Would Stuart Broad make the world's strongest XI?

[GIMH]

Discuss

 

[Cevno]

No.

/End thread.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yes, as he is already in it.

 

[MW1304]

If he can't make India's, how is he supposed to make the world's? Be serious.

 

[weeman27bob]

Depends on whether you want to include Zaheer for the third seam spot.

 

[Redbacks]

Depends on whether you want to include Zaheer for the third seam spot.

Was thinking the same thing with his injuries now being a massive downside. Before this series I would have had Tremlett as the next man into the World XI but Broad's form is hard to ignore.

 

[Howe_zat]

Yes, as he is already in it.

I award this post ten internet points.

 

[weeman27bob]

Also, who gets picked numbers 2-6?

Over the last two years: Kallis, Trott, KP, Bell, Amla, Watson, Dravid, Tendulkar AB Dev. all have good claims for a place

 

[Cevno]

Depends on whether you want to include Zaheer for the third seam spot.

Was thinking the same thing with his injuries now being a massive downside. Before this series I would have had Tremlett as the next man into the World XI but Broad's form is hard to ignore.

Are we selecting who performed best in the last series they played 11,then yes.

Otherwise i am not sure you are being serious?

 

[Neil Pickup]

The question, I suppose, distils down to whether you would want Broad, Zak or Morkel as your third seamer alongside Anderson, Swann & Steyn. I'd tend towards Broad for the following three reasons: (i) bias, (ii) height/style and (iii) batting.

Who would open with Cook in a world XI at the moment? Watto? Dravid? Amla?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Are we selecting who performed best in the last series they played 11,then yes.

Otherwise i am not sure you are being serious?

The way I look at these things is to think about the strongest XI the planet would put out for a challenge match aganst Mars next week/next month.

A fully fit Zak would be in without a doubt, however right now you don't know what you're going to get from him. I suppose my XI might look a little like this:

Cook
Dravid
Kallis
Tendulkar
Sangakkara
Bell
+Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Steyn

 

[Cevno]

The way I look at these things is to think about the strongest XI the planet would put out for a challenge match aganst Mars next week/next month.

A fully fit Zak would be in without a doubt, however right now you don't know what you're going to get from him. I suppose my XI might look a little like this:

Cook
Dravid
Kallis
Tendulkar
Sangakkara
Bell
+Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Steyn

Depends on where the match is being played tbh and how long you go back to make selections.

There are a few bowlers ahead of Broad for the last 2 years -

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

And his record outside of England is still pretty poor both with the bat and the ball.

I generally would assume a 2 year timeframe which is fair and the series to be played with matches on all different types of surfaces and different type of balls and weather conditions.

 

[Howe_zat]

The question, I suppose, distils down to whether you would want Broad, Zak or Morkel as your third seamer alongside Anderson, Swann & Steyn. I'd tend towards Broad for the following three reasons: (i) bias, (ii) height/style and (iii) batting.

Who would open with Cook in a world XI at the moment? Watto? Dravid? Amla?

Broad vs Morkel is an interesting one.Yes, Morkel is inconsistent and has a dodgy away record, but Broad's even more so on both accounts. Batting is probably all he has over him right now. On Zak, I have no idea if he'll ever be fit enough to complete a Test series again. It doesn't look great.

Not sure about the Cook one. Might depend on where the game takes place.

(Checking, the ICC rankings say Watto.)

 

[BoyBrumby]

The way I look at these things is to think about the strongest XI the planet would put out for a challenge match aganst Mars next week/next month.

A fully fit Zak would be in without a doubt, however right now you don't know what you're going to get from him. I suppose my XI might look a little like this:

Cook
Dravid
Kallis
Tendulkar
Sangakkara
Bell
+Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Steyn

If I was picking it to play the Martian XI tomorrow I'd probably have Twatto opening, drop Rahul and Kallis down a place each with Sachin missing out.

Also, I dunno if anyone saw the Ch5 highlights, but Vaughan said whilst we have the strongest bowling line up with SA second, he reckons we also have the third best one too:

Tremlett, Finn, Onions, Panesar.

Case could be made, tbh.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Obviously, a game to defend the planet's honour would be played at the Home of Cricket!

Broad's selection is obviously based on his performing in the manner he has demonstrated in the last few months, once he realised that it was a better idea to bowl at the stumps than at his own shoelaces. Prior to that, he was clearly not even worth a place in the England side.

TBH, I would be quite tempted to go Cook-Strauss-Dravid-Trott-Pietersen-Bell-Prior-Bresnan-Broad-Swann-Anderson and maintain the team spirit these 11 players have built up in each other's company all summer...

 

[Cevno]

If I was picking it to play the Martian XI tomorrow I'd probably have Twatto opening, drop Rahul and Kallis down a place each with Sachin missing out.
.

Tomorrow then Dilshan should come in too and Sangakkara should miss out too.

Kallis hasn't played for a while either....

Might as well pick the english 11 tbh if the match is being played in England

 

[ankitj]

Yes, as he is already in it.

Haha. Well played.

 

[Van Buren]

Yes, he would make my World XI quite easily.

Steyn picks himself, obviously, and he is a one-man bowling army against right-handers.

Since this is hypothetical, I'm making the outlandish assumption that Zaheer is fit. In the SA team, Morkel makes up for Steyn's relative ineffectiveness against left handers, and Zaheer seems even better in this regard.

Broad fills the role of the third seamer, but I'm assuming that he keeps the ball on a good/full length and doesn't revert to the short-pitched tripe that has dented his career averages. I've seen him eviscerate South African, Australian and Indian lineups with subtle swing in the air, seam off the pitch and even reverse swing.

I realize that Anderson is rated much higher than Broad at present, but a couple of seasons of full-pitched bowling from Broad, and I'm fairly certain that Broad's bowling averages will overtake Anderson's; they're fairly close already - Broad's home and away averages seem to mirror Anderson's. Broad handily outbowled Anderson this series, and I rate Broad's wicket-to-wicket bowling much higher when the conditions aren't as favorable.

 

[Howe_zat]

I don't think he would make my world XI, but if you're of the mind that your best side wants a bowling allrounder (as well as the batting variety, almost certainly Kallis) then there's almost no case to keep him out.

 

[four_or_six]

If I was picking it to play the Martian XI tomorrow I'd probably have Twatto opening, drop Rahul and Kallis down a place each with Sachin missing out.

Also, I dunno if anyone saw the Ch5 highlights, but Vaughan said whilst we have the strongest bowling line up with SA second, he reckons we also have the third best one too:

Tremlett, Finn, Onions, Panesar.

Case could be made, tbh.

Not quite so OTT as he was going on TMS this afternoon then, where he also had us with the fourth best bowling attack... I forget who was in it apart from Rashid.