What were the periods when each of the regular test teams were minnow level?

[subshakerz]

Excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe obviously.

Checking both historically and in recent times.

 

[CricAddict]

How do we define minnow level?

 

[trundler]

NZ from debut until about 1973.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

We are currently in minnow-ish state

 

[trundler]

How do we define minnow level?

Teams rest all their main players and still win by an innings against them.

 

[subshakerz]

How do we define minnow level?

Basically your definition of below test standard.

 

[subshakerz]

We are currently in minnow-ish state

Since when?

 

[sledger]

How do we define minnow level?

West Indies since 2001.

 

[morgieb]

Australia: never happened. The only time you could say they weren't in the top half of Test playing nations when there was more than two of them was in the mid-80's.
England: also never happened. They were poor for about 15 years but even then they were still good enough to beat weak teams, just were prone to getting smashed by actually good ones.
India: Before the Second World War were certainly close. Had gotten to Test standard by the early 1950's though.
New Zealand: up until the mid-1970's were clear cut minnows. Also had really bad patches throughout the 1990's and the early 2010's.
Pakistan: I don't think they were ever that bad, though did struggle away from home until the 1970's.
South Africa: In the 1800's. Struggled really badly between the two World Wars too.
Sri Lanka: were borderline minnows until the mid-1990's, though weren't quite New Zealand/Bangladesh levels of bad.
West Indies: Since about 2000 they've been bad, though I don't think they were ever quite minnow tier.
Bangladesh: they were clearly below Test standard before about 2015. Even now they're still at best untested away from home.
Zimbabwe: Have been minnows ever since the early 2000's.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Since when?

Dwayne Smith’s debut century

 

[centurymaker]

Since when?

since mid 00's

 

[nick-o]

Some years back, @Days of Grace posted a massive excel file of his historical test team ratings.
(here: http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/thr...rs-countdown-thread-100-1.78907/#post-4089328)

DoG has probably tweaked the calculation since then, and it stops at 2018, but it provides a possible numerical standard for when teams ceased to be minnows. (A rating of 80+ seems to match almost exactly @morgieb's post above.)

Some teams have reverted to minnow and then recovered, Zimbabwe have never recovered. There are lots of fuzzy areas, but here is the broad summary.

Australia: 1877--
England: 1877--
South Africa: 1907-12; 1928--
West Indies: 1935--
India: 1952--
Pakistan: 1954--
New Zealand: 1949-53; 1965--
Sri Lanka: 1992--
Zimbabwe: 1998-2002
Bangladesh: ? 2017--

New Zealand is the hardest to quantify. Between 1965 and 1969 they kept on dropping below 80 and then recovering. Consistently above 80 since 1969. West Indies had a brief period around 2006-07 when they were borderline. There's not really enough data for Bangladesh to be sure they had escaped minnow status before the data expires.

Maybe that can form a basis for a more detailed answer?

 

[Daemon]

Has been 28 days for the longest time

 

[centurymaker]

India were a minnow side till the early 1960's.

And were not that good even till 1970.

But ever since then, they've been a proper test level side.

 

[TheJediBrah]

NZ from debut until about 1973.

And most years since

 

[The Sean]

You probably wouldn't say Australia have ever been what would genuinely be called a minnow, but damn we went pretty close in the mid-1980s. From March 1984 to January 1987 Australia played 32 Tests and won just three of them - and one of those three was a dead rubber with the series long gone. Of the eight Test playing countries at that point in time, we were pretty clearly ranked seventh.

 

[subshakerz]

You probably wouldn't say Australia have ever been what would genuinely be called a minnow, but damn we went pretty close in the mid-1980s. From March 1984 to January 1987 Australia played 32 Tests and won just three of them - and one of those three was a dead rubber with the series long gone. Of the eight Test playing countries at that point in time, we were pretty clearly ranked seventh.

Yeah its so sad Pakistan never played them then.

 

[peterhrt]

England and Australia dominated Test cricket for a long time. MCC took responsibility for helping develop the game in other countries and sent generally below-strength sides to play Tests there. Some milestones before 1990:

1935: South Africa win first series in England
1950: West Indies win first series in England
1956: Pakistan beat Australia in one-off Test on jute mat in Karachi
1965: West Indies win first series against Australia
1967: South Africa win first series against Australia
1971: India win first series in England and West Indies

1980: West Indies win first series in Australia
1980: India win first series against Australia
1980: New Zealand win first series against West Indies
1984: New Zealand win first series against England
1984: Pakistan win first series against England
1985: New Zealand win first series against Australia
1986: New Zealand win first series in Australia and England
1987: Pakistan win first series in England and India

 

[Burgey]

India were a minnow side till the early 1960's.

And were not that good even till 1970.

But ever since then, they've been a proper test level side.

They were terrible here til at least the mid 80s tbh. Couldn’t beat a rebel tour decimated Aus side home or away in 85/86 and 86/87 which would have been their best chance to own vs Aus before the 2000s. Really don’t think they were a force away here at all until the mid-late 90s. But damn if they weren’t tough to beat at home through that whole period.

 

[Slifer]

It

England and Australia dominated Test cricket for a long time. MCC took responsibility for helping develop the game in other countries and sent generally below-strength sides to play Tests there. Some milestones before 1990:

1935: South Africa win first series in England
1950: West Indies win first series in England
1956: Pakistan beat Australia in one-off Test on jute mat in Karachi
1965: West Indies win first series against Australia
1967: South Africa win first series against Australia
1971: India win first series in England and West Indies

1980: West Indies win first series in Australia
1980: India win first series against Australia
1980: New Zealand win first series against West Indies
1984: New Zealand win first series against England
1984: Pakistan win first series against England
1985: New Zealand win first series against Australia
1986: New Zealand win first series in Australia and England
1987: Pakistan win first series in England and India

It's a damn shame we had to wait til the 90s for South Africa to play the non-white teams!!!