Best ever test series IYO?

[pietersenrocks]

Ashes '05, England tour of NZ '08 and England tour of India '12, for me.

I'm obviously a little biased

 

[Debris]

England in Australia in 36/37 would have been an amazing series. England belting Australia in the first 2 tests, the famous call by Bradman to reverse his batting order in the 3rd test and the recovery by Australia to win series 3-2. Still the only time a side has won from 2-0 down, I think.

 

[Furball]

I'd be thrilled to be wrong but I can't see 2005 beaten as a assembly of 22 or so cricketers, with near half of them at the top of their games, totally committed to being the best Test cricketers they can be and doing battle over a five-match series. It's just not foreseeable that we'll get that going forward.

Not to mention the level of public inebriation afterwards.

'half of them at the top of their games' is probably an exaggeration.

 

[AndrewB]

England in Australia in 36/37 would have been an amazing series. England belting Australia in the first 2 tests, the famous call by Bradman to reverse his batting order in the 3rd test and the recovery by Australia to win series 3-2. Still the only time a side has won from 2-0 down, I think.

I'm never sure why a big deal is made of the "reverse batting order" - it was basically using 3 nightwatchmen from the start of the innings when England had just been (all but) bowled out for 76 on a sticky wicket, there was a handful of overs to bowl in the day, and the next day was a rest day. Except for Rigg going in next after the second nightwatchman was out on the Monday morning, the other batsmen went out in their usual order.

Radical changes of the batting order weren't as common by then as before WW1, but they weren't unknown; in the Adelaide Test in 1925 England had the usual top 4 (Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Woolley, Hendren) batting at 5, 6, 7, 8, and every player moved in the order for the 2nd innings.

The other obvious drawback of that series was that in 4 of the 5 Tests one side had much the worse of the batting conditions and was thrashed as a result (Aus by 322, Aus by innings and 22, Eng by 365, Eng by innings and 200).

 

[listento_me]

Great thread idea.

I'm going to only post about series that I have actually seen rather than read about, so no series pre-late 90s.

For me, the standout series of my generation is The Ashes 2005. It genuinely captivated the general public like never before, especially considering the time it was played at, when cricket had become increasingly niche here in the UK. All of a sudden, I had friends in the playground talking about KP, Freddy and Warne instead of Henry, Ronaldinho and co. Add to that we got great, back and forth cricket almost consistently...man, what a few weeks they were.

I'll also add in the current Eng/Pak series. It was far more competitive than I expected, the Lords test became iconic for the way both teams played but especially the spirit of the Pakistanis and then the 3rd test almost saw one of the truly great victories by Pakistan...only for England to turn it around with belligerent, t20 hitting. Has there been a more complete test in many a year?

 

[listento_me]

Ashes '05 definitely up there as one of the best in my lifetime.

Two of my favorite series were also from the same year. England in Pakistan '05 was probably the first series I watched almost every ball. If not for Inzamam going for his last century we may have won 3-0, so not a great series for English fans but there were some great performances and drama along the way. The first 2 Tests were especially stress inducing.

My other favorite, and this one rarely gets mentioned when talking about India/Pakistan matchups, was Pakistan in India '05. The 1-1 result was a huge moral victory for us and I firmly believe it was the turning point for that team and Inzi's captaincy.

I agree with both. I didn't see as much of Pak/Ind 05 as much as I did of Pak/Eng but it was so damn intriguing. It showed a turning of the side as Pakistan were no longer THE asian team. That honour would belong to India from that moment on.

Pak/Eng was just fantastic. England should have won the first test but I believe it was Kaneiria and Akhtar who turned it on it's head. From then on, so much changed and the much vaunted England of 05 came to a stuttering halt.

 

[vcs]

Obvious shouts, but...

Ashes 2005 - the quality of cricket was just incredible throughout and even the rain breaks didn't really take anything away, epic series
India vs. Australia 2001 - my personal all-time favourite
West Indies vs. Australia '99 - Lara, enough said

Also, Warne's debut Ashes when he bowled the ball of the century sticks in my mind for some reason, probably nostalgia value. Was a bit of a pasting by the Aussies TBF. Remember Merv Hughes taking a wicket off the last ball of the day in one of the matches. Also England and West Indies' tours of India in around '93 and '94 had me watching every ball, enthralled. Indian crowds used to be great back then, we had ramshackle grounds with sheds and spectators perched up on trees and terraces of nearby buildings, but the passion was something else.

