An effort to pick an All-time ODI XI

[Spark]

Even with that logic there are a few far better candidates for the opening spot IMO. Jayasuriya, Gilchrist etc

 

[Contra]

I can never understand this idea of putting players at batting positions they don't bat in. Especially for Openers, slotting them one down just to fit them in is kinda just weird.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Amla would be the rock of the innings, my one concession to the importance of batting average. Anyway, his strike rate is higher than Jayasuriyas. I'd have Gilchrist at 5 in an effort to replicate the psychological damage that Aussie inflicted in Tests, where they were 5 down only to have Gilly come in.

I could swap Amla and Tendulkar around, I suppose, but since Amla has a higher strike rate it might be good just to leave him there.

 

[Spark]

I think there is a more obvious problem - there is no way in hell you could call Amla an ODI great yet, he's not the first batsman to have a ridiculous run of form.

And Afridi... no. Just no.

 

[Contra]

Amla would be the rock of the innings, my one concession to the importance of batting average. Anyway, his strike rate is higher than Jayasuriyas. I'd have Gilchrist at 5 in an effort to replicate the psychological damage that Aussie inflicted in Tests, where they were 5 down only to have Gilly come in.

I could swap Amla and Tendulkar around, I suppose, but since Amla has a higher strike rate it might be good just to leave him there.

Except Amla's played about 50 ODI's... as compared to Tendulkar who's played what 450+ now?

Amla's a good player, but really it's only a matter of time before he gets out of his purple patch and gets a string of low scores which will push his average down.

And Gilly @ 5 just doesn't work, Tests are totally different, Gilly especially NEEDS pace on the ball first up, no way in hell would he be successful if he had to come in around the 30-35 over mark and and nudge it around for singles. There's a reason he was promoted up the order. Same goes for Sehwag and Jayasuria.

As far as Afridi goes he's not a bad shout by any means, his bowling in ODI's has been really good over the last few years, and in an All Time XI it's easier to gamble with those type of players then in regular teams.

 

[Spark]

It's a pretty bad shout when you consider some of the players you have to leave out in turn.

 

[smash84]

This team might be a bit unorthodox, but I believe that batting strike rate is far more important than batting average and bowling economy rate is far more important than bowling average (in ODIs).

1. H. Amla
2. V. Sehwag
3. S. Tendulkar
4. V. Richards (c)
5. A. Gilchrist (k)
6. S. Afridi (6)
7. A. Flintoff (5)
8. K. Dev (4)
9. R. Hadlee (3)
10. W. Akram (1)
11. S. Bond (2)

Afridi to bowl some of Dev/Flintoff's overs if it's a turning wicket, otherwise there as a batting gamble.

Tendulkar should open and Sehwag shouldn't be in an IDO AT XI

 

[Contra]

It's a pretty bad shout when you consider some of the players you have to leave out in turn.

Tbh I haven't looked much into the actual exercise that's going on, was talking more from a general POV, and probably by the time Afridi retires his record will be good enough to be considered for a place in an All time ODI XI... unless he tails off dramatically, which is highly unlikely.

 

[Jono]

I remember doing this on CW a while ago. I wonder if mine has changed much. Dhoni and Symonds may have been added in, and I may have had McGrath ahead of Ambrose (I find it ridiculously difficult to separate those two in both forms).

Gilchrist+
Tendulkar
Viv
Ponting
Symonds
Bevan
Dhoni
Pollock
Murali
Ambrose
Garner

Immense batting order.

 

[Jono]

May be able to add this bloke in a few years

 

[kingkallis]

I can never understand this idea of putting players at batting positions they don't bat in. Especially for Openers, slotting them one down just to fit them in is kinda just weird.

We did think about dividing them into Openers / Middle order / All-rounders / Lower order / Tail enders but that's too batsman centric hence decided to go with Batsman / All rounder / Wickey / Bowlers

But we may go back to 1-2 / 3-4-5 / 6-7 / 8-9-10-11 in the All-time test draft!

 

[Zinzan]

I remember doing this on CW a while ago. I wonder if mine has changed much. Dhoni and Symonds may have been added in, and I may have had McGrath ahead of Ambrose (I find it ridiculously difficult to separate those two in both forms).

