Which team is currently the best, in 2023?

[GIMH]

Recently sure, but in the historical context, no. No one is going to he the least bit surprised if Australia fights hard, or even wins this upcoming Ashes.

In the contrapositive case of England winning in Australia, we'd ( maybe rightfully so ) likely see parades, knighthoods, and national holidays.

Would have loved some national holidays in Jan 2011, but alas none of that happened and nor would it.

 

[subshakerz]

we're going to head into these ashes on the back of a 4-0 ass whooping in india, with khawaja and a wet piece of cardboard as our openers (unless they do still persist using trav head), and even if they do the right thing and open with travis head, question marks in the middle order (who's five then? and how is cam green going to do being his first tour?) as well as over health of the pace cartel (which admittedly is quite deep)

on the other hand, broaderson are in vintage form and ollie robinson has been imperious, and they come face to face with a batting lineup historically known to struggle against the moving ball. i concede that smith and marnus have exemplary records in england ashes, and we did see last time around that those two can carry the entire team. but i would be as surprised as anyone if lightning struck a second time!

India asswhooping won't affect England series IMO. If Khwaja, Head, Smith and Labu are in good form, that is enough.

England need an exemplary effort to win.

 

[trundler]

i would be as surprised as anyone if lightning struck a second time!

If only there was a niche 80s pop song about this

 

[Sunil1z]

So the teams to compare are India since 2018, Australia since Cummins and England since Stokes.

India have lost four series in Eng/NZ/SA in that time, the last one was only drawn since they were facing Root's England. Their advantage is being the only team to win in Australia and being unbeatable at home. But with such shaky batting order form and a big hole in their record, they don't compete for me.

The best team is either Australia or England.

Australia are the best team on paper, strongest batting order and all-round bowling attack. Yes, they have lost three games in SC in a row, so whether they are confirmed no.1 depends on them turning at least a victory in the remaining games and win in England.

England are on a roll and in great form, but to me they are no.2 unless they can beat Australia at home.

Wait are you saying Stokes England in last 1 year is better than India since 2018 ?

Are you out of your mind ?
So stokes England is better than India because they didn’t play in AUS and IND ?

 

[shortpitched713]

Well, technically the last series India played in England was drawn. But for mine, their being able to get the 2-1 result after 4 was enough to greatly dampen the overall validity of this criticism, at least in the short term.

I'm not saying they're the best in those conditions, far from it, just that the size of that effect is now a bit overblown than it may have been in the past.

 

[Shady Slim]

India asswhooping won't affect England series IMO. If Khwaja, Head, Smith and Labu are in good form, that is enough.

England need an exemplary effort to win.

usman's one of my favourite australian batsmen of all time and i really rate him. he could come into this series in the best form of his life - and you still would not be surprised if he averages 20 on account of the strength of england's bowling at the moment especially at home

the series could well be competitive but if you don't have england pencilled in as favourites right now you're either a homer or just wrong imho. and this is from someone, me, who firmly does believe that the oz bowling attack has what it takes to neuter bazball

 

[Shady Slim]

people seem to be forgetting the difficulty of winning the ashes away. best result either side's managed in the past decade is a push, 2-2!

and sure you could say england fluked one test and aus packed in the last one, but ultimately the ledger's the ledger (not confused with @sledger), and we haven't seen an away team eat a w for the urn in a looooong time

 

[shortpitched713]

Would have loved some national holidays in Jan 2011, but alas none of that happened and nor would it.

There's Cook's knighthood though, which I guess he can deserve the honor for this reason alone ( better than the only other reasonable explanation for it, in him being a posh git, with some posh git friends ) .

 

[Howe_zat]

There's Cook's knighthood though, which I guess he can deserve the honor for this reason alone ( better than the only other reasonable explanation for it, in him being a posh git, with some posh git friends ) .

It's either that, or him being the record England run scorer by miles and most prolific opening batsman of all time. What a mystery.

You really need to start having a lesser opinion of your own opinion.

