Cricket: One-day snub for Black Caps

By RICHARD BOOCK

If New Zealand were hoping for some extra motivation before next week's Champions Trophy showdown against Australia, they would have only needed to glance in the direction of Richie Benaud's so-called world one-day side.

Bereft of New Zealanders and looking about as balanced as a drunken sailor, Benaud's World XI appeared as though it might have been scribbled on the back of a dinner napkin during a pause between speeches at yesterday's ICC awards ceremony in London.

Never mind that New Zealand have won nearly everything in sight since John Bracewell took over at the start of last summer, and that - at last count - they had triumphed in their past nine completed ODIs, Benaud's team of experts could uncover no deserving cases.

Instead of picking Stephen Fleming at No 3 - on account of his barnstorming form during the past 24 months, they found room for West Indian Chris Gayle, and South African Jacques Kallis was unceremoniously bunged in at No 7 - rather than Chris Cairns.

Benaud attempted to defend Gayle's selection on the basis that he could bowl a bit, a dubious piece of reasoning given that the side were already blessed with five specialist bowlers, and could easily call on Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag as part-timers.

And his decision to include Kallis at No 7 was equally perplexing, considering the South African usually bats at No 3 or No 4 and tends to thrive on a measured approach, expanding his game only when early targets have been met, and the overs are starting to run out.

Cairns, in particular, would have seemed a more appropriate selection for the position; a batsman who was well-equipped to blast the ball out of the ground at will, and a bowler who, when fit, could contribute more than adequately in the field.

There was also a major question mark over Benaud's thinking in term of the spin merchants, and his complete dismissal of the need to have bowlers capable of taking the pace off the ball when conditions - especially pitches - dictate.

Hence, he could find no room for Sri Lanka's Mutthiah Muralitharan - the most successful test bowler of all time, let alone someone such as Indian spinner Yuvraj Singh.

The decision against including any New Zealanders came after a previous snub two months ago, when Wisden Cricinfo picked a Kiwi-less world one-day side, at a time Fleming's team were officially ranked as No 2 on the circuit.

Joining Benaud on the selection panel were Ian Botham, Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Holding and Barry Richards.

Perhaps someone from New Zealand should have been on the panel. After all, the Kiwis won the inaugural Spirit of Cricket award and fair play seems to have been missing in this team selection.

The teams

Test: Matthew Hayden, Herschelle Gibbs, Ricky Ponting (capt), Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist, Chaminda Vaas, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Stephen Harmison.

One-day: Adam Gilchrist, Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Gayle, Ricky Ponting (capt), Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock, Chaminda Vaas, Jason Gillespie.