Would Stuart Broad make the world's strongest XI?

[Flem274*]

What World XI would you pick to take on England?

Dilshan
Watson
Sangakara
Dravid
Kallis
Hussey
Shakib
Boucher
Zaheer
Morkel
Steyn

 

[Jono]

If I was picking it to play the Martian XI tomorrow I'd probably have Twatto opening, drop Rahul and Kallis down a place each with Sachin missing out.

Also, I dunno if anyone saw the Ch5 highlights, but Vaughan said whilst we have the strongest bowling line up with SA second, he reckons we also have the third best one too:

Tremlett, Finn, Onions, Panesar.

Case could be made, tbh.

You'd already have Dravid in place of Sachin? Sure Sachin had a mediocre to poor series, but he has some ridiculous 18 months of form including winning test player of the year to go along with that.

I guess it depends how strictly you want to interpret the word 'tomorrow'.

 

[Van Buren]

My World XI to take on England:

Amla
Watson
Dravid
Sangakkara
Kallis
Hussey
De Villiers (wk)
Vettori
Steyn
Zaheer
Morkel

My reasoning:

Amla has opened the batting before, and De Villiers has kept wickets.

Assuming the venue is in England, a long batting lineup was something I tried to go with, which would account for De Villiers at 7. Barring Morkel, everyone else has scored a Test fifty. Had a look at Johnson for this purpose, but England probably fancy their chances against him, unless he has his off-day and starts swinging the ball back into the right hander.

Morkel, Zaheer and Steyn pick themselves. I almost went with Ajmal as the spinner, but Vettori has a comparable record in England, and is the better cricketer. Shakib was in contention too, but Vettori fares better in England.

 

[Athlai]

Broad is the worlds best bowling allrounder.

 

[Spark]

Broad > Anderson on flat wickets, tbh.

 

[Howe_zat]

Broad > Anderson on flat wickets, tbh.

Really? No evidence for that as far as I can see.

 

[Spark]

Taller. Quicker. Has more flat-wicket weapons such as cutters. Is more likely to extract movement off the seam.

Obviously in conditions with a bit of help Anderson >>> Broad. But I'd back Broad to do better than Anderson on a really flat deck, or at least keep it tighter.

EDIT: This assumes he remembers how to bowl as he did in this series.

 

[Howe_zat]

Makes sense in theory, but until Broad gives us something to compare to Anderson's Ashes series, I'll go with Jimmy.

 

[Athlai]

Tamim should be in the world XI to take on England IMO, took a liking to the English attack and would probably benefit from having decent players at the other end.

 

[BoyBrumby]

You'd already have Dravid in place of Sachin? Sure Sachin had a mediocre to poor series, but he has some ridiculous 18 months of form including winning test player of the year to go along with that.

I guess it depends how strictly you want to interpret the word 'tomorrow'.

"The day after today" is my take. Or else Zaheer would have to be seriously considered.

It's not just that Dravid was better, it's that he was so much better. Big series, team up against it, only man to stand up, etc.

 

[Uppercut]

A fully fit Zak would be in without a doubt

I didn't realise we were considering mythical creatures for a World XI.

 

[Cevno]

Yes he missed this series and is out with surgery for 4 months but his injury record in the past 2 years is being overplayed recently.

He has played more tests than Gambhir in the same period as i showed in the past and just missed 1 home test in more than 2 years.

 

[Uppercut]

The serious point behind my poking fun was that Zaheer's a 32-year-old fast bowler with a recurring long-term injury. We just don't know what kind of player is going to come out the other side of it. There's even a chance he'll never play tests again.

 

[DriveClub]

He's a hack, lucky he ran in to an out of form & ageing batsmen who had a diet of pyjama cricket on flat tracks. Will be sorted out soon by the other teams in the upcoming tours.

 

[MW1304]

 

[flibbertyjibber]

He's a hack, lucky he ran in to an out of form & ageing batsmen who had a diet of pyjama cricket on flat tracks. Will be sorted out soon by the other teams in the upcoming tours.

Like the Aussies did at Oval 09 you mean.

 

[DriveClub]

Like the Aussies did at Oval 09 you mean.

Every trundler has it's day in the sun

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Every trundler has it's day in the sun

He has had more than a few though.

 

[GIMH]

Broad's career average is kinda similar to Zaheer's. Never realised.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I didn't realise we were considering mythical creatures for a World XI.