Best Test Team Ever?

[a massive zebra]

While we have a West Indies vs Australia thread it would be interesting to see who you think were the greatest Test Team ever.

 

[Neil Pickup]

SA 1970 had the potential to become it.

WI were [or Aus.. see t'other thread].

 

[luckyeddie]

SA 1970 had the potential to become it.

WI were [or Aus.. see t'other thread].

I've gone with the South Africans - in the Pollock brothers, Eddie Barlow, Mike Procter and Barry Richards they had five players who were absolute class forming the engine-room of the team. Throw in Irvine, Lance, Goddard, Bacher and the like and you had the nearest thing to an unbeatable side I have ever seen.

Of course, politics dictated they would only ever play a series every 2 or 3 years because of the foul apartheid system. How dominant would they have been on a diet of 10-12 tests and 20 ODI's a year? In another world, under another system, in another age ...... (and that's what we're playing here, of course)

 

[Langeveldt]

Im tempted to agree with Eddie.. Some world class players who got very little proper test cricket...
However I am going to give the recent Aussies the edge, very slightly

 

[Swervy]

I've gone with the South Africans - in the Pollock brothers, Eddie Barlow, Mike Procter and Barry Richards they had five players who were absolute class forming the engine-room of the team. Throw in Irvine, Lance, Goddard, Bacher and the like and you had the nearest thing to an unbeatable side I have ever seen.

Of course, politics dictated they would only ever play a series every 2 or 3 years because of the foul apartheid system. How dominant would they have been on a diet of 10-12 tests and 20 ODI's a year? In another world, under another system, in another age ...... (and that's what we're playing here, of course)

as i was only born in 1972, i never got to see the SA team of 69/70...but yeah on paper that team (esp Richards,the two Pollocks, barlow,and proctor) look like an awesome team...but i would like to point out that when SA hammered Australia (in SA), that Australian team were no great shakes, especially with the ball..and so that South African team never played together against top opposition...so i think that yeah they had the potential, but I dont think that they should be considered up there with WI of the 80's or Australia of this century.

They could have been a bit like India are...all the talent in the world, but for a long time didnt carry it through.

Am I being a bit harsh on South Africa there Eddie???

 

[luckyeddie]

as i was only born in 1972, i never got to see the SA team of 69/70...but yeah on paper that team (esp Richards,the two Pollocks, barlow,and proctor) look like an awesome team...but i would like to point out that when SA hammered Australia (in SA), that Australian team were no great shakes, especially with the ball..and so that South African team never played together against top opposition...so i think that yeah they had the potential, but I dont think that they should be considered up there with WI of the 80's or Australia of this century.

They could have been a bit like India are...all the talent in the world, but for a long time didnt carry it through.

Am I being a bit harsh on South Africa there Eddie???

Probably, but there was no way of telling. It was a team starved of test cricket, but when they did get the opportunity to play...... BOY!

Eddie Barlow was a hero of mine (captained Derbyshire) - that fact and of course having had the pleasure of watching Graeme Pollock score an undefeated double century against Kent one sunny Wednesday afternoon at Canterbury nearly 40 years ago has made me biased.

 

[tooextracool]

its hard for me to pick that SA side because it was unproven. perhaps they were the most talented side but whether they managed to convert that into performances is another story. i would vote for the WI team simply because they had accomplished everything. australia still have unfinished business in india and until they manage to win in india i will always put the WI team on top. i really dont think that australian team in 2000 was that good....its just that the other teams at that time were so very bad

 

[Linda]

Best team in my lifetime, the 2000 Aussies They win hands, feet, fingers and toes down.

 

[masterblaster]

Agreed with you there Linda.

The Aussies of 2000/2001 were the best team I have ever seen.

 

[luckyeddie]

The thread title was 'best test team ever', not 'best team I have seen'. Applying the second criterion as opposed to the first is bound to give the result of the most recent from the list as the best, because less than 50% on here even SAW the second-most recent.

 

[DJ]

The SA team of the late 70s early 80s would've been even better:

Barry Richards
Jimmy Cook
Peter Kirsten
Graeme Pollock
Kenny McEwan
Clive Rice
Mike Proctor
Ray Jennings
Garth le Roux
Denys Hobson
Vince van der Bijl

 

[Craig]

Agreed with you there Linda.

The Aussies of 2000/2001 were the best team I have ever seen.

And that West Indies was one of the worst teams I have seen.

 

[a massive zebra]

The thread title was 'best test team ever', not 'best team I have seen'. Applying the second criterion as opposed to the first is bound to give the result of the most recent from the list as the best, because less than 50% on here even SAW the second-most recent.

Yes unfortunetly I think people are voting for the best team they have seen, and most have only seen Australia. The first 3 teams have a combined total of under 10%, despite being brilliant. The most recent team has nearly half the vote, and they may have been an amazing size but the difference is not as stark as the voting suggests.

 

[luckyeddie]

The most recent team has nearly half the vote, and they may have been an amazing size but .....

Merv Hughes retired years ago

 

[bennyr]

Merv Hughes retired years ago

You're forgetting about pre-diuretic Warnie.

 

[bennyr]

I've spent the last couple of days thinking about this one, and I've come to the conclusion that the 2000 Aussies get it.

As much as I wanted to vote for the '48 Aussie team, their bowling attack lacked options after Miller and Lindwall, in fact like all of the other teams they lacked a really good spin bowler like Warnie. Please feel free to inform me of any great spinners I'm neglecting here - like always I've only had a little poke around to see about the teams I wasn't overly familiar with.

 

[luckyeddie]

You're forgetting about pre-diuretic Warnie.

Yup.

Now if only he'd have walked down to the chemists himself instead of sending his mum, none of that might have ever.....

oh, wait.

 

[tooextracool]

The SA team of the late 70s early 80s would've been even better:

Peter Kirsten

umm didnt peter kirsten play for SA in the 90s?

 

[luckyeddie]

umm didnt peter kirsten play for SA in the 90s?

Meaning?

Peter Kirsten is nearly as old as me (born in 1955) - by the 90's he was very much a veteran. He was very much at his peak in the late 1970's.

Just saying, that's all......

 

[DJ]

Peter Kirsten did play in the 90s, as did Jimmy Cook and Clive Rice, but by that time they were all past it and only Kirsten could really command a semi-regular place in the side. But at least it allowed him to play in a World Cup (at a very high standard too, I might add) and score a Test century. He was almost 40 by the time he made his Test debut, but still retired with an average over 30.