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[Nickauger]

Am I the only one who doesn't rate Graeme Smith that highly? I'll be honest, the bulk of innings I've seen him play have been against Australia and his record against us isn't great (averages 37), but is he really one of the best two opening bats going around in world cricket at the moment? I'm not suggesting he's terrible or anything, just posing the question.

Unreal player. Great captain too! I remember (just) watching him at Somerset and I think he scored 300 in a day. Unbelievable innings!

[jw17]

This is probably tougher now than it has been for a few years as the likes of Ponting and Tendulkar slide away and a new generation try to stake their claims.  As such, there are surprisingly few nailed on selections for me - no opener really stands out, and once you go past Amla and Clarke you could probably perm from about six or seven names for the remaining middle order slots (Kallis being on the down slope now).  Keeper is a comparative embarrassment of riches, with the pure glovework of Jayawardene competing against the classic counter attack of Prior and the conservative options of Sangakkara and De Villiers who are both primarily batsmen.  As for the bowlers, Steyn is a nailed on certainty but then any combination of Philander, Anderson, Morkel, Harris, Siddle, Roach, Boult and Broad would have some arguable merit, whilst the debate between Swann and Ajmal is one that could easily fill a whole night in the pub.

My side, for what its worth, is based on the principle that I want to attack rather than sit on the back foot or pack the side with all rounders:

GC Smith
AN Cook (though I seriously considered a left field selection of Chris Rogers as I think his technique has been worked over less)
HM Amla
KP Pietersen
MJ Clarke
AB De Villiers (wkt)
VD Philander
GC Swann or T Boult depending on conditions
DW Steyn
JM Anderson
Saeed Ajmal

Trent Boult should be no where near a worlds best test 11 yet that's a shocking shout.

[iand123]

Slightly off topic ish,


I think the icc should do a one of test match every year.

Worlds no1 vs the rest of the world xi

Would south Africa cube able to beat the Rest of the world xi at mo? And what would be that xi?

When i did the lords tour last month the guide was saying there was a one-off ODI being played as the MCC vs the rest of the world next year to celebrate 200 (i think) years at Lords. I think a similar game was played before for the previous milestone (150) and this was a test match. he said they couldnt do a test match this time round as it was so difficult to get a side of top players available from around the world with all of the different schedules etc

[Kieron_BT]

K Powell
G Smith
H Amla
J Kallis
I Bell
AB de Villiers+
B McCullum*
S Broad/Philanderer
R Harris
S Ajmal
D Steyn

Joke?

[Manormanic]

Trent Boult should be no where near a worlds best test 11 yet that's a shocking shout.

No it isn't.  I want five bowlers because I firmly believe that that is the way to win test matches.  If the conditions do not suit two spinners then I want some variety amongst my four seamers - I have Steyn who is outright quick, Philander who nags it round off the seam and Anderson who does the hoops - that leaves space for either a left armer or an out and out gas bowler - of whom there are precious few candidates.  So of the left armers, tell me who has been better than Boult in the last eighteen months?  Starc?  Johnson? Zaheer?  None of them... so I go for Boult rather than an identikit attack.

[Alvaro]

Joke?

I thought that there should be a spot for a young buck and given that other opening choices are uninspiring, why not go for someone a bit different? I quite enjoy watching him bat and he has potential.

So no. Not a joke.

[Kieron_BT]

I thought that there should be a spot for a young buck and given that other opening choices are uninspiring, why not go for someone a bit different? I quite enjoy watching him bat and he has potential.

So no. Not a joke.

Why would you ever pick Powell in front of Cook/Sangakarra/Root?

[Alvaro]

I did. I wanted some flair at the top. It's completely hypothetical.

[mini998]

I did. I wanted some flair at the top. It's completely hypothetical.

BTW he average 23.73 when you take out Zimbabwe and Bangladesh from his stats.

[Alvaro]

It's a list of eleven names. I quite like him.

[mussaduq]

Cook
Amla
Chanderpaul
M.Clarke
Misbah
Bell
De Villers (WK)
Ajmal
Steyn
Anderson
M.Irfan 

[jamielsn15]

For what it's worth...

1. Smith
2. Cook
3. Amla
4. Pietersen
5. Clarke (c)
6. De Villiers
7. Prior (wk)
8. Philander
9. Steyn
10. Ajmal
11. Anderson

Went with a specialist keeper, which enables ABD to focus on batting - if I were going for five bowlers I'd pick Swann as well, but it leaves a pretty long tail (not that it should be a problem with the top 6!).
Clarke to skipper as I like his approach to captaincy.  I'm not saying that Smith and Cook aren't excellent captains; they are, but Clarke gets the nod for his creativity and he raises his game as skipper.

Would love to find a place for Sangakkara, I think he's superb, but can't look past Amla's current form at 3.  Ajmal seems to consistently be taking 5-fers and 10 wkts, so gets the nod over Swann for a bit of mystery as well.

[Manormanic]

interesting TO NOTE THAT - DESPITE THE STRONG BATTING ORDERS THAT ARE INEVITABLE AND THE FACT THAT OPENING IS EASILY THE WEAKEST SPOT HERE, NOT ONE PERSON HAS MENTIONED cHRIS gAYLE....

[Alvaro]

Few beers MM?

[Tumo]

BTW he average 23.73 when you take out Zimbabwe and Bangladesh from his stats.

Why would you ever pick Powell in front of Cook/Sangakarra/Root?

Failing to see a point here... Alvaro has picked a player, you don't agree, don't try and talk him out of it, it's his decision...

Trent Boult should be no where near a worlds best test 11 yet that's a shocking shout.

Same goes here. Actually, Boult was different gravy against us, and he's an extremely attacking bowler who also happens to give you very little to hit. I can't think of many (many, not ANY) better quick bowlers going around at the moment, and he's more consistent than some I can think of who people would say are better...