Which team is currently the best, in 2023?

[GIMH]

Tough read this thread in parts.

I really don’t understand the logic from people using pre-Stokes England performances to predict how we’ll perform in the future. As I said yesterday, absolutely fair enough to not stick us at the top yet. But it is quite clear that what’s gone before is no indication of what will come best with Stokes’ England. If the chases V NZ and India didn’t show that then you’d think the displays in Pakistan would have?

Now that doesn’t necessarily translate into ‘we’d now go to Australia/India and win’ of course; but assuming we’d go down limply because of history is just absurd. And don’t forget we did manage to win a Test in India under Root’s leadership so even using pre-Stokes history it’s not exactly a slam dunk opinion that we’d be whitewashed as some seem to suggest.

Finally the idea that we’d go and lose in Bangladesh is completely for the fairies.

Let’s give Ben some more time against some more teams sure. But don’t pretend the red ball England of 2021 is the same as the one of 2022 and now because it’s hugely dishonest to do so.

 

[subshakerz]

India are the only team except WI of 80s to win 4 consecutive test series against AUS since 1930.
You made Imran your PM for drawing series against WI . Don’t worry we won’t make Rohit/Rahane our PM .

Doesn't make you the best current team

 

[Socerer 01]

England can very well win in India next time they tour.

with what? they don’t even have a decent spinner other than Leach

 

[subshakerz]

Do you even have idea how ICC ranking works ? I am talking about ICC ranked no.1 team not your fantasy no.1 team .

For eg . IND needs to win atleast 3-0 to get no.1 ranking from Aus .

Doesn't make you the best current team

 

[srbhkshk]

Frankly I would have said India are the easy #1 in spite of the tatti middle order if we had won one more test in SA, but we didn't so I will begrudgingly give it to England even though that's mostly because of Pakistan's ultra chutiyapa.

 

[Sunil1z]

Doesn't make you the best current team

World doesn’t revolve around your fantasy.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pakistan being a complete embarrassment after tests started being played there after ages and building their entire team and approach around trying to pump up Babar Azam's average to prove he's an ATG has been one of the best things about test cricket in the last year. Better than bazball imo.

 

[Socerer 01]

Tough read this thread in parts.

I really don’t understand the logic from people using pre-Stokes England performances to predict how we’ll perform in the future. As I said yesterday, absolutely fair enough to not stick us at the top yet. But it is quite clear that what’s gone before is no indication of what will come best with Stokes’ England. If the chases V NZ and India didn’t show that then you’d think the displays in Pakistan would have?

Now that doesn’t necessarily translate into ‘we’d now go to Australia/India and win’ of course; but assuming we’d go down limply because of history is just absurd. And don’t forget we did manage to win a Test in India under Root’s leadership so even using pre-Stokes history it’s not exactly a slam dunk opinion that we’d be whitewashed as some seem to suggest.

Finally the idea that we’d go and lose in Bangladesh is completely for the fairies.

Let’s give Ben some more time against some more teams sure. But don’t pretend the red ball England of 2021 is the same as the one of 2022 and now because it’s hugely dishonest to do so.

nah it’s the mental gymnast logic of using past history to make India look bad wherever possible and ignoring that when it favours India whilst doing the opposite for the other two teams. don’t think the others are seriously talking down England other than in calling out how his logic is flawed and dangerously biased

I rate England highly, even when they were under Root. whitewashing SL in two consecutive series is a big achievement and the win in India are all great. all they needed was a new captain to become better and Bazball is just a nice bonus on top of it. i’m not buying that pre Stokes England was as bad as some believe it to be, it was inconsistently good and the ingredients were there for it to become a great side which have since happened

 

[honestbharani]

I honestly don't give a damn to what an arbitrary #1 side at a given point is. The way international cricket is structured right now, most teams either win or lose heavily in series, especially away from home. Fight backs have become so much rarer and harder which is why the BG 20-21 is one of the greatest performances by a test team ever. It's a macro extension of a micro trend of teams either making huge runs or getting bowled out for laughable scores. I really think a lot of it is the T20 style's impact on the game too.

Going by the volume of defeats in series really can distort the reality that most of these sides are equal to each other roughly and the conditions of the games will dictate heavily on who is gonna come out on top.


