World Composite XI (off topic)

[Harold Smith]

1. Cook
2. Smith
3. Trott
4. Amla
5. Clarke
6. Kallis
7. Prior
8. Philander
9. Steyn
10.Swann
11. Anderson

I rememeber back in '05 when the ICC team played Australia, even with the likes of Flintoff, Dravid and Smith they got slaughtered by the Aussies

[CharlesDarwini]

Let's see here then:

Cook (Best opener in the world)
Smith (Consistent)
Amla (Easily ahead of Trott)
Kallis ( Brilliant batsman, can bowl a bit as well)
Pietersen (Match-winning batsman)
Clarke (Oozes class)
Prior (Best wicket-keeper in the world)
Swann (Easily in a much higher class than Ajmal)
Philander (No-brainer)
Steyn (Most consistent bowler in the world)
Anderson (Most talented bowler in the world)

haha lol.. how can you say swann is way better than ajmal. i'm english and i would willingly admit ajmal is way better than swann.. sorry mate whats your back-up for that point? :P

[Alrounder80]

haha lol.. how can you say swann is way better than ajmal. i'm english and i would willingly admit ajmal is way better than swann.. sorry mate whats your back-up for that point? :P

Swann has played 54 tests compared to Ajmal's 26 therefore Swann has performed in the international stage for a longer period of time. Ajmal has got 74 out of his 133 wickets in sub-continent pitches which are obviously very spinner friendly. Swann though, has performed all over the world. Come on, a 107 wickets out of 235 in English conditions is quite an achievement. To me it's quite clear Swann is the better bowler.

Ajmal's stats:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/42699.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

Swann's stats:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/20431.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

In any case, how can you ever say Ajmal is WAY better than Swann?!?! If you are arguing Ajmal is better, it can only really be SLIGHTLY better.

[rock_cool2003]

Shocking there is no M.S Dhoni in any team, i mean come on he is the most tactically brilliant and skillful captain of recent times

[Graham_5000]

Dhoni is great no doubt about it, but I went for AB because of his runs - average of 49+. Dhoni averages about 39 I think?

[DaveK93]

Shocking there is no M.S Dhoni in any team, i mean come on he is the most tactically brilliant and skillful captain of recent times

I personally don't rate him that highly. He's good if you need quick runs, but in the test arena, I don't feel he is good enough.

[CharlesDarwini]

Swann has played 54 tests compared to Ajmal's 26 therefore Swann has performed in the international stage for a longer period of time. Ajmal has got 74 out of his 133 wickets in sub-continent pitches which are obviously very spinner friendly. Swann though, has performed all over the world. Come on, a 107 wickets out of 235 in English conditions is quite an achievement. To me it's quite clear Swann is the better bowler.

Ajmal's stats:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/42699.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

Swann's stats:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/20431.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

In any case, how can you ever say Ajmal is WAY better than Swann?!?! If you are arguing Ajmal is better, it can only really be SLIGHTLY better.

OK lets see shall we.. agianst south africa.. arguably the best batting line around right now.. swann avaraged 77! ajmal however avaraged 33! ... ajmal also in the past two years has maintained a much better economy and avarage than swann. swanns test avarage is 28.. ajmals 27 .. swanns odi avarage is 27, ajmals 23.. swann has a test economy of 2.89.. ajmal has an economy of 2.66 .... swann has an odi economy of 4.54 ajmal has an economy of 4.17.. thus ajmal beats swann in both avarages in test and odis as well as economy.. and did you see how many runs swann went for in the recent odi's england played against sri lanka and new zealand .. and monty was bowling better than swann in the test series against india in india.. and ajmal in the odi series against india(arguably the best players of spin) had an avarage of 10! ... swanns now performing agianst a weakend australian side.. who after michael clarke and watson have no other experianced batsmen.. and in the recently concluded champions trophy swanns bowling avarage was 50! whilst ajmals 27! i rest my case as in the champions trophy both played in the same conditions. and ajmal had to bowl agianst the south african and india two of the strongest batting line ups around.. and still maintained an economy of 4.36! and if thats not enough for you.. both played in the asme conditions in the pakv england series.. swann avaraged 25 with an economy of 2.83 and he was up against a weak pakistan batting line up.. ajmal ontheotherhand was playing against a batting line up which everyone will agree with me is much better than pakistans yet he avaraged 14 with 24 wickets... and if thats not enough for you both also played in the same conditions in the icc world cup.. ajmal avaraged 18 in the world cup swann averaged 25.. i rest my case mate..

