Mark Taylor

Brisbane: Had the Sri Lankans not turned in a superlative performance at the Gaddafi, Mark Taylor would’ve lifted the 1996 World Cup. On Tuesday, the former Australia captain, an icon of the present times, picked his dream ODI XI for the benefit of The Telegraph’s readers.

The request had been made on Sunday, during the first finals of the tri-series, and so Taylor took his time to get it right.

The following are excerpts

On the criteria adopted in choosing his dream XI

You’d handed me a tough assignment… The reason being there have been so many such good ODI players… I had to select a balanced team and had to keep in mind that today there is no place for one who isn’t good in the field… Not just that, you need to have a pretty good throwing arm.

His dream XI (in batting order)

ADAM GILCHRIST: Very destructive against the new ball and a quick scorer who’d also ’keep… A tremendous two-in-one cricketer capable of winning you the match in the first 15 overs.

SACHIN TENDULKAR: Such a very fine player… I was lucky to have played quite a few matches against him and, as captain, found him the hardest to dismiss.

MARK WAUGH: He’s at No.3, but could be counted upon to open too… Another very fine batsmen capable of hundreds… He could field anywhere and bowl medium-paced stuff and off-spin… Very handy and I found it impossible to leave him out.

SIR VIV RICHARDS: A very destructive batsmen who could hit the quicks into areas where others couldn’t… Plus, a magnificent fielder… I remember he effected a series of run-outs in the 1975 World Cup finals.

BRIAN LARA: I may not have picked him in my dream Test XI, because he’d always give you the chance to get him out, but I’ve had to select him in this team… Could adapt and use the pace of the ball very well.

RICKY PONTING: A No.6 he’s quite low in the batting order, but he’s got to be in the XI because of his fantastic record which speaks for itself… Remember, he’s been part of the Australian team which has won the last three World Cups. And, he captained in the last two.

MALCOLM MARSHALL: This was a tough one and I had to choose between Malcolm and Imran Khan… I’ve gone for Malcolm because he was the more intimidating bowler… He was the more damaging bowler.

WASIM AKRAM: He’s one of the two best bowlers I faced, the other being Curtley Ambrose… Akram did things with the ball which the others couldn’t do… He could swing the new ball and the old… Also, Akram was a very useful lower-order batsman.

BRETT LEE: Brett gets in on the strength of his performance in ODIs over the past five years… A genuine wicket-taker, a solid fieldsman and a reasonable bat.

SHANE WARNE: I don’t need to justify his selection in any manner… These days, one-day cricket is more about taking wickets and not containment and Shane would be right up there.

GLENN MCGRATH: Again, this was a tough one and Ambrose lost out only because Glenn was a slightly better fielder with a stronger throwing arm.

Whether he had difficulty leaving out some others besides Imran and Ambrose

(Grins) Oh, yes… Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, Michael Bevan and Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Muttiah Muralidharan… Bevan was such a finisher, but the team I’ve picked wouldn’t need a Bevan to do that job… Actually, had I been making this selection a decade ago, Javed Miandad would’ve definitely been in…

Finally, his choice for the captaincy

Ponting… He has a very fine record and has won two World Cups.