What were the periods when each of the regular test teams were minnow level?

[Burgey]

You probably wouldn't say Australia have ever been what would genuinely be called a minnow, but damn we went pretty close in the mid-1980s. From March 1984 to January 1987 Australia played 32 Tests and won just three of them - and one of those three was a dead rubber with the series long gone. Of the eight Test playing countries at that point in time, we were pretty clearly ranked seventh.

Terrible during the WSC years as well.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Probably extending the definition of minnow a bit much here for my liking

Just being not a good team and losing most of the time for 5 to 10 years shouldn't qualify. It should be like Bangladesh/Zimbabwe 2003-2010 level, where they lost nearly every game by a massive margin and didn't look close to everyone else's level

 

[Molehill]

Are we just talking about Tests? One of the establish nations failing to qualify (or even getting that close) for a World Cup feels pretty minnowy to me.

 

[Owzat]

Problem is if they don't play against the Test nations, as being given Test status would bring about, they struggle to improve, but then they have to undergo long periods of being thumped regularly

I played a guy at snooker once, he reckoned the only way to improve was play against people much better. I argue the best way to improve is to play more against people around your level, you learn nothing but how to respot a ball if you spend little time at the table.....

Definitely need to split Test nations into levels, which they kind of have, we know however it will all end in tiers.........