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          Many scribes started their pieces with the the-best-players-do-not-make-the-best-team and praised Gilchrist that he had wiped the shame of the Asses, er, Ashes series and so on forgetting how both the Australian openers were reprieved by the umpires and more than once claim detractors.
Detractors say they need this specially Gilchrist. You have to get him out more than once otherwise he will start wailing that the mere presence of Murali made this game a sham and so on but if you let him off the hook then he can get into his groove.
Those who are not impressed say the trend of partisan umpiring favouring the Australians is an old story and quote Ian Botham that they (England) had to get them (Australian batsmen) out at least twice and Michael Holding as saying he was certain they (West Indies) were playing against thirteen men.
This however does not let the World XI off the hook. They bowled badly and if Pollock was ineffective in the first game they should have replaced him with Ntini who is rarely unsuccessful and made Shoaib Akhtar captain, the only time the man will get to lead a top international team in his lifetime.
Anyway, the hurricane called Gayle and the big-hearted Sangakkara had temporarily scared Ponting and his men shitless when they went about dismantling the much-vaunted Aussie attack. All it needed was for two or three more batsmen to dish out the same servings and the third match in all probability would have been in the World XI pockets. But detractors say the Aussies had the umpires in their pockets and that seemed a better bet.