The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the official team of the 2015 Cricket World Cup on Monday with Brendon McCullum as its captain.
McCullum was chosen as the captain following his aggressive, innovative and inspirational leadership during the 44-day tournament that was the cornerstone of his team’s progression to the final where it lost to Australia by seven wickets.
In doing so, McCullum also scored 328 runs in nine matches with four half-centuries at a strike-rate of 188.50.
The team was chosen by a select group of experts* who were given the task of picking a balanced side on the basis of performances in the tournament. Statistics were used but were not the sole basis for selections.
In addition to McCullum, the side includes four New Zealanders – Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Daniel Vettori – three Australians in Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc, two South Africans, AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel, with Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara as wicketkeeper-batsman.
Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor, who finished with 433 runs in six matches, was named as the 12thman.
Team of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in batting order:
Martin Guptill (New Zealand)
Brendon McCullum (New Zealand (captain)
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) (wicketkeeper)
Steven Smith (Australia)
AB de Villiers (South Africa)
Glenn Maxwell (Australia)
Corey Anderson (New Zealand)
Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
Mitchell Starc (Australia)
Trent Boult (New Zealand)
Morne Morkel (South Africa)
Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe) (12th man)
