World Test Team

[Cricketman]

vs Australia

Greame Smith
Virender Sehwag
Mahela Jayawardene*
Sachin Tendulkar
Shiv Chanderpaul
VVS Laxman
MS Dhoni / Kumar Sangakkara (Depending on conditions/continent)
Dale Steyn
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Ajantha Mendis

 

[Will_NA]

Against Australia? Has Mendis even played Australia?

 

[irottev]

I like using stats a lot. I'm using 2008 stats to help me pick my sides.

My overall world XI for would be:

Sehwag (Top run getter this year, enough said)
Smith (Second top run getter)
Ponting (c) (Best batsman around, over-rates aside you can't argue with his captaincy record)
Tendulkar (Had a great year and is too talented to leave out)
Chanderpaul (Averages 94, batsman of the year)
Hussey (So consistent and dependable. Puts a price on his wicket)
McCullum (wk) (Top run getting keeper in 2008, best keeper in my opinion and much needed aggressive player at the end of an innings)
Vettori (50 wickets at 25 and 643 runs at 35. Best allrounder in the world at the moment no question)
Lee (Bad year by his standards, but still is one of the quickest around.)
Clark (Amazing accuracy and can make the ball talk off the pitch)
Steyn (60 wickets at 19. Enough said)

Extras: Prince (Not in many people's lists strangely), Strauss (Has been a beacon amoungst England's batting line up ther past year), Harbhijan (Had a good year getting lots of wickets at a decent average, outbowled by Vettori and not quite as good with the bat however). Dhoni is very unlucky to miss out mainly due to bias. Sidebottom is injured or else he'd have a spot.

I only considered playerts who had played 8+ tests. Mendis has playued 3 and wholst he seems to be an amazing bowlers, he's still untested. Once he plays more nations and we see more footage we'll have a better idea of his ability. I also saw all of the players I picked play this year but i'm yet to see Mendis.

Some people are forgetting Sangakkara doesn't wicket keep in test matches any more and hasn't for some time.

Laxman, Prince* and Morne Morkel* would come in if we were taking out the Aussies. I'd probably have Dhoni in as captain over McCullum also because a good captain is important, not that Vettori would be a bad choice. I'd wanna see how Prince and Morkel go in the first test first though.

 

[Cricketman]

Sidebottom over Zaheer Khan?!

VVS Laxman should be in a starting XI. He's averaged well over 50, gotten over a thousand runs in the year and has been absolutely sublime. Should be in over Hussey IMO.

Other then those two, yeah great XI.

Cricketman added 0 Minutes and 57 Seconds later...

Against Australia? Has Mendis even played Australia?

Against Australia meaning a World XI team to play Australia. Doesn't mean that they have to be 'Australia Bashers' or whatever, just a world team without Australian's.

 

[srikarr12]

Whats the point of making a World XI team if that team has no one to verse!! Its better if we followed Cricketmans structure or make two World XI teams.

 

[Dare]

I like using stats a lot. I'm using 2008 stats to help me pick my sides.

I don't mean to come across as rude but if your using stats should someone like Jayawardene, Sangakkara or even Prince be in over Ponting. He had one of his worst years as a pro and didn't even average that many runs.

 

[irottev]

I don't mean to come across as rude but if your using stats should someone like Jayawardene, Sangakkara or even Prince be in over Ponting. He had one of his worst years as a pro and didn't even average that many runs.

Not solely on stats. I suggest you look at the stats before making comments like that. Ponting averaged 43.18 with 3 hundreds and 4 fifties in 2008. However, They each played the same number of games and Ponting had 50 more runs showing more consistency and less not-outs (Prince had 6 inflating his average). Another argument is that Ponting bats at 3 and sees off the new ball whereas Prince bats about 5 from knowledge.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene only played 5 tests (which is ridiculous!) and they were against minor nations mainly. I'd want more games to make a fair call on selection and I also didn't watch them this year. In normal circumstances i'd consider both strongly. There's only 6 batting slots and some people have to miss out.

And about Sidebottom and Zaheer. I watched both bowl and Sidebottom is a far better bowler. Sidebottom took 47 wickets at 20.75 whereas Zaheer Khan took 24 at 37.83 which is far from impressive (though I will accept he bowled on tough pitches). I did consider Zaheer but I went with what i'd watched and Sidebottom's swing and accuracy impressed me a lot more. I don't think a lot of Indian fans have seen him bowl this calendar year so it's understandable that you under-rate him.

 

[King Pietersen]

Sidebottoms not played since July. All his wickets have come against below average batting line-ups. Zaheers a far better bowler. More swing, pace and accuracy. Zaheers always at the batsman, whereas Sidey tends to bowl too wide at time. Zaheers also got reverse swing in his favour. Far better bowler.

 

[irottev]

Since Sidebottom isn't actually available right now i'm going to swap him. I stand by my statement. I can't warrant selecting someone who averaged almost 40 with the ball this year. A lot of his wickets were against us, I didn't realize he'd hardly played anyone else. I remember all the other English bowlers struggling against the same batsmen and us winning a test in those series so it wasn't THAT weak.