 

[sledger]

Ashes 05.

 

[andruid]

The one where that guy scored the runs and some other guy took some wickets

 

[Burgey]

Obvious shouts, but...

Ashes 2005 - the quality of cricket was just incredible throughout and even the rain breaks didn't really take anything away, epic series
India vs. Australia 2001 - my personal all-time favourite
West Indies vs. Australia '99 - Lara, enough said

Also, Warne's debut Ashes when he bowled the ball of the century sticks in my mind for some reason, probably nostalgia value. Was a bit of a pasting by the Aussies TBF. Remember Merv Hughes taking a wicket off the last ball of the day in one of the matches. Also England and West Indies' tours of India in around '93 and '94 had me watching every ball, enthralled. Indian crowds used to be great back then, we had ramshackle grounds with sheds and spectators perched up on trees and terraces of nearby buildings, but the passion was something else.

I think the test where Merv did that was actually the same test as Warne's ball to Gatting. Last ball of day four of the first test I think. And iirc it was Gatting who he bowled. Not a great test for Mike.

 

[GotSpin]

Great thread idea.

I'm going to only post about series that I have actually seen rather than read about, so no series pre-late 90s.

For me, the standout series of my generation is The Ashes 2005. It genuinely captivated the general public like never before, especially considering the time it was played at, when cricket had become increasingly niche here in the UK. All of a sudden, I had friends in the playground talking about KP, Freddy and Warne instead of Henry, Ronaldinho and co. Add to that we got great, back and forth cricket almost consistently...man, what a few weeks they were.

I'll never forget just how popular the 06/07 Ashes series was here.

I certainly don't consider it the best ever test series, but the amount of hype surrounding the series was just incredible.

We were allowed to have cricket on the TV in classrooms and I will never forget that our school assemblies and carol service were interrupted with updates from the test match. We weren't a particularly strong cricketing school either. Huge screens were set up down at the beach and in bondi junction and it was all the talk of the town.

 

[Bahnz]

Great series between great teams are so rare, so the 2005 Ashes series is my favourite series by a pretty enormous margin.

My favourite NZ series was the 1999 tour of England. Not the highest quality cricket from either side, but the series had a good back and forth feel to it, and could've gone either way until the final morning.

 

[CricAddict]

India vs Australia 2001 is tough to top IMO since it had some of the top players/ATGs playing and lived up to the billing.

 

[Burgey]

The one where that guy scored the runs and some other guy took some wickets

Preferred the one where the same guy took the wickets and scored the runs

 

[listento_me]

I'll never forget just how popular the 06/07 Ashes series was here.

I certainly don't consider it the best ever test series, but the amount of hype surrounding the series was just incredible.

We were allowed to have cricket on the TV in classrooms and I will never forget that our school assemblies and carol service were interrupted with updates from the test match. We weren't a particularly strong cricketing school either. Huge screens were set up down at the beach and in bondi junction and it was all the talk of the town.

Thats awesome man! And I agree, 07 was just too one sided but a deserved swan song for the great ones.

 

[GotSpin]

Thats awesome man! And I agree, 07 was just too one sided but a deserved swan song for the great ones.

Yeah since it was so one-sided I could never consider it the best ever series.

But the sheer popularity and all consuming nature of that series in Australia was just something I cannot forget. The school chaplain interrupting our carols service, in front of a thousand strong attendees, just to announce an update of the sessions progress to huge cheers was something that will forever stay with me. In saying that, even the 2005 Ashes revitalised the series in Australia. It was huge.

 

[Furball]

Preferred the one where the same guy took the wickets and scored the runs

Thought you hated the 2005 Ashes?

 

[Grumpy]

The most enjoyable for me in recent years have been Aus in SA in 2014 when MJ was at his moustache peak and the just concluded Pak in England series.

 

[The Battlers Prince]

I enjoy cricket. A series that hinges on umpiring decisions tend to make me cringe. It happens in many series, but I just can't hold it in high regard.

On that, one of the most biased publications ever wrote these words which sums up my feelings of a series much loved by most,
from '05 Ashes log, Wisden wrote this

the close umpiring decisions often seemed to go against them, but these have a habit of levelling out, and England had suffered in the past. The universal law of sport was being invoked: fortune favours the winning side.

Decisions at key moments.
'01 Ind Vs Aus for my favourite series

 

[Daemon]

Thought you hated the 2005 Ashes?

he's obviously referring to herath