World Test Team

[TruSachFan]

yea he has owned India, England and South Africa the only teams that have had his number are Australia and surprisingly Pakistan.

dont worry it will come dropping down when india visit sl in august

same for hussey when they come to india for a 4 match series

 

[Cricketman]

Yeah, but to say his the 2nd best opener in the world is stupid. Especially with a first-class average of 35.

He plays alot better on pacier tracks, thus his low FC average.

He's more of a player for the future. I'd stick Jaffer in there maybe as a replacement. When he's in form (Jaffer) he's awesome.

 

[shravi]

He plays alot better on pacier tracks, thus his low FC average.

He's more of a player for the future. I'd stick Jaffer in there maybe as a replacement. When he's in form (Jaffer) he's awesome.

I hate when people say that. Everyone's awesome when they're 'in form'. What matters is how often or for how long one is in form.

 

[Cricketman]

I also hate it when people think a player is crap after one bad series. Especially when they've just come back to / entered international cricket.

 

[Cricketman]

Okay, yeah, Sehwag owns.

 

[The Mongrel]

ML Hayden
AN Cook
*RT Ponting
+KC Sangakkara
JH Kallis
DPMD Jayawardene
DL Vettori
B Lee
SR Clark
Zaheer Khan
M Muralitharan

Couple of interesting choices - I went with Cook over Sehwag because on a seaming deck, a Hayden-Sehwag partnership is probably a recipe for disaster. Cook adds some stability whilst Hayden (who is comfortably the best opener in world cricket now) is certainly a better bet on a wicket with some juice in it compared to Sehwag.

Its difficult to fit so many great middle order batsmen into five spots - particularly when you select a wicketkeeper who is pretty much a top order batsman. Having Mahela Jayawardene at six probably is pushing it, and I couldn't bring myself to waste Hussey or Yousuf at seven so I went with the extra bowling option. Zaheer gets a gig over Steyn and Sidebottom on the back of his last couple of years - though I was very tempted to give Sidey a gig.

 

[King Pietersen]

Zaheer instead of Sidebottom ? You're joking right ?

 

[The Mongrel]

Hmm - it isn't as easy as it sounds.

Zaheer had an awesome tour of England, a decent tour of RSA and looked good in his one test in Australia (despite what his figures suggest).

Sidebottom had a poor series against India and a terrible tour against SL (though I do admit he was very unlucky at times). He tore through the West Indies and NZ - the Windies batting lineup is at times comically erratic whilst New Zealand's batting lineup is at its weakest in some time.

 

[King Pietersen]

Did you watch the SL tour at all ? Sidebottom was far and away England's best bowler, and although his figures don't prove it he was fantastic. He had 8 catches dropped off his bowling throughout the tour which make his figures look much worse than they actually are. Also, he wasn't 'poor' against India, he was England's 2nd best bowler behind Jimmy. He's one of the most consistent bowlers in world cricket, consistently hitting line and length, mixing up his swing, and constantly troubles the batsmen. Zaheer's very hit and miss, when on form he's excellent but he's only on form very rarely. Sidebottoms a far better bowler than Zaheer.

 

[The Mongrel]

Again I don't think its that simple. I acknowledged that he was very unlucky on the tour of Sri Lanka (hence I watched it) but the fact remains that the only good batting lineups he's come up against he's failed to take wickets.

I'd be more than happy to whack Sidebottom in there ahead of Zaheer if he has a good Ashes series (averaging sub-30), but I've still yet to see him stand out against quality batting lineups in test cricket - regardless of bad luck.

 

[manee]

Zaheer instead of Sidebottom ? You're joking right ?

Sidebottom is certainly the better bowler in 9 out of 10 scenarios; however, against good batsmen on a seaming track - I'd say Zaheer Khan has the edge.

 

[King Pietersen]

Well if you're going by that logic, Sidebottom should be in the team. Not every track is going to be a seaming track and Sidebottom is one of the hardest working bowlers in world cricket. He'd be in over Zaheer any day of the week for me. Lee, Steyn and Sidebottom would be my 3 quicks.

 

[SciD]

Zaheer will do well to be Indian XI let alone World XI. Not fit enough to be considered.

 

[manee]

Well if you're going by that logic, Sidebottom should be in the team. Not every track is going to be a seaming track and Sidebottom is one of the hardest working bowlers in world cricket. He'd be in over Zaheer any day of the week for me. Lee, Steyn and Sidebottom would be my 3 quicks.

They'd be my three quicks too; I was just making an observation.

 

[FreddieFan]

I'm never good at just churning out XIs because I always miss one or two players.

This is not totally based on current form, but it is taken into the equation.

1. Matthew Hayden
2. Graeme Smith
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Jacques Kallis
6. Kumar Sangakkara
7. MS Dhoni (wk)
8. Brett Lee
9. Dale Steyn
10. Ryan Sidebottom
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

Playing Dhoni as the specialist keeper with Kumar as a batsman simply due to Kumar's record as specialist batsman: 2939 runs at 91.84.

Can't argue with that selection at all. Tendulkar has gor some runs recently; I wouldn't have picked him 6 months ago. Absolutely spot on.