A World XI to face Australia without Mr. Special !! Is this a joke?

Trevor Marshallsea, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald about the ICC's reported proposal for the Super Series between Australia and the Rest of the World, puts forth a likely eleven using the PricewaterHouse Coopers ratings for the top batsman and the bowlers in the world today.

Here's where Marshallsea stumbles. Now his top six of the Rest of the World team comprises of six of the top eight non Aussie batsmen who make up the top 10 (the two Aussies in the top 10 being Ponting and Hayden at positions 2 and 4 respectively). The team's wicket keeper would Kumara Sangakkara (the highest ranked wicket keeper on the batsmen's list after Gilchrist) with Pollock, Murali, Ahktar and Ntini rounding off the eleven as the team's bowling attack.

Now why is this team a joke (even though it is pure conjecture), even if the availability of these players for a still to be announced series is uncertain? Because, of one absentee in the list. Because the absentee's boasts of an average of 63.52 against Australia at a strike rate that would make any modern batsman proud. Because he is one batsman that the Aussies would not want againt them. And we all know who he is.

Now the inclusion of Mark Richardson (who's ranked one spot above Laxman currently) defies logic, because Sangakkara, who makes it in as the wicketkeeper is Sri Lanka's opener too. So substituting Richardson with Laxman and asking Sangakkara to open with Gibbs would do this team a lot of good, in every sense of the game.

I am still laughing. Well, it is conjecture at the moment and in all probability, this series will be still born, but Marshallsea's Rest of the World team is still a joke.