All time ODI XI

[Prince EWS]

I'm not sure if playing that many bowlers would help or hurt against the same team with an extra AR in it.

I do think that the extra bowler means you will be dropping more matches against weaker teams- even a top order that strong is collapsing sometimes.

Pollock played more innings at 7 than anywhere else and he averaged 30 there so I'm comfortable with it. Kind of annoying that the best three bowlers are all rank #11s though - would be happier with Pollock at 7 if I didn't have Murali at 9.

I think if the team is going to playing a team of similar quality - a Martian XI or a World Second XI or something - then having 20%+ of the overs bowled by Symonds, Klusener, Watson etc could be a real problem. They'd be targeted and belted by an ATG batting lineup IMO. I think it's more of a problem than the odd collapse that can't be rescued by Pollock.

I thought about Flintoff instead of Pollock, but the problem there is that he actually really struggled to hit from ball 1. He'd be better than Pollock at 7 if the team ended up 100/5, but in normal circumstances I think Pollock would actually be a better 7. I've even thought about putting Flintoff at 5, but it just feels silly batting him ahead of much better batsmen.

 

[ankitj]

Pollock played more innings at 7 than anywhere else and he averaged 30 there so I'm comfortable with it. Kind of annoying that the best three bowlers are all rank #11s though - would be happier with Pollock at 7 if I didn't have Murali at 9.

I think if the team is going to playing a team of similar quality - a Martian XI or a World Second XI or something - then having 20%+ of the overs bowled by Symonds, Klusener, Watson etc could be a real problem. They'd be targeted and belted by an ATG batting lineup IMO. I think it's more of a problem than the odd collapse that can't be rescued by Pollock.

I thought about Flintoff instead of Pollock, but the problem there is that he actually really struggled to hit from ball 1. He'd be better than Pollock at 7 if the team ended up 100/5, but in normal circumstances I think Pollock would actually be a better 7. I've even thought about putting Flintoff at 5, but it just feels silly batting him ahead of much better batsmen.

I have also gone through similar line of reasoning on the all rounder's spot in all time XI. I used to entertain Watson or Jayasuriya in that role but I have now decided that they are not good enough to be 5th bowlers, neither is Klusener. Pollock and Kapil are great 5th bowlers but not good enough batsmen.

That basically leaves me with only Flintoff and Imran for that spot. I realise that Imran in my team plays out of position but I trust he will find a way to be useful in arresting collapses while Dhoni and De Villiers will take care of upping the scoring rate.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

That basically leaves me with only Flintoff and Imran for that spot.

And Shakib

 

[ankitj]

Abbas doesn't have enough matches played to justify a place in the XI.

Picking Kohli though is too mainstream. Greenidge, Abbas and Hadlee are great hipster choices. Actually I'll take my Algo XI over my handpicked XI for hip value??

 

[Prince EWS]

And Shakib

Yeah I've thought about this one too but he's not really suited to 7 either. I kind of think squeezing Flintoff or Shakib in at 5 with ABdV and Dhoni to follow would be the best option in reality but it feels and looks so wrong when I type it out.

 

[ankitj]

Yeah I've thought about this one too but he's not really suited to 7 either. I kind of think squeezing Flintoff or Shakib in at 5 with ABdV and Dhoni to follow would be the best option in reality but it feels and looks so wrong when I type it out.

Yeah won't make sense. May be better to settle for slightly worse bowler in Klusener at 7 rather than push Flintoff or Shakib at 5.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah won't make sense. May be better to settle for slightly worse bowler in Klusener at 7 rather than push Flintoff or Shakib at 5.

I think one of my issues is that I rate Klusener's bowling a little bit less than most people. At this imaginery level he'd basically be a bits-and-pieces player IMO. Flintoff/Pollock are very very close to deserving selection on bowling alone.

 

[ankitj]

I think one of my issues is that I rate Klusener's bowling a little bit less than most people. At this imaginery level he'd basically be a bits-and-pieces player IMO. Flintoff/Pollock are very very close to deserving selection on bowling alone.

Yeah, same reason I don't pick Klusener even though he is such a great pick at #7 batting spot. Hi economy rate was too high.

