No Australians in cricket’s 2011 Test XI
Columnist By Kersi Meher-Homji, 28 Dec 2011 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
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The Melbourne Test between Australia and India and the Durban Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka starting today may change the composition of my 2011 Test XI but as it stands now, no Australian gets into it.
To make it more painful, five Englishmen make the international 2011 Test XI. The selection is based on statistics during the calendar year 2011.
For a well-balanced XI you need five specialist batsmen including two openers, an all-rounder, a wicket-keeper batsman, three pace bowlers and a spinner.
Five batsmen have scored more than 900 runs in the calendar year. India’s Rahul Dravid leads with 1067 runs at an average of 59.27.
The others are England’s Ian Bell, with 950 runs at an excellent average of 118.75, West Indian Darren Bravo (949 at 49.94), England’s Alastair Cook (927 at 84.27) and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (926 at 48.73).
Bell’s century average stands out while Sangakkara has recorded the highest individual score of 294 this year.
England’s Kevin Pietersen scored 731 runs and his average of 73.10 makes him a candidate to consider.
Five of these six batsmen will be included in the 2011 Test XI as it is based on statistics.
India’s VVS Laxman (770 at 45.29) and Sachin Tendulkar (651 at 46.50) are behind the above batsmen in aggregate and average, and are thus not in the running.
The best from Australia — Mike Hussey (591 at 42.21) and Michael Clarke (586 at 41.85) — are also out of consideration.
England’s tall baby-faced Stuart Broad is the all-rounder of my choice, having scored 239 runs at 39.83 and taken 33 wickets at 22.30 including a hat-trick.
India’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is another candidate for the all-round position as he scored a century apart from taking 22 wickets at 22.90.
The wicket-keeper’s position is contested between England’s Matt Prior (519 runs at 64.87 and 36 dismissals) and India’s MS Dhoni (482 runs at 28.35 and 44 dismissals). Although Prior’s batting average is significantly higher than Dhoni’s, the latter is preferred because of his credentials as a captain.
Pakistan’s off-spinner Saeed Ajmal is the only bowler to capture 50 wickets in 2011; 50 at 23.86. India’s quickie Ishant Sharma is next best, 41 scalps at 36.26 and the Windies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (39 at 36.23).
But England’s fast bowler James Anderson (35 at 24.85) and South Africa’s express attack of Dale Steyn (23 at 17.91) and Vernon Philander (24 at 12.37) have more impressive averages.
Now to the hard part — selecting a strong World 2011 Test XI from those who performed well statistically in the calendar year. So here it is in batting order:
Alastair Cook (Eng)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
Ian Bell (Eng)
Rahul Dravid (Ind)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
MS Dhoni (Ind, capt., w.k.)
Stuart Broad (Eng)
Dale Steyn (SAF)
Saeed Ajmal (Pak)
James Anderson (Eng)
Vernon Philander (SAF)
12th man: Darren Bravo (WI)
Steyn and Anderson will share the new ball with Philander and Broad taking over later on, and Ajmal doing his off-spin.
There are five from England, two each from South Africa and India and one each from Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the XI. I wonder when was the last time an Australian did not make it in a calendar year Test XI.
So who is in your Test XI for 2011?
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December 28th 2011 @ 7:18am
Ian said | December 28th 2011 @ 7:18am | Report comment
I question the idea that you need an all rounder in a team. Broad, at best, is a bowling all rounder and would never bat at 6 in the England line up. Teams should pick their best 6 batsmen, their best keeper and their best 4 bowlers. If one of those batsmen can bowl decently, or one of the bowlers bat well, that’s great, but it doesn’t mean that a balanced team needs an all rounder.
If you were looking for an all rounder, why not Shakib al Hassan? He’s the number one ranked all rounder in the world this year, with 451 runs at 50 and 21 wickets at 28. He’s also left arm orthodox, which compliments ajman well, whereas with 3 other fast bowlers, Broad wouldn’t get much of a look in.
