Cricket World MVP Latest ODI Dream Team Selection

Cricket World MVP Latest ODI Dream Team Selection

What is he doing here? Kevin Pietersen makes our ODI dream team.

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With the England versus Australia series coming to a conclusion and the West Indies versus New Zealand series underway, Cricket World's Most Valuable Player (MVP) dream team once again presents the dream One-Day International (ODI) team. By John Pryor.

Two weeks ago the dream team lined up as follows: Martin Guptill (New Zealand), Hashim Amla (South Africa), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand, wicket-keeper), Virat Kohli (India), AB de Villiers (South Africa, captain), Manoj Tiwary (India), Jacob Oram (New Zealand), Peter Borren (Netherlands), Clint McKay (Australia), Morné Morkel (South Africa), Sunil Narine (West Indies), but fluctuations in form have forced some key changes.

We have a change at the top with Chris Gayle replacing Martin Guptill. Gayle has had a stunning start to the series against New Zealand scoring 63 not out in the first ODI and 125 in the second. In contrast Guptill has had poor scores of one and 11 alongside a solitary 50 moving him down to seventh in the MVP batting rating and out of the side. Partnering Gayle is the Pakistani Nasir Jamshed, his success in the Asia Cup back in March places him third in the MVP batting rankings.

Hashim Amla retains his place in the team but moves down to three to make way for Jamshed. Following Amla are two justified, but potentially controversial selections. Brendon McCullum retains his place in the side and a ranking of 5th despite not featuring in the first three ODIs versus the West Indies. As a result of his success against Pakistan in the winter the talented Kevin Pietersen joins McCullum in fifth place on the rankings and therefore also makes the team, despite recently retiring from ODI cricket.

AB de Villiers maintains his number one batting ranking so holds on to the gloves and the captaincy in this team. After good performances against Afghanistan and Kenya Peter Borren takes the place of an all-rounder in this side, although his bowling is far stronger than his batting the batting talent in this side compensates for this.

Jacob Oram drops out of the team after dropping down to 19th in bowling and ninth in the overall MVP rankings after poor performances so far in the West Indies series. 

Clint McKay, Morné Morkel and Sunil Narine maintain their places in the bowling attack with Steve Finn completing the line-up. Finn performed exceptionally against Australia this summer taking four wickets in the fourth ODI.

Though this team still has a strong South African presence, a few new faces make this a more diverse line-up with the West-Indies and England profiting from their recent success. 

The Cricket World MVP Ratings are designed to offer an at-a-glance breakdown of which players are in form at the moment, rewarding performances from the past 12 months only. Players must feature in three matches to gain a rating.

What do you think? How would this dream team fare against, say Australia? Let us know by leaving us a comment below or join the debate on Twitter or Facebook.

 © Cricket World 2012