What’s the story?
Former Australian international Adam Voges named his All-Time XI as part of the special series compiled by the Lord’s Cricket Ground and unsurprisingly, the team features prominently cricketers from Down Under, with as many as five players making the cut while India’s lone representative in the XI was batting Maestro Sachin Tendulkar.
Voges, who brought down curtains on his international career earlier this year in February, named Ricky Ponting as the skipper of his All-Time XI describing him as the best player he has played with. Also featuring in the XI from Australia were some of the legends of the game in the form of Shane Warne, Glenn Mcgrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden.
Apart from Tendulkar, the only other Asian player in the team is Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara while South African great Jacques Kallis was named as the side’s all-rounder. The other players who made the XI were West Indies legend Brian Lara and England’s Stuart Broad, based on their performances against Australia while South Africa’s Dale Steyn was chosen as McGrath’s new ball partner.
In case you didn’t know...
Many players, past and present, have named their All-Time as part of the special series introduced by the Lord’s Cricket Ground which wanted to let the fans get a glimpse of how their favourite cricketers went about picking their favourites.
The likes of Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Joe Root and many others have selected their All-Time XI in the intriguing series that has set the fans buzzing with excitement and with the amount of success it has obtained, it is only set to get bigger and better with more and more prominent cricketers making their presence felt.
The heart of the matter
Voges, who retired from Test cricket with the second-highest average (61.87) behind the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, picked the brutal Matthew Hayden, who was a specialist in taking the attack to the opposition and the elegant Sachin Tendulkar, who Voges praised as one of the game’s all-time greats as the openers in his All-Time XI.
Ricky Ponting, the skipper of the side, made it at the No 3 spot followed by Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara to give a formidable look to Voges’ XI’s middle order. Jacques Kallis, the side’s all-rounder was slated at the No 6 spot followed by the man who revolutionised the role of the wicketkeeper in the modern game.
Voges chose a pace-triplet with Glenn McGrath, Dale Steyn and Stuart Broad providing a fantastic mix of precision, pace and swing. Shane Warne, the lone spinner in the side, completed the XI.
Voges’ All-Time XI: Matthew Hayden(Aus), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (C) (Aus), Brian Lara (WI), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Jacques Kallis (SA), Adam Gilchrist (Aus), Shane Warne (Aus), Stuart Broad (Eng), Dale Steyn (SA), Glenn McGrath (Aus)
What’s next?
As stated earlier, the Lord’s Cricket Ground have managed to get the fans excited with the idea of cricketers picking their favourites from past and present to give the fans plenty to talk about. They have made a number of interesting choices with Voges being the latest and it will be interesting to see who they come up with next.
Author’s take
Voges All-Time XI is a star-studded one featuring some of the greatest players to have played the game. With five solid batsmen at the top followed by the ever dependable Kallis and Gilchrist, the team has plenty of strength in the batting department.
Backing them up is a fantastic bowling quartet which has plenty of variation within the pace department while the magician Shane Warne provides the spinning option. Voges has covered all the bases with his selection and his All-Time XI can surely give even the best in the business a run for their money.
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