If everyone was fit and uninjured

Sanath Jayasira (Sri Lanka)
Herchelle Gibbs (South Africa)
Ricky Ponting (Australia)
Kevin Peitersen (England)
Andrew Symonds (Australia)
Jacob Oram (New Zealand)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Andrew Flintoff (England)
Shaun Pollock (South Africa)
Makhaya Ntini (South Africa)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)

12th Man
Shane Bond (New Zealand)

Notably I considered no current Australian bowlers worthy of a position in the team. Raul Dravid, Chris McMillan, Virender Shewag, Shahid Afridi, Jaques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar were unlucky.
But I opted for a long high strike rate batting line-up knowing that they only have to bat for 50 overs for maximum runs not 5 days. And a balanced specialist bowling attack (pace/strike Ntini, spin/strike/economy Murali and economy Pollock) aided by 3 allrounders.
Gilchrist only got in by a whisker.
Captain Ricky Ponting (he is a world cup winning captain)
Anyway everyone has their own ideas this is mine, what yours ?

Most of my side would be very similar to yours, acker. Although I wouldn't include Makhaya Ntini taking into account of the nature of the West Indian pitches. He doesn't swing the ball a great deal (of which is very limited for even the better swing bowlers on show) and with the pitches being very slow his back-of-a-length bowling might be his undoing if he gets it wrong. Of course if he gets to bowl on anything with a bit of life he'll be the perfect strike bowler but over the course of the tournament I can't see him doing too well. I would bring in Shane Bond for Ntini, he's not quite bowling as fast he was a year ago but he's certainly the most accurate of the genuinely quick bowlers in world cricket.

The only other player I don't agree with is Herschelle Gibbs; his form has been very patchy of late and I really cannot see him getting going in this world cup. I'd bring in Tendulkar purely for diversity, he's got the power in the early overs to dispatch any rubbish deliveries and he's got great touch in the middle overs to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

As a side note I think Paul Collingwood would certainly be in the mix to get in the side. But with such a strong batting, fielding and bowling line up I don't think his services would be needed to such a great extent. Although he certainly merits debate as a replacement for either Symonds or Oram.

__________________
Watch this for a perfect about.
James May

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.

Nice team, but on current form, I would include Nathan Bracken ahead of Ntini; there is also that left armer's angle to right handers. I agree to not sending Gilchrist as an opener; he occasionally tends to throw his wicket away slashing at the quickies, not a good idea with the compulsory close catchers around. Moreover, Gilly's power can help to get through (or over!) the defensive fielding later on in the innings. Jayasuriya would edge out Chris Gayle as the opening all-rounder. So, in batting order:

1. Sanath Jayasuriya
2. Herschelle Gibbs
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Adam Gilchrist (WK)
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Jacob Oram
9. Shaun Pollock
10. Nathan Bracken
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

But to really gauge a team's effectivity, even if it was hypothetical, it needs to face and prove itself against a valid opposition in the same group. Try, this one:

1. Chris Gayle
2. Lou Vincent
3. Jaques Kallis
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Paul Collingwood
6. Mike Hussey
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8. Shahid Afridi
9. Shane Bond
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Mkhaya Ntini

Maybe they should try this combo as a charity match after the World Cup!!

Nostromo you did what I could'nt bring myself to do
picked an Australian bowler
But please forgive me with the Kiwi's batting last 3 times in the Chapple Hadlee series their last 2 innings/chases just happenned to coincide with the times I had got home from work and was able to sit down and watch them.