2001 World XI

[Fat Red]

This is Peter Roebuck's world XI for the year 2001:

Gibbs (SA)
A Flower (Z)
Lara(WI)
Tendulkar(I)
S Waugh(A)(c)
Kallis (SA)
Gilchrist(A)(wk)
Pollock(SA)
Vaas(SL)
Harbajhan Singh (I)
McGrath(A)
12th: Warne(A)

Alternative?

 

[kretchy]

Hayden I reckon should be in there wasn't he among the highest scorers for the Test Match Year?

 

[Fat Red]

Yes. Roebuck's argument was that Flower had to be fitted in somewhere and was an ex-opener with a good record.

 

[Darky]

The batting averages chart for the calendar year makes for interesting reading.

Obviously discounting players who have played less than a set amount of matches or innings, (for this purpose, let's say 12 innings), here are the top 8 batsmen :

1. Andy Flower 12 inn, 847 runs @ 105.87, 3 centuries
2. Jacques Kallis 19 inn, 913 @ 70.23, 2 centuries
3. Shaun Pollock 14 inn, 512 @ 64.00, 2 centuries
4. Brian Lara 18 inn, 1151 @ 63.94, 3 centuries
5. Sachin Tendulkar 15 inn, 784 @ 60.30, 2 centuries
6. Herschelle Gibbs 18 inn, 1002 @ 58.94, 3 centuries
7. Mahela Jayawardene 18 inn, 1035 @ 57.50, 4 centuries
8. Matthew Hayden 21 inn, 1088 @ 57.26, 3 centuries

Then follow Cullinan, S.Waugh, Laxman and Langer.

Top 8 bowlers are (25 or more wickets) :

1. Shaun Pollock 11 matches, 50 wickets @ 19.68
2. Chaminda Vaas 11 matches, 55 @ 21.52
3. Glenn McGrath 12 matches, 58 @ 21.60
4. Courtney Walsh 6 matches, 27 @ 22.25
5. Mutiah Muralitharan 11 matches, 72 @ 22.37
6. Jacques Kallis 11 matches, 32 @ 24.87
7. Harbhajan Singh 10 matches, 54 @ 24.96
8. Javagal Srinath 6 matches, 27 @ 25.70

Gough, Warne and Gillespie all took over 45 wickets, but averages were higher (Gough 27, Warne and Gillespie both at 32).

Pollock and Kallis pick themselves in both areas... ominous signs for the Aussie team.

Has Cricketer of the Year been announced yet? Pollock must be a very short-priced favourite (not that I'm discussing betting at all) .

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

So Darky, based on your stats, the World Test XI probably would be:

Gibbs
Hayden
Kallis
Lara
Tendulkar
Flower (w/k)
Pollock (c)
Vass
Muralitharan
McGrath
Walsh
Jayawardene (12th man)

A few points:

1. I picked the players in their position they usually played where possible - ie. A Flower played as a middle order player/ wicketkeeper, so Gibbs & Hayden pick themselves as the leading openers.

2. Kallis & Pollock pick themselves as clearly the best batting & bowling all-rounders respectively.

3. Flower nudges out Gilchrist as wicketkeeper based purely on batting performances, but I personally think most players would perfer Gilly with his ability to turn a game.

4. Lara & Tendulkar are probably the best 2 form middle-order players at the moment.

5. With the all-round abilities of Kallis, Pollock & Flower, probably could pick 4 specialist bowlers - although 3 are bunnies! No problem with Vass, Muralitharan & McGrath, but need to keep in mind Walsh hasn't played too many games. If a spinners wicket, I would prefer Warney for team balance (as Singh is an offie). On a greener wicket, I would go for Gough or Gillespie (personally as as a biased South Aussie I would pick Dizzy).

 

[Darky]

Originally posted by Kane McGoodwin
So Darky, based on your stats, the World Test XI probably would be:

Gibbs
Hayden
Kallis
Lara
Tendulkar
Flower (w/k)
Pollock (c)
Vass
Muralitharan
McGrath
Walsh
Jayawardene (12th man)

A few points:

1. I picked the players in their position they usually played where possible - ie. A Flower played as a middle order player/ wicketkeeper, so Gibbs & Hayden pick themselves as the leading openers.

2. Kallis & Pollock pick themselves as clearly the best batting & bowling all-rounders respectively.

3. Flower nudges out Gilchrist as wicketkeeper based purely on batting performances, but I personally think most players would perfer Gilly with his ability to turn a game.

4. Lara & Tendulkar are probably the best 2 form middle-order players at the moment.

5. With the all-round abilities of Kallis, Pollock & Flower, probably could pick 4 specialist bowlers - although 3 are bunnies! No problem with Vass, Muralitharan & McGrath, but need to keep in mind Walsh hasn't played too many games. If a spinners wicket, I would prefer Warney for team balance (as Singh is an offie). On a greener wicket, I would go for Gough or Gillespie (personally as as a biased South Aussie I would pick Dizzy).

Hard to justify including Walsh, if you already have Vaas, McGrath and Pollock as frontline pacemen, Kallis as a brisk back-up, and Muralitharan as the spinner who bowls long economical spells, and gets wickets by the truckload.

That'd give you 3 quicks, 1 spinner, 1 sharp medium pacer, and even some bowling from Tendulkar.

Another batsman would be handy as the tail is long. Gilchrist or Sangakarra would be the best choices as both are wicketkeepers and have averaged 54 and 50 respectively this year. Flower does not like keeping wicket from what I've heard!!! Also seems a bit hard on the bugger to make him crouch down behind the stumps after banging a hundred almost every time he bats!

 

[kretchy]

Jayawardene and Sangkarra have both had good years but did Sri Lanka play any real strong teams this year?

Most of their games also seemed to be played in Sri Lanka.

However i don't think it will be long until Jayawardene is recognised as one of the best batsman in the world, if he isn't close already.

 

[Darky]

IMHO, south Africa and Australia are the only genuinely strong teams at the moment.

So when you think about it, the South Africans and Australians haven't played any decent teams either because they haven't played eachother yet.

 

[Dipper]

HTF does Vaas take all the wickets that he has?

To watch him bowl he doesn't seem to be that good & yet he's taken as 8 for in a recent 1 dayer & had 14 wickets in a Test the other day.Plus Sri Lanka isn't the easiest place in the world for fastish bowlers, it's not as bad as India or even Pakistan but it's not ideal.

 

[Fat Red]

Well he actually swings the ball, a rare commodity in frontline Test bowlers these days.