Cricket: The World XI through the years
ICC's World XI has been part of tournaments that have been significant throughout history. Photo: PCB
By Sohaib Ahmed
They’re here!
The World XI is here to help bring back cricket to Pakistan and last night, they played the first match of their tour to Pakistan at the Gadaffi Stadium. The match was watched all around the world with great interest as the country welcomed the return of international cricket back home.
But many people do not know the history behind the World XI. The ICC has created the team throughout history for various reasons. Here is a look at each of those instances.
World XI tour of England, 1970
To take a stand against racism
The first official instance of a World XI tour was in 1970, after cricket took a stand against racism and the South Africa tour of England was cancelled.
The South African tour to England was eagerly anticipated by fans, as South Africa had defeated Australia 4-0 and was considered at the time to be the top team in the world. South Africa at the time practiced the apartheid policy in their country, a racist policy which excluded blacks from society and prohibited them from sports. When England famously selected Basil D Oliviera, a colored player of South African descent in their team, the South African president said the move was political and insulting, and the series was cancelled. This cancellation of the tour would result in a 22 year ban for South Africa from cricket, until they abandoned their apartheid policy and returned to international cricket in 1992.
The World XI team in 1970 is considered one of the greatest teams of all time, and the 5 Test matches were given full Test status. The team included legends such as Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, Intikhab Alam and Mushtaq Mohammad. With Test matches played at all the iconic venues in England, the World XI dominated and won the series 4-1. In 1972, the ICC reversed their decision to give the matches Test status, and the statistics from the series were removed from the player s career statistics.
The ICC’s World XI has been a part of cricket tournaments which have been significant in world history. World XI’s tour of England, 1970. Photo: Boomsbeat
ICC Cricket Week, 2000
To promote cricket worldwide
In a bid to promote cricket around the world, the ICC organised a festive week with events all around the world. Small cricket tournaments and events took place in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, China, Canada, USA, UAE, but the highlight was the World XI vs Asia XI game in Dhaka at the very end of the week. Both sides were packed with stars. The World XI included legends such as Jacque Kallis, Michael Bevan, Chris Cairns, Lance Klusener and Mark Waugh. Meanwhile, the Asia XI was a team to salivate over, with Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar opening together, Saurav Ganguly, Aravinda de Silva, Abdul Razzaq and Moin Khan in the middle order, while Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble, Chaminda Vaas and skipper Wasim Akram were in the bowling lineup.
Although not given international status, the match itself was a thriller and a great battle between both teams in very hot and humid conditions. Tendulkar kicked things off in style, scoring 80 off 77 balls, and Ganguly, 67 off 66 balls, helped Asia XI post 320.
The World XI were in deep trouble at 196 for 7 in the 37th over, but the match will be remembered for Michael Bevan, who played the innings of his life, scoring 185 not out off 132 balls and took the match to the last over with Abdul Razzaq bowling. Razzaq managed to defend the total and Asia XI won by 1 run.
ICC Cricket Week, 2000. Photo: ICC Archives
World Cricket Tsunami Appeal Match, 2005
To raise funds for Tsunami Relief
The Boxing Day Tsunami in late December 2004 was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history, taking an estimated 230,000 - 280,000 lives in 14 countries. Apart from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were the hardest hit countries. The Sri Lankan team, midway through a tour of New Zealand, cancelled their series and headed home to take care of loved ones.
In January, the ICC organised a match between the World XI and the Asia XI to take place in Melbourne to raise funds for humanitarian aid. The match was given international status, and was a sell-out. For the Asia XI, it was a legendary lineup, including Virendar Sehwag, Sanath Jayasuriya, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Chaminda Vaas, Anil Kumble and Muttiah Muralitharan. The World XI included big names such as Chris Gayle, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Shane Warne, and Glen McGrath.
Sponsors such as Travelex donated A$ 1,000 per run, and Toyota donated A$ 50,000 per six. World XI batted first, and Ponting was in spectacular form as he smashed 115 off 102 balls. The World XI posted 344/8 and raised A$ 644,000. In reply, the Asia XI could only manage 232 and raised A$ 282,000. In total, through donations and sponsors, around A$ 17 million were raised, and the event was considered a success.
World Cricket Tsunami Appeal Match, 2005. Photo: Getty Images
World XI tour of Australia, 2005
A truly Super Series
Since the late 90s, Australia had absolutely dominated world cricket, and were considered unbeatable. Australia had won both the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, and had set many records including a 21 consecutive ODI win streak, and a 16 consecutive Test win streak. It was often said, that in the world rankings, Australia were number 1, no one was number 2 while everyone else was number 3.
With Australia being so dominant, many were intrigued to see if a combined World team could defeat the Australians, so the ICC organised a 3 match ODI series and a Test match with the matches being given international status.
The World XI included top players at the time, boasting names such as Inzamam, Shoaib Akhtar, Afridi, Flintoff, Kallis, Lara, Dravid, Sehwag, Gayle and Muralitharan. Despite these big names, the World XI couldn t find any cohesion and struggled to play as a team. The Australians were dominant throughout, taking the ODI series 3-0 and winning the Super Test by 210 runs.
World XI tour of Australia, 2005. Photo: ICC
World XI tour of Pakistan, 2017
To bring cricket back to Pakistan
The PCB is expected to spend around US $3 million on the tour with the ICC spending an additional US $1 million. The goal is to bring international cricket to Pakistan, and on its 70th year as a nation, a successful showcase of the Independence Cup with a star packed World XI tour would provide confidence that future tours can take place. Najam Sethi has done an excellent job in organising such a series, and hopefully this will be remembered as a monumental point in history that leads to international cricket returning to Pakistan.
World XI tour of Pakistan, 2017. Photo: AFP
Sohaib is one of the founders of the popular cricket group Cornered Tigers, and he tweets @Sobob99
