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[niceonechoppy]

I'd sooner have Smith than Sehwag

Why is that James?

[Mr Cricket]

i would aswell, matter of opinion

[Jeet]

My side:

1. V Sehwag(most destructive player on the planet)
2. S Katich(more a grinder and ideal foil for Sehwag)
3. G Gambhir(wonderful player and master against spin)
4. S Tendulkar(reason not needed!!!)
5. M Clarke(long term no. 3 for Australia IMO when Punter retires)
6. J Kallis(Star all rounder)
7. MS Dhoni (c)(wk)(Seems capable of keeping big egos under control)
8. M Johnson(left arm fast = gold dust)
9. D Steyn(best fast bowler in the world)
10. Zaheer Khan(brilliant swing bowler and reverse swing demon)
11. Murali(magician)

12th man: Dan Vettori

[Str8bat]

1. Sehwag
2. Watson
3. Ponting
4. Tendulkar
5. Kallis
6. MS
7. Vettori
8. Johnson
9. Swann
10. Steyn
11. Morkel

[Apple]

My side:

1. V Sehwag(most destructive player on the planet)
2. S Katich(more a grinder and ideal foil for Sehwag)
3. G Gambhir(wonderful player and master against spin)
4. S Tendulkar(reason not needed!!!)
5. M Clarke(long term no. 3 for Australia IMO when Punter retires)
6. J Kallis(Star all rounder)
7. MS Dhoni (c)(wk)(Seems capable of keeping big egos under control)
8. M Johnson(left arm fast = gold dust)
9. D Steyn(best fast bowler in the world)
10. Zaheer Khan(brilliant swing bowler and reverse swing demon)
11. Murali(magician)

12th man: Dan Vettori

That would be my side, but with katich out for Smith, we all know how Smith can grind as well as play a more expansive role

[scuudz]

Sehwag
Smith (c)
Dravid
Ponting
Tendulkar
Kallis
Sangakkara (wk)
Vettori (vc)
Johnson
Steyn
Murali

12th man: Watson

I think thats a very well balanced team with batting down to #9, and 3 quicks and 3 spinners (if you include Sehwag as an occassional spinner).  Having an allrounder (who can open the batting if needed) as a 12th man covers all your bases.  The only thing thats not ideal is the fact that I probably have about 3 genuine #3 and #4 batsmen in my line-up.  Something more challenging would be to make up a world XI using players in the line-up at the number at which they bat for their countries (i.e you can only have a true #3 batsman at #3 and, for example, you cant have Kallis at #6 like I do above). 

If I applied that rule, then my team would probably look like:

Smith (c)
Sehwag
Kallis
Tendulkar
Clarke
Laxman
Boucher (wk)
Vettori (vc)
Johnson
Steyn
Murali

12th man: Watson

I rate Dravid and Ponting as better cadidates for #3, but Kallis gets in ahead of them as he provides the team with an extra seamer as well.

[amoboko]

A bit variation in it.


1. McCullum
2. Tendulkar
3. Kallis
4. Ponting
5. Gayle
6. deVilliers
7. M. Hussey
8. Malinga
9. Vettori
10. Southee
11. Broad

[peplow]

gayle at 5?

southee?

interesting side there mate

[Nespresco]

1. Smith - RH/LH combo best left hand opener and one of the top openers in the world, also a inspiring character and a good captain
2. Sehwag - Best opener in the world, capable of going on and scoring big hundreds as well as teeing off
3. Sangakkara - best w/k batsmen in the world, currently best number 3 in the world?
4. Tendulkar - Best batsmen I have ever seen live, no further justification required
5. Jayawardene - class act!  a great test record and a good slip fielder as well.
6. AB De Villiers - exciting shot player can score quickly if needed to push for a declaration, back up wicket keeper and one of the best fielders in the world
7. Kallis - best all rounder since sir garfield?
8. Swann - worlds leading spinner, can contribute with the bat and in the slips also
9. Amir - I wanted a bit of variation, johnson has been out of sorts for a while, Amir bowls a great line and length, good pace and can swing the ball, will only get better, also showed a degree of ability with the bat
10. Anderson - if it swings, hes the first name on the list, can bowl 90mph+ also a great fielder
11. Steyn - best fast bowler in the world

12th man Collingwood - In my oppinion, best fielder since jonty retired, lots of experience solid uncomplicated bat that can get a job done.

Honourable mentions
Amla - worlds most underated cricketer?
Tamin - leading run scorer in 2010 so far, young and exciting
morkel - not picked to have a more varied attack
Asif - quality just didnt see a spot for him.

[peplow]

1. Smith - RH/LH combo best left hand opener and one of the top openers in the world, also a inspiring character and a good captain
2. Sehwag - Best opener in the world, capable of going on and scoring big hundreds as well as teeing off
3. Sangakkara - best w/k batsmen in the world, currently best number 3 in the world?
4. Tendulkar - Best batsmen I have ever seen live, no further justification required
5. Jayawardene - class act!  a great test record and a good slip fielder as well.
6. AB De Villiers - exciting shot player can score quickly if needed to push for a declaration, back up wicket keeper and one of the best fielders in the world
7. Kallis - best all rounder since sir garfield?
8. Swann - worlds leading spinner, can contribute with the bat and in the slips also
9. Amir - I wanted a bit of variation, johnson has been out of sorts for a while, Amir bowls a great line and length, good pace and can swing the ball, will only get better, also showed a degree of ability with the bat
10. Anderson - if it swings, hes the first name on the list, can bowl 90mph+ also a great fielder
11. Steyn - best fast bowler in the world

12th man Collingwood - In my oppinion, best fielder since jonty retired, lots of experience solid uncomplicated bat that can get a job done.

