3 Windies batsmen in World XI to face Aussies

Pakistan’s successful tour of India helped nine of its players gain selection in preliminary squads for the Test and limited- overs World XI line-ups. England, India and South Africa all have seven players in the two squads announced by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar in Bombay.

Sri Lanka has four players involved and there were three West Indians in the squads.

The World XI will take on defending World Cup champion Australia in three limited-overs internationals in Melbourne, Australia on October 5, October 7 and October 9.

A six-day Super Test will follow from October 14-19 in Sydney. India’s captain Sourav Ganguly and New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming weren’t included in either squad, while no players from Zimbabwe or Bangladesh gained selection.

India’s batsmen featured prominently, with Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman joining Tendulkar in the squads. The initial list will be reduced to two 13-man line-ups for the series.

"The Super Series squads are packed with fantastically talented players from around the world who will pose a serious challenge to Australia’s supremacy in both forms of the game," Gavaskar said in a statement.

England allrounder Andrew Flintoff joined the likes of Lara, Kallis and Muralitharan in both the test and limited-overs world squads.

He’ll get a chance to prove himself against Australia this summer when No 2-ranked England hosts the Ashes series.

Other Englishmen in the world test squad included captain Michael Vaughan, Steven Harmison and Andrew Strauss, while veteran paceman Darren Gough, Marcus Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen were named to the limited-overs squad.

Gavaskar’s selection panel, including Mike Atherton (England), Richard Hadlee (New Zealand), Clive Lloyd (West Indies), Jonty Rhodes (South Africa) and Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) took a range of key factors including recent and career form into account.

"While statistics were a significant form guide, we placed more importance on our knowledge of the players, their ability to perform on the biggest stage and their character in taking on such hardened opponents as Australia," Gavaskar said.

WORLD XI Test Squad: Andrew Flintoff, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamam-ul Haq, Naved-ul Hasan, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Kumara Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Steve Harmison, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Danish Kaneria, Younis Khan, Andre Nel and Graeme Smith.

ODI Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Andrew Flintoff, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamam-ul Haq, Naved-ul Hasan, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumara Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Darren Gough, Kevin Pietersen, Marcus Trescothick, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Yousuf Youhana, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chris Gayle.