steyn, Sharma, Flintoff, Murali and Mendis to get the wickets.

Umm...Tendulkar? Kallis? Sehwag? Chanderpaul? Jayawardene? Those 6 are good, but to say they aren't any better is a bit of an overstatement...

 

[King Pietersen]

Well:
Hayden- Best opening batsman of the modern era
Smith- Struggled against Anderson in England, but played one of the best Captain's innings of all time with his 145* in England. Awesome talent. Better than Sehwag for me.
Ponting- Average of 58, best batsman in the world probably, can't be misplaced by anyone.
Pietersen- Average of over 50 playing in swinging predominantly bowler friendly conditions in England, he's obviously going to be in my team .
Hussey- Fantastic. Only word to describe him. Fantastic average, a run machine.
Sangakkara- Best keeper/batsman in the world. Awesome.

Where exactly would any of those players fit into the team? The only player who'd be under pressure would be Pietersen, but he's always going to be in my team . Who would you replace with who?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I'd take Ponting out for Jayawardene, as I believe Jaya is a far better skipper.
I'd take one of Smith/Hayden out for Viru. Although both are brilliant, I like a right/left combo, and Sehwag is a handy fifth bowler
I'd take KP and Freddie out for Chanderpaul + Tendulkar. The only downside is that you lose that aggressive edge in the middle order, but the openers take care of that and Hussey, Sanga and Tendulkar are more than capable of upping the pace. With this you lose an allrounder and an attacking lineup, but gain a rock solid batting lineup capable of scores in excess of 500 in most conditions.

I'd also vouch for Gambhir over Tendulkar as I feel he is in brilliant form and can perform in all conditions. And he's young. But his inexperience means not many are going to agree, so I'll stick with Tendulkar for now...

I'd go with:

Hayden
Sehwag
Gambhir
Jaya (*)
Shiv
Hussey
Sanga (+)
Vettori
Mendis
Steyn
Zaheer

 

[Cricketman]

Gambhir
Sehwag
Laxman
Tendulkar
Badrinath
Pietersen -
Dhoni
Mendis -
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Ishant

Will do for me.

 

[Leggie]

A bit biased there....

 

[manee]

Gambhir
Sehwag
Laxman
Tendulkar
Badrinath
Pietersen -
Dhoni
Mendis -
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Ishant

Will do for me.

Where is Yuvraj?!?!!!1111

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Pfft, crap lineup there Cricketman. KP and Mendis over Mishra and Dravid really pulls it down

 

[.Mob]

Where is Yuvraj?!?!!!1111

ARE, PRINCE OF 2020 YAAAAR.


But seriously, what's with Badri.

 

[smssia0112]

This joke has probably run its course .

 

[aussie_ben91]

I'd take Ponting out for Jayawardene, as I believe Jaya is a far better skipper.
I'd take one of Smith/Hayden out for Viru. Although both are brilliant, I like a right/left combo, and Sehwag is a handy fifth bowler
I'd take KP and Freddie out for Chanderpaul + Tendulkar. The only downside is that you lose that aggressive edge in the middle order, but the openers take care of that and Hussey, Sanga and Tendulkar are more than capable of upping the pace. With this you lose an allrounder and an attacking lineup, but gain a rock solid batting lineup capable of scores in excess of 500 in most conditions.

I'd also vouch for Gambhir over Tendulkar as I feel he is in brilliant form and can perform in all conditions. And he's young. But his inexperience means not many are going to agree, so I'll stick with Tendulkar for now...

So how are you going to justify Jayasuriya's selection then?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I'll justify it with the fact that I didn't pick him

 

[shravi]

Lol, Ben got owned.

 

[Cricketman]

Gambhir
Sehwag
Laxman
Tendulkar
Badrinath
Pietersen -
Dhoni
Mendis -
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Ishant

Will do for me.

I honestly don't think that that's a bad lineup. I think it could beat any side in the world tbh.

 

[bladescape]

Personally:
Gambhir
Hayden
Ponting
Tendulkar
M.Hussey
Sangakkara
Flintoff
Steyn
Ishant
Mendis
Muralidaran