How would you rank the greatest test teams of all-time?

[subshakerz]

You've covered it fairly well. Really, it's a 1970 team. Pat Trimborn would have completed that XI

Yes. The 1970s version only played a 4-test series though.

 

[trundler]

Meh, I find the glorification of SA '70s to be heavily influenced by misty eyed 'if only' nostalgia.

That 1950 WI team was an incredible unit.

 

[subshakerz]

Worrell's WI

They are an underrated team. Hunte, Worrell, Sobers and Kanhai for batting and Griffith, Hall and Gibbs for bowling.

 

[Chrish]

Not sure about the assumption that they'd be just as effective as having 4 gun fast bowlers going virtually all day

Also not sure about the assumption that they wouldn’t be as good. If we assume Steyn = Marshall = McGrath, Holding and Garner are much bigger improvement over Philander/ Morkel or Gillespie/ Lee/ Kaspa/ Fleming/ Bichel/ Brad Williams etc.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Also not sure about the assumption that they wouldn’t be as good. If we assume Steyn = Marshall = McGrath, Holding and Garner are much bigger improvement over Philander/ Morkel or Gillespie/ Lee/ Kaspa/ Fleming/ Bichel/ Brad Williams etc.

wut

pretty safe assumption that 4 WI gun fast bowlers > 3 WI gun fast bowlers + an ok spinner back then

not sure why you're talking about other team's bowlers

 

[Chrish]

wut

pretty safe assumption that 4 WI gun fast bowlers > 3 WI gun fast bowlers + an ok spinner back then

not sure why you're talking about other team's bowlers

That other team’s bowlers went okay with comparable or perhaps even weaker bowling attacks. No reason to assume they would struggle against any team with 3 gun pacers and one okay spinner in 90 overs era.

 

[Slifer]

Tbf, wi did play the 90s with at times: Bishop, Ambrose, Walsh, and insert 4th bowler ( The Benjamins, Patterson, Cuffy, etc) and got through their 90 overs just fine.

 

[TheJediBrah]

That other team’s bowlers went okay with comparable or perhaps even weaker bowling attacks. No reason to assume they would struggle against any team with 3 gun pacers and one okay spinner in 90 overs era.

Who said they would "struggle"? It's almost certainly going to be not as effective though

 

[HookShot]

Actually want to pick the 1976 South African side with Clive Rice, Kepler Wessels, Peter Kirsten, Jimmy Cook and Vintcent van der Bijl added to it.

But South Africa 1969 it is.

 

[honestbharani]

Smith's SA

 

[subshakerz]

Just to bring the topic back on point.

Worrell's WI 2 votes
Late 60s SA 2 votes
Smith's SA 1 vote

 

[Line and Length]

Worrell's WI

 

[The Sean]

I don't think I've actually cast a vote at all in this thread yet, but I reckon Chappelli's mid-1970s Australians deserve a vote here.

Was there a specific decision to exclude very old teams? The sides of Joe Darling and Warwick Armstrong are historically considered among Australia's greatest ever.

 

[Line and Length]

I don't think I've actually cast a vote at all in this thread yet, but I reckon Chappelli's mid-1970s Australians deserve a vote here.

Was there a specific decision to exclude very old teams? The sides of Joe Darling and Warwick Armstrong are historically considered among Australia's greatest ever.

The OP stated post WWII teams, which is a bit contradictory to the title "greatest teams of all time."

 

[HookShot]

Here are the Top 5 ‘unbeaten streaks’ in Test match history according to this article;

https://scroll.in/field/961098/lloy...lis-india-test-crickets-best-unbeaten-streaks

01. West Indies, 1982 to 1984 - 27 Tests
02. England, 1968 to 1971 - 26 Tests
03. Australia, 1946 to 1951 - 25 Tests
04. Australia, 2005 to 2008 - 22 Tests
05. India, 2015 to 2017 - 19 Tests

Ray Illingworth’s England team suffers in comparison to the others because of a low win-% (34.6%) but its overall record is still outstanding. The success of Kohli’s India was founded on its amazing home record.

Here is a hypothetical England side from that 1968 to 1971 era;

(Admittedly Ken Barrington and Tom Graveney were right at the end of their careers, but they did both play in the 1968 Ashes series. Graveney played against the West Indies in 1969)

01. Geoff Boycott
02. John Edrich
03. Tom Graveney
04. Colin Cowdrey
05. Ken Barrington
06. Basil D’ Oliveira
07. Alan Knott
08. Ray Illingworth
09. John Snow
10. Derek Underwood
11. Bob Willis
12th Dennis Amiss

It gets my VOTE.

 

[subshakerz]

Here are the Top 5 ‘unbeaten streaks’ in Test match history according to this article;

https://scroll.in/field/961098/lloy...lis-india-test-crickets-best-unbeaten-streaks

01. West Indies, 1982 to 1984 - 27 Tests
02. England, 1968 to 1971 - 26 Tests
03. Australia, 1946 to 1951 - 25 Tests
04. Australia, 2005 to 2008 - 22 Tests
05. India, 2015 to 2017 - 19 Tests

Ray Illingworth’s England team suffers in comparison to the others because of a low win-% (34.6%) but its overall record is still outstanding. The success of Kohli’s India was founded on its amazing home record.

Here is a hypothetical England side from that 1968 to 1971 era;

(Admittedly Ken Barrington and Tom Graveney were right at the end of their careers, but they did both play in the 1968 Ashes series. Graveney played against the West Indies in 1969)

01. Geoff Boycott
02. John Edrich
03. Tom Graveney
04. Colin Cowdrey
05. Ken Barrington
06. Basil D’ Oliveira
07. Alan Knott
08. Ray Illingworth
09. John Snow
10. Derek Underwood
11. Bob Willis
12th Dennis Amiss

It gets my VOTE.

Thanks. I will include them in the overall list. Illingworth was a great captain.

 

[Migara]

People are forgetting Pakistan in West Indies' golden era. The rebel side, like a WI B team, were a good match for the apartheid SA full team. So in a hypothetical match against the full side would end up pretty bad for them.

The Pakistanis kept up with the power house for one and half decades, where both of them declined in middle of 90s.

Aussies of 90s and 00s probably had the best bowling attack suitable for any condition, followed by Pakistanis. WI of 80s and 90s, had some damn good batsmen in comparison to go with their devastating fast attack. However WIs relative lack of success against Pakistan despite having a far superior batting and bowling line up, must be due to excellence of Pakistani's with the ball, which is criminally underrated.

 

[subshakerz]

People are forgetting Pakistan in West Indies' golden era. The rebel side, like a WI B team, were a good match for the apartheid SA full team. So in a hypothetical match against the full side would end up pretty bad for them.

The Pakistanis kept up with the power house for one and half decades, where both of them declined in middle of 90s.

Aussies of 90s and 00s probably had the best bowling attack suitable for any condition, followed by Pakistanis. WI of 80s and 90s, had some damn good batsmen in comparison to go with their devastating fast attack. However WIs relative lack of success against Pakistan despite having a far superior batting and bowling line up, must be due to excellence of Pakistani's with the ball, which is criminally underrated.

Yeah, I included Imran's late 80s side which drew against WI thrice. I think that team is underrated since they were capable of punching above their weight.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Any more votes for the no 5 team? This round of voting started about 4 days ago.

 

[Nikhil99.99]

Worrells xi