ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Australia-New Zealand combined XI

Australia and New Zealand will renew their Trans-Tasman rivalry when the tournament’s two best teams take part in Sunday’s World Cup Final in front of a sell-out MCG crowd. With both sides being blessed with an embarrassment of riches in all departments, coming up with a combined XI featuring the very best from both sides is no easy task. The likes of Brendon McCullum, Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult are certainties, but how will the rest of the side line up?Here is how a combined XI from both sides would look like.(Note: Only performances from this World Cup have been taken into account for the combined XI)

#1 Martin Guptill

Before the World Cup, every Kiwi fan was worried about Martin Guptill. The right-hander's form had been patchy and if the Black Caps were to have any chance of going far in their home tournament, they needed him to be more consistent. And the 28-year-old has duly obliged. His performances in the group stages were steady and consistent until the final game against Bangladesh when he notched up a century.

He followed that by making the highest score in World Cup history in the quarter-finals against the West Indies. Often overshadowed by his more belligerent opening partner, Brendon McCullum, Guptill is now just nine runs away from finishing as the tournament's leading run-scorer and has arguably been New Zealand's best batsman, something not many would have predicted.