Tym Glaser

Who's going to win the World Cup?

Australia? South Africa? The West Indies? Ireland?

Who knows?

(Before I continue, can I just have a quick round of applause for the most question marks used to start a story - thank you, thank you, I'll be here all tournament)

When the dust settles - quite literally - on the International Cricket Council's Cricket World Cup 2007 - West Indies, one team will have the right to bleat for four years and the rest will just have to, as they say in Australia, "cop it sweet".

Of course, being a visionary beyond my years, I'd love to extend the Cup by one more game and have the champions play an All-Star XI in a game purely for charity a day or two after the event.

Naturally, that will never happen because the victors will still be drinking themselves stupid and these types of concepts always look better on paper than on the field - remember the ill-fated Australia versus the Rest of the World Test and one-dayers Down There a couple of years back?

However, it never hurts when searching for column fodder to come up with a 'Best' list.

So, I'm just going to go right ahead and pick my team that can't be beaten from the Big Eight sides at the Cup.

Every team needs a name so I'll call my collection Tym's All-Star Select Invitational Eleven Devils - or Tassie Devils for short, tee, hee.

Now,I could take the easy way out here and select the Indian batting line-up, the South African bowling attack plus Muttiah Muralitharan and thrown in Aussie 'keeper Adam Gilchrist and cast my arms wide open and say, "Tah, dah," but that would be way too easy.

The best side

Or I could take a leaf out of compatriot Bennett King's book and try to squeeze as many all-rounders into the squad as possible, but where's the fun in that? And, honestly, there'd just be too much bickering about who bats where and who gets the new cherry.

No, I'll play it straight and just select the best side out there and damn the torpedoes.

Captaining the Tassie Devils and coming in at three is the world's best batsman, Ricky Ponting. He gets the skipper's job not because he's a master tactician but because he's a real, live Tasmanian.

Preceding him in the opening spots will be Gilchrist and Saurav Ganguly. I was tempted to go with 'Gilly' and Chris Gayle, but that would be a real hit-or-miss combo - 200 off the first 10 overs or two down for one run in the first.

Following 'Punter' at four would have to be the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman the one-day game has ever seen. I'm picking him more on reputation than form but it is MY team.

At five, I have to go with one of the South African Poms, Kevin Pietersen. He's just great fun to watch and I want my team to be entertaining while it crushes foes. Who could forget the reverse sweep 'KP' struck for six against Australia in that long ago Ashes series in England? (Yet, another Q - wicked, keep counting)

At six I want a 'just-in-case' batsman who will halt any collapses. In the absence of retired great Michael Bevan, I have to go for his fellow Aussie, Michael 'Mr Cricket' Hussey, over England's Paul Collingwood, 'Huss's' Durham teammate.

Token all-rounder

Next up comes my token all-rounder and the toughest player to pick. Andy 'Freddy' Flintoff, Andrew 'Roy' Symonds, Jacob Oram, Dwayne Bravo or Justin Kemp? After much consideration,I go for 'Roy' because he can hit the ball the farthest and can bowl spin and medium pace.

Now for the bowlers. Chaminda Vaas is getting a bit long in the tooth, but he still takes wickets and has a great Cup record. He's also a lefty and can bat.

My wildcard pick is next - Jerome Taylor, the only West Indian to make the Tassie Devils. I want a couple of guys who bowl real fast and can take early wickets and, in the absence of Brett Lee ands Shoaib Akhtar, the young Jamaican fits the bill.

Partnering Taylor with the new pill is chirpy South African Makhaya Ntini whose wide angle to the crease is pure hell for lefties to play.

Finally, I don't need a spinner, but I'll pick one any way - my main main 'Murali' who will dupe them with his doosra.

So there you have it, the Tassie Devils: Gilchrist (wk), Ganguly, Ponting (capt.), Tendulkar, Pietersen, Hussey, Symonds, Vaas, Taylor, Ntini, Muralitharan, Pretty good, huh? (By the way, that was question mark XI)

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com