The revised list

After some more thinking Ive decided that Chris Gayle shouldn't have been in the squad. I don't exactly know what I was thinking when I put him in there in the first place. I think that Graeme Smith deserves to be in the team, since there is a spot open for an opener. I don't see anyone else who deserves to be there in his place. What can I say, there aren't many quality openers around these days. I thought about Fleming, Trescothick, Strauss and Jayasuriya, but they don't seem to be up there anymore. Plus, Smith has a very good record and he seems to be a more complete player. Fleming, Trescothick and Strauss haven't been able to play the Australians at all lately, and that has been a major factor in me not going for them. Fleming especially can't seem to be able to play Bret Lee at all, particularly his outswingers. I'll take out Pietersen from the one-day side aswell and keep a single team for both one dayers and tests. I think its too early to have Pietersen in a world XI, can't really judge him so early on in his career. Anyway, here's the team,

Abdullah's World XI

Virendar Sehwag
Graeme Smith
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Inzamam ul Haq
Rahul Dravid
Jaques Kallis
Kumar Sangakkara
Freddy Flintoff
Shoaib Akhtar
Harmisson
Muralitharan

If you don't agree with it, I don't really give a rat's ass. There's a reason why its called "Abdullah's World XI". However if anyone would like to give their opinion and concerns I would certainly entertain their comments.

Bring on the Aussies!

Sunil Gavasker and his team must have their hands full picking a team that can beat the World Champions. Well it wasn’t that hard for me. These are my squads for the test and one day matches.

Test

Virendar Sehwag
Chris Gayle
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
Inzamam ul Haq
Rahul Dravid
Jaques Kallis
Kumar Sangakara
Freddy Flintoff
Shoaib Akhtar
Harmisson
Muralitharan

That’s the squad with Sehwag and Gayle contending for the 12th man position. The One-Day squad wouldn’t be much different with Kevin Pietersen coming in for Gayle. Tendulkar would probably open the batting with Sehwag in that case.

The wrong debate

I seriously don't understand why there is such a big debate on who is to be picked between Pietersen and Thorpe. England have definitely missed a trick here. Just because both of them play at the same batting position doesn't mean that they have to make a choice between the two. Thorpe has always been England's best Test match batsman. His batting average against the Aussies is above his career average and that too says a lot. He should have definitely been picked, he's an automatic selection. Pietersen has been unbelievable ever since his international debut. Why he wasn't picked for the tests against Bangladesh is still a mystery. With his one-day innings gainst Australia, there shouldn't have been much doubt in his ability to bat against world class bowlers and opposition.

What I cannot really comprehend is Ian Bell's place in the side. Anyone can score against Bangladesh, and like Geoffery Boycott would say, even my mum could score against them! Not that I'm saying that Ian Bell isn't a decent batsman, he probably CAN bat, but without being tested against quality bowlers, the selectors have taken a very big gamble by having him in the squad, instead of keeping Thorpe in the side.

With Pietersen eventually given the nod over Thorpe, England's batting line up does look a tad shaky. Also, Thorpe has announced his retirement which I think was a wrong move, as the selectors would probably have seen the light after the batting performance of the first test and would have opted for his presence in the side. We would definitely miss Graham Thorpe's presence in world cricket as he has been England's best batsman by far and a treat to watch. Lets just hope that Kevin Pietersen becomes the new thorn in Australia's flesh as England fights to regain the Ashes.