December 28th 2011 @ 1:06pm
Brendon said | December 28th 2011 @ 1:06pm | Report comment
Because Bangladeshi’s cant play cricket. Duh.
Or so the attitude amongst most cricket “fans” goes …
Shakib al Hassan is a class player
December 28th 2011 @ 7:28am
Disco said | December 28th 2011 @ 7:28am | Report comment
Prior totally outplayed Dhoni in the series between their two teams. Couldn’t Sangakkara be the captain?
I know you’re mostly going from statistics, but I’m not sure Philander’s played enough (let alone against high-class batting) to yet make a world X!.
December 29th 2011 @ 5:37pm
JohnB said | December 29th 2011 @ 5:37pm | Report comment
Disco – seconded on all 3 comments – Prior emphatically in front of Dhoni, Sangakarra the skipper, Philander hasn’t played enough to qualify for a team picked purely on averages (good prospect though he may be). Broad into his spot and then pick a 6th batsman or an all-rounder capable of holding down 6 (which looks like it would exclude Ashwin)?
Hard to argue the case for any Australians to get into this side – maybe the 2012 side will be different!
December 28th 2011 @ 10:25am
The Grafter said | December 28th 2011 @ 10:25am | Report comment
Philander has only played thus far on ‘bowler friendly’ wickets to date, and too few tests as stated by Disco to accurately assess his qualifications.
December 28th 2011 @ 11:31am
Gollum said | December 28th 2011 @ 11:31am | Report comment
Ashwin might have taken 22 wickets but Pattinson has already take 15 from 3 matches. Food for thought.
December 28th 2011 @ 12:24pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | December 28th 2011 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
True, Gollum, but Ashwin is NOT in my XI.
Australia has a bright future with Pattinson and Cummins to open the attack and Warner, Cowans to open the batting. Windies beware!
December 28th 2011 @ 12:48pm
sheek said | December 28th 2011 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
Kersi,
Your team looks unbalanced, but at the moment I’m not in a clear-headed position to offer any better alternatives. Am concerned at your “anglification” however!!!!!
The arguments about team structure continue unabated. Today, the likely XI will have a 6-1-4 breakdown. That is, 6 specialist batsmen, a keeper-batsman, & 4 specialist bowlers made up usually of 3 pacemen & a lone spinner.
Most teams hope one or two of the specialist bats can turn their arm over for a dozen overs here or there.
Traditionally, a 5-1-5 breakdown was preferred. That is, 5 specialist batsmen, a keeper-batsman, & 5 specialist bowlers of whom one was also a specialist bat. The bowling breakdown was usually 3 pacemen & 2 spinners.
Where possible, I prefer the 5-1-5 setup. Even in the 6-1-4 setup, you want one or two of your specialist bats capable of delivering a dozen or so overs to provide relief & variety for the specialist bowlers.
Interestingly, Bradman in his best XI chose only 4 specialist bats (B.Richards, Morris, Bradman & Tendulkar), which was quite amazing. However, when you consider he himself was worth two other very good batsmen, & Sobers was also a specialist bat as well as specialist bowler, it wasn’t so crazy after all. Also, keeper Tallon was more than a useful bat, about the same standard as Healy.
Bradman had no doubts his team could score plenty of runs, then he could unleash his 6 man bowling attack (Lillee, Lindwall, Bedser, O’Reilly, Warne & Sobers) on presumedly the next best 11 players in history.
Very astute actually.
December 28th 2011 @ 1:10pm
Brendon said | December 28th 2011 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
Sobers a specialist bowler with a SR of 92 at an average of 34? Just because he did a lot of bowling in a bowling weak teams doesn’t make his bowling good enough for World XI. In a World XI I would count him as a batsmen only.
December 28th 2011 @ 3:33pm
sheek said | December 28th 2011 @ 3:33pm | Report comment
Brendon,
That’s such a negative assumption. In the example above Sobers would be the 6th bowler, but still valuable when the occasion called. Besides, the other 3 fasties – Lillee, Lindwall & Bedser – are all right-handers. The two spinners – O’Reilly & Warne – are both leggies, although entirely different types of leggies.
