Best versus Rest: The Super Series

What would it be like to watch Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara bludgeoning Glen McGrath and Brett Lee at the Wanderers stadium in South Africa?

How would Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer stand up to an attack of Shoaib Akhtar and Shaun Pollock?

These imaginary situations will be reality soon with the International Cricket Council agreeing to hold the $1 million 'Best versus The Rest' super series, which will witness the top Test team play the rest of the world's finest players in September 2005.

According to the plan, the top-ranked Test and one-day teams -- currently Australia -- will face an all-star World XI in one Test and three one-day games next year in South Africa.

The plan could run into opposition from some players who have protested against excessive cricket.

It is still unclear how the ICC will pick its World XI. It could opt for an international selection panel or use the player rankings as a yardstick.

If it goes by the current PricewaterhouseCoopers rankings, the Rest of the World team would be: Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Richardson, Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, Inzamam ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Muthiah Muralitharan, Shoaib Akhtar, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.

Rediff.com has picked its World XI. Readers are encouraged to debate the selections and come up with their own teams for the Super Series.

WORLD TEST XI
1. Michael Vaughan
2. Graeme Smith
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Brian Lara (captain)
6. V V S Laxman
7. Jacques Kallis
8. Mark Boucher
9. Shaun Pollock
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Muthiah Muralitharan
12. Anil Kumble

ONE-DAY WORLD XI
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Chris Gayle
3. Jacques Kallis
4. Brian Lara
5. Sourav Ganguly (captain)
6. Abdul Razzaq
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Shaun Pollock
9. Moin Khan
10. Chaminda Vaas
11. Muthiah Muralitharan
12. Herschelle Gibbs