Would Stuart Broad make the world's strongest XI?

[Howe_zat]

Stuart Broad Animation: Hat trick England vs India - YouTube

 

[GIMH]

So in seriousness...where does everyone stand on the Broad in the World XI issue now?

 

[Furball]

So in seriousness...where does everyone stand on the Broad in the World XI issue now?

He's already in it.

 

[GIMH]

A lot of people had Zaheer/Morkel/Philander etc ahead of him in recent times. Be interesting to see what people think.

 

[Daemon]

There's more competition now than before imo. Zak's fallen out of the XI for mine, but now there's Philander and Pattinson to compete with. I realise they haven't played many games each, especially outside of home conditions, but you can't ignore their impressive performances. Not to mention Broad also only has the India and Pakistan (as well as today) to boast about, which is a similiar number of games compared to Philander.

I'd have Steyn, Philander, Ajmal and Anderson/Broad. Seems harsh on Anderson because he's been so consistently good, but I Philander.

 

[Spark]

I'd actually say he's the easiest of the four to pick bowlers because he fills the bowling "all-rounder" role basically alone. Three of Steyn, Anderson, Philander, Broad and one of Swann and Ajmal. Pattinson isn't in the running IMO.
Would be curious to see what people's World XIs are now tbh. A lot of movement over the last year. Especially in the batting.

 

[Cabinet96]

Broad would probably make mine, with Steyn, Anderson and Swann. He's performed all round the world for a year now and as Spark mentioned his batting adds much value.

 

[Daemon]

Broad would probably make mine, with Steyn, Anderson and Swann. He's performed all round the world for a year now and as Spark mentioned his batting adds much value.

Just two countries actually.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Steyn, Anderson and Broad for me with Ajmal as spinner.

Difficult to make a massive case for Philander and Pattinson after so few games though that could change should they carry on for a few more at their present rate.

 

[Cabinet96]

Just two countries actually.

Well yes But he's done better in a wider variety of conditions than Phillander and Pattinson IMO.

 

[Pothas]

I'd actually say he's the easiest of the four to pick bowlers because he fills the bowling "all-rounder" role basically alone. Three of Steyn, Anderson, Philander, Broad and one of Swann and Ajmal. Pattinson isn't in the running IMO.
Would be curious to see what people's World XIs are now tbh. A lot of movement over the last year. Especially in the batting.

Bowling is a fair bit more clear cut than the batting right now for sure, not sure where I would start picking a batting lineup right now.

 

[Spark]

Sanga
Kallis
Clarke
Chanders

is my middle order. ABdV stiff, as is Younis.

 

[Furball]

Sanga
Kallis
Clarke
Chanders

is my middle order. ABdV stiff, as is Younis.

I'd have Cook opening. Not really sure who else opens with him, I suppose the flip side of the fast bowling renaissance that's occurring is that openers are suffering.

 

[Spark]

Openers I have no idea other than Cook. I guess that Smith and Warner (!) are the only real contenders.

 

[Pothas]

Always depends on what length of time you are judging on, if I picked a side I would still go with Sehwag even though there is no basis for doing so on recent performances.

 

[Spark]

Recent performances, last year more or less.

 

[Uppercut]

Recent performances, last year more or less.

If that's the case I presume you're picking Philander over Steyn?

 

[weldone]

Before this test my XI probably would've been:

Smith*, Cook, Kallis, Younis, Chanderpaul, De Villiers, Prior+, Swann, Steyn, Ajmal, Anderson

 

[Spark]

If that's the case I presume you're picking Philander over Steyn?

See that's the thing. By that logic, yes, but something in my head is saying "ehhhh..."

I think recent performances are the major factor but weighted by how established the player is (and hence how good an idea we have of how good the player 'actually' is). But yeah, overall by that logic:

Cook
Smith
Sanga
Kallis
Clarke*
Chanderpaul
Prior
Broad
Swann
Philander/Steyn
Anderson

But I just want to play both Philander and Steyn. In the end what gets Anderson over the line is that he was outstanding in both the UAE and SL where there was much less assistance for the bowlers.

EDIT: And my philosophy on batting orders would see Clarke batting at 6 usually, but having your captain coming in at 6 is a bit strange


EDIT2: Having said this, I think picking Chanders to bat at 6 would be entirely at odds with the view on Chanders' bubble-batting, and to see him sandwiched between Clarke and Prior, very much strokeplayers both of them, is a bit strange. Ideally, this would be where I would pick Mike Hussey - highly adaptable, consistent and superb at batting with what is a reasonably strong lower order with Broad, Swann and possibly Philander there.

 

[Manee]

Broad didn't bowl as well as his figures showed, imo. I watched the whole day and he didn't bowl particularly well with the new ball and just seemed to pick up wickets out of nowhere with the old ball. Perhaps that is the sign of a good bowler, but it won't go down as one of the great 7-fers, imo. I'm aware that devaluing a statistically sound performance is often maligned on these forums and also agree that performances and not the nature of performances should dictate how 'good' a player is, but that is just my opinion on the matter.