How would the other teams have done?

[Matteh]

West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa would undoubtedly have been thrashed IMO. Pakistan may have competed a bit better, but would still have gone down 5-0.

Reckon Pakistan(or too many others) wouldn't have lost the 550 odd declared first up test tbh.

 

[mavric41]

5-0 against any team. England are the second best side but weren't allowed to play as well as they can. The pressure Australia applied with their bowling was unbelievable and always someone came through with the bat. Everyone contributed at some stage. I can't remember such a complete team performance.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Reckon Pakistan(or too many others) wouldn't have lost the 550 odd declared first up test tbh.

West Indies would have.
India likely would have choked.
South Africa would have pulled an India.
New Zealand probably would have saved the match.
Sri Lanka may have gone down.
Pakistan would have attained a draw on Mohammad Yousuf's bat.

So maybe you have a point.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

They might not have made 550 declared batting first, though. Pakistan could have, but I don't think any of the others would have.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

They might not have made 550 declared batting first, though. Pakistan could have, but I don't think any of the others would have.

India on their day could have. Lara on his day could have taken to the West Indies close.
Sri Lanka and South Africa probably not.
New Zealand definitely not.

 

[Craig]

New Zealand don't play Test cricket anymore (well it is more rare then a Geriant Jones 50 these days) and their middle order is more MIA then Marcus Trescothick. Plus they haven't played a five Test series in 35 years (Tony Cozier said the last time they played a five Test series was in the West Indies in 1971).

 

[Craig]

They might not have made 550 declared batting first, though. Pakistan could have, but I don't think any of the others would have.

Didn't New Zealand post up a similar score in 01-02 at the WACA? So it is not without precedent...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

New Zealand don't play Test cricket anymore (well it is more rare then a Geriant Jones 50 these days) and their middle order is more MIA then Marcus Trescothick.

Two sparkling analogies there.

 

[Craig]

Two sparkling analogies there.

I can only try

 

[Turbinator]

I am amazed how this thread has fared so well... was expecting it to go off topic...

 

[roseboy64]

Two sparkling analogies there.

Very true. Well done to him.

 

[roseboy64]

I am amazed how this thread has fared so well... was expecting it to go off topic...

Give it another day or two.

 

[Dover 1]

On a good day the West Indies might have done a fair job.

 

[Slow Love™]

New Zealand???

 

[pasag]

Yep it's pretty obvious that if we beat the second best team 5-0, we would have beaten any other team further down the list 5-0 as well. Although in this series the intesity for dead rubbers has been equal to that of the live games I reckon, so as others have said may not have existed for other teams (in the dead rubbers). Although with this list I doubt we'd have lost anything and definitly not to NZ.

 

[McKanga]

No-one can know.
On paper Australia weren't a 5-0 better side than England and that's the only way to judge the other teams - on paper.
Having said that I'd have tipped South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka to win or at least draw at 550 declared in the 1st innings.

 

[tooextracool]

What evidence is there to suggest that New Zealand or South Africa would have beaten Australia in a Test match?

A bowling attack of Ntini, Nel, Steyn, Pollock, Kallis and Harris?
Thats arguably one of the best pace attacks going around, certainly assuming all of them are fully fit. Even with half of that attack they caused enough problems in that series down under. The only problem is their batting which consists of Kallis, Prince and very little else.

 

[tooextracool]

If Australia played a similar level of cricket, they would have beaten any team in the world 5-0, and in fact would probably have hammered a number of them even worse. South Africa toured last year and Australia didn't play half as well and still won 5 of the 6 tests, so I don't see why they'd have managed to win one..

Maybe they didnt play half as well because they arent very good? Theres no point talking about the quality of Australian batting in the Ashes, because the fact is even a chimpanzee would have made batting look easy when batting against Hoggard, Harmison, Giles, an injured Flintoff and Anderson for most of this series.
Point emphasized when symonds scored runs.

 

[tooextracool]

On a good day the West Indies might have done a fair job.

Only if by a good day you mean lara scores 400*

 

[The Sean]

A bowling attack of Ntini, Nel, Steyn, Pollock, Kallis and Harris?
Thats arguably one of the best pace attacks going around, certainly assuming all of them are fully fit. Even with half of that attack they caused enough problems in that series down under. The only problem is their batting which consists of Kallis, Prince and very little else.

To be fair, 4 of that 6 played in the home and away series' 12 months ago and didn't do a lot better.