Skip to main content

Taking guard - the first post

After a fair bit of rumination on what the first post on my first personal blog should be about, I decided that it couldn’t be about anything other than my favourite XI. From the time I started following (or obsessing as some would say) about the game, I’ve always made lists of XIs of different kinds. One of the first books on cricket I bought was called ‘The Book of Cricket Lists’ and that was what started me off. Left Handed XIs, Bespectacled XIs, Tomato-hating XIs (ok I made that last one up :-)), but you get the point. So another XI it shall be.

A few notes before I start the list. I’ve restricted the list to players I’ve seen in action, hence the post 1990 bias. Also, these are not necessarily my favourite eleven players of all time. Picking a balanced playing XI necessitates having two openers, three or four middle-order batsmen, a wicketkeeper and four or five bowlers. So within these limitations, these guys are amongst my favourite players. And of course, I’ve picked a Test XI. One-day and T20 are good time-pass but Test cricket is the only consistently fascinating format for me. So without further ado and in batting order, here is my favourite XI (countries in parentheses) –

Mark Taylor (Australia) (captain)
Gary Kirsten (South Africa)
Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan)
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Steve Waugh (Australia)
Carl Hooper (West Indies)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia) (wicket-keeper)
Wasim Akram (Pakistan) (vice-captain)
Shane Warne (Australia)
Curtly Ambrose (West Indies)
Allan Donald (South Africa)
12th Man: Jacques Kallis

Had a very hard time picking these guys (and felt really bad leaving out Kallis so I cheated and made him 12th man ;-)). To avoid making this post interminably long, I will not go in to the details of why this XI etc. One thing I will point out is that there are no players from England, New Zealand or Sri Lanka here. The first two of those were consistently poor through the time I’ve seen them and Graham Thorpe and Chris Cairns were the only Pom and Kiwi (respectively) who caught my imagination. As for our southern neighbours, I’ve always loved watching Aravinda de Silva and Mahela Jayawardene but neither of them are opening batsmen and hence couldn’t be fit into my XI.

So, that’s it for this time. I’m going to try and blog at least once a week from now on but we’ll see how long I can keep that up :-) Happy Independence Day!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...
1 comment
Read more

Quick singles: Why the double standards?

I'm no fan of David Warner's but for once, I'm firmly and squarely on his side . Sportspersons are probably treated the most unfairly by public opinion (and often the media) whenever they are involved in pay disputes. "Oh, look these millionaires are complaining about not getting paid enough" seems to be the gist of the general reactions. I find this attitude inexplicable at best and grossly hypocritical if I'm feeling less charitable. Like the rest of us, all athletes have the right to fight for what they think they should be paid. That is the fundamental part. In addition (and unlike many of the rest of us), most sportspersons operate in the knowledge that they only have a short period available as a performer, and therefore only a short period to maximise earnings. Most people that I know would behave exactly the same as Warner and his colleagues are doing. So why all the hue and cry?
Post a Comment
Read more

Much ado about a run-out

Judging by the amount that's been said and written about Ian Bell's run-out-that-wasn't at Trent Bridge, you would think that it has been the most significant occurrence of the series so far when nothing could be further from the truth. Andrew Miller  and Samir Chopra seem to be of the opinion that it was the crucial turning point in the match, which I completely disagree with (the post-tea sessions on days one and two were far more critical and momentum shifting). Andy Flower says that if Tendulkar had been run-out similarly in Bombay, it would have caused an international incident. He's clearly feeling the effects of having been in the England cricket set-up for too long given that a) its very improbable that Tendulkar would do something as daft as Bell did, and b) when a controversial run-out (but within the laws) did happen to him (against Pakistan at Eden Gardens no less), Tendulkar went out to the crowd and appealed to them to calm down and let the game proceed...
Post a Comment
Read more