What's your take on Imran in the ODI all time XI?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Just pick Hadlee instead of McGrath.
A 7-8-9 of Pollock, Hadlee, Wasim is fine and an attack with those 3 plus Garner and Murali is fearsome

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah, same reason I don't pick Klusener even though he is such a great pick at #7 batting spot. Hi economy rate was too high.

What's your take on Imran in the ODI all time XI?

Bit of a Flintoff/Shakib problem. Would be useful at 7 rescuing a collapse but wouldn't be that suited to the position when things went 'normally'. Better batsman than Pollock but ultimately less suited to the role which evens it up quite a bit, and I think he was a worse ODI bowler.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Tendulkar
Jayasuriya
Viv
Ponting
ABdV
Dhoni (c)
Buttler(wk)
Pollock
Wasim
Garner
Murali

Maybe it's my inner Kohli hater coming out here but even though he's clearly a better ODI batsman than Ponting, having an off side ring with Viv Ponting and AB is too tempting. Ponting had such a huge impact in the field that I genuinely think it's close between the two overall as cricketers. Only 4 specialist bowlers but if anyone can make the 5th bowler troll spin overs work it's Dhoni as captain, and Jayasuriya is more than good enough to do that.

 

[ankitj]

if anyone can make the 5th bowler troll spin overs work it's Dhoni as captain

And wicketkeeper. But you have Butler for that.

 

[ankitj]

Just pick Hadlee instead of McGrath.
A 7-8-9 of Pollock, Hadlee, Wasim is fine and an attack with those 3 plus Garner and Murali is fearsome

Leading to 0 Aussies in an all time ODI world XI ....

 

[OverratedSanity]

And wicketkeeper. But you have Butler for that.

They can switch places when Jayasuriya comes on to bowl ?

 

[TheJediBrah]

Buttler is not up to Dhoni or Gilchrist level in an ATG scenario. Or even ABdV or Sangakkara

Unless maybe we're bullying substandard attacks on late-2010 English highways

 

[subshakerz]

I have also gone through similar line of reasoning on the all rounder's spot in all time XI. I used to entertain Watson or Jayasuriya in that role but I have now decided that they are not good enough to be 5th bowlers, neither is Klusener. Pollock and Kapil are great 5th bowlers but not good enough batsmen.

That basically leaves me with only Flintoff and Imran for that spot. I realise that Imran in my team plays out of position but I trust he will find a way to be useful in arresting collapses while Dhoni and De Villiers will take care of upping the scoring rate.

Yeah, this is my reasoning as well and I ended up between Pollock, Flintoff and Imran for no .7.

Imran was a worldclass bowler for most of his career and has more WC cred than Flintoff or Pollock so went with him.

 

[Socerer 01]

Yeah I've thought about this one too but he's not really suited to 7 either. I kind of think squeezing Flintoff or Shakib in at 5 with ABdV and Dhoni to follow would be the best option in reality but it feels and looks so wrong when I type it out.

It should work fine theoretically as they are both good enough with the ball as a fifth bowler to end up being useful and if it's slogging time they can be demoted down for ABD and Dhoni to come in instead

 

[Godard]

Sachin
Gilchrist(Wk)
Richards
Kohli
ABD
Dhoni
Dev
Pollock
Akram
Murali
McGrath

Note: I dunno why no one is picking Dev, and Imran instead. Ofcourse Imran is leagues ahead in tests, but in ODIs his SR is too low to play at 5 or below and he mostly batted at 5, compared to Dev who batted mostly at 6 or 7. As bowlers they are more or less the same in ODIs. As batsmen, you could say Imran is more reliable but his SR is 75 compared to Dev’s 95, and no sane man will play Immy inside the top 5 five in an all time ODI XI. Plus both of them average sub 40, it’s just that as a batsmen Dev is far more suited to batting at six or below, and as a fielder is leagues ahead. Also Imran’s captaincy skills aren’t going to help him here, as there is no way he is going to captain an ODI all time XI(the likes of Dhoni, Ponting, Lloyd are way ahead of him), and even Kapil has a WC as captain, with a far more inferior side.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Imran is leagues ahead in tests, but in ODIs his SR is too low to play at 5 or below

Greatest ODI middle-order batsman Bevan in tatters

 

[Sunil1z]

Imran below top 5 batting position in ODI is like Dhoni from 15-19 WC . He will simply destroy the batting momentum. If you are so much worried about batting collapse then have both Kapil + Pollock .