Cricket may well be a batsman's game, but here at Wisden.com we believe that the sterling work of all those No. 11s is rarely given the attention it deserves. With this in mind, we are proud to present Battleof the Bunnies, a year-long search for a team of the greatest rabbits – or worst batsmen, if you really must – currently playing Test cricket. The rules are simple: statistical incompetence alone will decide places in the side, and each month an updated World Bunny XI will be published here. Catherine Hanley has a hotline to the selectors ...

Friday, July 5, 2002

With only four teams to watch it's been a slightly less hectic month for connoisseurs of willow-related incompetence, but the selectors did manage to view a bit of cricket, in between sipping pina coladas in Grenada and complaining about the weather in Manchester.

Something they have noted with interest is that the Bunny XI is starting to lose its cosmopolitan feel, with over half the team now made up of players from just three countries. The Aussies are still well-represented by those two fearsome rabbits - one might almost say stick insects, but surely that would be cruel, and besides they might know where we live - Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath, lurking in sixth and eleventh place respectively, biding their time and waiting for their next opportunity to waft one to cover.

Not to be outdone, the Sri Lankan team now boasts two representatives, and although Muttiah Muralitharan must be berating himself for the brainstorm which allowed him to score six runs all at once to drop him down to No. 8, he is surely generous enough to be pleased at the superb form of Eric Upashantha, who makes his debut at No. 9.

However, one team is starting to overshadow all the others when it comes to producing great bunnies: there are now three players from West Indies in the side, as well as another three burrowing at the door trying to get in. The selectors would particularly like to commend the sterling efforts of new boy Darren Powell, who has leapt into the middle order. With a World XI starting chock-full of Caribbean cricketers it's just like the 1970s and '80s again, but then retro is supposed to be cool, isn't it?

In the midst of all the changes to the side some stability is appearing at the top, where Chris Martin is still proudly flying the New Zealand flag as captain, having still not managed to get off the mark this season. He is currently the only Kiwi to demonstrate the right sort of attitude, unlike his unfortunate compatriot Robbie Hart.

The excitement of being in last month's Bunny XI was obviously too much for the poor fellow: he let the sudden stardom go to his head and recorded four scores of 20 or more, including a maiden Test fifty. Now he's not even in the frame. How he must be kicking himself...

The Bunny XI (as at 05/07/02)

1 Chris Martin (NZ) (capt) 0*, 0, 0 av: 0.00
2 Mohammad Sami (Pak) 0*, 0 av: 0.00
3 Junior Murray (WI) 0, 0, 1 av: 0.33
4 Ashish Nehra (Ind) 0, 0, 0*, 3, 1*, 0, 0* av: 1.00
5 Darren Powell (WI) 0, 2 av: 1.00
6 Jason Gillespie (Aus) 0, 1, 3 av: 1.33
7 Ray Price (Zim) 0, 3 av: 1.50
8 Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) 0, 0*, 6, 0 av: 2.00
9 Eric Upashantha (SL) 1, 3 av: 2.00
10 Cameron Cuffy (WI) 0, 1*, 4, 1, 0*, 0*, 3*, 0* av: 3.00
11 Glenn McGrath (Aus) 2, 4*, 0 av: 3.00

This month's Guest Twelfth Man is Andrew Flintoff: a controversial choice, as he can't seem to stop scoring in one-day games. But that's in stark contrast to the solitary Test run he's managed this month.

Catherine Hanley is a university lecturer, a keen cricketer and a regular contributor to Wisden.com. She was born in Tasmania and now lives in Sheffield, England.

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