Sobers being a leftie, would have provided tremendous variation to the bowling attack. Handy when things aren’t necessarily going to plan. Fortunately, Bradman thought more of Sobers all-round talents than you do.
You’re obsessed with strike rates, aren’t you? As if they are the major determining factor of a batsman’s, or bowler’s worth. With respect to bowling, what about the bowler who is tactically required to “tie-up” one end? He does his job for the team without the benefit of the stats supporting his efforts.
Conversely, how many times do we see a guy come on for his first spell & cleans up the tail with 2-3 cheap wickets? His strike rate looks sensational, despite the fact the hard yakka had been done by others.
Furthermore, when discussing strike rates, what percentage of all a bowlers balls were to the 1-6 batsmen, & what percentage of all his balls were to 7-11 batsmen? How often did he start a spell against batsmen when they were set (20-plus runs) or just in & still settling?
No doubt this would be enlightening to know. One day, someone might be bothered to do the analysis.
Ian Whitchurch put it succinctly in another thread (55 batting average is the new 50): “Any stat is meaningless without context”.
So very true…..
December 29th 2011 @ 5:48pm
JohnB said | December 29th 2011 @ 5:48pm | Report comment
I always thought the Bradman team was pretty unbalanced with only 5 batsmen (including Sobers) and only one of the remaining 6 with a test hundred. A lot of pressure on the rest if someone produces a couple of good balls early on!
While Sobers’ overall bowling figures are quite good but perhaps on the marginal side for a specialist bowler, it’s fair to point out that he often was more a stock than a strike bowler, for much of the early part of his career wickets in the West Indies were often very flat, and his bad knees would have affected his bowling returns in the latter part of his career
December 28th 2011 @ 1:08pm
Johnno said | December 28th 2011 @ 1:08pm | Report comment
Kersi Stuart Broad reminds me of Mitch Johnson, both talented with the bat but i am not convinced Stuart Broad is yet up to batting at no 7 VS a World class bowling attack (eg Tremlett/Anderson/steyn/ Stuart mcgill as an example of the standard definition of a world class attack.
December 28th 2011 @ 1:33pm
Ian Whitchurch said | December 28th 2011 @ 1:33pm | Report comment
What I find interesting in these is that there are no defensive stats – Im making up the direct numbers, but nothing like ‘I would pick Sakib because he averages 3.2 misfileds per 100 balls fielded, and only hits 2.8% of direct hits’.
Poor catching, fielding and running between the wickets are a major cause of my Tigers not turning close losses into draws or wins.
December 28th 2011 @ 3:43pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | December 28th 2011 @ 3:43pm | Report comment
Point taken, Sheek.
But I like to have an all-rounder in my Ideal XI. I see your point though that Broad is not a genuine all-rounder.
If I have to replace him, I’ll include another ‘Englishman’, Kevin Pietersen. My “Anglification” continues, you might surmise!
What a swinging Test match is being played on the MCG!
Who can predict a winner?
December 28th 2011 @ 4:30pm
sheek said | December 28th 2011 @ 4:30pm | Report comment
Hi Kersi,
I haven’t mentioned Broad at all myself. Ian in the first thread mentioned Broad, while I have couched my comments in general terms, except when responding to Brendon. But yes, I thought your XI looked unbalanced.
That’s why I offered the comparison between the 6-1-4 setup & 5-1-5 setup. In an ideal world, we would always select a 5-1-5 combo, & when you have the opportunity to pick from the best of the best, generally you an do that. Have a 5-1-5 combo, that is.
Whenever selecting an all-time Australian XI for example, I consider Keith Miller to be the most critical selection (after Bradman of course). Picking Miller as the no.6 batsman & 3rd fast bowler, then allows you to pick 2 specialist pacemen & 2 specialist spinners.