England

[Swervy]

Maybe on paper..But that WI team had a lot more spirit, IND went up 1-0, there was a lot of criticism and they were really hurt and came back strongly to win the series. It helped that India played some spineless cricket.

i think a lot of WI's spirit has been shot at by the England bowling though

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The West Indies have just about lost their home-field advantage. When the Queen's Park Oval is a sea of gold and green, the advantage is gone.

 

[marc71178]

They are facing WI...and the world knows that they are not in form so I am sure it wasnt that hard for them to kill WI

The margins of victory don't tell the whole story IMO - they've been real battles with both sides taking strong positions in all 3 games IMO.

 

[Shane Warne]

Yep, you did.

Obviously there are teams that match us, but we haven't lost a series for a good while, apart from Sri Lanka away, and the Aussies. In other words, they are the only teams I would say are significantly better than us. And Sri Lanka aren't better than us, they just have loads of spinners, and spinny pitches.

England are no match for India in India

 

[Craig]

The West Indies have just about lost their home-field advantage. When the Queen's Park Oval is a sea of gold and green, the advantage is gone.

Which is down to the team's performances.

If they're winning a lot then people will come, if not people arel ess likely to attend.

 

[tooextracool]

The West Indies have just about lost their home-field advantage. When the Queen's Park Oval is a sea of gold and green, the advantage is gone.

btw howcome the west indies have prepared such good pitches that offer something for both batsman and bowler instead of the usual flat wickets? you would expect that the home team would use the pitch to favour their "strong"batting lineup instead of the opponents clearly more potent bowling attack. that being said what is the antigua pitch gonna be like?just like the other pitches in the series or the flat"418" one we saw last time?i say play for the draw and prevent the whitewash!

 

[tooextracool]

Oh, why did I respond to this post? It's an April Fool but a few days late. I feel such an idiot. [/B]

the only april fool i see is the one dressed up is a rubber ducky:rolleyes:

 

[tooextracool]

well i would say Australia are still miles ahead of EVERYONE....i think all of South Africa,Pakistan,England, India,NZ and Sri lanka are pretty much even...west indies a bit behind that lot,then the other two.

I think the point made was that England have since the start of last year, beaten Australia in a test,destroyed Zimbabwe, drew a series with SA,hammered Bangladesh and hammered West Indies....that record can probably match any other team in the world other than Australia's.

So in effect yeah maybe the only team better than England in the world is Australia, coz all the others are pretty much on a par with England

IMO for a team to be ranked 2nd in the world it must perform well at home and at least decent abroad.
pakistan,i dont really know why u rate them with the rest of those 6 teams because they are pretty much on par with the west indies at the moment.its a toss to decide which is the better fielding side.
SL have proven time and time again that they are the worst touring team in the world....so despite being good at home(not great because of their 3-0 loss to australia) they will never be amongst the top 2.
that leaves england,SA,ind and NZ at no 2. for me a good performance against the kiwis at home will keep england in that grp but a loss would definetly put them just below.

 

[tooextracool]

England are no match for India in India

believe me england are definetly good enough to put up a good fight against india in india.the last time they toured india they nearly pulled of a win in the final test(they should have but didnt because of the rain).they out performed india in the 2nd test as well. this without gough,caddick and thorpe(for the last 2 tests) is quite an achievement against an indian side that is quite similar to what it is today.

 

[luckyeddie]

btw howcome the west indies have prepared such good pitches that offer something for both batsman and bowler instead of the usual flat wickets? you would expect that the home team would use the pitch to favour their "strong"batting lineup instead of the opponents clearly more potent bowling attack. that being said what is the antigua pitch gonna be like?just like the other pitches in the series or the flat"418" one we saw last time?i say play for the draw and prevent the whitewash!

My memories of West Indian wickets are just those we've witnessed this year - hard, bouncy tracks. The featherbeds of late almost seem like sub-continent imports.

Before this series, there were few who were talking about a potent England attack, but plenty discussing Edwards and co. I think the wickets bore that out.