Gilchrist+
Tendulkar
Viv
Ponting
Symonds
Bevan
Dhoni
Pollock
Murali
Ambrose
Garner

Immense batting order.

Good team, but it seems a waste to have both Dhoni & Gilchrist in the same side imo. I know Dhoni has a great one-day record, but not sure he's in the top 7 batsmen ever. Also would have Sir Dick Hadlee instead of Ambrose, very little between them as ODI bowlers & Hadlee batting at 9 would make the batting depth even more immense.

 

[Howe_zat]

Will take a stab with the mostly orthodox:

Sachin Tendulkar
Adam Gilchrist+
Ricky Ponting
Viv Richards
Brian Lara
Michael Bevan
Imran Khan (4) (c)
Wasim Akram (2)
Joel Garner (3)
Muttiah Muralitharan (5)
Glenn McGrath (1)

Though I got thinking about a variant, that may well beat them on a spin-heavy wicket. This one gets an idea I quite like, having two trademark "finishers" in the middle order. Would think having them in partnership would be something of a nightmare to have to deal with.

Sachin Tendulkar
Sanath Jayasuriya (5)
Ricky Ponting
Viv Richards
Brian Lara
Michael Bevan
Mahedra Singh Dhoni+
Wasim Akram (2)
Waqar Younis (3)
Muttiah Muralitharan (4)
Glenn McGrath (1)

Will make two changes - Abbas for Lara in both XIs, and Kapil for Imran in the first. I included Imran partly for captaincy but in hindsight, I doubt that XI would need it much.

 

[Shri]

Good team, but it seems a waste to have both Dhoni & Gilchrist in the same side imo. I know Dhoni has a great one-day record, but not sure he's in the top 7 batsmen ever. Also would have Sir Dick Hadlee instead of Ambrose, very little between them as ODI bowlers & Hadlee batting at 9 would make the batting depth even more immense.

Maintaining an average of 50+ with a strike rate of about 90 over 7 years is pretty awesome. Only behind Bevan and Tendulkar in ODI AT batsmen rankings for me.

 

[Shri]

Anyways my AT ODI XI would be something like:

S Tendulkar
M Hayden
V Richards
R Ponting [C]
M Dhoni [Wk]
M Bevan
L Klusener
R Hadlee
W Akram
M Muralitharan
G McGrath

 

[smash84]

Maintaining an average of 50+ with a strike rate of about 90 over 7 years is pretty awesome. Only behind Bevan and Tendulkar in ODI AT batsmen rankings for me.

Viv Richards?

 

[benchmark00]

Maintaining an average of 50+ with a strike rate of about 90 over 7 years is pretty awesome. Only behind Bevan and Tendulkar in ODI AT batsmen rankings for me.

Crazy.

 

[marc71178]

Good team, but it seems a waste to have both Dhoni & Gilchrist in the same side imo. I know Dhoni has a great one-day record, but not sure he's in the top 7 batsmen ever.

I'd personally have him nearer that list than Gilchrist, and by picking him you can bring in a second opener who would in more likelihood be a much better option than Gilchrist.

 

[kingkallis]

I'd personally have him nearer that list than Gilchrist, and by picking him you can bring in a second opener who would in more likelihood be a much better option than Gilchrist.

Well, that makes sense!

In that case, I'd open with Hayden and Tendulkar

 

[Zinzan]

Maintaining an average of 50+ with a strike rate of about 90 over 7 years is pretty awesome. Only behind Bevan and Tendulkar in ODI AT batsmen rankings for me.

As is often the case, sometimes you need to look at context as opposed to purely averages & strike-rates.

Ponder this thought......do you really think Dhoni (or Bevan for that matter) would be averaging 50 & with a SR of 90 (in Dhoni's case) if they batted at say no.3 for a more mediocre team like the W.I's or NZ of this era?

It certainly helps when you come in at no.7 in a very dominant team & have 48 not outs (out of 170 innings). I'm not doubting it's a fantastic batting record, I just don't see Dhoni as a better ODI batsmen than the likes of a Saeed Anwar or a De Silva if you strip away his fairly privileged position of generally coming in around overs 37-40 with his team in a strong position.