 

[shortpitched713]

people seem to be forgetting the difficulty of winning the ashes away. best result either side's managed in the past decade is a push, 2-2!

and sure you could say england fluked one test and aus packed in the last one, but ultimately the ledger's the ledger (not confused with @sledger), and we haven't seen an away team eat a w for the urn in a looooong time

The weight of history ( not 1930s or some ****, just the last 3 odd decades ) shows it's a lot harder for England to win or even compete in Australia than for Australia to win or compete in England. I'm not putting Australia as favorites, or saying they'll certainly win, but I know they will compete. Coming off a hiding in India, somehow makes me even more sure of that.

 

[Shady Slim]

The weight of history ( not 1930s or some ****, just the last 3 odd decades ) shows it's a lot harder for England to win or even compete in Australia than for Australia to win or compete in England. I'm not putting Australia as favorites, or saying they'll certainly win, but I know they will compete. Coming off a hiding in India, somehow makes me even more sure of that.

that's funny because australia haven't won an ashes series in england since aught one while england dominantly won them here in 2010-11, and i don't know much what australia's 4-0 win in 1993 will do for cameron green's batting against robroaderson on an overcast day

 

[shortpitched713]

It's either that, or him being the record England run scorer by miles and most prolific opening batsman of all time. What a mystery.

All down to England playing an arseload more Tests than other countries recently, or even more than any earlier iterations of England's or other's Test squads either, for that matter.

You really need to start having a lesser opinion of your own opinion.

The wonderful thing about opinions is that we are each free to have and share our own.

So tl;dr: Nah, I'm good. Also Alistair can stick deez nuts in his posh mouth, the git.

 

[Sunil1z]

@honestbharani our friend @subshakerz has outdone himself today .

He is comparing IND of 2018-23 with , England of last 10 months and Aus of last 15 months. And since India have lost 4 series in last 5 years and Eng / Aus have lost only 1 series in last 10 months , so Aus/Eng are better ?

 

[GIMH]

The weight of history ( not 1930s or some ****, just the last 3 odd decades ) shows it's a lot harder for England to win or even compete in Australia than for Australia to win or compete in England. I'm not putting Australia as favorites, or saying they'll certainly win, but I know they will compete. Coming off a hiding in India, somehow makes me even more sure of that.

Surely the weight of history just tells us that historically Oz have been better? Even Chris Hinton and I wouldn’t argue with that narrative but it has nought to do with who’s better now.

Plus overall Ashes series won, last time I checked, was closer than people would maybe think?

 

[Godard]

So the teams to compare are India since 2018, Australia since Cummins and England since Stokes.

India have lost four series in Eng/NZ/SA in that time, the last one was only drawn since they were facing Root's England. Their advantage is being the only team to win in Australia and being unbeatable at home. But with such shaky batting order form and a big hole in their record, they don't compete for me.

The best team is either Australia or England.

Australia are the best team on paper, strongest batting order and all-round bowling attack. Yes, they have lost three games in SC in a row, so whether they are confirmed no.1 depends on them turning at least a victory in the remaining games and win in England.

England are on a roll and in great form, but to me they are no.2 unless they can beat Australia at home.

Ind were competitive in SA in both series. Eng were hammered in Aus, and aren’t that unbeatable at home. On paper doesn’t matter, actually performances determines who’s best. Where has Aus won recently that Ind hasnt?

 

[Godard]

Aus in the last 5 years is clearly behind Ind. Aus themselves have tied the last Ashes in Eng, lost in SA, are being hammered in Ind, tied in SL, and beaten twice at home.

 

[Shri]

if rob key promotes the type of cricket in england where you can cash in against the older ball, i can see india competing well in england but still losing

what we really need is a functioning top/middle order to mount a serious challenge

 

[Godard]

Aus has a much bigger hole with not being able to win in any really tough overseas conditions(Eng/Ind or SA). Ind atleast won in Aus and managed to tie in Eng. And Aus also managed to only tie in Eng and lose in SA in 2018.

 

[Godard]

@honestbharani our friend @subshakerz has outdone himself today .

He is comparing IND of 2018-23 with , England of last 10 months and Aus of last 15 months. And since India have lost 4 series in last 5 years and Eng / Aus have lost only 1 series in last 10 months , so Aus/Eng are better ?

Yes, you got to compare teams for the same time period. If Ind 2018 is being, Aus and Eng should also be taken since 2018, an then it becomes clear Aus is clearly behind Ind.

 

[Xix2565]

Not sure why dumb comps are being made tbfh.