It’s that time of year and that time of the decade. So, what’s the best XI of the last ten years? In some ways it is a disappointingly easy selection. But here it is anyway:
1. G Smith
2. V Sehwag
3. R Ponting
4. S Tendulkar
5. B Lara
6. A Gilchrist* (Wkt)
7. S Pollock
8. S Warne (Capt)
9. J Gillespie
10. M Muralitharan
11. G McGrath
Criteria: Anyone who retired before 2006 is ineligible. Lara, Tendulkar and Warne etc could also, of course, be in a team of the 1990s.
As you can see – and as you know – there’s been a severe shortage of top-class, truly-fast bowling in recent years. You could make a case for Shoaib Aktar or perhaps Dale Steyn to play instead of Gillespie. Choosing a third seamer is the only difficult selection. You could play Kallis, but the top six selected should get you enough runs and so you’d want a more threatening bowler as your fifth man.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in