All-time World Cup XI

Who, among international cricket’s greatest players, will walk into a World Cup team? Our expert analyses some truly spectacular performances to give you a unit that you’d be proud of.

The 2011 World Cup is less than a month away, which is a good excuse to look back at some of the greatest performers in World Cup history. By the end of this article, I’ll pick the World Cup XI - the best-balanced group of eleven players based on actual World Cup performances, the operative words being ‘based on actual.’ I am not picking players based on potential or what might have been. I am solely considering World Cup performances and then selecting players to ensure the side is well balanced.

First, a few ground rules. I’ve only considered batsmen who have scored over 800 runs and bowlers who have taken over 20 wickets in World Cup matches. Second, I have accounted for differences across eras with batting strike-rates and bowling economy rates being adjusted for each tournament. The first criterion on minimum runs and wickets means certain players who have enjoyed WC success but have not played enough matches miss out - these guys get a special mention at the end. 

Batsmen

Here’s the list of the top 10 batsmen in WC history, based on batting momentum. The batting momentum measures overall batting performance, looking at runs per innings (which is similar to batting average) and strike-rate (which is adjusted for era of play). Turns out two batsmen stand out from the rest of the pack.

Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar are probably the two greatest ODI players of all time, and that greatness showed on the biggest stage of them all. A bunch of Aussies fill up half the remaining spots in the top 10 with Matthew Hayden the best of the lot and winning the second opener’s slot. Surprisingly, Ricky Ponting comes in behind Mark Waugh and David Boon. It’s also interesting to see Gibbs so far up the list. Martin Crowe is the only non-‘top three’ batsman in this list which means that from a selection point of view, one will have to look beyond the table above for the No.5 and No.6 slots. Here’s a look at the next eleven batsmen in terms of all-time World Cup performances.

Adam Gilchrist selects himself as wicketkeeper and I’d pick him coming down the order at 7 instead of his conventional opening role, because there are just too many good openers to choose from. There’s healthy competition for the No. 5 slot. Steve Waugh gets my vote because he’s a regular No.5 who brings in a bowling option, having taken 27 wickets across WCs which is as many wickets as Craig McDermott and Courtney Walsh.

Bowlers

Similar to the Batting Momentum, an adjusted Bowling Efficiency, which looks at economy rates and bowling averages, has been used to identify the top WC bowlers. The list is headed by a couple of Kiwis.

People sometimes forget just how lethal Shane Bond was, spearheading an otherwise ordinary New Zealand bowling attack in 2003 and 2007. He is probably the single reason why they made it as far as they did (Super 6s in 2003 and semis in 2007) in the last two World Cups. Richard Hadlee is an automatic selection given his all-round prowess.  Curtly Ambrose may be marginally ahead of McGrath on points, but I’ll pick the Aussie given the number of wickets (71 versus 24) and the consistent performances across four World Cups. Muttiah Muralitharan wins the battle of the spinners, though it’s very close between him, Warne and believe or not, Brad Hogg! With these four bowlers picked, Imran Khan is a no-brainer for the No.6 bowling all-rounder spot.  In addition to his 34 wickets, Imran scored 666 runs at an average of 35.

So here’s what the final XI looks like:

As I mentioned up top, the criteria on minimum runs and wickets means a few people miss out, such as the likes of Zaheer Abbas, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Scott Styris who averaged 50, 58 and 70 respectively with over 500 runs each. Similarly, New Zealand’s one-hit wonder Geoff Allott and West Indian legend Michael Holding miss out despite having bowling averages around 17 runs per wicket. 

Two of the players in the World Cup XI will be playing in the 2011 edition - and one of them will be extra motivated to win his first World Cup. He has done pretty much done everything else there is to do - a World Cup triumph would a great way to cap things off!