MELBOURNE, Aug 23: Former Australia captain Richie Benaud named his World XI of the 20th century on Monday, with England's Jack Hobbs and India's Sunil Gavaskar opening the batting ahead of Don Bradman at number three.

India's Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies "Master Blaster" Viv Richards were named at numbers four and five followed by Pakistan's Imran Khan and West Indian Garfield Sobers as the two all rounders.

Australia's hard-hitting wicket-keeper/batsman Adam Gilchrist was included at number eight with his Australia team-mate Shane Warne filling the slow bowler's position. Imran and Sobers would also be able to share the bowling behind the pace duo of Englishman Sydney Barnes and Australia's Dennis Lillee.

Leading South Africa players like batsman Graeme Pollock and fast bowlers Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald were unable to squeeze into the side, nor was Sri Lanka's world record Test wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan and New Zealand's leading wicket-taker Richard Hadlee. - Reuters