schak: Name a team which has done better, and then we'll talk about who's lucky.
Just to put your comments about who the 'weak' teams are in perspective:
Sri Lanka: Australia didn't win that series and even didn't win a Test in the series. It was decided 1-0 Sri Lanka's way with something like 10 of the 15 possible days of play being washed out or not played due to Sri Lanka having thrashed the pants off us within 3 days in the first Test. Sri Lanka are hardly a weak team anymore, especially at home.
India: India beat Australia 2-1 in India and with a top order as good as theirs, once again, hardly a weak team.
Pakistan: Pakistan regardless of their results, will NEVER be considered a weak team with players of the calibre of Akhtar, Youhanna, Anwar, Sami etc. available.
The only 'weak' team Australia have wrecked of late have been the Worst Indies. The series in England was more a reflection of England selection than the talent in their ranks.
And let's not forget that Australia have mangled SA in 5 our of 6 Tests recently, with the sixth in doubt but SA should win it.
To put others' comments in perspective about away wins, MOST teams only win at home anyway. Australia just have a higher proportion than most of away wins. Let's have a look in the 90's at who wins away from home in Test series (from Cricinfo):
Australia
52 matches
20 Wins (38.46%)
16 Series
7 wins (43.75%)
New Zealand
41 matches
6 wins (14.63%)
15 series
2 wins (13.33%)
South Africa
30 matches
10 wins (33.33%)
12 series
6 wins (50%)
England
50 matches
9 wins (18%)
13 series
2 wins (15.38%)
Sri Lanka
36 matches
5 wins (13.89%)
16 series
4 wins (25%)
Pakistan
41 matches
17 wins (41.46%)
17 series
9 wins (52.94%)
India
39 matches
1 win (2.56%)*sniggerz*
15 series
1 win (6.67%)
West Indies
40 matches
11 wins (27.50%)
11 series
2 wins (18.18%)
Zimbabwe
17 matches
1 win (5.88%)
9 series
1 win (11.11%)
Bangladesh
6 matches
0 wins
3 series
0 wins
So if we are to take these figures at face value, you'd see that Pakistan overall seems to be the best away team, with South Africa and Australia next on the list followed by SL and the West Indies.
However if you only take into account the top 5 teams (in terms of % series wins), notice this:
- Australia has beaten all of the others in the top 4 (SL, West Indies, SA, Pakistan) away from Australia.
- Other than Australia, they've all beaten each other at home and away.
- None of them have beaten Australia at home (them away in other words).
This suggests that Australia is the better away team of all of them. Australia has consistently shown it's ability to beat the better teams away from home (whilst losing to the weaker teams..........go figure) whereas teams such as South Africa and Pakistan, beat the weaker teams (thereby bolstering their numbers) and then go lose to Australia in Australia.
This is why Australia is rated as the superior Test team of the 90's and so the ranking is justified. To be honest, the rankings don't take into account who you beat, on the wins alone which explains the ridiculous situation where Australia has beaten SA in every Test series in the last 5 years and 3-0 at home, yet Australia had to defend the world championship crown by BEATING SA. That's nuts, considering their recent form which to me, shows the futility of the whole 'World Champion' thing anyway.
As for getting on top of one bowler and Australia crumbling, forgetting that Dravid and Laxman batted EXTREMELY well on a perfect batting track, name me one team that DOESN'T at least get affected when their best bowler is taking some hammer. Same thing happens to SA when any team takes to Pollock, to India when Kumble takes some hammer, to NZ when Cairns is geting belted, to Pakistan when Akram got hit around and to England when Caddick or Gough get hit around. OF COURSE you're going to get affected when your best bowler is getting smacked around. No team is immune to that.
[Edited on 3/17/02 by Top_Cat]
