Team of The World Cup

Matthew Hayden (AUS)
- Top run scorer, in domineering form, what more can you say?! Haydos is back and with some bang! He plundered three hundreds and one fifty, with 659 runs, at an average of 73.22, including the fastest ever World Cup Hundred off just 66 balls.

Adam Gilchrist (wk) (AUS)
- Sealed his place with his innings of 149 in the Final, which was the fastest and highest ever scored in a Final. His best knock came at the most vital of times and it won his team the game. Tidy behind the stumps as ever with 12 Catches and 5 Stumpings.

Ricky Ponting (c) (AUS)
- Captained the winning team to victory. Captaincy was easier for Ponting than for others, however he did what was required and played some sumptuous innings. Clever user of the powerplays and particularly Shaun Tait.

Mahela Jayawardene (vc) (SRL)
- Played one of the innings of the tournament in the Semi-Final, showing a lot of players, notably England’s, how to construct a one day innings. Commands the respect of his troops and the world.

Scott Styris (NZL)
- Surprise package at the World Cup. Had been out of form after injury, but came back to deliver on his talent on the biggest of stages. Handy with the ball as well, he was the lynchpin around which the Kiwi’s batted.

Kevin Pietersen (ENG)
- The only player who did not make it into the Semi-Finals. Two hundreds and one of them in a victory, a first for KP. He showed why he is number one in the world and looks set to up his game to a new level, having displayed higher levels of maturity and shot selection as the tournament progressed.

Michael Clarke (AUS)
- Down as the finisher, as that is what he ended up doing for Australia from number four! Four not outs, during which he guided Australia home, he took over from Mike Hussey and is really turning into one of Australia’s most dependable performers. Class fielder too.

Shane Bond (NZL)
- Did not deliver in the Semi-Final, but up to that point he was sublime and extremely economical. If he can stay fit he can achieve a lot more and maintain that ridiculously low strike rate in the teens.

Lasith Malinga (SRL)
- Star of the tournament with the ball, despite being sidelined by injury half way through. With four wickets in four balls for the first time in international cricket against South Africa, he is going to be a star for years to come. Best bowler for Sri Lanka in the Final too.

Muttiah Muralitharan (SRL)
- They still can’t stop him and he did it all with a smile. Surely now the World’s best and most enthusiastic! He may now retire from One Day Internationals, but Shane Warne’s Test Wickets Record is under serious threat.

Glenn McGrath (AUS)
- Pigeon signed off in style as the leading World Cup 2007 wicket taker, with 26 and he is now comfortably the World Cup's highest ever wicket taker. Sides tried to get after him, but he usually got his own way in the end, as ever! Can walk off in to retirement a proud man indeed.

12th Man: Brad Hogg (AUS) / Jaques Kallis (SAF)
- The mysterious googly of Brad Hogg proved to be many a batsman’s undoing and in need of an extra spinner he is surely the man to fit the bill. He now has his eyes on Stuart MacGill’s assumed Test place. Meanwhile, Jaques Kallis gets a mention as South Africa’s best player, just ahead of his captain, Graeme Smith, but ultimately he was a letdown in the big games, uncharacteristically giving his wicket away on too many occasions, having been criticised for scoring too slowly against Australia earlier on.