World eleven

Sanath Jayasuriya
Michael Vaughan
+Kumar Sangakkara
Sachin Tendulkar
Kevin Pieterson
Chris Gayle
Shahid Afridi
*Anil Kumble
Paul Adams
Monty Panesar
Muttiah Muralitharan

My world team requires the following: a) you must be currently available for international duty and b) pretty good at spinning.

The main struggle was over the wicket keeper. Thankfully, cricinfo claims that Sangakkara bowls a bit of off-break, when he isn’t conquering the world, so that’s good enough for me.

As for the bowler bowlers, I tried to pick the best of each of the four spin bowling disciplines. As I couldn’t think of any other chinaman, I thought South Africa’s Paul Whatsit should do the job. The rest, I think, are fairly uncontroversial.

The batsmen were selected for bowling reasons alone. It is a handy coincidence that they are some of the best batsman in the world, too. Why do good batsman make good bowlers? Are they naturally amazing? It is also interesting to note that most of the batsmen are openers. Why do opening batsman bowl spin quite well? I assume that, after they get out quickly, they have nothing better to do than bugger about in the nets, trying to be Shane Warne. Which is less amazing, as it is something I do.

I decided to make Kumble captain, in the face of seriously good candidates further up in the order. I think bowlers are better people than batsman, and they are routinely and unfairly over-looked in the captaincy. They need some support.

I think I will have to do an All Time Greats soon: Carl Hooper and Graeme Hick, here we come!