Best of the Noughties: Test XI of the Decade

As the next decade dawns I think it's a pretty good time to sift through 10 years of quality Test match cricket and pluck out what I think is the best XI that can take the field from the last decade.

I want to make it clear, the players picked are picked with help from cricket's greatest leveler—statistics. Reputations are not taken into account; it's quite simply the best performers of the decade. No punches pulled.

1. Matthew Hayden

Matches: 96 Runs: 8364 Average: 52.93 Tons: 29

The second highest century maker of the decade is a certainty in this team. Formidable in both forms of the game, not just test matches. Formed one half of crickets most successful opening pair with Justin Langer which propelled Australia to the status of one of the game's greatest sides.

2. Virendar Sehwag

Matches: 72 Runs: 6248 Average: 52.50 Tons: 17

On his best day, the India maestro is the most devastating batsman of his era. Great power and fine eye make him one of the best batsmen to watch in the world. In the past decade he has scored six scores of over 200 including two breathtaking triple centuries making him the best player in the last 10 years at making the big scores.

3. Ricky Ponting (c)

Matches: 107 Runs: 9458 Average: 58.38 Tons: 32

More runs and more centuries than anyone in the past 10 years at an average nudging 60. Beyond doubt the best batman of the decade and the most successful captain to boot, leaving him out of this team would be criminal.

4. Mahela Jayawardene

Matches: 95 Runs: 8187 Average: 55.31 Tons: 25

Sri Lanka's ex-captain is the fourth highest century maker in test cricket in the decade. Many will see him as a left-wing pick, but the stats don't lie. For Sachin Tendulkar to score the same number of runs in the same number of innings as Jayawardene for the decade, Tendulkar would have to score 1058 runs in his next 10 innings. I have no doubts this will spark a fair few comments. A true great of the decade who more often than not slips people's minds.

5. Brian Lara

Matches: 66 Runs: 6380 Average: 54.06 Tons: 21

What a player. Of all the batsmen of the decade he averages more tons per innings than any other. A great feat highlighted when you consider that he has played in an extremely understrength Windies team and has literally carried the batting on more than one occasion. A truly legendary accumulator.

6. Jaques Kallis

Matches: 101 Runs: 8630 Average: 58.70 Tons: 27 - Wickets: 205 @ 32.00

Like Jayawardene, Kallis is often the one we forget. But this man is only bettered in the run scoring chart of the decade by Ponting and consequently is one of the finest run scorers of the decade. Not to mention South Africa's greatest. Add to this over 200 wickets and you have one of the great all-rounders. I did contemplate putting Andrew Flintoff instead of Kallis on the basis of his bowling, but even Kallis' bowling compares favourably with his, and his batting just blows Flintoff's out the water, like Ponting his average is nudging 60.

7. Adam Gilchrist (Wk)

Matches: 91 Runs: 5130 Average: 46.63 Tons: 16 - Dismissals: 397

"Gilly" is probably the world's greatest wicket-keeper batsman ever. In this team his average of 46 is the lowest of the recognised batsman, but is still significantly higher than any other wicket-keeper could dream of. Never mind the 400 dismissals that made him a crucial component of the great Australian team and the most successful glove man of the decade. There's no disputing this one.

8. Shaun Pollock

Matches: 70 Wickets: 260 @ 24.76

I can't believe that I actually grappled with the idea that Brett Lee should go ahead of Pollock as one of my two fast men. Lee may be the highest wicket taking seamer of the decade, but Pollock is in many people's opinions—including mine—simply a better bowler. Metronomic in his work, a la McGrath, he has been a real underdog in world cricket. Never snatching headlines, just working away tormenting batsmen globally for the better part of the decade. I predict this pick is likely to be one of the more hotly debated ones.

9. Shane Warne

Matches: 65 Wickets: 357 @ 25.17

The bulk of his record may be in the 1990s, but in the 2000s Warne was still one of the two greatest spin bowlers of the decade with Murali. Maybe not as flamboyant or adventurous as his younger self, but still a bowling legend. Indisputably deserves a place in this team. Arguably the greatest ever.

10. Muttiah Muralitharran

Matches: 84 Wickets: 565 @ 20.97

The most prolific bowler of the decade, bar none. More wickets than anyone by a country mile, being 185 wickets ahead of his nearest rival. There are undoubtedly going to be questions raised as to the inclusion of two spinners in team. But let's face facts: Murali and Warne are the best wicket takers of the decade full stop, and that's what's important, not just having another seamer with a record that frankly is going to be worse than either of the spinning magicians.

11. Glenn McGrath

Matches: 66 Wickets: 297 @ 20.53

The epitome of the bowling machine. With an average bettering Murali he is the best fast bowler of the 2000s. Even though he only played seven years out of 10. A true great of any era. No doubt he will be in your teams as well.

The Tendulkar Issue

One of the strangest elements of this team is that it's lacking the little master Sachin Tendulkar. When I wrote down my 11 initially he was a dead cert...Then I started sifting through the statistics. On reputation, he is a near certainty in pretty much everyone's teams, I'm guessing. But the fact is, Jayawardene has been a greater accumulator of runs, as has Ponting and Lara. There simply isn't room for him. I don't know how, but in this team he is a nearly-man...let the outrage begin.

The Best of the Rest

Tendulkar, Ntini, Yussuf, Flintoff, Khan, Dravid, Harbhajan, Lee, Vettori, Khan, Kumble, Smith, Sangakkara, Chanderpaul, Laxman etc., etc...

Discuss...