All that said, i think India have done enough both home and away to deserve being called the best side in the world over the last few years. England are mounting a serious challenge and Australia are always there and thereabouts but that is still it. England can very well take over and they do seem to be on that trajectory but we have to wait another year before making any heavy proclamations.


They are definitely the most form side right now in world cricket though.

 

[ZK$]

I rate England highly, even when they were under Root. whitewashing SL in two consecutive series is a big achievement and the win in India are all great. all they needed was a new captain to become better and Bazball is just a nice bonus on top of it. i’m not buying that pre Stokes England was as bad as some believe it to be, it was inconsistently good and the ingredients were there for it to become a great side which have since happened

They won a series in South Africa which seems to be forgotten as well. I think the main reason they had that terrible run was just their brutal schedule that year.

 

[Sunil1z]

Important thing is if we get to no.1 rank and remain there for a year , we will move to no.3 on this table . Rest is all fanstasy.
I mean you can declare a team no.1 based on 10 months performance , then Axar Patel is better batsman than Smith based on 1 month performance.

 

[Sunil1z]

It is my request to both Indian and England fans to not go in verbal fight to claim who is better . We all know what happened in 2011 and 2012 to both sides . Just enjoy the moment.

 

[subshakerz]

Let’s give Ben some more time against some more teams sure. But don’t pretend the red ball England of 2021 is the same as the one of 2022 and now because it’s hugely dishonest to do so.

Yup. Stokes England is a different kettle of fish and it's reasonable to bet they can improve on everything done during the Roots era.

Sadly some of the nationalistic posters here as usual are descending on this thread with their hive mind to hype India.

 

[GIMH]

nah it’s the mental gymnast logic of using past history to make India look bad wherever possible and ignoring that when it favours India whilst doing the opposite for the other two teams. don’t think the others are seriously talking down England other than in calling out how his logic is flawed and dangerously biased

I rate England highly, even when they were under Root. whitewashing SL in two consecutive series is a big achievement and the win in India are all great. all they needed was a new captain to become better and Bazball is just a nice bonus on top of it. i’m not buying that pre Stokes England was as bad as some believe it to be, it was inconsistently good and the ingredients were there for it to become a great side which have since happened

I think that is fair enough to a degree. It’s not like we’ve completely overhauled personnel so the talent was obviously there for a lot of them.

 

[subshakerz]

Pakistan being a complete embarrassment after tests started being played there after ages and building their entire team and approach around trying to pump up Babar Azam's average to prove he's an ATG has been one of the best things about test cricket in the last year. Better than bazball imo.

Even then, having that Pakistan series not be a 1-0 or 0-0 result is a major achievement for England.

 

[srbhkshk]

It is my request to both Indian and England fans to not go in verbal fight to claim who is better . We all know what happened in 2011 and 2012 to both sides . Just enjoy the moment.

What do you mean both sides? India won a world cup in 2011 and then ICC stopped all cricket for two years in celebration of the glorious Indian win is all I remember.

 

[ankitj]

This is the kind of post that's always made before any England - Australia series in India, then the said team starts getting demolished and the tune changes to how the other one of them would have given a better fight. By the next series we forget all about it and the process repeats.

It's 4D gambhiring. Keep up.

 

[ataraxia]

For the record, this is much more of a feels thing than what others seem to think imo – what you think might happen in series anywhere and everywhere simultaneously occurring right now. I voted Australia originally because their best XI is amazing. Playing poorly in India hardly disqualifies them from being ranked 1 as some seem to suggest.

 

[StephenZA]

I think this is an interesting topic that hasn't been well-discussed, and I don't think there's a consensus around this rn. Shame it's back to the Big 3 but ah well, it won't be like this for the rest of eternity most certainly. As to that this is doubly mid-series: fight me.

Congrats for starting one of the best ****show threads going about… and that’s saying a lot!

 

[subshakerz]

For the record, this is much more of a feels thing than what others seem to think imo – what you think might happen in series anywhere and everywhere simultaneously occurring right now. I voted Australia originally because their best XI is amazing. Playing poorly in India hardly disqualifies them from being ranked 1 as some seem to suggest.

Thanks seems we are in the minority in this opinion.