My own 'special' World Cup

Listening to: Radio 1

Now unless you've been living under a rock for the past month or so, you'll be aware that the 2011 Cricket World Cup is in full swing. The group stage has just been completed, so I figured now would be a good time to present to you my World Cup. If cricket's not your bag, do not fear...this post has more to do with cricketers than cricket ;-)

Anyway, a quick intro for those of you not following the tournament. There are ten full ICC member teams and four associate teams, in two groups. They are as follows (associate members marked with asterisks):

Group A
Australia
Pakistan
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
Zimbabwe
*Canada
*Kenya

Group B
India
South Africa
England
West Indies
Bangladesh
*Ireland
*Netherlands

Yes, that's pretty much all you need to know. Now for the rules of my tournament...which, to be fair, isn't really a tournament. It's just one match, played between two World XIs.

1. Each team ideally consists of players solely from one group (see above).
2. The quota is two players per full member team, and one player from the associate teams in that group.
3. Players can be those withdrawn due to injury.
4. When a full member team cannot source two players, that place may be filled in the following ways:
   1. Another full member team in the same group may choose an extra player from their squad, failing which...
   2. The associate teams in that group may choose an extra player from their combined squads, failing which...
   3. The associate teams in the other group may choose an extra player from their combined squads, and loan that player to the opposition.
5. The best looking team wins (duh!).

OK, so after extensive research (i.e. tv coverage, cricinfo squad photos and Google image search), I've finalised my two World XIs. I cannot confirm or deny that the above rules were finalised after said research, but it matters not. Behold the finalists!

World XI A

Australia -
        Shaun Tait, Brett Lee

New Zealand -
        Brendon McCullum, Tim Southee

Pakistan -
        Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz

Sri Lanka -
        Angelo Mathews, Kumar Sangakkara

Zimbabwe -
        Ed Rainsford

Associate -
        Seren Waters (Kenya)

Due to the lack of talent in the Zimbabwean, Kenyan and Canadian sides, the World XI A squad is one man short. The other teams are equally bad, so as per the rules, the eleventh man is therefore sourced from the Associate team squad for World XI B -
        William Porterfield (Ireland)

World XI B

Bangladesh -
        Rubel Hossain

England -
        Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan

India -
        MS Dhoni

South Africa -
        JP Duminy, Graeme Smith

West Indies -
        -
Associate -
        Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)

Due to the lack of talent in the Bangladeshi, Indian and West Indian sides, the World XI B team is four men short. Thankfully, the English side is abundant in eye candy, so included in the side are -
        James Anderson
        Andrew Strauss

This leaves the World XI B side two men short, so from the Associate teams, we include the following -
        Nigel Jones (Ireland)
        Alexei Kervezee (Netherlands)

So there you have it. As far as I'm concerned, this contest can be simplified to Angelo Mathews vs. Eoin Morgan...and since I'm planning on marrying Eoin Morgan someday, I'm going for World XI B. But seeing as I'm democratic and all, I'll let you decide.