Greatest ODI XI

No Wasim Akram?

Akram: av 23.5, er 3.9, sr 36
McGrath: av 22.0, er 3.9, sr 34
Roberts: av 20.3, er 3.4, sr 36
Garner: av 18.8, er 3.1, sr 36

So, went with the other three.

Joel Garner quite impressive. Never seen him play.

Big Joel or "Big Bird" was 6' 8", and bowled toe-crushing yorkers. Picked up 5/38 against England in the 1979 WC final. It was hard to score off him any format of cricket.

if you can choose amla then Im not sure why kohli cant get into the team. he has been the best odi batsman for a while now.

If Kohli could open...For Amla, the competion was with Hayden.

I had to pick 2 among ABD, Bevan and Kohli. It was close

Before Kholi I'd put Ponting (He won 3 world cups). Even Amla is too early call. No disrespect to OP. But I am not convinced that one can select best team based on the averages. You need to look at how they performed in big games and what they have won. More importantly the fielding aspect is not captured when you are looking at averages and stats. As they say catches win matches.

I do not totally disagree with your comments about Amla's inclusion. I couldn't think of many to choose from. The names that came to mind were Greenidge, Hayden, Gayle, Sehwag, Smith, Amla, and Jayasurya. I wouldn't protest if others chose Hayden.

As for middle order, Viv Richards was the best of his time. ABD has played and won a few more matches than Kohli at this juncture. Bevan was regarded as best finisher of his time.

yh true. Amla has just played like 69 odd innings, and so far in the wc and champions trophy, when he was required to take his team through the line he failed. Tbh that is true with all SA players.

Anyway yh ponting would probably come ahead of kohli without a doubt, but in the long run, Kohli is heading to be one of the best ODI batman if not the best. Already 14 100s.

I am very impressed with Kohli in the shorter versions of the game.