[Graham_5000]

Convincing arguments CharlesDarwini. The one thing I disagree with is that the SA ODI batting lineup is strong! We may be world beaters in tests but the ODI team is inexperienced, unsettled and arguably doesn't have the best personnel playing!

[CharlesDarwini]

Convincing arguments CharlesDarwini. The one thing I disagree with is that the SA ODI batting lineup is strong! We may be world beaters in tests but the ODI team is inexperienced, unsettled and arguably doesn't have the best personnel playing!

got to agree with you there :P

[CharlesDarwini]

What would you guys ODI and T20 World Xi be?

for me:
ODI:

Shakhar Dhawan
Shane Watson
Hashim Amla
Kumar Sangakarra
Jaques Kallis
Ab De Villiers (wk)
Ms Dhoni (c)
Shakib Al Hasan
Dale Steyn
Mohammed Irfan
Saeed Ajmal

12th man: Kevin Peterson

T20 Squad:
Kevin Peterson
Chris Gayle
Shane Watson
Ab De Villiers (wk)
Umar Akmal
Ms Dhoni
Yuvraj Singh
Shahid Afridi
Lasith malinga/Pollard
Dale Steyn
Saeed Ajmal

12th man: Umar Gul

[Harold Smith]

You can use stats all you want, but they don't always present the Truth. Look at Flintoff, batting average of 30 and bowling average of 30, as an 'all rounder' that's very bog standard but he's a match winner, without a doubt.

[Graham_5000]

@Harold. Flintoff was only a match winner in a handful of games. He was inconsistent or poor the rest of the time as the stats correctly imply. It is easy to remember the memorable performances. Flintoff had as many memorable performances with the ball as Steyn has had poor matches with the ball.

Great performers need to be consistent match winners. Consistent top performances result in great stats.. Strike rates, averages etc.

[CharlesDarwini]

@Harold. Flintoff was only a match winner in a handful of games. He was inconsistent or poor the rest of the time as the stats correctly imply. It is easy to remember the memorable performances. Flintoff had as many memorable performances with the ball as Steyn has had poor matches with the ball.

Great performers need to be consistent match winners. Consistent top performances result in great stats.. Strike rates, averages etc.

Completely agree with you graham..

[Graham_5000]

Completely agree with you graham..

The stats don't really lie by the time you have played for a few seasons and all over the world as Flintoff had. Kallis has a slightly better bowling average and similar strike rate, and likewise he occasionally gives a match winning bowling performance. However he has very much played 2nd fiddle to other bowlers in the attack like Donald, Pollock, Ntini, Steyn, Morkel and Philander.

Kallis has five 5 wicket hauls to Flintoff's three 5 wicket hauls, so seeing that he has played about twice as many matches, they are actually very similar when it comes to bowling record. I don't even need to compare batting stats...

[CharlesDarwini]

The stats don't really lie by the time you have played for a few seasons and all over the world as Flintoff had. Kallis has a slightly better bowling average and similar strike rate, and likewise he occasionally gives a match winning bowling performance. However he has very much played 2nd fiddle to other bowlers in the attack like Donald, Pollock, Ntini, Steyn, Morkel and Philander.

Kallis has five 5 wicket hauls to Flintoff's three 5 wicket hauls, so seeing that he has played about twice as many matches, they are actually very similar when it comes to bowling record. I don't even need to compare batting stats...

yeah true i think stats do speak mountains.. unless external factors like injury etc. plague ones career for example making him not achieving the max amount of wickets he could possibly achieve
and yeah i wouldn't rate flintoff to be anywhere near kallis (nevertheless he was an amazingly good allrounder) .. he wouldn't be in the shaun pollock,imran khan, tony greig class what would you say