The Sky Commentary Team pick their team of the "Noughties"

[Furball]

Soulless accumulator.

Dravid, Laxman, Ponting, Lara, Amla, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Pietersen on the other hand...

 

[akilana]

Cook is another soulless accumulater. He's also ugly to watch but we will hype him up when it suits our agenda.

 

[Howe_zat]

I remember reading some anecdotal thing by some batsmen sometime

Why didn't we end the thread here?

Case closed

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Cook is another soulless accumulater. He's also ugly to watch but we will hype him up when it suits our agenda.

Lets face it when a player like that is from your nation you love him, from another he bores you but appreciate the skill and ability they have for grinding on and on.

 

[Maximas]

Lets face it when a player like that is from your nation you love him, from another he bores you but appreciate the skill and ability they have for grinding on and on.

Cook's a champ, but I feel he is a little beyond the parameters here, didn't truly come good until the last ashes. I don't mind a soulless accumulator, but with Trott at 3, watching England beat you can be a chore, at least with Kallis players like Amla and AB tend to play around him. He has also become a bit more aggressive lately I reckon.

 

[harsh.ag]

Agree with most of the Xis here, mine is:

Graeme Smith
Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist (w)
Shane Warne
Dale Steyn
Glen McGrath
Muttiah Muralitharan

 

[Migara]

No one should be choosing Kallis as the third seamer. He just isn't good enough. Ideal 4th seamer, though. He has to be in the side.

Sehwag
Hayden
Ponting (Dravid very unlucky to miss out)
Lara
Kallis
Flintoff
Gilchrist (wk)
Warne
Shoaib Akhtar
Muralitharan
McGrath

I like this side. I have good aggressive batsmen with Kallis to provide balance in case things go pear-shaped. A mixture of left and right-handers in the top 7. Flintoff and Kallis as 3rd and 4th seamers allow me to play two spinners and also allow me to play the Akhtar, who could break down halfway though the match.

Perhaps posters are only looking at Flintoff's overall career record when they judge him unworthy of this side. At the beginning of the 2004 home season he had a dire 52 wickets from 29 matches at an average of 45.55. From that point onwards, he 174 wickets from 50 matches at an average of 28.97. Pretty good.

For the record, I consider Steyn a bowler of the 2010s, and Tendulkar a batsmen of the 1990s.

I'd replace Sehwag with Sangakkara to open the innings. From 2000-2009 he average 55 with the bat.

 

[Migara]

1. ML Hayden
2. R Dravid
3. RT Ponting
4. SR Tendulkar
5. BC Lara
6. JH Kallis
7. AC Gilchrist+
8. SM Pollock
9. SK Warne
10. DW Steyn
11. GD McGrath

Walsh, Bond and Asif decent options as well
Murali would obviously play for one of Pollock/Steyn if the conditions are right

Rather Warne to fill that option if conditions suit. Murali was far superior to Warne in the 00s.

 

[Cabinet96]

Cook's a champ, but I feel he is a little beyond the parameters here, didn't truly come good until the last ashes. I don't mind a soulless accumulator, but with Trott at 3, watching England beat you can be a chore, at least with Kallis players like Amla and AB tend to play around him. He has also become a bit more aggressive lately I reckon.

Yeah, Cook obviously has no place in a noughties XI. His record since the start of 2010 is awesome though, so he's in pole position to open for the tens team.

 

[MW1304]

Why didn't we end the thread here?

Case closed

I read this and thought you'd condensed some long post he'd made into a wittily succinct quotation. But no, it's just what he said.

 

[Esperance]

Matthew Hayden - 8364 runs at 52.93
Virender Sehwag - 5869 runs at 53.84
Ricky Ponting - 9458 runs at 58.38
Sachin Tendulkar - 7129 runs at 53.20
Brian Lara - 6380 runs at 54.06
Adam Gilchrist - 5130 runs at 46.63 and 397 dismissals
Jacque Kallis - 8630 runs at 58.70 and 205 wickets at 32.00
Shaun Pollock - 260 wickets at 24.76
Shane Warne - 357 wickets at 25.17
Muttiah Muralitharan - 565 wickets at 20.97
Glenn McGrath - 297 wickets at 20.53