Your side would be beaten by
Tendulkar
Gilchrist
Ponting
Kohli
ABDV
Bevan
Kluesener/Symonds (pitch dependent)
Pollock
Warne
Wasim
McGrath
This side has a mix of everything it needs to win in all conditions everywhere. Watson at 6 was nowhere near as good as Watson opening. Your side has a decent fast bowling attack but lacks a second spinner of any note. ABDV likes to bat one lower. Your side is also missing the greatest ODI fast bowler of the era and the greatest middle order ODI bat/finisher of all time.
Buttler is a horrible pick for your middle order when you have Dhoni, Bevan and Hussey to pick from. The thing I find funniest though is that in the time period, 1993-2018, there have been 6 world cups. 4 of those world cups have been won by Australia and yet your team has one Australian in it and he was not a key performer in those world cup wins. How on Earth did Australia win so many games if they only have one player who is worthy of an XI in those years?
Re Australia: Less weak links than the rest of the teams, more players in the 2nd and third team than opposition. Gilly, Hayden, Mark Waugh, Martyn, McGrath, Warne, Hussey, Ponting, Clarke, Hogg, Lee, Starc, S Waugh, there was a constant supply of above very good players for Australia.
Re Buttler: I'm starting to like his inclusion more and more.
Re Watto: he survived a Wahab Riaz blitz in the last world cup didn't he? I could have gone with Symonds here, but I just felt Watto's bowling gave it to him.
Re ABdV he has batted 125 times at 4, and just 42 at 5 (besides which if anything ABdV is flexible to batting order on how many overs are left at the fall of a wicket, not a batting position as such)
Re Second spinner - Agreed, but Jayasuriya was not going to usurp Tendulkar or Amla, and Symonds lost out to Watto, but Tendulkar's record as a bowler isn't bad compared to Symonds in all seriousness, and he is the 7th option. Tendulkar has 2 5 wicket bags and 154 wickets.
Re Trundler and Flintoff - Flintoff can bat 5 and Watson 7 if you prefer.
1 Amla
2 Tendulkar 7
3 Kohli
4 ABdV
5 Flintoff 3
6 Buttler +
7 Watson 6
8 Klesuner 4
9 Pollock 1
10 Akram 2
11 Murali 5
It is remarkable how upset people are with me including Buttler. It is like I have commited a treason, or a deeply religious insult to them. He went to Australia and smashed them, he has taken on a very strong NZ side at home and away many times since the 2015 WC and smashed them, he has smashed SA in SA, he has smashed Pakistan in UAE, his one significant career hole appears to be India, but anyone who watched or followed the IPL this year will tell you that's more likely to be an anomaly thus far (but maybe India has his number, we get to find out this summer don't we?) The guy has been going great and is a core part of an English ODI cricket revival. He bring SR game to its zenith where his not out percentage is only 20% so he will never likely have the average to compete with more established cricketers. I prefer his style of play in a team that bats deep.
He has played over 100 games now, has risen further under Morgan and himself with just scintillating results and is clearly a very talented cricketer. There is no reason to be offended.
