Worlds greatest team

[Streetwise]

How would you go about deciding which team is the greatest from the start of cricket. Would you look at total win/loss ratio, winning the most ICC events, years at the top of the rankings or something else. Would you combine tests and ODI's or have them seperate.

 

[GIMH]

The team with the most world-class all-rounders in, the England 09 Ashes team takes it with five (Flintoff, Collingwood, Broad, Swann, Anderson)

 

[Streetwise]

Yeah thats another way to do it by looking at the amount of quality players a team has produced.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah obviously I was (semi) joking but look at the players that would be considered in all-time XI or squad and that's another way. The Aussie team of the 00s has to be up there on that basis, sadly

 

[Zinzan]

Yeah obviously I was (semi) joking but look at the players that would be considered in all-time XI or squad and that's another way. The Aussie team of the 00s has to be up there on that basis, sadly

Yup, in modern times, obvious Australia in the 2000s & the Windies in the 80s

 

[G.I.Joe]

Needs to win 4 World cups in a row and 17 tests in a row to qualify for discussion, imo.

 

[Streetwise]

I thinking more of a ranking for all time, Aus would be an obvious candidate for top and Bangers on the bottom but how would you fill the rest, or all if you rank Aus and Bangers different.

I really couldent separate WI, Pak and Ind for overall lifetime ranking, NZ and SL are very close also IMO. I'm leaning towards SA as number two but it gets fuzzy after that.

 

[The Sean]

I thinking more of a ranking for all time, Aus would be an obvious candidate for top and Bangers on the bottom but how would you fill the rest, or all if you rank Aus and Bangers different.

I really couldent separate WI, Pak and Ind for overall lifetime ranking, NZ and SL are very close also IMO. I'm leaning towards SA as number two but it gets fuzzy after that.

WI clearly ahead of Pak and Ind over cricket history for mine - they would make up the top 3 with Australia and England.

 

[Pratters]

There is a site which rates cricket sides across ages with a very interesting rating system. Faaip knows about the site. I can't remember it.

Strongest ever would be Windies IMO.

 

[zaremba]

How would you go about deciding which team is the greatest from the start of cricket. Would you look at total win/loss ratio, winning the most ICC events, years at the top of the rankings or something else. Would you combine tests and ODI's or have them seperate.

IMHO Tests greatly outweigh anything else particularly if you're looking at comparing across eras.

And the great teams are pretty easy to identify. Since WW2 there have been three: the Crimvincibles, the Windies from the late 70s to the early 90s, and the Aussies since about from the early 90s to the late Noughties. And maybe I'd add England in the mid-50s as well, and the SA side from the 1970s would have been great had it not been for apartheid.

In the ODI era, the great Test teams have also been the best in the world at ODI cricket but for me this merely underlines their achievement in Tests.

If a team came along which was a great Test side but a poor ODI side, to me they'd be a great side. The reverse however would definitely not be true.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Pretty hard to look past India 2009-2109.

 

[bagapath]

australia
west indies
england
south africa
pakistan
india
srilanka
new zealand
zimbabwe
bangladesh

does it sound right?

 

[Dissector]

What are we talking about here? Is this the best performing team through its entire history. That would clearly be Australia which has had a close to top class team pretty much all the time except for a few years in the 80's. If we are talking about the best team at a given point of time I would say it's the Windies team which beat Australia in 1980. Australia had a near-great team and yet the Windies destroyed them in two consecutive tests on their home grounds. It was just a marvellous all-round performance where practically everyone contributed. I would back that team against any other in cricket history. The Australian team of the 2000's was up there but I think their two defeats in India and England puts them down a couple of notches.

 

[Sir Alex]

australia
west indies
england
south africa
pakistan
india
srilanka
new zealand
zimbabwe
bangladesh

does it sound right?

This. Yes.

Although in another 5-10 years I wont be suprised if that list goes for a major overhaul.

 

[Athlai]

NZ > SL Imo.

 

[Zinzan]

australia
west indies
england
south africa
pakistan
india
srilanka
new zealand
zimbabwe
bangladesh

does it sound right?

Yup, overall seems about right, with the possibility of SA being above England if all forms of the game are being considered, then again due to England's rich history & strength in the early days, probably fair enough.

 

[Zinzan]

NZ > SL Imo.

Nah, SL > NZ overall, they're reached greater heights in both forms of the game than NZ with the exception being not beating Australia away

 

[Zinzan]

Pretty hard to look past India 2009-2109.

Nah, they'll only dominate until Jupiter, with a population of 10 trillion (above India's 10 billion) join the cricket world in 2023

Especially when India play away on those dodgy wickets in Jupiter

 

[Athlai]

Nah, SL > NZ overall, they're reached greater heights in both forms of the game than NZ with the exception being not beating Australia away

Alltime Xi vs. Alltime XI I'd back ours most of the time. Our top order > theres, their middle order = ours, our seam attack >>>>>> theres, there Murali >>>>> ours.

 

[Jono]

Pretty hard to look past India 2009-2109.

Yeah, Tendulkar's patch of form from 2105-2108 really capped it off.