Cricket World Cup XI - Best of the rest

With the World Cup around the corner, I set out choosing the best to have graced the greatest stage of world cricket. Choosing the best eleven amongst the legends is never an easy job. Do you pick Brian Lara or Ricky Ponting or Jacques Kallis as your number 3? Do you pick Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan? Quite a conundrum isn’t it! On any day, they will make their way into any international side. So let's leave the realm of ‘Gods’ aside for now.I set about selecting a team by laying some ground rules for qualification:a minimum of 5 games in World Cupsbatting average of less than 40 and a bowling average of more than 25But can the greatness of a player be assessed only quantitatively? Definitely not. So based on that, I left out few greats of the game (Sunil Gavaskar, Sanath Jayasurya etc.) from consideration. By no stretch of imagination, am I calling this a second string team. These players are greats in their own regard but had their shortcomings.NOTE: The views expressed in this article are that of the writer and not of Sportskeeda as a whole.

#1 Stephen Fleming (c)

Stephen Fleming was the most successful captain for the Blackcaps.

Grit and determination are the two words that come to one’s mind when you think of him. He represented New Zealand across 4 World Cups and led them in 3. One cannot forget his belligerent 134 against a quality South African attack comprising of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Allan Donald in a steep chase muddled with rain delays. Unfortunately, that would remain the only mark he left with his batting at the biggest cricket tournament in the world. He did score another century in a match where Shane Bond stole the honors against an upcoming Bangladeshi team.

With all that, he will definitely be the captain of this team sheerly for his tactical nous. He led the Southern Hemisphere team to 2 semi-finals in his stint as captain. Both times to be undone by masterclasses by an Asian batsman – Saeed Anwar in 1999 and Mahela Jayawardene in 2007.

He also adds flexibility to the side as he can move down the order if the situation demands to lend stability warranted by the situation.