The lack of competitiveness of Test teams away from home

[vcs]

Been thinking about this recently. SA are probably the best of the crop right now away from home, having won in Australia and NZ, but they did lose in England and India. I have little hope of India doing much more than winning/drawing a Test or two across their three big tours next year.

Is there anything teams can realistically do to fix this? If India played more Tests on wickets like the Eden Gardens and Dharamshala recently during their home season, would they stand a better chance of winning away? Would Australia be prepared to play one Test per summer on a pitch that really assists spinners?

When SA had their 10 year unbeaten away streak going, they lost a fair amount of Tests at home (even to India and SL!), and failed to beat Australia and England over a series. Their pitches usually have something in it for all types of bowlers. Is that what helped them to cope in all types of conditions around the world? On the other hand, England also lose their fair share of home Tests, but are quite hard to beat over a series. Is it because they are not that good, or because their pitches don't give them a major home advantage? It doesn't seem to have helped their away form much either.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Neutral tests yo!

 

[S.Kennedy]

The reason (well, one of them) the great West Indies were so successful in England was they all played in the county championship and were as acclimatised as any English player to English conditions. Ashwin and Pujara played county cricket last season and I think Ashwin is returning to Worcs next season, the same year as the Pataudi Trophy.

 

[Furball]

Prepare better.

The schedule is so compressed now that teams often don't get adequate time to prepare, and once the series starts it's just so relentlessly back to back that it's very difficult to arrest a slide in form.

 

[Slifer]

I actually think during the last cycle, India were pretty competitive away especially in NZ and RSA. And I'm no fan of India. I suspect this time around, they'll be even more competitive in said countries plus Oz and England.

Australia's batting is just too brittle to be competitive in Asia but they dominate or do pretty well everywhere else.

RSA has been ravaged by injuries and that quota nonsense but a full strength RSA team will be competitive anywhere ; just a matter of having their best XI on the field.

I don't particularly care about the other teams.

 

[Gob]

I actually think during the last cycle, India were pretty competitive away especially in NZ and RSA. And I'm no fan of India. I suspect this time around, they'll be even more competitive in said countries plus Oz and England.

Australia's batting is just too brittle to be competitive in Asia but they dominate or do pretty well everywhere else.

RSA has been ravaged by injuries and that quota nonsense but a full strength RSA team will be competitive anywhere ; just a matter of having their best XI on the field.

I don't particularly care about the other teams.

Were pretty competitive in India granted it was mostly one man job

 

[SeamUp]

I definitely do think a big part of SA's success overseas is the fact SA's wickets are probably the best for balance between bat and ball. Obviously we had 2 poor tours to India/England recently but this is going back to 2005 onwards.

 

[Victor Ian]

There is not much hope of being competitive away from home with current schedules. England should be here for the whole summer, playing NSW, Victoria and other shield teams between tests and having a fair amount of time to acclimatise. Same with Australia over there. This turn up, play one game against a piss poor team of up and comers on a pitch that doesn't reflect conditions they are going to get in tests is very unhelpful. If you can't get a fair run in on conditions, then teams need to find alternatives, like Australia tried against India by going to UAE first. Maybe Ireland can help Australia next time in England and organise a couple of tests there beforehand. Or... get yourselves a couple more Smiths.

 

[GotSpin]

As above really. It's all about preparation. I really hope what Australia did in the UAE will set a precedent

 

[Daemon]

Apparently England did try. For a month or so apparently Jimmy and Broad were bowling with a koolaburra in a tent which was supposed to mimic Australia's heat. Pitch was hard and true. Can't recall where I read this.

 

[vcs]

England always prepare well for their big tours. I don't think their lack of success can be explained by this.

With India, yeah, lack of preparation is a big issue.

 

[Furball]

I'm not sure that there's necessarily a trend of teams doing worse away from home either. Ignoring South Africa, Australia have lost 1 home series in a quarter of a century, India lose **** all at home, South Africa routinely smash visiting sides not named Australia or England. Reckon series these days seem more one sided because you get less draws, back in the good old days you might lose a 4 or 5 Test away series 1 or 2-0, now with all the Tests seeing results you get 3 and 4-0 defeats.

 

[srbhkshk]

I was thinking about this the other day and to me it seems it's a direct fall-out of the fact that most top teams are almost evenly matched today. India/Australia/SA/Eng are all very well matched at the moment and Pak/NZ are not decisively behind (although Pak might have fallen behind with the big two retiring). In such circumstances favorable conditions are a critical factor and It just seems illogical to expect teams to win in Away conditions.

Two points though -

1. Man for man it seems SA are somewhat stronger than the others, they really should not be losing at home, no idea how to explain that.
2. Kohli's India haven't been tested in away conditions as of now and are capable of surprising people imo.

 

[OverratedSanity]

This thread is going to look dumb when we whitewash SA and Australia away.

 

[cnerd123]

Has anyone mentioned how having games so close to each other in the schedule, without tour games in between, means team's have less time after a loss to adjust and adapt before the next game?

I feel this is a big issue. Not only do they have to hit the ground running, but if they stumble they don't have the time to catch themselves and regroup.

 

[Burgey]

That’s a very good point. There’s just no room for tour games these days.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Someone needs to compile a statistics to demonstrate whether (or not) teams are indeed failing more now away than yesteryear. You could do it with both tests and series wins and split it into decades or twenty year periods - might also be worthwhile having a the home statistic for comparison.

 

[srbhkshk]

(Now if anyone can maybe tell me how to display full size images)

 

[srbhkshk]

This decade has been the worst.

 

[vcs]

What are the columns of that table?