SA Footy

Test XI
Graeme Smith (c), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, MS Dhoni (wk), Zaheer Khan, Dale Steyn, Ajantha Mendis, Ishant Sharma

Near misses: AB de Villiers, Andrew Flintoff, Daniel Vettori

ODI XI
Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt./wk), Andrew Flintoff, Sohail Tanvir, Daniel Vettori, Zaheer Khan, Ajantha Mendis

Near misses: Stuart Broad, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum

However long a tradition this has been going for (10 years likely), this would have to be the first without an Australian player in those teams (let alone both)

spell_check wrote:However long a tradition this has been going for (10 years likely), this would have to be the first without an Australian player in those teams (let alone both)

Yet still ranked number 1 in both forms of the game

brod wrote:

spell_check wrote:However long a tradition this has been going for (10 years likely), this would have to be the first without an Australian player in those teams (let alone both)

Yet still ranked number 1 in both forms of the game

As the saying goes " A champion team will always beat a team of champions" as the Aussies proved the other year against the World XI
Trouble is that the Aussies are no longer a champion team.

Bit harsh IMO opinion on Mitchell Johnson in the test side as he did take the second most wickets for 2008. as a youngster he has really stood up against india, south africa, new zealand and the west indies on all different surfaces and in all different countries/conditions. he had a great year and did take the second most wickets in test matches for the year!
Great sides though and do agree with the selections of most players. Maybe Amla a bit stiff in the tests as he bats number 3 and gambhir does not! gambhir was not even in the indian side at the start of the year!!! and he does open!

CoverKing wrote:Bit harsh IMO opinion on Mitchell Johnson in the test side as he did take the second most wickets for 2008. as a youngster he has really stood up against india, south africa, new zealand and the west indies on all different surfaces and in all different countries/conditions. he had a great year and did take the second most wickets in test matches for the year!
Great sides though and do agree with the selections of most players. Maybe Amla a bit stiff in the tests as he bats number 3 and gambhir does not! gambhir was not even in the indian side at the start of the year!!! and he does open!

Gambhir did make only 27 less runs than Amla

brod wrote:

CoverKing wrote:Bit harsh IMO opinion on Mitchell Johnson in the test side as he did take the second most wickets for 2008. as a youngster he has really stood up against india, south africa, new zealand and the west indies on all different surfaces and in all different countries/conditions. he had a great year and did take the second most wickets in test matches for the year!
Great sides though and do agree with the selections of most players. Maybe Amla a bit stiff in the tests as he bats number 3 and gambhir does not! gambhir was not even in the indian side at the start of the year!!! and he does open!

Gambhir did make only 27 less runs than Amla

and how many times did he bat number 3 though? to me it is the same as an AFL all australian side when a centre half back gets put at full back or something similar when they have rarely if at all batted in that position

Yeah I think both are good sides but I think MS Dhoni is way over rated.
I'd rather see McCullum or Boucher with the one day gloves.

What? No Katich?

What has Dhoni done that is so special?

IMO you could toss a coin between dhoni and boucher, both extremely good players and seem to be at their best when the team is in trouble (boucher in sydney with 89, dhoni against the poms once or twice i think). I think dhoni should get the nod due to his importance to the indian team and a very successful stint as captain.
McCullum might be entertaining but not at the same level as the other two.

hearts on fire wrote:What has Dhoni done that is so special?

Not much but be ranked NUMBER ONE ODI batsman for a large amount of 2008 (currently number 2)

hearts on fire wrote:What has Dhoni done that is so special?

He won the most tosses.

Bracken should be in the 1day team, ranked no.1 bowler for most of the year.

No ponting best number 3 batsmen around..

No white guys allowed - or at least not more than a token few?
And definitely no Aussies!

Yep, pretty mystifying that there were no Aussies picked in either team.

Mitchell Johnson definitely deserved to be named in that Test XI as did Ricky Ponting. Also, leaving Nathan Bracken out of the one-day side was bewildering.

Then again Cricinfo is not exactly a renowned authority on the game.

MJ for the Test side, yeah...
Bracks definetly in the ODI... best white ball bowler in the world...

sizeable lad wrote:Yeah I think both are good sides but I think MS Dhoni is way over rated.
I'd rather see McCullum or Boucher with the one day gloves.

That's absolute garbage, what would you know you tool!

How the hell did Zaheer Khan get in ahead of Johnson.

Mitchell Johnson 63 wickets @ 31.53
Zaheer Khan 27 wickets @ 36.85