I have an idea. I honestly can't recall if it has been done before or not, but here goes anyway. Once all of the 2006/2006-07 season (taking the northern hemisphere season first) A teams have been selected for each nation, we could then progress, with the selectors who chose the individual national A teams, to choosing an international side from those selected nationa teams, hence the fulfillment of the title "World A Team". This side would be our collective world judgement on the best A team players from across the world, representing the cream of the world crop and the players we think are most likely to be the world stars in 5-10 years' time.

I guess it wouldn't be until late winter/early spring next year, but how about it? I'll make it simpler to decide by placing a poll which will run for the next thirty days.

Great idea Colly

I'm predicting hours of arguments and no possible chance of reaching a consensus but it sounds like fun.

Great idea Colly, and I am all for it. Rachael tried something not too dissimilar last December in this thread: World "A" Team...

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I understand it's a challenge and that's partly what excites me about it. I also see an opportunity for us to educate each other about how we see the future of our cricket as a collective, and also for us to work together, especially since we've faced some very divisive issues of late. Keep voting guys, and I'll see what happens come the end of the poll.

Why should we wait until March/April when all of last year's WATs are in.

Take the WAT threads from the England A team 2004/5 to the West Indies team 2005/6 - and take it from there. I think the only available candidates should be those who've already made it into a team. Post those players up here, and we can start from those.

Unfortunately, I think that means we may be missing a couple of teams, but this could be interesting nevertheless!

I'd like it to be a progressive thing we could all look forward to and formulate whilst the A teams are fresh in our minds. I don't think looking back is the best idea. Certainly with a World Cup and the ICCCT close we may get a look at some players and more of a perspective on the state of the game in each nation. I'd prefer to wait for now and until the end of this year's round of A Team selection threads, personally.

Hmmm.... Too my mind though, where do you do the cut-off? The West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand teams were all selected fairly recently. Maybe it might be best to look at the WAT A Team in a calendar year perspective as by the time the 06/07 Kiwi, Aussie, South Africa and Windies teams are selected again, it'll almost be time for England selection

Fair point, but it just seems like a while since anything was done. Maybe after the ICCT as an alternative to the Ashes build-up? That way we can watch other young players and have a good foundation for working together.

Well, to whet your appitite, here's the recently selected A Teams

New Zealand

Jamie How
Peter Fulton
Ross Taylor
Jesse Ryder
Michael Papps
Matthew Bell
BJ Watling
Joseph Yovich
Jeetan Patel
Richard Sherlock
Graeme Aldridge

Bangladesh

1. Nazmus Sadat - (p/t SLA)
2. Shahriar Nafees
3. Faisal Hossain
4. Ehsanul Haque - (p/t RA-OB)
5. Nasiruddin Faruque
6. Mahmudullah - (RA - FM)
7. Saghir Hossain+
8. Mushfiqur Rahman (RA - FM)
9. Abdur Razzak (SLA)
10. Shafaq Al Zabir (LA - MF)
11. Hasibul Hossain (RA - FM)

South Africa

DJ Jacobs (2)* 43.00 4
HM Amla (6)** 62.35 3
JL Ontong (4) 47.07 3
JP Duminy (5)*** 43.66 4
MN Van Wyk (4) 56.14 5
JA Morkel (4)* 100.66 7(3)
MJ Harris WKT 40.93 6
JJ van der Wath (3)* 20.00 8(1)
DW Steyn (4)** 12.87 11(1)
T Tshabalala (4)* 12.00 10(4)
M Zondeki (4)* 5.81 10(2)

Australia

1.Phil Jaques (NSW)
2.Callum Ferguson (SA)
3.Mark Cosgrove (SA)
4.Shane Watson (QLD)
5. Dominic Thornely (NSW)
6.David Hussey (VIC)
7.Cameron White (VIC)
8. Brad Haddin (NSW)
9. Dan Cullen (SA)
10. Mitchell Johnson (QLD)
11.Shaun Tait (SA)

Pakistan

1. Mohammad Hafeez 25Y RHB RA-OB
2. Adil Nisar 27Y LHB
3. Ashar Zaidi 24Y LHB
4. Bazid Khan 25Y RHB
5. Naved Latif 29Y RHB
6. Mansoor Amjad 18Y RHB LB-G
7. Zulqarnain Haider 19Y RHB (WK)
8. Yasir Arafat 23Y RHB RA-M
9. Riaz Afridi 21Y RHB RA-MF
10. Mohammad Khalil 23Y LHB LA-M
11. Mohammad Asif 23Y LHB RA-FM

West Indies

1. N. Deonarine (4)* (OB)
2. S. Chattergoon (4)* (LBG)
3. S. Jeffers (2)
4. S. Joseph (2)*
5. D. Richards (4)
6. R. Morton (2)
7. C. Baugh (3)* +
8. D. Mohammed (3)** (SLC)
9. R. Kelly (4) (RFM)
10. A. Richardson (2)* (RFM)
11. J. Taylor (1)* (RF)

I think that this would be a good thread to "LAUNCH" once the 2006 England A team has been selected??

Who would be the automatic selections from that crew? Phil Jaques and Mohammed Asif for sure... and presumably Brad Haddin. I'm not sure England's crew will add anything in terms of the 'automatics': those three might be the lot.

What about a shortlist? I am sure someone will throw in Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn... but I suspect there's very little to go on for meaningful comparison of the rest. Worth a go though: I'll be interested in seeing how many of the final XI go on to make a big impact in the near future :-)