http://desicritics.org/ Superior South Asian bloggers on Culture, Media, Politics, Sport, Business, and Technology. en Copyright 2006 by the authors Tue, 1 May 2007 12:08:34 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss BC custom software http://desicritics.org/2007/05/01/003216.php#comment-172461 Seshu, nice analysis and good observations. Your approach of mirroring the Australian side in the Rest of World is an interesting one. 172461@desicritics.org Tue, 1 May 2007 12:08:34 EDT http://desicritics.org/2007/05/01/003216.php#comment-172341 Some things to keep in mind if you want to select a Team to beat Australia. 1. Good Attacking Players. 2. Preferably Players with Allround Abilities and Good Fielding Abilities 3. Preferably Players who perform better against Australia and players who have a strong desire to beat Australia. The last point is the most Interesting and its called "MatchMaking" Sangakarra,McCallum are the best or available choice of Match for Gilchrist available across the world. Bond,Malinga can match Lee,Tait or Any other opening spell bowler from Australia. Rest of the World has 1 Unique Player in the Form of "Murali". But 3 spin bowlers from Australia bowling together match murali and out of them two are terrific batsmen. Symonds+Clarke+Hogg = Murali. Shane Watson is again a differnt Cricketer and the best part of watson is He can bat in any position and he is a big hitter and is a useful Bowler.Who matches these criterias from around the world.Styris,Oram,CollingWood come the closest in this category. Symonds and Peterson are very good hitters of the Ball.But Symonds always had the advantage of Playing with a more free mind becuase in case Symonds Gets out , there are some more Powerful hitters who can do the similar job for his Team.But if Peterson got out then the Team is in Trouble.So Again while selecting the Team you have to fill this Gap "If 1 Player gets out the follwing player should make Australia Regret for snapping up the last wicket". Its hard to pick a Team from even rest of the world which can consistently beat Australia. The rest of the World Team would still be a Team which only on its day can beat Australia. Australia is a unique combination of Players Individual Brilliance + Great Team Bonding + Mentally and Physically Strong and Non Complacent + Power Players + Allround Abilities + Analytical Abilities (If the Australians find a player tough to handle Iam sure they do a lot of analysis on the Player and then come up with a solution.) All the Teams around the world have the following things in common 1. Talent + Individual Brilliance 2. Complacency .Many Teams become complacent after a little success. 3. Lack of a Strong Bonding. Australians players are ready to make sacrifices in the interest of the Team.But in Teams like Pakistan and India, A player who does such acts of Sacrificing etc in the interest of the team might be simply messing up with his career. 4. For the Teams in Rest of the World,its much more easier to make it to the National Team.All you need is talent,few good performances,some god father, some sort of loop holes to get into the team. To make it to the Australian National Side you have to perform consistently for some years and then there has to be a position vacant for you which can be only created if someone is not performing or Injured and that is a rare sight. 172341@desicritics.org Tue, 1 May 2007 09:35:28 EDT http://desicritics.org/2007/05/01/003216.php#comment-172303 All right! I haven't played it in months - need to get back to it. 172303@desicritics.org Tue, 1 May 2007 08:26:54 EDT http://desicritics.org/2007/05/01/003216.php#comment-172253 Aspi Check this out ---- India wins stickcricket world cup:-) www.stickcricket.com rgds 172253@desicritics.org Tue, 1 May 2007 06:55:03 EDT