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Brendan Taylor

ZIMBABWE’S stand-in captain at the 2015 International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup Brendan Taylor was included in the team of the tournament.The event was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

A panel set up by the ICC named Taylor, who finished with 433 runs in six matches, as the 12th man for the team.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was chosen to lead the side. Announcing the side, the ICC said in a news release yesterday: “McCullum was chosen as the captain following his aggressive, innovative and inspirational leadership during the 44-day tournament that was the cornerstone of his team’s progression to the final where it lost to Australia by seven wickets.”

During the tournament, McCullum scored 328 runs in nine matches with four half-centuries.

In addition to McCullum, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup squad includes includes four other New Zealanders – Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill and Daniel Vettori – three Australians in Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc, two South Africans AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel and with Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara also in that role.

The team was chosen by a select group of experts who were given the task of picking a balanced side on the basis of performances in the tournament. Statistics were used but were not the sole basis for selections.

The news release quoted the ICC General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice, who chaired the panel, saying: “The panel had an extremely difficult choice of selecting a 12-member squad at the back of an outstanding tournament, highlighted by some eye-catching individual performances including two double-centuries, 38 centuries, two hat-tricks and 28 four-wicket hauls.”

The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup team in batting order:

1. Brendon McCullum, New Zealand (captain)
2. Martin Guptill, New Zealand
3. Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka (wicketkeeper)
4. Steven Smith, Australia
5. AB de Villiers, South Africa
6. Glenn Maxwell, Australia
7. Corey Anderson, New Zealand
8. Daniel Vettori, New Zealand
9. Mitchell Starc, Australia
10. Trent Boult, New Zealand
11. Morne Morkel, South Africa
12. Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe (12th man)