Monday, June 29, 2009

World Twenty20 team of the tournament

Concentrated into just over two weeks of intense seat-of-your pants cricket, the second edition of the ICC WorldT20 saw many individual reputations enhanced, while other big names left barely a dent in the memory banks.

Here is my team of the competition, selected from the best players across all competing teams, and - as you will doubtless question why some people are missing - I have added a second XI as well.

1. Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka). For so long he has clung onto the shirt-tails of bigger names in the side, now this remarkably versatile right-hander took a whole tournament by the scruff of the neck with a series of dashing innings. And he even invented a new shot, the "Dilscoop".

2. Chris Gayle (West Indies - captain). Welcomed Australia to England with a destructive 88 at The Oval on day two to leave a very sour taste in Ricky Ponting's mouth, and played a lone hand in the semi-finals against Sri Lanka's terrific bowlers.

3. Kevin Pietersen (England). Number three is the perfect position for Pietersen in Twenty20 cricket, particularly if he starts his innings inside the first six overs. Hit 154 runs in four innings at better than nine runs an over.

4. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan). After some indifferent batting,He struck a brutal 51 to dump the favourites South Africa out of the tournament, and also played the match-winning knock in the final. He also bowled quite beautifully throughout.

5. Yuvraj Singh (India). Did not deserve to be on the losing side when clubbing 67 off just 43 balls at Lord's against West Indies, and gave England a scare on the same ground with a couple of sixes in a chase they could not quite pull off.

6. Dwayne Bravo (West Indies). His blistering innings won the match against India when the chase looked a forlorn one, having taken four wickets in the same game. In this side he is selected as the third seamer.

7. Kamran Akmal (Pakistan). I very nearly went left-field to stick Niall O'Brien in, but while I am not always convinced by Akmal's glovework, it was pretty solid on the whole, and 188 runs in the tournament at a healthy rate cannot be quibbled with.

8. Wayne Parnell (South Africa). This kid is frighteningly good for a 19-year-old and is a big find by his country's selectors. Left-arm seamer who went for less than a run a ball and took 4-13 against West Indies at The Oval.

9. Umar Gul (Pakistan). Symbolised Pakistan's journey through the tournament, bouncing back from horrible returns against England and Sri Lanka to take 5-6 against New Zealand and become the outstanding yorker-at-the-death exponent.

10. Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan). A late developer who was already 30 when making his Pakistan debut, he has lapped up these English pitches, bowling his off-breaks economically throughout and taking a bunch of wickets as well.

11. Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka). After the semi-finals, the world's only world-classcarrom-ball bowler had 12 wickets at an economy of less than five an over. Was particularly brilliant against Australia, but nobody read him with any ease.

...and here's my 2nd XI: Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villiers, Younus Khan (capt), Lendl Simmons, Niall O'Brien (wkt), Roelof van der Merwe, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan

What would your team be?

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