The 5-live crew of Arlo White, Simon Mann and Johnny Saunders have never really convinced me that they have great appreciation of the subtleties of great batting, bowling, fielding or glovework: their summarisers are damn good... but the lead acts seem to be involved principally for their (over-valued) capacity to waffle.

Their effort to master an all time England XI and RoW XI suggests as much: the only places that should have been guaranteed in the top order would presumably be Knight (the guy to judge the pitch), Hick (the innings-builder), Gower (the class for the crucial no 4 role) and Fairbrother (the finisher) - all were ommitted.

I've nothing against such highly effective ODI players as Graham Gooch, Marcus Trescothick, Robin Smith, Kevin Pietersen and Allan Lamb... and would include one or two... but collectively they were surely 'fans' picks (good to watch) rather than 'coach' picks (definite picks): I'd actually consider having Thorpe in ahead of any of them!

Now... Knott should surely get the nod over Stewart in ODI cricket on the basis that the glovework is crtical in the short form of the game (where there's often no slip in place and extras are so critical). Moreover.. if Stewat IS to get the nod... then surely it should be as Knight's opening partner (allowing Thorpe, Pietersen or Lamb into the middle order).

That leave 5 spots... and it's no surprise that the "boys own" brigade of bowlers join "boys own" batsmen: sure, there's a strong case for Flintoff, Botham, Gough, Willis and Underwood... but there's also a strong case for notable ODI bowlers like Hendrick, Fraser and Marks.

There's much that was terribly trashy about the World XI discussions as well.... with Lara of all people being a marginal candidate (I'm not sure he even made the cut)... Warne being preferred to Murali (quite openly because he's more of a boy's own hero than because he has a stronger ODI record)... and hesitation about Joel Garner and McGrath!