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, January 3, 2003

When the selectors first decided to pick a World Bunny XI, they had a sneaking suspicion that the majority of the team might come from just one of the Test nations. They just didn't expect it to be the West Indies.

Yes, the Calypso bunnies have strutted their way through the opposition to snaffle four of the five top spots in this month's table, showing everyone else up in the process. Topping and tailing the Caribbean bid for world domination are old hands Cameron Cuffy - who moves to top spot without hitting (or missing) a single ball - and Adam Sanford, who have been joined by new boys Jermaine Lawson and Daren Powell, who both recorded their fourth dismissal in Test cricket this month, which qualifies them to join the competition. Anyone who can actually lower their average during a series against Bangladesh deserves the selectors' respect.

Speaking of Bangladesh, the meat in this West Indian sandwich is provided by Talha Jubair, currently twitching his nose in the pivotal No. 3 position after an almost exemplary month in which he scored just eight runs in four innings, although he did fail to get himself dismissed in two of them, which didn't help his cause. His compatriot, and former captain of the Bunny XI, Manjural Islam couldn't take the heat this month and slips all the way down to No. 6: his extraordinary 21 in the second Test against the West Indies will take some living down, although his 0 in the following innings was a good way to begin his penance.

Meanwhile the Ashes tussle takes a new turn lower in the table as Glenn McGrath hops above Steve Harmison to secure the No. 7 berth: although they both have the same average, the experience of the Australian arch-bunny has netted him three ducks against the new boy's one, which keeps his nose in front. A trio of familiar names completes this month's XI, although the higher standard of competition means that there is no place for the luckless Muttiah Muralitharan, who is really going to have his work cut out if he's going to claw his way back to the top.

The Bunny XI(as at 3/12/02)
1 Cameron Cuffy (WI) 0, 1*, 4, 1, 0*, 0*, 3*, 0*, 4*, 0, 0 av: 2.60
2 Jermaine Lawson (WI) 0, 2, 5, 1, 6 av: 2.80

3 Talha Jubair (Ban) 0*, 5*, 0, 0, 3, 4*, 0, 1*, 4*, 0, 4*, 0 av: 3.50

4 Daren Powell (WI) 0, 2, 0, 16, 1 av: 3.80

5 Adam Sanford (WI) 1, 12, 1, 0, 2, 1, 5, 1, 0*, 12 av: 3.89

6 Manjural Islam (Ban) (capt) 0, 2, 0, 0, 4, 8, 0, 5, 21, 0 av: 4.00

7 Glenn McGrath (Aus) 2, 4*, 0, 4, 5*, 0, 3, 0, 8* av: 4.33

8 Steve Harmison (Eng) 3, 3*, 0, 6, 5, 2, 7 av: 4.33

9 Ray Price (Zim) 0, 3, 2, 5*, 1, 12 av: 4.60

10 Jason Gillespie (Aus) 0, 1, 3, 0, 1, 0*, 0*, 27 av: 5.33

11 Ashish Nehra (Ind) 0, 0, 0*, 3, 1*, 0, 0*, 0, 19, 0, 0*, 10*, 0*, 7, 10 av: 5.55

This month's Guest Twelfth Man is (somewhat surprisingly) Adam Gilchrist, whose total of 11 runs against England this month stands in stark contrast to the aggregates of some of his teammates.

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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