 

[smssia0112]

Against Australia? Has Mendis even played Australia?

No, he's only played test cricket against one nation and in one country.

Another interesting selection is Graeme Smith, since he averages about 20 against Australia.

 

[King Pietersen]

He explained that. It was a team to take on Australia, so a team of players not from Australia, who happen to be in good form. Smith's been the best batsman in the world this year in terms of runs scored and the stats. Every reason for him to be picked.

As for Mendis. He may not be experienced, but he's the next big thing. He'll take hundreds of Test wickets, unless fitness turns out to be a problem. He's got a fantastic FC record, and a great international record so far. Again, his selection could be justified.

 

[Dare]

Not solely on stats. I suggest you look at the stats before making comments like that. Ponting averaged 43.18 with 3 hundreds and 4 fifties in 2008. However, They each played the same number of games and Ponting had 50 more runs showing more consistency and less not-outs (Prince had 6 inflating his average). Another argument is that Ponting bats at 3 and sees off the new ball whereas Prince bats about 5 from knowledge.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene only played 5 tests (which is ridiculous!) and they were against minor nations mainly. I'd want more games to make a fair call on selection and I also didn't watch them this year. In normal circumstances i'd consider both strongly. There's only 6 batting slots and some people have to miss out.

Hardly their fault that they played just 5 tests. And I wouldn't consider India and West Indies minor nations. WI certainly not the best in the world but far from minor. Looking at his stats Sanga didn't have a good year but Mahela did.

 

[irottev]

Hardly their fault that they played just 5 tests. And I wouldn't consider India and West Indies minor nations. WI certainly not the best in the world but far from minor. Looking at his stats Sanga didn't have a good year but Mahela did.

West Indies certainly are. India are one of the top nations. I thought SL had played Bangladesh recently or was that only in ODIs?

Either way, I only have 6 batting slots. Stop criticizing my team. Accept other people's opinions.

Since you want to continually point out the flaws in my side, i'm going to make some comments about yours.

No one who has played only 3 test matches (all in the same spin happy conditions) deserves to make a worldXI.

Secondly, Flintoff isn't the best selection. You don't have bowlers who can exploit movement off the pitch and in the air somewhat (though Lee and Steyn do get a little), I think you lack a Stuart Clark type bowler myself. My side is for all conditions, yours seems picked for certain conditions. He averages 22.5 with the bat and only took 13 wickets at 34. Not bad but not WorldXI material in my opinion.

Thirdly, Sangakkara doesn't keep wicket in Tests any more incase you didn't know. First of all, that's kind of cheating the purpose a bit and secondly if he hasn't kept for a 5 day match in a while he's bound to be rusty.

 

[Dare]

West Indies certainly are. India are one of the top nations. I thought SL had played Bangladesh recently or was that only in ODIs?

Either way, I only have 6 batting slots. Stop criticizing my team. Accept other people's opinions.

Since you want to continually point out the flaws in my side, i'm going to make some comments about yours.

No one who has played only 3 test matches (all in the same spin happy conditions) deserves to make a worldXI.

Secondly, Flintoff isn't the best selection. I'd rather have a more capable bowler. You don't have bowlers who can exploit movement off the pitch and in the air somewhat (though Lee and Steyn do get a little), I think you lack a Stuart Clark type bowler myself. My side is for all conditions, yours seems picked for certain conditions. He averages 22.5 with the bat and only took 13 wickets at 34.

Thirdly, Sangakkara doesn't keep wicket in Tests any more incase you didn't know. First of all, that's kind of cheating the purpose a bit and secondly if he hasn't kept for a 5 day match in a while he's bound to be rusty.

OMG is it aussie ben or irrotev. Stop taking **** personally.
I didn't criticize your team. I just asked if you were going on stats then how come include Ponting over a player who have better stats than him during 2008.

Name me a better all-rounder to put in my team instead of Flintoff and I will gladly change it. He is in good enough bowling form and yea his batting isn't up to par but his selection is justified because I wanted a team with 2 spinners as I pointed out in my post and he is the best all-rounder in the world.

Sangakkara has played WK for most of his test career and only stopped because the team wants to take the pressure of him so that he doesn't break down. I'm sure Sri Lanka would rather have someone like Chamara Silva in instead of Prasana as it would help their batting much more. If you really want Sanga out of the team than we can replace him with Dhoni.

Am I the one that included McCullum over Dhoni or Sanga.

As for the inclusion of Mendis well we can wait until he plays in NZ next than we can have a discussion about why I included him in the team. As far as I can see a whole load of people agree with me because they also got him in their teams.
I'm surprised you aren't criticizing my inclusion of Vettori over Murli, a choice like that cant go without being criticized am I right?

 

[aussie_ben91]

When you've got 1 front line bowler that averages under 40 with the ball then you are a minnow.