The McGrath menace looms

Batting
On paper, the World XI line-up of Virender Sehwag, Graeme Smith, Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff has an impregnable look to it. However, most of those players were around during the one-dayers, and they didn't tackle Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and co. with any degree of comfort. With Shane Warne joining in the act, the World XI batsmen will be up against it come Friday.

The World XI bowling attack is formidable, but a couple of Australians have outstanding records against them - Justin Langer averages a whopping 159 versus Steve Harmison, and he hasn't been dismissed by Shoaib Akhtar, Muttiah Muralitharan and Jacques Kallis in Tests in the last four years. Ricky Ponting hasn't been bothered much by most of the bowlers either.

Aus top order v World XI bowlers*

Batsman	Balls/ Runs	Dismissals	Average
Justin Langer	1337/ 678	8	84.75
Ricky Ponting	988/ 599	10	59.90
Adam Gilchrist	860/ 691	17	40.65
Matthew Hayden	1231/ 654	20	32.70
Michael Clarke	343/ 146	5	29.20
Simon Katich	423/ 156	9	17.33

* Includes Shoaib, Harmison, Pollock, Flintoff, Muralitharan, Vettori, Kallis

Among the World XI batsmen, both Dravid and Lara have three-figure averages against the Australian attack they'll be up against (McGrath, Lee, Warne, MacGill), but Dravid's stats owe a lot to the fact he played 346 deliveries against MacGill on the previous tour to Australia. Those balls fetched 218 runs for no dismissals. Against McGrath (see personal head-to-heads below), though, Dravid's stats don't look so flash.

World XI top order v Aus bowlers*

Batsman	Balls/ Runs	Dismissals	Average
Rahul Dravid	744/ 375	3	125.00
Brian Lara	328/ 201	2	100.50
Jacques Kallis	739/ 321	8	40.13
Andrew Flintoff	418/ 293	8	36.63
Virender Sehwag	348/ 295	9	32.78
Graeme Smith	189/ 80	3	26.67

* Includes McGrath, Lee, Warne, MacGill. (Since Sept 2001, Inzamam has only played one delivery against any of these bowlers - at Perth in 2004-05, he was caught behind off McGrath for a first-ball duck.)

The bowlers
A look at the stats below might tempt one of the World XI players to somehow place a cricket ball in McGrath's path over the next couple of days and hope for another freak injury, because McGrath towers above the rest of the Australian bowlers - including a certain Shane Warne - when it comes to dismantling top-order batsmen. Lara is the only batsman who hasn't been dismissed by him in Tests since September 2001, scoring 26 from 74 balls. Sehwag (91 runs, 4 dismissals), Kallis (66, 3), Dravid (24, 2), Flintoff (20, 3), Smith (13, 2) and Inzamam (0, 1) all average less than 23 against him. Here's proof - if it's still required - that McGrath walks the talk better than anyone in the game. And while Warne's overall stats against most of these teams are impressive, he gets far more tailenders out cheaply than specialist batsmen - Dravid has taken him for 59 runs without being dismissed, while Kallis (150 runs, 3 dismissals), Smith (43,1), Flintoff (153, 4) and Sehwag (67, 2) have handled him reasonably well.

Aus bowlers v World XI top order*

Bowler	Balls/ Runs	Dismissals	Average
Glenn McGrath	669/ 240	15	16.00
Shane Warne	835/ 472	10	47.20
Stuart MacGill	647/ 445	5	89.00
Brett Lee	652/ 429	4	107.25

* Includes Smith, Sehwag, Dravid, Lara, Inzamam, Kallis, Flintoff

The numbers don't make very impressive reading for the World XI bowlers either. Flintoff is the only one with respectable stats against Australia's top order, entirely due to his stunning performances in the Ashes earlier this year. The rest of the attack, though, has made little impression on Ponting and Co. Murali's had the better of Katich (head-to-head average of 19.50) Gilchrist (21.33) and Hayden (26.33), but Langer and Ponting haven't fallen to him even once in the last four years.

World XI bowlers v Aus top order*

Bowler	Balls/ Runs	Dismissals	Average
Andrew Flintoff	840/ 373	16	23.31
Muttiah Muralitharan	517/ 299	8	37.38
Jacques Kallis	547/ 402	9	44.67
Steve Harmison	1067/ 595	12	49.58
Daniel Vettori	1285/ 744	15	49.60
Shoaib Akhtar	512/ 332	6	55.33
Shaun Pollock	414/ 179	3	59.67

* Includes Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Clarke, Katich, Gilchrist

More battles within the war
McGrath has terrifying stats against the World XI top order, but there's one player who doesn't qualify as a top-order batsman, and he has unravelled the McGrath mystery pretty well - Daniel Vettori has scored 68 from 138 deliveries from McGrath, and has been dismissed by him only once. Vettori as opener, anyone? Meanwhile, check out Dravid's stats against The Metronome - 25 overs, 24 runs, two wickets. There's no doubting who's had the upper hand in that contest.

The two bowlers who are likely to open the World XI bowling attack, Shoaib and Steve Harmison, haven't had much success against Australia's openers - Shoaib v Hayden is the only one among those contests which has gone the bowler's way. Also, Muttiah Muralitharan will have a few scores to settle against some of the Australian batsmen, especially Ponting, who has handled both Murali and Vettori with a fair degree of comfort.