Numbers point to World XI

With 2313 one-day caps, 48,945 runs and 1856 wickets among them, the Rest of the World squad clearly comes out on top, on the experience count, against the Australians, for whom the corresponding numbers are 1226, 26,506, and 705. More worryingly for Ricky Ponting and his team, the world's best outdo the Australians in head-to-head stats, and by some distance as well. The tables below examine the records of batsmen and bowlers versus the players they'll be up against over the next five days (all numbers since September 2001), and the numbers offer a telling story.

The batsmen
Batting is clearly Australia's stronger suit, but even here Ponting and his mates are outdone by Jacques Kallis and co. As the table here indicates, Rest of the World have three players in their squad who average 50 or more against McGrath, Lee, Bracken, Symonds, Watson and Clarke, the bowlers who will constitute the Australian attack in the series. Kallis and Kumar Sangakkara have outstanding averages and strikes rates against these bowlers, while Shahid Afridi hasn't done badly either. The one batsman whose numbers are far below his career stats is Virender Sehwag - three of his four dismissals came in the 12 balls he faced from Nathan Bracken when the Australians came to India in 2003-04.

World XI batsmen v current Aus bowlers*

Batsman	Runs/ Balls/ Dismissals	Average	Strike rate
Jacques Kallis	126/ 155/ 2	63.00	81.29
Kumar Sangakkara	153/ 184/ 3	51.00	83.15
Rahul Dravid	151/ 209/ 3	50.33	71.90
Kevin Pietersen	103/ 138/ 3	34.33	74.64
Shahid Afridi	127/ 78/ 4	31.75	162.82
Brian Lara	115/ 158/ 4	28.75	72.78
Chris Gayle	170/ 230/ 6	28.33	73.91
Andrew Flintoff	109/ 122/ 4	27.25	89.34
Virender Sehwag	46/ 77/ 4	11.50	59.74

* Includes McGrath, Lee, Bracken, Watson, Symonds and Clarke

Mike Hussey leads the way for Australia against the bowlers who will make up the World XI attack, and while he was extremely impressive in England, he will need to maintain that consistency over a significant period of time. Ponting himself has fine stats against these bowlers, but two other big names - Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist - have plenty to prove. Andrew Symonds is the surprise packet, with a superb average and strike rate.

Aus batsmen v World XI bowlers*

Batsman	Runs/ Balls/ Dismissals	Average	Strike rate
Mike Hussey	62/ 78/ 1	62.00	79.49
Simon Katich	45/ 69/ 1	45.00	65.22
Ricky Ponting	620/ 871/ 14	44.28	71.18
Andrew Symonds	395/ 455/ 9	43.89	86.81
Michael Clarke	262/ 310/ 7	37.43	84.52
Damien Martyn	475/ 694/ 15	31.67	68.44
Adam Gilchrist	286/ 379/ 11	26.00	75.46
Shane Watson	76/ 124/ 7	10.86	61.29

*Includes Shoaib, Pollock, Ntini, Flintoff, Muralitharan, Vettori, Afridi, Kallis, Sehwag, and Gayle

The bowlers
While Rest of the World might edge it with the bat, they are clearly dominant with the ball. Four of their bowlers have an economy rate of less than 70 against Australia's top-order batsmen, while Flintoff's is marginally over 70. And if anyone questioned Daniel Vettori's inclusion in the squad, the stats below should emphatically answer those doubts - Vettori's economy rate of 66 runs per 100 balls is better than Muttiah Muralitharan's and Shaun Pollock's against the Australians. These numbers are obviously coloured by the fact that all the above-mentioned names are the leading bowlers in their sides, and the batsmen have the luxury of playing them off and attacking the weaker bowlers. With all of them bowling for the same team, the Australians will have no such luxury.

The surprise packet here is Shahid Afridi, who goes at only 4.1 runs per over. Shoaib Akhtar is, as you'd expect, more expensive, but he makes up with his wicket-taking ability, as is indicated by an average of 27 and a wicket every 33 balls. If John Wright and the rest of think-tank go by these stats, then Makhaya Ntini is the bowler who'll most likely be left out of the side.

World XI bowlers v Aus batsmen*

Bowler	Runs/ Balls/ Wickets	Average	Economy rate
Daniel Vettori	294/ 446/ 9	32.67	65.92
Muttiah Muralitharan	243/ 359/ 8	30.38	67.69
Shaun Pollock	182/ 264/ 6	30.33	68.94
Shahid Afridi	300/ 434/ 10	30.00	69.12
Andrew Flintoff	270/ 385/ 7	38.57	70.13
Shoaib Akhtar	165/ 201/ 6	27.50	82.09
Makhaya Ntini	203/ 227/ 7	29.00	89.43

* Includes Gilchrist, Katich, Ponting, Martyn, Clarke, Symonds, Watson, Hussey

It's difficult to look beyond Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath as wicket-taking options for Australia. Even McGrath's numbers aren't so impressive against the Rest of the World's specialist batsmen. Shane Watson is a certainty in the line-up, but his batting and bowling stats suggest that the opposition batsmen and bowlers will be queuing up to have a go at him. With the bat, he averages 10; with the ball, he is the only one whose average and economy rate are both more than 100.

Aus bowlers v World XI batsmen*

Bowler	Runs/ Balls/ Wickets	Average	Economy rate
Brett Lee	375/ 526/ 15	25.00	71.29
Glenn McGrath	243/ 328/ 6	40.50	74.09
Andrew Symonds	264/ 279/ 5	52.80	94.62
Michael Clarke	112/ 118/ 3	37.33	94.92
Shane Watson	116/ 104/ 1	116.00	111.54

* Includes Sehwag, Gayle, Afridi, Lara, Dravid, Kallis, Pietersen, Flintoff, Sangakkara,

The battles within the war
Afridi against just any bowler is likely to be a thrill-a-minute occasion, and he'll fancy his chances against this Australian attack, who he picks off at the rate of 163 runs per 100 balls. And for a batsman who takes so many chances, an average touching 32 is perfectly acceptable too.

Here are a few other interesting spots: the most effective spin option against Ponting and Martyn isn't Muralitharan, or Vettori - it's Afridi, who has nailed both these batsmen four times, and very cheaply too. Compelling stats that suggest Afridi should be a shoo-in for all three games.

If Afridi has Ponting's number, then Clarke, it seems, knows exactly how to get Dravid's wicket: in 41 balls, Dravid has fallen to him three times. Which is still a lot better, though, than the show Sehwag has put forward against Bracken. And of course, there's that Ashes rivalry waiting to resume - Flintoff had Gilchrist's number right through the summer. Can Gilchrist reverse that stranglehold on home soil?