LONDON, July 2: The International Cricket Council (ICC) named its Test and one-day squads for the Super Series matches against world champions Australia in October. India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, England captain Michael Vaughan and West Indian Brian Lara lead the batsmen, with England’s Steve Harmison, Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan among the bowlers.

“It was an almost impossible task to cut down the original squads to just 20 players,” said former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of the selection panel.”

South Africa has six players across both squads, Pakistan five, England and India four, West Indies three and New Zealand and Sri Lanka two each.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said the Super Series was a welcome addition to the international calendar.

“It’s an exciting prospect for all of the players involved in the team, not just the Australians, but everyone involved in the World XI as well,” Ponting said.

The Test will take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting on Oct 14, with the three one-day internationals on Oct 5, 7 and 9, all in Melbourne.

ICC World XI Test squad

Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan, Steve Harmison (England), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble (India), Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamamul Haq, Younis Khan (Pakistan), Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini, Graeme Smith, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)

ICC World XI one-day squad

Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Kevin Pietersen (England), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, (India), Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamamul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, ( Pakistan), Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Brian Lara, Chris Gayle (West Indies).—Reuters