Newly crowned world No. 1 Test team England cornered the lion-share of spots in the ICC Test XI that was announced today with as many as 5 Englishmen grabbing a slot. 

 

Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and James Anderson were joined by 4 South Africans, Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara with India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan named as the 12th man. 

 

The team was chosen by a five-man panel comprising Clive Lloyd, Mike Gatting, Danny Morrison, Paul Adams and Zaheer Abbas. It is based on players' performances between August 11 2010 and August 3 2011. 

 

This is the 3rd successive year that Sachin Tendulkar has made the cut, while Dale Steyn of South Africa features in it for the 4th year in a row. 

 

Former West Indies captain Lloyd, the chairman of the selection panel, said: "The selection of this year's Test team was a difficult one with so many worthy candidates available to fill just 12 places. The team has a formidable line-up that bats well down the order and has bowlers with the ability and form to dismiss any opposition twice on any surface." 

 

"The selection was a difficult process with so many outstanding performances available to look back on. All the top performers during the voting period were discussed at length and various combinations were considered." 

 

"While selecting the squad, the selectors didn't rely on statistics only but took into account all other factors like the opposition, pitch conditions, match situation etc. But when you have only 12 places to fill from a big group of world-class players, there will always be a few who will miss out. 

 

"In the panel's expert opinion, it has selected the best team based on performances over the past 12 months." 

 

Former Sri Lanka skipper Sangakkara is named as captain of the team.