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As the 11th Cricket World Cup starts romantically on Valentine’s Day, let me select an imaginary all-time great World Cup XI based on statistics.
First, I’ll select a squad before refining it to the best XI.
India’s Sachin Tendulkar is a certainty to open the innings, having scored most runs in World Cup history.
His opening partner would be Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya, or one of Australia’s Matthew Hayden or Adam Gilchrist.
Another Australian, Ricky Ponting, walks in at no. 3 with fine credentials as batsman, fielder and captain. Under him Australia won two World Cups in 2003 and 2007.
The Windies’ ‘Master Blaster’, Vivian Richards, swaggers in at no. 4 as the opposition captain places most of his fielders on the boundary line.
The no. 5 and 6 spots provide a predicament: Pakistan’s controversial Javed Miandad, the West Indian demolition expert Brian Lara, South Africa’s Jacques Kallis or the elegant Australian Mark Waugh?
Cool cat Steve Waugh will come in at no.7 and bowl miserly overs at the death.
India’s Kapil Dev, England’s Ian Botham or Pakistan’s Imran Khan could also bat at no. 7 and bowl at no.3.
We need a sixomaniac wicketkeeper and Gilchrist fills the bill. He will be promoted to open the innings to make room for an additional player. His 52 dismissals (45 caught and 7 stumped) is ahead of Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara, with 46 dismissals (36 caught, 10 stumpings).
Australia’s Glenn McGrath, who has taken most World Cup wickets (71), will open the bowling with Pakistan’s Wasim Akram (55) and Imran Khan (34). Imran has also scored 666 runs so he will bat at no. 8.
Only one spot remains for a spinner and we have outstanding candidates in Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and Australia’s Shane Warne.
Here are the relevant statistics of the 19 candidates before we pick the final XI:
| Player | WC matches | Runs | Bat. Av. | Strike Rate | Wkts. | Bowl. Av. | Economy Rate | Dismissals (ct. + stump.) |
| Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) | 45 | 2278 | 56.95 | 88.98 | ||||
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 38 | 1165 | 34.26 | 90.66 | ||||
| Matthew Hayden (Aus) | 22 | 987 | 51.94 | 92.93 | ||||
| Adam Gilchrist (Aus) | 31 | 1085 | 36.16 | 98.01 | 45+7 | |||
| Ricky Ponting (Aus) | 46 | 1743 | 45.86 | 79.95 | ||||
| Jacques Kallis (SA) | 36 | 1148 | 45.92 | 74.40 | 21 | 43.04 | 4.28 | |
| Vivian Richards (WI) | 23 | 1013 | 63.31 | 85.05 | ||||
| Brian Lara (WI) | 34 | 1225 | 42.24 | 86.26 | ||||
| Javed Miandad (Pak) | 33 | 1083 | 43.32 | 68.02 | ||||
| Mark Waugh (Aus) | 22 | 1004 | 52.84 | 83.73 | ||||
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 30 | 991 | 45.04 | 78.71 | 36+10 | |||
| Steve Waugh (Aus) | 33 | 978 | 48.90 | 81.02 | 27 | 30.14 | 4.70 | |
| Kapil Dev (Ind) | 26 | 669 | 37.16 | 115.14 | 28 | 31.85 | 3.76 | |
| Imran Khan (Pak) | 28 | 666 | 35.05 | 65.68 | 34 | 19.26 | 3.86 | |
| Ian Botham (Eng) | 22 | 297 | 18.56 | 62.39 | 30 | 25.40 | 3.43 | |
| Wasim Akram (Pak) | 38 | 426 | 19.36 | 101.18 | 55 | 23.83 | 4.04 | |
| Shane Warne (Aus) | 28 | 32 | 19.50 | 3.83 | ||||
| Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) | 40 | 68 | 19.63 | 3.88 | ||||
| Glenn McGrath (Aus) | 39 | 71 | 18.19 | 3.96 |
Qualifications: 1000 runs or 25 wickets or 45 dismissals. Bold fonts indicate a record.
Based on the above statistics, here is my all-time great World Cup XI in batting order:
Tendulkar, Gilchrist (wk), Ponting, Richards, Kallis, Lara, Steve Waugh (c), Imran, Akram, Muralitharan and McGrath.
12th man: Hayden. Reserves: Warne, Kapil, Miandad, Jayasuriya, Botham and Sangakkara.
Imran, McGrath and Akram will share the new ball followed by Kallis. Muralitharan will bamboozle with his off-spin and doosras and Steve Waugh will bowl at the death.
Surprisingly, not one current player is in my all-time great World Cup XI and only one, Sangakkara, is in the 18-man squad.
What’s your best ever World Cup XI, Roarers?