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best team in world cricket right now

the best


  • Total voters
    26
  • Poll closed .

vcs

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I remember thinking at the time that it was pretty fake. Australia smashed them home and away around that time and duly proved me right.
 

TheJediBrah

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But south Africa briefly took the number 1 after 99.

South Africa - Aug 01 to Aug 01 - 1 month

They are just spoilsports. That one month cost Australia an untouchable streak of over 110 months
That's hard to believe in any sensible ranking system. Australia lost 1 series in 2001 which came immediately after 16 straight test wins. Losing the number 1 ranking after that is absurd. I'd be surprised if SA had anything like 16 wins out of their last 18 tests or anything even approaching it.
 

Tec15

First Class Debutant
SA might have got to number 1 briefly in 99 since Australia lost in SL, but how'd they get there in 01?
Because, unlike Australia they crushed India in India, didn't lose in Sri Lanka and beat the Windies away, all feats that proved to be beyond Steve Waugh's "ATG" team. Their 16 match winning streak was based almost entirely on matches at home and in New Zealand. Australia wouldn't improve their away record until later in the decade.
 

TheJediBrah

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Because, unlike Australia they crushed India in India, didn't lose in Sri Lanka and beat the Windies away, all feats that proved to be beyond Steve Waugh's "ATG" team. Their 16 match winning streak was based almost entirely on matches at home and in New Zealand. Australia wouldn't improve their away record until later in the decade.
Yeah none of those are really legitimate reasons. Also kind of sounds like you've got a bit of a chip on your shoulder.
 

StephenZA

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Sorry to show my ignorance but Is there a distinction between home and away series regarding ranking? I know that they consider opposition rankings and that they take a 5 year rotational policy with half-points for the last 3 years and full points for 2 years? Or have I got it totally wrong. I only ask because then it would have made no difference if Aus played home or away?
 

OverratedSanity

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Sorry to show my ignorance but Is there a distinction between home and away series regarding ranking? I know that they consider opposition rankings and that they take a 5 year rotational policy with half-points for the last 3 years and full points for 2 years? Or have I got it totally wrong. I only ask because then it would have made no difference if Aus played home or away?
There's no distinction at all. One of the main reasons India are no.1 right now.
 

Victor Ian

International Coach
A streak of home games preferentially rewards you while they are within the period of full weighting (presuming you are good enough to win them, of course). India has worked it out first and by playing blocks of home series and then blocks of away series, can expect to regularly see a #1 ranking each cycle, which is all the fans want.
 

TheJediBrah

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A streak of home games preferentially rewards you while they are within the period of full weighting (presuming you are good enough to win them, of course). India has worked it out first and by playing blocks of home series and then blocks of away series, can expect to regularly see a #1 ranking each cycle, which is all the fans want.
But by the same token you'd be guaranteed to lose the no. 1 ranking during the "away cycle"
 

Bijed

International Regular
I guess your average cricket fan would rather see their team be #1 in a dominant period, even if they then fall away for while, than be constantly fluctuating closer to and further from the no #1 spot (maybe sometimes reaching it, but quite possibly losing it fairly quickly too). A better thing to tell the kids about 20-30 years down the line, I'd imagine.
 

Motorwada

Banned
But this time we have a few "buffer" home series against WI/SL in between all the away series. Since we have created such a lead over the second ranked team in our home season (where we really dominated) if we win all the buffer series (whitewashes preferably) and perform similar/better in the "away cycle" than we did last time with a more inexperienced team we can still hold to the no 1 (by a slim margin maybe) by the time the next home season comes about (when we'll again widen the gap).

South Africa only lost it in January 2016 whereas they hadn't won a match in a year. One more thing to note is India's away performance in the last "away cycle" while not good was not worse than most teams. India's away W/L record in the last 4 years (taken into consideration by ICC rankings) - 0.625 which is third only to SA (1.2) and Oz (0.642).
 

TheJediBrah

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Why do SA perform so well away from home and so **** at home (comparative to other top sides)?

It's weird
 

StephenZA

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Why do SA perform so well away from home and so **** at home (comparative to other top sides)?

It's weird
I think it has to do with variation of pitch... struggle in Durban with a large local Indian support base, but it also seems a hoodoo ground. Lost to India, SL, Eng and Aus there last ten years. Then also lost to Aus and England at Wanderers and Centurion. PE tends to be slow and low compared to the rest of the country and offers opportunity to SC teams, but we tend to draw there rather than lose. **** irritating as a SA supporter. But I do think this pitch variation has also given us our good away record....
 

Victor Ian

International Coach
But by the same token you'd be guaranteed to lose the no. 1 ranking during the "away cycle"
What matters most is getting to number 1 - not staying there. If you can schedule it so that you can get to number 1 quite regularly that is a very good thing. Fans get the chance to talk superior, years after the event. Time does not matter when you're memory is selective. In those periods of loss fans can simply dismiss it with 'giving you losers a taste of it as charity' kind of thing.
 

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