Refreshing some teams:
A: Anwar | Amiss | Amla | Abbas | Azharuddin | Amarnath | Ames + | Akram* | Ambrose | Ahmed, Mushtaq | Akhtar |
Close: Atherton, Atapattu, Anderson, Adcock, Alderman, Appleyard, Ajmal
The selection dilemmas in 'A' came in the choice of the spinner and the lower order batsmen. In the end, I went for Mushy ahead of Bob Appleyard and Ajmal. Both Atherton and Atapattu unlucky to miss out, as I thought them to be unsuitable number 6 bats. Amarnath is a real strong character to come in at 6. Adcock and Anderson missed out to Akhtar. Great pace attack. Good balance in batting too.
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B: Barnes | Boycott | Bradman* | Barrington | Border | Botham | Boucher + | Benaud | Barnes | Bedser | Bond |
Close: Boon, Bailey, Bedi, Bishop
The batting line-up pretty much wrote itself and is a real winner. The real problems were in leaving out Bishop and Bedi, who both have a solid case for being in the side. Pretty good bowling attack. Bond and Botham as the pace duo complemented by the spin of Barnes and Benaud, and the Bradman-certified medium of Bedser.
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C: Cook | Chappelli* | Chappell | Crowe | Compton | Chanderpaul | Cameron + | Croft | Clarke | Chandrasekhar | Cowie |
Close: Clarke, Cowdrey, Cairns, Clark (Stuart)
I couldn't find a good opener to partner Cook, so I went with the tenacious Ian Chappell, who I wanted as the skipper anyways. Very solid middle order. Jock Cameron from South Africa was a very fine keeper, and a good batsman as well with 10 fifties. Left out Stuart Clark to accommodate Cowie.
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D: Dempster | Dilshan | Dravid* | Dexter | De Villiers | Donnelley | Dujon + | Dev | Davidson | Donald | Doshi |
Close: De Silva, Duleepsinghji, Dhoni
The first real head turner was when I had to leave out Aravinda De Silva. Perhaps he could replace Donnelley, or AB can take the gloves and he comes in for Dujon. Perhaps. The bowlers all picked themselves.
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F: Fredericks | Fingleton | Fry | Fleming* | Flower + | Fletcher (Keith) | Faulkner | Flintoff | Fraser | Fleming | Freeman |
Close: Tip Foster, Finn
A side heavy on all-rounders with Faulkner and Flintoff, and also Fry to some extent, offering great support to Fraser and Damien Fleming. Freeman as the spinner.
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G: Gavaskar | Greenidge | Grace | Gooch* | Gower | Greig | Gilchrist + | Garner | Gillespie | Grimmett | Gough |
Close: Ganguly, Graveney, Gambhir, Gupte, L Gibbs, Griffith
Wonderful opening pair of ice and fire. 5 Englishmen in this side. Number 6 was the head scratcher for me here. Gambhir, Ganguly or Greig? I am a fan of Greig, so it was him. Had to leave out two spin legends in Gupte and Gibbs. One of them to come on board on spin friendly pitches ahead of Goughy.
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H: Hobbs | Hutton* | Headley | Harvey | Hammond | Hussey | Healy + | Hadlee | Holding | Hall | Herath |
Close: Hayden, Haynes, Hazare, Haddin, Hordern
Fantastic batting line up. Incredibe. Only problem here: Hussey or Hazare? I think Hussey bats well with the tail, so gave it to him. Really good pace attack. Herath over Hordern as spinner. Really strong team in all aspects.
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J: Jayasuriya | Jackson (Archie) | Jones | Jayawardene | Jackson (Stanley) | Jardine* | Jessop | Jayawardene + | Johnson | Johnston | Jones (Simon) |
Close: Julien (Bernard), Javed (Aaqib)
Decent team. Bats deep, with Prasanna Jayawardene in at number 8, followed by Mitch Johnson. Not too many options available to be honest. Bowling is on the weaker side. Johnson, Simon Jones, and Gilbert Jessop as the pacers, with Stanley Jackson as support. Johnston as the slow bowler, with Jayasuriya as support.
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K: Kirsten | Katich | Kanhai | Kallis | Khan (Younis) | Kallicharran | Knott + | Khan (Imran)* | Khan (Zaheer) | Kumble | Kasprowicz |
Close: Majid Khan, Kohli
Again, not too many options, but the Khans saved the day here. A very good middle order, and some quite useful bowling with Imran leading the attack.
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L: Langer | Lawry | Laxman | Lara | Leyland | Lloyd* | Lindsay + | Lindwall | Lillee | Laker | Larwood |
Close: Lehmann, Lohmann
Great bowling attack. Lohmann or Larwood? Difficult choice. Otherwise, good openers and a very solid middle order here. Strong team.
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M: Mitchell | Morris | May | Miandad | McCabe | Macartney | Miller* | Marsh + | Marshall | McGrath | Muralitharan |
Close: Merchant, Martyn, Hanif Mohammad
How do you leave out Damien Martyn, Vijay Merchant, and Hanif Mohammad? This one was a tough decision on the batting front. On the bowling front, easy as pie. The best bowling attack here. Macartney plays a useful role in the side at number 6.
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P: Ponsford | Pujara | Ponting* | Pollock | Pietersen | Paynter | Prior + | Procter | Pollock (Shaun) | Prasanna | Pollock (Peter) |
Close: Prince, Philander
Absolutely top notch brilliant middle order. The Pollocks dominate. A well rounded bowling attack too, though there is a lack of he fifth bowler. Ponting and KP to bowl some pies.
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R: Rhodes | Richards (Barry) | Richards (Viv)* | Richardson | Ranjitsinghji | Russell (Charles) | Rice | Russell (Jack) +| Ramadhin | Reid | Roberts |
Close: Mark Richardson, Redpath, Rae, Reiffel
Roberts, Reid, and Rice are a decent pace combination, with Ramadhin and Rhodes in a spin tandem. Charles Russell was a difficult choice, ahead of Redpath and Rae. Could pick Reiffel ahead of Ramadhin if another pacer is required.
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S: Simpson | Sutcliffe | Sangakkara | Smith (Graeme) | Sehwag | Sobers* | Stewart + | Swann | Spofforth | Steyn | Snow |
Close: Bert Sutcliffe, Smith (Steve), Statham
Can I pick Graeme Smith at number 4 and Sehwag at 5. Why not? I didn't want to pick Steve Smith just yet. Spofforth just edged it over Statham.
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T: Trumper | Turner | Taylor (Mark)* | Tendulkar | Tyldesley | Trott | Tallon + | Trueman | Tyson | Tayfield | Turner |
Close: Tillakarathane, Thorpe, Tate
Well rounded team, this one. A lot of variety in bowling. The biggest omission was Maurice Tate. I couldn't decide for a long time. Trueman is an automatic choice, of course. Would any of you leave out Tyson or Turner?
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W: Woodfull | Worrell | Weekes | Walcott | Waugh (Steve)* | Walters | Waite + | Warne | Willis | Wardle | Walsh |
Close: Warner, Mark Waugh, Woolley, Watson, Walker
The most difficult team to select by far for me. Great batting, with names like Mark Waugh and David Warner not included. Frank Woolley couldn't find a place in this side. Walsh and Willis to bowl pace, supported by Walters. Warne and Wardle as a spin tandem. Doug Walters or Mark Waugh? Such a difficult choice. Breaks my heart.
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My favorite teams are H, M, L, and W, with B and S just behind 
