You know the English summer is almost upon you when the cricket season begins. The new edition of Wisden comes out, a touring party get clobbered by a bunch of no-hopers and middle-aged women up and down the country dust off their cake recipe books in order to seduce Henry Blofeld. Ahhh, cricket.

I thought I'd start the season with a little debate. I set myself the challenge of picking my World XI. Dead easy, you might think, but to give me cause for thought I decided I would only allow myself one player from each Test-playing nation, plus another 'wild card' player to make the numbers up to eleven. A much less easy task. For example, who to pick from the mighty Aussies? Ponting? Warne? Gilchrist? Well, as it turned out, none of these.

All the players I have chosen are still playing first-class cricket, but not all at international level. The unfortunate situation in Zimbabwe, with its effect on the cricket team, meant I had to look beyond the current side, who frankly would struggle at Minor Counties level. I hope there will be one or two surprises in here; after all, what is cricket without a good debate over a warm beer and some cake? Please feel free to elect your own choices at the bottom of this entry and perhaps we'll come up with an alternative team between us for the next issue.

I like a bit of grit in my openers. Tough, able to face down the most aggressive bowling in the world, take a cricket ball in the groin if necessary and still be able to unflinchingly face the next one. They have to be fighters, survivors, gutsy performers who'll still be there after 20 overs so the middle order can get in and do their job.

As much as it hurts an Englishman to say it, the man who fits the bill more than any other since the days of Boycott is Justin Langer. Often underrated during Australia's glory years, it was his steadfast application that set the foundations for the teams wins on so many occasions. It's not that he can't play shots, he just knows when to play them. Langer took a pummelling from England's opening bowlers in the 2005 Ashes series, but where others around him gave up, he barely blinked. Joining him at the crease will be Salman Butt. The young Pakistan left-hander had a reputation in his early days for pure strokeplay and no defence, but he showed a new maturity against England in late 2005, as if suddenly he had learnt to build an innings. The prospect of him after another year or so is mouthwatering.

It's not difficult to decide who to include as much as it is to decide who to leave out. One of my favourite players at the moment is AB de Villiers, a cracking batsman and the best slip fielder in the world. Unfortunately, though, another South African gets in before him. I could
go on about who didn't make it for ages, but these are the ones that did.

Toss a coin for number three: Tendulkar or Dravid? The Little Wizard's powers seem to be on the wane, even getting booed by Indian crowds, while Dravid as captain just keeps digging in, scoring runs and holding together the innings while proving absolutely impossible to get out. My head says Dravid.

But my heart goes for Tendulkar. There is nothing like seeing him in full flow. He's a true cricket superstar whose performances have been moderated by a series of elbow injuries, but I would pick him on the basis that if he did get going it would be well worth watching.

The other true batting legend we have is the greatest West Indian that ever played. The man who has scored more runs than any other in Tests (hitting over 1500 boundaries on the way) and who has top scored with 400 in Tests and 501 (both not out) in first-class cricket. Brian
Charles Lara is simply the greatest batsman since the days of Bradman. Perhaps another choice borne more of sentimentality than practicality, but his records speak for themselves.

Just as the ball starts to turn a little, Andy Flower comes in at number five. Now sadly banished from the international scene after he and Henry Olongo famously wore black armbands in protest during the 2003 World Cup, Flower was one of the best in the world at playing spin and worked hard to score his runs. More guts than flamboyance, he is still one of the best cricketers Zimbabwe has ever produced and is a cracking fielder at either point or slip.

There can be little dispute: Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff. A great bowler, a great batsman, but the greatest of sportsmen, too — possibly the defining moment of the Ashes in 2005 was the image of him consoling Brett Lee after Lee's heroics in an agonisingly narrow defeat. It's hard to think of a player of any sport that is more important to his team than Flintoff is to England; in cricket, the only serious contender would be Jacques Kallis of South Africa. An all-rounder is always a compromise; some are batsmen who bowl occasionally, some are good bowlers who score a few runs. Flintoff is unique in that he would get into any side, anywhere in the world, purely on one discipline or the other.

Continuing that theme, I firmly believe that a wicketkeeper should be in the side on that basis: that he is the best wicketkeeper in the country. He's got six batsman ahead of him to do their job; runs are a bonus. Very few excel at both, to say that getting runs as well is a necessity is a false economy. If we said all bowlers had to get runs to help the batsmen out, we'd never see the likes of McGrath of Muralitharan at Test level. A wicketkeeper scores his runs by saving byes, making difficult stumpings and catches. The modern trend of needing him to score runs as well only detracts from his art.

My wicketkeeper isn't even playing at Test level at the moment. I've never seen him take a difficult catch or miss a tough stumping, because he is always in the right position and makes everything look easy. He is immaculate. The sooner the England selectors realise how much easier life would be with Chris Read in the side, the better. He is absolutely, without doubt, the best wicketkeeper in the world. Let others score the runs and let him save them.

My need to have Justin Langer open the batting rules Warney out, but Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan is a perfectly able deputy. I don't
know if he gets so many wickets simply because his face on delivery is so terrifying, eyes bulging, but he accounts for the best in the world
regularly. In terms of Test wickets, he's right up there with the mercurial Warne too.

I don't think there can be much argument with the inclusion of South Africa's Makhaya Ntini. My God, the lad looks dangerous. In the recent series against New Zealand, he bowled an over at Nathan Astle that included an LBW appeal, three played and missed and off the last ball an outside edge that went to first slip. Astle is no novice, but he was a rabbit in the headlights faced with Ntini. Now he's sorted out his problem of spraying his deliveries all over and adopted a tighter line. He looks the business.

Bangladesh's Mashrafe bin Mortaza looks like becoming their first truly world-class bowler. He's hostile, gets every ounce of bounce out of the pitch and a reasonable first class batting average suggests he may even be able to hold things up at number ten. Injuries have hampered his progress to some extent, but if Bangladesh are to make strides in world cricket his bowling could be key. Watch this space.

Finally, New Zealand's Shane Bond. We will take our own physio to look after him — he seems to be forever blighted by injuries — but he averages just over 20 in Tests and on his day can be devastating. He took less time than any other Kiwi to get to 50 Test wickets (in only his 12th match) and to 50 ODI wickets.

1. Justin Langer AUS
2. Salman Butt PAK
3. Sachin Tendulkar IND
4. Brian Lara WIN
5. Andy Flower ZIM
6. Andrew Flintoff ENG
7. Chris Read ENG
8. Shane Bond NZD
9. Mashrafe bin Mortaza BLA
10. Makhaya Ntini SAF
11. Muttiah Muralitharan SLA

Well, if you have a better team, let me know below!

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