Australia's all-time World Cup XI

I was commenting on my own selection bias, of wanting a player that will play a more finishing role (Bevan) than another middle order batsman (Clarke)

Sure, Lillee didn’t have much of a World Cup record. This was, as I noted, my dream ODI team for a fantasy World Cup. I also said you’d consider Lillee, ahead of Lee, it’s no certainty- which is a tribute to Lee. Maybe Lee’s batting and fielding would squeak him ahead. Discounting averages 10-15% puts them about equal in those terms, not Lee ahead.

Not sure on Lee over say Starc (sure the stats stack up) but those big late fast swingers for Starc are just a joy to watch. Otherwise, i would have loved to watch a team of this composition.

Leave the personal bias aside Clarke was a great batsman, and in the last world cup in Aus was just clinical in the role he played.

You're probably right, Tom. Mark Waugh might not have been the best example to use, but my point is trying to compare guys who have only played one series versus guys who've played a few.

That makes sense Chris but what about the bowlers? By your logic, I assume a lower rpo, etc in an earlier WC means a lesser result than a guy with a higher rpo from recent World Cups?

If you are going to discount batting numbers you need to do the same for bowling, and if you do that, it probably puts Lee ahead of Lillee. Lee was a much maligned player, though he still ended up with 300 test wickets, but in ODI's he actually was really good throughout his career. And certainly, since the premise of this article was purely based on statistics within a world cup, that pushes Lee even further ahead, as it does with Clarke, who has one of the best World Cup records of all time.

The way to compare across era's is to see how their records stack up against other players of a similar era. A current batsman with a strike rate of 85 is probably not as good as an '80s player with a strike rate of 78, for instance, since scores and strike rates have gone up so much. So someone like Viv Richards, who managed to have a strike rate of 90 in ODI's in the 70's and 80's, makes him insanely good, while someone with strike rate of 90 these days is just a bit more average.

Michael Bevan World Cup Stats: 537 runs @ 44.75, strike rate 64.38, top score 71 from 26 matches. Michael Clarke Wold Cup Stats: 888 runs @ 63.42, strike rate 94.16, top score 93 from 25 matches. Thanks, but I'll take Michael Clarke! I know there are plenty of anti-Clarke people around, but this one is not even a contest! Remember it's based on World Cup records, not overall records, although, Clarke's overall ODI record was still pretty good! But in World Cups he really stepped up.

Starc certainly is a contender. Though, the players in this side basically all performed in multiple world cups, so Starc certainly has a chance to be in such an all-time side in the future if he can back up the 2015 WC performance with a couple more pretty good ones. Although, I'd think that single WC should at least be enough to get him into the "reserves" list.

It is a team based on World Cup performances, not overall career's. And Clarke's record in World Cup cricket is imperious, while, as you point out yourself, Lillee didn't play enough World Cup cricket to be considered.

Excellent team Kersi. Don’t have a grouse with any of your picks. What a team this would be!

An interesting discussion. On World Cup figures alone, it’s hard to argue with the batting lineup, although I’d say Glenn Maxwell’s average of 64.80 plus his scoring rate, bowling and fielding gets him in just ahead of Symonds, whose average is due to a lot of not outs. Bichel is a bit too left field on the basis of one World Cup, which included matches against Namibia, Netherlands and Kenya! I’d go for Damien Fleming with an average of 22.4 over 16 matches, none of them again such teams with associate status. If you were looking at our best all time ODI team to play in an imaginary World Cup though I don’t see how you could leave out Greg Chappell, our best batsman after Bradman, with a career ODI average over 40 with the bat and 29 with the ball, despite playing only 5 WC matches. And Dean Jones, who averaged 42 at the World Cup and 46 overall. And don’t forget M Bevan. Perhaps Clarke and Steve Waugh to drop out, or maybe keep Waugh ahead of Maxwell or Symonds. Need to take into account that when Chappell and Jones played the boundaries were 10 metres or more longer and the bats didn’t hit 10-20 metres further as they do today. You can discount batting numbers since about 2000 by up to 15% in my view. You’d also consider picking Dennis Lillee ahead of Lee on the basis of his career ODI average of 20.8 at an economy rate of 3.6.

I don't think you're giving M Waugh enough credit - in the 1996 WC he finished the tournament with 484 runs at an average of 80.66 and a strike rate of 85.36, second only to Tendulkar (and he scored three tons and one fifty). Warner actually only had a so-so 2015 WC, with one ton against Afghanistan being his only score above 50 in 8 games - its just that he managed 178 against an attack we absolutely walloped, and that heavily skewered his stats for that WC.

Gary Gilmore has a pretty decent World Cup record !

Hence no Lillee!

The team is supposed to be based on World Cup performances, which effectively rules out Lillee. He took 12 wickets in 9 matches over the 75 and 83 Cups at an average of 33.33. Nowhere near good enough to make an ‘all time’ list. With Clarke and Symonds in the side we don’t need a second specialist spinner. I’d pick Bichel or Starc over Hogg.

Thank you all for your interesting many-splendoured inputs. Paul, a story forming an imaginary line up of best players of different vintage is to arouse a debate -- hotter the better! It's like selecting a Best Ever Test XI which will feature players from different eras. Conditions were vastly different when Jack Hobbs, Bill Ponsford, Don Bradman, Keith Miller, Dudley Nourse, Bert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton, Wes Hall, Fred Trueman, Frank Worrell, Imran Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Pollock, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, the Chappell and Mohammed brothers, Shane Warne , Adam Gilchrist, Sangakkara, Garry Sobers, Viv Richards, Glenn McGrath, Muralidharan, Virat Kohli… played over 100 years apart.

I always saw Hussey as the best of both Becan and Jokes. Pick him and you make room for Watson to open and bat 6 - that is how good he was!

Kersi, you've created a bit of a dilemma with this article. I don't know how you line up different players from different eras when the playing conditions from 1975 are markedly different at ODI level. I'm unsure why you decided we had to have two spinners when ALL of Australia's World Cup wins have involved one spinner. Even when we were victorious in '87 in India, we only played Tim May, with support from guys like Border, Waugh and O'Donnell. Guys like Warner have only played one World Cup series yet managed nearly 350 runs at an average just over 49 and a strike rate of 120! How does that stack up against Mark Waugh for example, a player who is probably a lock for most people in our best team, but who never got close to these numbers on any of the World Cup series he played in? The same goes for other guys like Ian Chappell & Doug Walters, both of whom would have been superstars at short form cricket, but only played a handful of games. A fun exercise would be to put together a team that played only one World Cup and compare it with your best team, all of whom have played at least 2 or more. That would allow the Starcs, Bichels, and Chappells to be more fairly judged.