Unless England wakes up from her post-Ashes victory slumber and wins today in Adelaide, the ODI series will be as dead as a dodo. So let’s move our focus from Australia to the sub-continent. As the tenth World Cup (WC) approaches, let us select an imaginary all-time great World Cup XI based mainly on statistics.
We need five to six specialist batsmen, an all-rounder or two, a wicket-keeper who can bat, two fast to fast medium bowlers and a spinner.
Top batsmen based on runs scored, average and strike rate (SR) in WC:
Sachin Tendulkar (India) has scored most runs (1796 at 57.93 in 36 matches, SR 88.21) followed by Ricky Ponting (Australia) 1537 at 48.03 in 39, SR 81.06; Brian Lara (West Indies) 1225 at 42.24 in 34, SR 86.26); Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) 1165 at 34.26 in 38, SR 90.66; Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 1085 at 36.16, SR 98.01 in 31; Javed Miandad (Pakistan) 1083 at 43.32 in 33, SR 68.02 and Vivian Richards (WI) 1013 at 63.31 in 23, SR 85.05.
Having made 52 dismissals (45 catches and seven stumpings in 31 matches), Gilchrist is way ahead of other wicket-keepers. The next best is Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, 32 (26 plus six) in 21.
We have four candidates for all-rounders:
India’s Kapil Dev: 669 runs at 37.16, SR 115.14 and 28 wickets at 31.85 in 26 matches.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan: 666 runs at 35.05, SR 65.68 and 34 wickets at 19.26 in 28.
England’s Ian Botham: 297 runs at 18.56, SR 62.39 and 30 wickets at 25.40 in 22.
Australia’s Steve Waugh: 978 runs at 48.90, SR 81.02 and 27 wickets at 30.14 in 33.
Two opening bowlers have outstanding figures:
Australia’s Glenn McGrath: 71 wickets (a WC record) at 18.19 in 39 matches.
Pakistan’s Wasim Akram coming next with 55 wickets at 23.83 besides 426 runs at 19.36, SR 101.18 in 38.
Now to the spinner position: off-spinner and doosra specialist Muttiah Muralitharan from Sri Lanka or Australian leg-spin legend Shane Warne?
Murali has taken more scalps; 53 at 19.69 in 31 matches compared to Warney’s 32 at 19.50 in 17.
Now to the hard part, selection of the WC XI on stats.
Who will open the innings? Tendulkar is a certainty, having scored most runs in WC history. His opening partner would be Jayasuriya, Hayden or Gilchrist.
I take the easy way out and go for Gilchrist as in one-day internationals (including WC) he has shone out as an opener. Who can forget his scintillating 149 against SL in the 2007 WC final at Bridgetown?
Ponting walks in at no.3 with fine credentials as batsman, fielder and captain. Under him Australia has won not only the last two World Cups in 2003 and 2007 but also all the matches. Only Tendulkar has scored more runs.
The Master Blaster Richards is a must at no.4. He will prompt the opposition captain to place most of his fielders on the boundary line.
The no.5 spot provides a predicament: Pakistan’s controversial Javed Miandad or the West Indian demolition expert Brian Lara? Lara is my man for his explosive batting.
Cool-cat captain Steve Waugh will take strike at no.6 and bowl miserly overs at the death.
Imran and Kapil Dev will bat at nos.7 and 8 and do reverse-swing after Akram and McGrath share the new ball.
Only one spot remains for a spinner and we have outstanding candidates in Muralitharan and Warne. Murali wins the spot – just.
Based on the above statistics, here is my all-time great World Cup XI in batting order:
Tendulkar, Gilchrist (WK), Ponting, Richards, Lara, Steve Waugh (captain), Imran (vice-captain), Kapil, Akram, Muralitharan and McGrath.
12th man: Hayden. Reserves: Warne, Miandad and Jayasuriya.
My WC XI includes four from Australia, two each from West Indies, India and Pakistan and one from Sri Lanka.
Significantly (or is it coincidentally?), only these four nations have won the World Cup – Australia four times, West Indies twice, and India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka once each.
What do you think of the XI? Let us know your World Cup XI.
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
If people can lose their job, and clubs can face massive payouts, due to the behaviour of coaches, it will drastically change the way sporting teams in Australia will be run.
Australian fast bowling great Jason Gillespie has been named head coach of Pakistan's Test team, as the nation overhauls its coaching department ahead of…
Will Jacks got RCB past the 200 target set by Gujarat with four overs to spare.
With Rajasthan needing 25 off 17, both batsmen ended up at the same end but the bowler dropped the throw from his teammate -…
A six-laden, 27-ball 84 from Jake Fraser-McGurk to continue his outrageous debut IPL!
