Tahir unlucky to miss out on World XI

Proteas leg-spinner Imran Tahir can count himself unlucky not to have made the ICC's World Cup team. Photo by: Jason Reed/Reed

Proteas leg-spinner Imran Tahir can count himself unlucky not to have made the ICC's World Cup team. Photo by: Jason Reed/Reed

Published Mar 31, 2015

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Cape Town – While AB De Villiers and Morné Morkel earned their places in the ICC’s World Cup team, Proteas leg-spinner Imran Tahir can count himself unlucky not be have been accorded the honour.

As is the custom, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the international governing body of world cricket, named a World XI to celebrate individual performances at the completion of the event on Sunday.

The Pakistani-born Tahir make it into the all-time World Cup record books as one of only four bowlers to have taken four four-wicket hauls in World Cups.

This year saw Tahir playing in his second World Cup tournament after he made his World Cup debut in 2011. He now finds himself in the illustrious company of Shane Warne, Shahid Afridi and Muttiah Muralitharan who have taken the most four-wicket hauls at the World Cup. The quartet top the list with four each, and now includes the Proteas leggie after he added two more four-wicket hauls to his two in 2011.

Morkel with 17 wickets, and Tahir with 15, could not, however, dislodge Kyle Abbott at the top of the SA bowling averages. In terms of consistent line and length, Abbott was the stand-out bowler for South Africa, while Morkel did not have a bad game. He regularly upstaged his new-ball partner Dale Steyn who after this tournament may well call it quits on his ODI career.

The trio are the only three SA players presently in the world top 10 of ODI bowling. Tahir has displaced Steyn as SA’s highest world ranked bowler and is in the No 2 position. Styen dropped down two places to No 4, and Morkel has moved from 10th to 9th.

Proteas’ skipper De Villiers was far away South Africa’s best performer and joined West Indies’ Chris Gayle on 37 at the top of the all-time record for the most World Cup sixes. He was the only SA batsman to top the 400-run mark at the 2015 global showpiece and also topped the country’s batting averages. He is also the World Cup record holder on two other counts. He has the highest batting average at 63.25 runs and has the fastest 150, scored off 64 balls.

De Villiers tops the world ODI batting rankings and the only other fellow South African in the top 10 is Hashim Amla who never really got going at the World Cup.

For the first time in months, South Africa has a player in ODI top 10 all-rounder rankings. JP Duminy moved four places up the ladder to slot in at No 9.

The semifinal ended in heartbreak for South Africa following New Zealand’s triumph but the match will go down as one of the best at the 2015 event.

The ICC team (in batting order):

Martin Guptill (NZ), Brendon McCullum (NZ, capt), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper), Steve Smith (Aust), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Glenn Maxwell (Aust), Corey Anderson (NZ), Daniel Vettori (NZ) Mitchell Starc (Aust), Trent Boult (NZ), Morne Morkel (South Africa). Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe, 12th man).

The ICC said the team was chosen by a panel of experts headed by ICC general manager cricket, Geoff Allardice.– ANA

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