Honourable mentions
Amla - worlds most underated cricketer?
Tamin - leading run scorer in 2010 so far, young and exciting
morkel - not picked to have a more varied attack
Asif - quality just didnt see a spot for him.

Likingt that team, currently a very good shout for world XI, maybe vettori gets a mention?

and i'd possibly have clarke instead of mahela j

[RichW]

I have issues with Mahela being in a world XI of any sort as if you look at his record away from home it is very poor!!

Anderson, Styen, Kallis and Amir are all excellent bowlers, however they are all bowlers whose main weapon is swing. In Asia, Australia and the West Indies the ball does not swing as much if at all. Therefore I would replace one them (probably Anderson) with Morkel, Johnson or Broad.

Other than that a very good team! I think mine would be (based on a test outside the Aisa)

Smith
Sehwag
Sangakara *
Clarke
Tendulkar
Kallis
Prior
Vettori
Johnson
Amir
Steyn

[Nespresco]

Id Pick swann over vettori every day of the week vettori was second choice but i just feel swann is bowling far better.
What would clarke bring to the team over jayawardene ? Both are quality mahela edges it for me though, firstly I preffer watching him play, secondly we all know how well he can bat with sangakkara? Sub-continent players are sometimes thought of having a slight weakness of shot pitched bowling, but to the best of my knowledge mahela can hook and pull well, and clarke recently had all sorts of problems agains broad and got bounced out a few times.

You also have to consider fielding, mahela is an excellent slipper as well as some other members of the team. Clarke is excellent in the covers but so is AB and i seen jimmy do well at cover/extra too

I have issues with Mahela being in a world XI of any sort as if you look at his record away from home it is very poor!!

Anderson, Styen, Kallis and Amir are all excellent bowlers, however they are all bowlers whose main weapon is swing. In Asia, Australia and the West Indies the ball does not swing as much if at all. Therefore I would replace one them (probably Anderson) with Morkel, Johnson or Broad.

Other than that a very good team! I think mine would be (based on a test outside the Aisa)

Smith
Sehwag
Sangakara *
Clarke
Tendulkar
Kallis
Prior
Vettori
Johnson
Amir
Steyn

You reject mahela because he is poor away from home, johson cant bowl away from austrailia. Also your picking prior as a batsmen presumably to bat at number 7 with sangakkara keeping? I think there are better options to bat at 7.

Anderson is in as a swing bowler, Amir is in because hes a left armer and isnt all that different to johnson but hes bowling a lot better lines at the moment. Yes Steyn can swing the ball but id say his pace is by far his main weapon and would back him to take wickets even when it doesnt swing.

[RichW]

I think Vettori is a better bowler than Swann and I think that over the next few years this will be proved as people start to work out the way he bowls and his tactics (I may well end up with egg on my face after this statement).

I agree that Mahela is amazing to watch bat I wish more players were like him however I stated that the test was to played out side the Asia, Mahela onlys averages 36 when he bats in Aus, SA and Eng with only 3 hundreds. I don't think that all Asian batsman have trouble playing the short ball Dravid, Tendulkar and Sangakara are examples of those who don't. Clarke did have some trouble against the short ball however that was more in the short form of the game where he was trying to score instead of evading the ball.

I also agree that Johnson can't seem to bowl outside of Aus however I still feel he is a better option that Anderson again this is more personal preference.

I only have Prior in the side for balence, Sangakara is my captain and batting at 3, i think to keep wicket aswell would be to much pressure. In world XI you would hope that the top six would score enough runs and that they wouldn't need a specialist bat at 7. However I might also be tempted to swap Jayawardene the Sri Lanka wicket kepper in for Prior purely on his wicket keeper ability which I hear is excellent. We only need to look at the test between Eng and Pak to see how important catches are and so in team with so much batting and bowling I think you can afford a specialist wicket keeper.

As for slips you have Smith, Kallis, Tendulkar. Johnson and Steyn who are very athletic in the outfield

[Nespresco]

Hard to say, IF/when swann gets found out then ill drop him.
 I have tried to pick a team that will do well in any conditions, even if mahela chips in with 300ish runs in a 4 test series there is 6 other batsmen which can score runs. Same thing with Anderson if the ball swings he is the best in the world, if it doesnt the rest of the attack is more than capable of taking 20 wickets. Sangakkara will keep for me and smith is captain, I personally feel hes a better leader. I could have picked another all rounder to bat at 7 but there just isnt anyone good enough. I wasnt under the impression that kallis/tendulker were anything special in slips i might be wrong though.

Any of these sides would do pretty well i think!

[essexarsenal]

Mine would be

Amla
Sangakarra
Ponting
Tendulkar
Chanderpaul
Samraweera
Vettori
Swann
Amir
Hilfenhaus
Steyn

Amla and Samraweera - most underated players in cricket
Hilfenhaus - underated bowler ?