I did'nt select Collingwood because allthough he is a good accumulator of runs he does'nt have a power game to mix with it.
Tendulkar was in my original mix for the opening spot I gave to Gibbs, but I gave Gibbs the nod because of his better strike rate and memories of his role in that 456 run chase against Australia a couple of years ago.
Bond for Ntini close call Bonds economy versus Ntini's strike.
I selected the batting line-up with players whos strike rates are in the high 80's peaking to the 120's with Oram-Symonds-Gilchrist in the late middle order. Flintoff and Pollock in reserve in case of a collapse.
I get sick of watching teams that dont try to maximise their potential run making opportunities, when teams get scores like 3 for 280 or 4 for 320 I allways wonder why they were not 7 for 310 or all out 350. Why did'nt the batsmen batting take more risks, get more runs, lose more wickets and utilise the full batting line-up rather than end the innings with 5 or 6 players who did not get a bat.
If a team negotiates 30-40 overs and has only lost 2-3 wickets batting first, surely its time to increase the level of risk and speed up the run rate expecially when you end up with 1 or 2 big hitters only getting 3-4 overs or worse still not getting a hit because a batsmen batted through not out playing only ground shots.