In the late '90s/early 00s could Australia put out the best 2 XI's in world cricket?

[TheJediBrah]

You are being dismissive here but for 2 years SL was a side possessed in short format. Only SA was a serious contest. Australian test team was much superior to their ODI outfit until their surprise world cup win in 1999. I can tell from memory of the period, Migara is spot on.

I'm being dismissive because it was laughable. If someone jumped in and said "Nope. India were better than both in 2010 at T20s" and then rattled off an irrelevant list of Indian T20 players I'd be just as dismissive.

I welcome Migaras jingoist opinions. Pretty much everyone on.this forum (myself included) has as massive bias in favour of their home countries, whether though topics of conversation or perpective. IPt is nice to have someone talikng about and sticking up for SL. As great as the Indian fans on CW are (and they really are great, the stars of the site, unlike the rest of the web), I want a different perspective.

Without people like him, this site would basically decend into Aus and India discussion, and it is good to have a different opinion, even if most of us disagree with the nuances

Nah Migara is on his own level in that regard, and while I appreciate the welcoming of "different" opinions, there's nothing nuanced here. It is literally always just "well this Sri Lankan player was better etc." in every discussion.

 

[Bolo.]

I'm being dismissive because it was laughable. If someone jumped in and said "Nope. India were better than both in 2010 at T20s" and then rattled off an irrelevant list of Indian T20 players I'd be just as dismissive.



Nah Migara is on his own level in that regard, and while I appreciate the welcoming of "different" opinions, there's nothing nuanced here. It is literally always just "well this Sri Lankan player was better etc." in every discussion.

Ya, he is a a one track poster. But considering how badly all of us forget about Lanka, it is useful. 70% of this forum is Aus or Indian posters. It is good to get a different perspective, particularly wrt SL posters, who are badly underrepresented. I dont like jingoism, but feel it serves a function in this case.

 

[AndrewB]

England could have put out two pretty strong bowling attacks in 1954-5: Statham/Tyson/Bailey/Wardle/Appleyard was good enough to win the Ashes, and Trueman/Bedser/Laker/Lock weren't needed.
The 2nd XI batting wouldn't have been very good, though.

 

[mr_mister]

Ya, he is a a one track poster. But considering how badly all of us forget about Lanka, it is useful. 70% of this forum is Aus or Indian posters. It is good to get a different perspective, particularly wrt SL posters, who are badly underrepresented. I dont like jingoism, but feel it serves a function in this case.

Oh I actually usually love Miagra i must say. For all the reasons you mentioned plus I enjoyed his website too. I just feel this particular time he was a bit mental

 

[TheJediBrah]

Ya, he is a a one track poster. But considering how badly all of us forget about Lanka, it is useful. 70% of this forum is Aus or Indian posters. It is good to get a different perspective, particularly wrt SL posters, who are badly underrepresented. I dont like jingoism, but feel it serves a function in this case.

Hey I never said he should stop posting or anything, but if you are going to post like that you open yourself up to ridicule or parody.

 

[stephen]

You are being dismissive here but for 2 years SL was a side possessed in short format. Only SA was a serious contest. Australian test team was much superior to their ODI outfit until their surprise world cup win in 1999. I can tell from memory of the period, Migara is spot on.

The thing is that two years is such a tiny sample size. They were great but only really in Asia, especially at home. South Africa were the dominant ODI side of the 90s and were far better in the majority of conditions.

The 00s Sri Lanka were much better in most conditions. They still had Murali and Jayasuriya but the rest of their team was much stronger by then. If it wasn't for a rampaging Australian side, the likes of which we've never seen before or since, Sri Lanka would have dominated the decade.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The thing is that two years is such a tiny sample size. They were great but only really in Asia, especially at home. South Africa were the dominant ODI side of the 90s and were far better in the majority of conditions.

The 00s Sri Lanka were much better in most conditions. They still had Murali and Jayasuriya but the rest of their team was much stronger by then. If it wasn't for a rampaging Australian side, the likes of which we've never seen before or since, Sri Lanka would have dominated the decade.

not sure about that. They overachieved in World Cups, making a lot of semis and finals, but South Africa and probably India were clearly stronger ODI sides for most of the 00s IMO, and NZ and Pak were about as good as Sri Lanka.