Antigua's likely to be flat, but if the West Indies go into the game with a mindset of saving it, then it's as good as 4-0 already.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

btw howcome the west indies have prepared such good pitches that offer something for both batsman and bowler instead of the usual flat wickets? you would expect that the home team would use the pitch to favour their "strong"batting lineup instead of the opponents clearly more potent bowling attack. that being said what is the antigua pitch gonna be like?just like the other pitches in the series or the flat"418" one we saw last time?i say play for the draw and prevent the whitewash!

The pitches are better this year because they had to be. They've been so horrible in the last couple of years that there was intense pressure to rectify it. Also, keep in mind that the 'flat 418 one' also saw Australia and the West Indies being bowled out for 240 in the first innings. It was hardly a bad cricket wicket.

 

[marc71178]

you would expect that the home team would use the pitch to favour their "strong"batting lineup instead of the opponents clearly more potent bowling attack.

Oh the benefit of hindsight.

Before the series, almost everyone agreed that there was little to choose between the attacks...

 

[marc71178]

pakistan,i dont really know why u rate them with the rest of those 6 teams because they are pretty much on par with the west indies at the moment

Oh yes, I distinctly remember the West Indies white-washing the South Africans and winning in New Zealand in the last 6 months...

 

[tooextracool]

Oh the benefit of hindsight.

Before the series, almost everyone agreed that there was little to choose between the attacks...

yes but you'd think after harmison took 7-12 they would opt for batter friendly surfaces at trinidad and barbados

 

[luckyeddie]

yes but you'd think after harmison took 7-12 they would opt for batter friendly surfaces at trinidad and barbados

Now here's me thinking you know something about wickets from your Oval/Trescothick/Malcolm rebuffs.

3 or 4 days to amend the characteristics of the loam or clay, the type of grass holding the surface together, a season's watering, rolling and the like. Yes, that'll work.

It takes months to prepare a wicket - even drop-ins take an eternity of preparation.

 

[tooextracool]

Now here's me thinking you know something about wickets from your Oval/Trescothick/Malcolm rebuffs.

3 or 4 days to amend the characteristics of the loam or clay, the type of grass holding the surface together, a season's watering, rolling and the like. Yes, that'll work.

It takes months to prepare a wicket - even drop-ins take an eternity of preparation.

well considering the pakistanis were able to convert an apparently grassy wicket in multan to a barren lifeless one in a few days ud think that in the one and a half weeks that they had between the 2nd and 3rd test they could have made it a lot flatter. and believe me u dont need to change the characteristics of clay etc to make a pitch flatter....its a lot easier to make a green wicket flatter than the other way around.

 

[luckyeddie]

well considering the pakistanis were able to convert an apparently grassy wicket in multan to a barren lifeless one in a few days ud think that in the one and a half weeks that they had between the 2nd and 3rd test they could have made it a lot flatter. and believe me u dont need to change the characteristics of clay etc to make a pitch flatter....its a lot easier to make a green wicket flatter than the other way around.

Try telling that to Headingley's groundsman

How on earth do you deaden a wicket? The Multan groundsman was required (so the story goes) to remove the grass to negate seam movement.

The bounce in a pitch has little to do with the amount of grass on it - the seam movement has. The West Indians were unable to cope with the bounce more than anything.

 

[Swervy]

believe me england are definetly good enough to put up a good fight against india in india.the last time they toured india they nearly pulled of a win in the final test(they should have but didnt because of the rain).they out performed india in the 2nd test as well. this without gough,caddick and thorpe(for the last 2 tests) is quite an achievement against an indian side that is quite similar to what it is today.

i agree...in that last England tour of India, I thought England were the better side and were unlucky not to win that series

 

[Swervy]

quite an interesting article on the bbc website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/3598555.stm

 

[Tom Halsey]

i agree...in that last England tour of India, I thought England were the better side and were unlucky not to win that series

They most certainly would have done if it wasn't for the rain.