From T20 World Cup winners to World Test Championship victors, this team is filled with players who had long, illustrious careers, while also featuring those who didn’t quite make it big despite promising starts.

The bowling attack is not the strongest, with just one part-time spinner, but the presence of three all-rounders and Chris Morris makes it a team that could challenge an international side on their day.

Danushka Gunathilaka (Sri Lanka)

Gunathilaka announced his retirement from Test cricket in January this year to focus on the shorter formats. The left-hander had been suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket in 2021 and handed a one-year international ban for breaching the bio-bubble during the tour to England last year, although the suspension was eventually lifted in January. However, Gunathilaka decided to give up Test cricket soon after.

Having made his debut in the format in 2017 against India in Galle, Gunathilaka played seven more games, his last Test appearance coming in 2018. He averaged 18.68 in eight matches with a high score of 61. He gives a left-handed option at the top of this order.

Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)

One of the most impactful players from Pakistan this century, Hafeez announced his retirement from all formats this year, putting an end to an 18-year-long career. The all-rounder made his debut in 2003 and went on to represent the country in 392 matches across formats, with his last international game being the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final.

Hafeez, who had already stepped down from Test cricket in 2018, and did not play an ODI after 2019, scored close to 13,000 runs in all three formats, whilst also picking 253 wickets. He is only one of three Pakistan all-rounders to score over 6,000 ODI runs and pick up more than 100 wickets. Hafeez was a part of the victorious 2017 Champions Trophy side and is also the spin bowler in our XI.

Lendl Simmons (West Indies)

The veteran stepped out from all formats last well, having represented West Indies in 144 international matches. He tasted greater success in white-ball cricket, though, playing an exact 68 ODIs as well as T20Is, making 1,958 runs and 1,527 runs, respectively. His standout innings in T20Is remains the epic 82* against India in the 2016 T20 World Cup semifinals, which helped them into the finals, which West Indies eventually won. His last international appearance was in the 2021 T20 World Cup against South Africa.

Ross Taylor (New Zealand)

Taylor ended an illustrious career lasting nearly 16 years when he bid adieu from all formats in April. A veteran of 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is, he scored over 18,000 international runs. Taylor not only ended with the most international caps from his country but is also their highest run-scorer in Tests and ODIs.

Taylor hit the winning runs in New Zealand’s ICC World Test Championship win last year. His 90-ball 74 in the 2019 World Cup helped knock India out in the semis, while the highlight of his one-day career remains an innings of 131* he played in the 2011 World Cup against Pakistan.

Eoin Morgan (England) (Captain)

England’s only World Cup-winning captain announced his retirement from all forms in June, ending as the team’s leading run-scorer in ODI cricket. Morgan, who played for Ireland prior to switching teams, captained England through an era-defining phase, leading in 126 fifty-over matches, winning 76 – a win percentage of 65.25. He was also an effective T20I batter, scoring 2,458 runs with 14 fifties at a strike rate of over 136. Morgan also led England in 72 T20Is, winning 42, and is the most successful international skipper in the format.

Ben Stokes (England)

Ben Stokes’s finest night in the ODI kit unarguably came at the 2019 World Cup final, when he steered his side towards the chase with a fine 84*. He did achieve much more through his ODI career which spanned 105 matches. The Test skipper moved on from 50-over matches in July 2022, with 2,924 runs in his kitty at an average of 38.98, three hundreds and 21 fifties included. He also picked up 74 scalps in the format, his best being figures of 5-61.

Kieron Pollard (West Indies)

One of the finest T20 players ever, the 34-year-old stepped down from all three international formats in April. He is the only player from the West Indies to play more than 100 T20Is, scoring 1,569 runs at a strike rate of 135.14, and picking up 42 wickets. In ODIs, he made 2,706 runs with 55 scalps in 123 games.

Appointed the white-ball captain in 2019, Pollard was a member of the victorious 2012 T20 World Cup side and became only the third player in international cricket to smash six sixes in an over, achieving the feat against Sri Lanka in 2021.

Denesh Ramdin (West Indies) (WK)

Ramdin made his debut for West Indies in 2005, with his last international appearance coming in 2019 against India. He represented the team in 74 Tests, making 2,898 runs, and turned out in 139 ODIs, where he collected 2,200 runs. Ramdin also played 71 T20Is, scoring 636 runs. He has a total of six centuries for the West Indies.

Ramdin effected a total of 468 dismissals as a wicketkeeper, the tenth most in the world, and the second-most from West Indies, after Jeff Dujon.

Chris Morris (South Africa)

An enterprising all-rounder, Morris announced he would be stepping away from all formats after playing a total of 69 games for his country. He made his T20I debut in 2012, but played only four games till the end of 2015. His ODI debut came in the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Morris picked up 48 wickets in 42 ODIs at an average of 36.58, and was a powerful presence down the order, striking at 100.43. The highlight of his career remains the 2019 World Cup when he ended up as South Africa’s leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps, having replaced an injured Anrich Nortje in the side. He also played 23 T20Is, taking 34 wickets and played four Tests as well.

Suranga Lakmal (Sri Lanka)

The right-arm quick is the fourth-highest wicket-taker from Sri Lanka in Tests, picking up 171 scalps in 70 matches. Having made his debut for the side in 2009, when he first turned out in ODIs, Lakmal finished with 109 wickets in the format at an average of 32.42. He was also a member of the side that won the 2014 T20 World Cup at home.

Hamish Bennett (New Zealand)

Bennett’s career remains a story of what could have been. Having made his ODI debut in 2010, the quick picked 20 wickets in his first nine innings, but did not play a single game for the country in three years following the 2011 World Cup. He played two ODIs in 2014, and another five from 2017 to 2020, picking up 4-64 in his last ODI game. He played just one Test (2010) and 11 T20Is (last in 2021). At 35, he announced his retirement.