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The Best of The Rest - NZ, WI, Pak, Bang in tests

Who is the best test team of these teams?

  • Total voters
    51
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
WindieWeathers said:
I'm talking about very recent form though!!.. you know like Benn taking 15 wickets against South Africa the other day!! :unsure: , with the current form Benn has shown i don't know how anyone can claim Vettori or Kaneria are better right now.
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2 and a bit years ago is pretty recent mate, we can't just count yesterday.
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
WindieWeathers said:
I never said we would win, but without Murali you just never know what will happen.
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I really think Sri Lanka are the hardest team to beat at home, their batsman are Goliaths there and they have so many spinners suited to the conditions. Then there's Malinga, a guy who bowls well despite the pitch conditions.
 
Jezroy

Jezroy

State Captain
WindieWeathers said:
I'm talking about very recent form though!!.. you know like Benn taking 15 wickets against South Africa the other day!! :unsure: , with the current form Benn has shown i don't know how anyone can claim Vettori or Kaneria are better right now.
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The last 2 years isn't recent form yet you like to site the England result from 18 months ago?
 
Jezroy

Jezroy

State Captain
Athlai said:
The thing about Benn IMO is that he can take a bagful on any given day but those days are so few and far between, and when he isn't running through the otherside he is barely making an impact at all. Gayle outbowls him at times and seems to bowl to a plan better than him. Kaneria is similar but far far far more reliable on any given day.
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Benn sort of reflects WI in that way - some days he is a world beater, then at other teams you wonder why theu showed up at all.
 
Howsie

Howsie

International Captain
FTR I went with Pakistan, they have a relatively poor batting line up at the moment but that bowling attack is world class. Neither of the other three teams have a unit that could be described as such.
 
Athlai

Athlai

Not Terrible
Howsie said:
FTR I went with Pakistan, they have a relatively poor batting line up at the moment but that bowling attack is world class. Neither of the other three teams have a unit that could be described as such.
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See I've been pondering this over and Pakistan have undeniably the best attack, followed by the full strength West Indies and then New Zealand. Batting you'd say West Indies then New Zealand wouldn't have too much separating them with Pakistan needing Younis or Yousuf to return to really get any dominance.

But my issue is New Zealand is such a better run, tight knit and professional team compared to the others. Our bowlers bowl to a plan and our fielding is easily the best. You could probably argue Bangladesh are the second most professional of these 4 teams, which goes a long way in saying that Pakistan and West Indies can look a shambles.

In terms of the players in the team, I'd say Pakistan, narrowly followed by the West Indies. But in terms of how the team actually plays I'd say NZ may be the best, followed by Pakistan thanks to a well versed bowling attack.

I'm really not too sure about this though, can't separate them and it may be unfair on Pakistan since they no longer have true home conditions.
 
Jezroy

Jezroy

State Captain
Howsie said:
FTR I went with Pakistan, they have a relatively poor batting line up at the moment but that bowling attack is world class. Neither of the other three teams have a unit that could be described as such.
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It does show you though that if you have an AWESOME bowling attack, you give yourself a chance of winning any test match - even if your batting does suck. Whereas you can have the best batting line up in the world, but if you can't bowl a team out, you'll never win a game.
 
Howsie

Howsie

International Captain
I think what makes it so hard to seperate the three teams is that we don't actually know what they look like at full strength. Pakistan have recently lost two world class batsmen who may or may not come back. New Zealand have just lost their two best test bowlers as well as Brendon McCullum the keeper and have gone a long period without arguably their best test batsmen. The Windies haven't been able to field their best bowling attack in well over a year, as well as losing quality batsmen like Ramnaresh Sarwan at various times over that year also.

If you were to look at the three teams simply on paper Pakistan would be my favourtie, followed by the Windies and then New Zealand. What is rather intriguing though is that all three teams seem to have a star youngster with both bat and ball, Aamer and Akmal for Pakistan, Southee and Williamson for New Zealand and Roach and Barath for the West Indies, you'd think the future of these three teams would hinge a lot on those six players developing over the next 4-5 years which hopefully could lead to some exciting cricket in the future.
 
Jezroy

Jezroy

State Captain
Howsie said:
I think what makes it so hard to seperate the three teams is that we don't actually know what they look like at full strength. Pakistan have recently lost two world class batsmen who may or may not come back. New Zealand have just lost their two best test bowlers as well as Brendon McCullum the keeper and have gone a long period without arguably their best test batsmen. The Windies haven't been able to field their best bowling attack in well over a year, as well as losing quality batsmen like Ramnaresh Sarwan at various times over that year also.

If you were to look at the three teams simply on paper Pakistan would be my favourtie, followed by the Windies and then New Zealand. What is rather intriguing though is that all three teams seem to have a star youngster with both bat and ball, Aamer and Akmal for Pakistan, Southee and Williamson for New Zealand and Roach and Barath for the West Indies, you'd think the future of these three teams would hinge a lot on those six players developing over the next 4-5 years which hopefully could lead to some exciting cricket in the future.
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Great, balanced post.
 
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Hurricane

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Jezroy said:
Especially because NZ played Pak and Aus (at home) and SL away. Not really as though they were playing Bangladesh or anything.
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I excluded Bangers as an opposition from the results. And you are right that is a good mix of teams to be up against.

What were your reasons for voting for nz Jezroy?
 
Jezroy

Jezroy

State Captain
Hurricane said:
I excluded Bangers as an opposition from the results. And you are right that is a good mix of teams to be up against.

What were your reasons for voting for nz Jezroy?
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Mainly voted them because of results as well. I think NZ would still beat WI home and away (I know we don't play them much, but we haven't lost a test to them for 15 years). Bar a couple of hours rain in Napier, we would have won a test series against Pak last year. Also don't see us losing a series to Bangladesh anytime soon.

I just think if you can get Ryder back into our team it starts looking better.

Then after that, it's a number of what if's. Imagine if the following could come off...

McCullum coming out today and saying he is keen to open in tests. Williamson not too far away from showing us if he can take the step up. McKay showing some promise. Southee hopefully getting better and building on his potential. Hopkins (or whoever) adding some runs down the order.

Pretty much at the moment, our test line up depends pretty heavily on Taylor and Vettori (and more Vettori the batsman than the bowler). If the examples above come to fruition, I really think with the attitude these guys take (ie no big off field issues which affect Pak and WI), that we can look to be quite a good unit. Never world beaters, cos I don't know if we have the bowlers for that, but if we can get back to a steady team, who bat well down, bowl honestly, and field better than average, then we can become competitive again.
 
Faisal1985

Faisal1985

International Vice-Captain
Pak without any bias.....NZ is very close though..all they need is a couple of better seamers...
 
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