Talisman personalities

I was just reading an article on SuperSport where Ian Chappell was talking up the role that Dwayne Bravo plays in West Indian cricket.

"It is his attitude and enthusiasm, noted by Chappell, which suggest he can fulfil his considerable potential and play a substantial role in West Indies cricket" read the article and I dunno - the line just jumped out at me.

Every side has players with big personalities who do spark a bit of "fire in the belly" and the role of personality over form / ability is something that I suspect many teams grapple with when it comes to selection.

Basically the player that the side rallies around and is allowed to flourish.

For Australia, a hard bastard like Matty Hayden, Ricky Ponting or Andrew Symonds bring so much to a side.

West Indies have Bravo, Chris Gayle and Shiv Chanderpaul. It's early days for Bravo but Chanderpaul has often been such a stand-out for the West Indies, one almost thinks he was born in the wrong era.

South Africa had the likes of Lance Klusener and Fanie Devilliers a few years back - big hearted players. More recently we've had Graeme Smith - tough as nails - and as much as I hate to say it Roelof VD Merwe brings some spark to our T20 team.

England - Kevin Pietersen and Freddie Flintoff. But this side has regularly rewarded mediocrity (excluding these two players) and in my humble opinion is in serious decline

New Zealand - Scott Styris and Jacob Oram - watch this New Zealand side over the next 12 months - particularly in ODI cricket - I think there is something building here on the batting front.

India - Dhoni I think is a bit of a poster-boy for Indian cricket so I guess their talisman would be somebody like Sehwag. But the lack of big-hearted personalities (and I could be wrong here so feel free to argue) - has probably been the problem with Indian cricket over the last three or four years?

Sri Lanka - They've got Murali but I get the sense he is perhaps a little tired of the game and preferring the money and smash and bash of the IPL? It shows in the consistency of their performances.

Dunno - what do you think of the assessment? Players you think are likely to become hugely influential in the above setups?