All-time XI: World

ESPNcricinfo to pick World XI

Team to be picked from all-star country teams selected so far

Bradman: one of the few certainties in an all-time XI  •  Getty Images

Bradman: one of the few certainties in an all-time XI  •  Getty Images

ESPNcricinfo is set to pick an all-time world Test XI as the conclusion to its 15-month-long exercise of selecting all-time XIs for the leading Test countries.
The team will be selected from the 88 players who made it to the all-time teams for their countries.
The jury consists of a former captain from each of the top eight Test-playing countries - Ian Chappell, Tony Greig, Clive Lloyd, Ajit Wadekar, Intikhab Alam, Ali Bacher, Duleep Mendis and John Wright - and four cricket writers and historians: Gideon Haigh, Peter Roebuck, David Frith and Ramachandra Guha.
In the front rank of contenders are such all-time greats as Don Bradman, Garry Sobers, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, all of whom were unanimously voted into their respective country XIs.
Each jury member will pick two XIs - his first-choice world team and a second XI. A weighted points system will be used to determine which players make it to the composite world team.
ESPNcricinfo users will have the opportunity to pick their XIs from the same shortlists as the jury, here. The readers' choice team will be announced at the same time as the jury's XI.
"It was only natural that our all-time XI series for the top Test-playing countries should culminate in an all-time World XI," ESPNcricinfo editor Sambit Bal said. "It's an apt finale to what has been a hugely successful exercise. Not only have these features been widely read, but our readers have participated in numbers in picking their own XIs.
"We have taken great care in choosing the jury for the world XI. All the cricketers on the panel have been captains, thus well-versed in the business of selecting teams. Also, they have either played alongside, or watched first-hand, a significant number of the nominees."
The shortlists
Openers Arthur Morris, Barry Richards, Glenn Turner, Gordon Greenidge, Graeme Smith, Hanif Mohammad, Marvan Atapattu, Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sir Conrad Hunte, Sir Jack Hobbs, Sir Leonard Hutton, Stewie Dempster, Sunil Gavaskar, Victor Trumper, Virender Sehwag
Middle order Arjuna Ranatunga, Bert Sutcliffe, Brian Lara, Dudley Nourse, George Headley, Graeme Pollock, Greg Chappell, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Javed Miandad, Ken Barrington, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene, Martin Crowe, Martin Donnelly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Viv Richards, Vijay Hazare, Wally Hammond, Zaheer Abbas
Allrounders Aubrey Faulkner, Chaminda Vaas, Imran Khan, John Reid, Kapil Dev, Keith Miller, Mike Procter, Sir Garry Sobers, Sir Ian Botham, Sir Richard Hadlee, Vinoo Mankad
Wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, Alan Knott, Ian Smith, Jackie Hendriks, John Waite, Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni, Rashid Latif
Bowlers Abdul Qadir, Allan Donald, Anil Kumble, Ashantha de Mel, Bill O'Reilly, Curtly Ambrose, Daniel Vettori, Dennis Lillee, Derek Underwood, Erapalli Prasanna, Fazal Mahmood, Fred Trueman, Glenn McGrath, Harold Larwood, Hugh Tayfield, Jack Cowie, Javagal Srinath, Lance Gibbs, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Muttiah Muralitharan, Rumesh Ratnayake, Shane Bond, Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock, Somachandra De Silva, Sydney Barnes, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram