World's Best Filled With Golden Oldies

Smith - a constant throughout?

The Cricket365 forum has recently been awash with that old favourite, the World XI.

And C365 Editorial, a self-appointed Jedi Council on all matters selectorial, has made its own views on a Test World XI public.

For the record, my own contribution reads: Hayden, Trescothick, Ponting, Sangakkara, Kallis, Yousuf, Dhoni, Kumble, Lee, Clark, Muralitharan.

Now, we can all argue the whys and wherefores of this selection (and no doubt you will) but there is one thing everyone can agree on: it is an old team.

Dhoni stands alone as a man yet to reach his 30th birthday - and until six weeks ago no-one in their right mind would have picked any number seven but Adam Gilchrist.

Two South Africans, Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn, and the Indian seamer Zaheer Khan all came close my line-up, and Kevin Pietersen would have been an automatic choice for most of the last three years until his recent slump.

But beyond these happy few there are not many compelling candidates in the twenty-something bracket.

The list of plausible yet overlooked veterans is far longer: Hussey, Tendulkar, Chanderpaul, Younis Khan, DPMS Jayawardene, Dravid, Symonds, Ntini, Bond.

Indeed, there are more serious contenders who have retired in the last year - Jayasuriya, Langer, Lara, Gilchrist, McGrath, Warne, Vaas - than there are under 30.

Two young-ish keepers, Brendon McCullum and Prasanna Jaywardene, ran Dhoni close but in almost every other area the talent pool is remarkably shallow for the next generation.

Just consider the opening batsmen.

This is an area where we think not only of great players but indeed great partnerships, yet I was reduced to selecting a 36-year-old and a man who is odds-on not to play again at international level.

The selection of Trescothick is not supposed to be fatuous - there really is no-one better around.

Two players received brief consideration: Smith and Alastair Cook.

But the South African, though an automatic pick for a World ODI XI, has suffered two barren years until his recent cash-ins against the West Indies and Bangladesh.

And Cook, though a prolific run-scorer, has yet to influence matches on anything like the same scale as his predecessor.

That lack of emerging contenders is repeated throughout the side.

It is no coincidence that wicketkeeping is the exception - the demands of keeping vigil behind the stumps and then pushing the batting average over 35 (with a strike-rate above 80) make it more physically demanding than ever; even Gilchrist became fallible in his later years.

In keeping as throughout the side though, Smith's story - a better one-day than five-day player - is a recurring theme.

Indeed, my 'Youngsters XI' of under-30s (minus Dhoni) is even balanced like a one-day team with greater batting depth and power, but little in the way of long-termists with bat or ball:

Gayle, Smith, Cook, Pietersen, Clarke, Oram, McCullum, Vettori, Malinga, Zaheer Khan, Steyn.

Compare this to an under-30s XI from March, 1998:

Saeed Anwar, A Flower, Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Inzamam Ul-Haq, Pollock, Warne, Waqar Younis, McGrath, Muralitharan.

Anyone still take seriously the idea that Test cricket remains the ultimate test?

Peter May