No method in World XI madness

It really is a bit of cheek, the sort where second best are garlanded with honours they do not deserve. Just how Sunil Gavaskar8217;s selec...

It really is a bit of cheek, the sort where second best are garlanded with honours they do not deserve.

Just how Sunil Gavaskar8217;s selection committee have came up with South Africans Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock as captains of both World XIs defies logic and lacks transparency. The ICC selectors have really goofed in their leadership choices for the Super Series against Australia Down Under next month.

Trying to discover on what pretext Smith was handed leadership of the Test side and Pollock the limited overs XI is hard to fathom. They were ahead of a list of candidates with a more inspiring international record: England8217;s Michael Vaughan, Sourav Ganguly, Inzamam and Stephen Fleming.

For a start, comparing England8217;s Vaughan8217;s record to that of Smith suggests that Sunny8217;s panellists overlooked the Yorkshireman8217;s obvious credentials. Smith was seriously found wanting by Vaughan in the last southern summer and a 2-1 record resulted.

Now, we have Vaughan leading an Ashes campaign that shows he also has Ricky Ponting8217;s number. England are in a strong position to take a 2-1 lead in a series that has seriously raised the level and image of Test cricket. So much for criteria and transparency.

The blurb coming out of Dubai says selection of players, and captain, is based on performance against Australia. What piffle is this? Smith has played only two Tests against Australia 8212; in South Africa and long before he was made captain after the CWC03 fiasco. And he has no record in Australia.

In fact he was grumbling publicly in a Safs sports magazine about the fancy verbals the Australians met him with when making his debut in that torturous summer of 2001/02.

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Since taking over from all-rounder Pollock, Smith has led his side in defeats to Pakistan; England in England and at home, lost to Sri Lanka and India and shared a series with New Zealand. Victories against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the West Indies are about all he could offer as a reason for his selection at captain.

And is appointing Pollock as captain of the limited-overs side a form of repayment by long-time friend Jonty Rhodes, one of the selection brains trust? Rhodes, it should be mentioned, is still a member of the 8216;I Forgive Hanie8217; brigade.

How come, in the Text XI, Mark Boucher, who has only faced Muttiah Muralitharan as a batsman, gets the nod ahead of the world8217;s second best gloveman and batsman, Kumar Sangakkara?

And why is Anil Kumble, whose last outing at Sydney netted him 12 wickets, not in the squad ahead of Daniel Vettori? And, we should remind Sunny8217;s selection panel, which also included Michael Atherton, the touring captain with the best record in Oz is Ganguly.

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Inzamam8217;s omission smacks of trying to find a place for Kevin Pietersen or Herschelle Gibbs, whose record is as pathetic as his guilt over his dealings with Cronje and match-fixing.

It really is hard to buy the line that the teams and players were selected on the form of against Australia. That being so, Ganguly again qualifies as captain of the World Cup finalists in CWC03.

Somewhere, the selectors got it seriously wrong but refuse to admit it.