England only need to dot the Is and cross the Ts on their World Cup squad - Irani or Hollioake? Hoggard or Kirtley? - but whether their party is the best they can do is another matter. Wisden.com's writers picked their squads for the World Cup ... and there were four votes out of four for Graeme Hick, none for Ronnie Irani, and even one for John Crawley, as back-up wicketkeeper.

But it's Hick, who hasn't played for England since the Sri Lankan tour of 2000-01, who everybody thought should be in. Presuming Australia leave a trail of destruction wherever they go, it's not inconceivable that England, Pakistan and India could beat each other once. Were that the case, the last two Super Six places would be decided by who puts Namibia and Holland away with the most élan. This is where Hick comes in: being labelled a flat-track bully has some compensations, and Hick punished non-Test-playing nations in his sleep: he plundered 104 against Holland in 1996, and 61 against Kenya in 1999; both not-out, both without breaking sweat.

Hick also likes life in Zimbabwe – he averages 90 with the bat (and 14 with the ball) in one-day internationals there – but less so in South Africa, where in 13 ODIs he averages a surprisingly modest 22.

Wisden.com writers' squads Steven Lynch (Editor)
Nasser Hussain (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick, Paul Collingwood, Ian Blackwell, Alec Stewart (wk), Craig White, Andrew Flintoff or Adam Hollioake, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Jeremy Snape or Gareth Batty, Andrew Caddick.

Martin Williamson (Managing Editor)
Nasser Hussain (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick, Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart (wk), Andrew Flintoff , Adam Hollioake, Ian Blackwell, Craig White, Andrew Caddick, Ashley Giles, James Anderson, John Crawley.

Rob Smyth (Assistant Editor)
Nasser Hussain (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Alec Stewart (wk), Craig White, Ashley Giles, Andrew Caddick, Adam Hollioake, Alan Mullally, Mark Ealham, Owais Shah.

Andrew Miller (Deputy Managing Editor)
Nasser Hussain (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick, Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart (wk), Andrew Flintoff or Adam Hollioake, Ian Blackwell, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Jeremy Snape, Alan Mullally, Mark Ealham, James Kirtley.

Who would be in your World Cup squad? Click here to send us your feedback

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd