• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Who will be the next side to win a test series against the top 4?

WindieWeathers

WindieWeathers

International Regular
Just reflecting on the heavy defeats NZ, Bangladesh and Pakistan have taken recently in their respective test matches and it's made me wonder who will be the next side out of the so called "second tier" to actually win a test series against the top four? looking at the records it looks like the last team to do it was my beloved West Indies against England around a year ago, Sri Lanka last did it against India in 08, Pakistan last did it in 06 vs India, while NZ did it all the way back in 2002 against India too, so needless to say recent history doesn't offer many teams much hope.

So who out of West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh are likely to make the breakthrough? without sounding biased i'd probably lean towards WI because of the talent we've currently got in the side and coming through the ranks, and once Gibson is fully settled into the job i think we'll be buzzing, especially at home, Sri Lanka are more than capable of doing it themselves though.


P.S: mods you're more than welcome to make this a poll if you have the time.
 
Xuhaib

Xuhaib

International Coach
SL is my guess infact they will beat England comfortably at home.If Pak is getting home games then they are a good shout but thats unlikely to happen soon.WI and NZL not a chance.
 
Zinzan

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Xuhaib said:
SL is my guess infact they will beat England comfortably at home.If Pak is getting home games then they are a good shout but thats unlikely to happen soon.WI and NZL not a chance.
Click to expand...
Yup, SL pretty easily when you consider they're likely to be favorites going into that home series against England.

You just never know with Pakistan, they're such an enigma.

Sadly both NZ & the WI's would be at very long-odds
 
WindieWeathers

WindieWeathers

International Regular
The last top four side we had at home (England) we won, and one could argue that our situation is much more brighter now (with a new coach and new talented players emerging) than it was back then, Sri Lanka were soundly beaten in their last tests against India, we may have lost too but at least we put up one hell of a fight against Australia with a depleted team.
 
Last edited:
Zinzan

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Incidentally, SL vs. Eng in SL could be a cracker & not quite the 'slam-dunk' I first made out considering how well Swann's bowling. Would still have SL as marginal favorites going into that series though.

Not sure who NZ, Pak or the WI's are playing in the next 12 mths or so
 
NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Pretty hard to look past Sri Lanka, I give them a great chance of beating any of the other teams at home.
 
WindieWeathers

WindieWeathers

International Regular
zinzan12 said:
Haha....so clearly looking for a scrap :cool:
Click to expand...
Nope i'm on a break from "scraps" right now!! :laugh: , i just felt that that line was a little patronising, we're still a giant in this game imo and i happen to think we're on our way back, we'll be playing South Africa at home in June so i guess we'll see how right you are!!, i think we might shock one or two people :cool: .

Btw when are Sri Lanka playing England? in 2011?!!
 
Zinzan

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
WindieWeathers said:
Nope i'm on a break from "scraps" right now!! :laugh: , i just felt that that line was a little patronising, we're still a giant in this game imo and i happen to think we're on our way back, we'll be playing South Africa at home in June so i guess we'll see how right you are!!, i think we might shock one or two people :cool: .
Click to expand...
Don't think it's so much patronising as it is true if you look where the 2 teams sit in the current test rankings ...a long long way off the pace.....


ICC Test Championship

24 Mar 2010 Team Matches Points Rating
India 38 4719 124
South Africa 38 4572 120
Australia 39 4586 118
Sri Lanka 31 3574 115
England 47 5063 108
New Zealand 29 2337 81
Pakistan 25 2008 80
West Indies 29 2224 77
Bangladesh 25 270 11

In fact in reflection, it's interesting to see SL comfortably ahead of England in 4th place which kind of discredits your initial post doesn't it? But you don't stop there, you then go on to lump SL in with NZ, Pak & WI who are all miles off the pace in 6th, 7th & 8th place respectively. I know the rankings don't always 'tell-all' , but it's usually reasonably indicative.
 
WindieWeathers

WindieWeathers

International Regular
zinzan12 said:
Don't think it's so much patronising as it is true if you look where the 2 teams sit in the current test rankings ...a long long way off the pace.....


ICC Test Championship

24 Mar 2010 Team Matches Points Rating
India 38 4719 124
South Africa 38 4572 120
Australia 39 4586 118
Sri Lanka 31 3574 115
England 47 5063 108
New Zealand 29 2337 81
Pakistan 25 2008 80
West Indies 29 2224 77
Bangladesh 25 270 11

In fact in reflection, it's interesting to see SL comfortably ahead of England in 4th place which kind of discredits your initial post doesn't it? But you don't stop there, you then go on to lump SL in with NZ, Pak & WI who are all miles off the pace in 6th, 7th & 8th place respectively. I know the rankings don't always 'tell-all' , but it's usually reasonably indicative.
Click to expand...
This isn't about "rankings" because surely one must take into account who has been playing who over the last year or so? 8-) so while England have beaten Australia in the Ashes and got a draw in South Africa Sri Lanka just got spanked by India, i mean really who in their right mind would say England wasn't one of the top four sides RIGHT NOW!!? the very fact that it's taken you six posts to come up with your "stats" suggest even you don't believe it, furthermore don't you think WI's rankings were effected by the players strike by any chance? had our best side have played against Bangladesh i'm sure we'd have been better off, but you can ignore those points if it suits your argument.
 
Last edited:
Zinzan

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
WindieWeathers said:
This isn't about "rankings" because surely one must take into account who has been playing who over the last year or so? 8-) so while England have beaten Australia in the Ashes and got a draw in South Africa Sri Lanka just got spanked by India, i mean really who in their right mind would say England wasn't one of the top four sides RIGHT NOW!!? the very fact that it's taken you three posts to come up with your "stats" suggest even you don't believe that Sri Lanka are one of the best four sides right now, furthermore don't you think WI's rankings were effected by the strike by any chance? had our best side have played against Bangladesh i'm sure we'd have been much better off, but you can ignore those points if it suits your argument.
Click to expand...
You'd do your reputation a good service by losing the "rolling eye's" icon. You may not have heard but...it's kind-of out...

Back to the discussion at hand, I'd actually agree that the current England test team are marginally ahead of SL in 4th place, but would still maintain that the biggest gap of all (excluding Bang) is one between SL/Eng (whoever u like) at 5th place ..................... down to NZ, Pak & WI at 6-8th place.

And for me, SL have a much better chance of beating England at home than the WI do in defeating SA in the Windies. Suppose we'll see in June, looking fwd to it.
BTW, would love to be wrong & for the Windies to beat SA, just can't see it.
 
WindieWeathers

WindieWeathers

International Regular
zinzan12 said:
You'd do your reputation a good service by losing the "rolling eye's" icon. You may not have heard but...it's kind-of out...

Back to the discussion at hand, I'd actually agree that the current England test team are marginally ahead of SL in 4th place, but would still maintain that the biggest gap of all (excluding Bang) is one between SL/Eng (whoever u like) at 5th place ..................... down to NZ, Pak & WI at 6-8th place.

And for me, SL have a much better chance of beating England at home than the WI do in defeating SA in the Windies. Suppose we'll see in June, looking fwd to it.
BTW, would love to be wrong & for the Windies to beat SA, just can't see it.
Click to expand...
It just seemed like you tried to use those "stats" to discredit my thread, when everyone knows England have been much better than Sri Lanka of late and like i mentioned in my original post Sri Lanka haven't beaten a top side in two years, imo the rankings don't tell the full story right now, we've got a new coach in Ottis Gibson and we clearly showed in the last two tests against Australia that we can be competitive with any side on our day, the fact that we did it without many of our best players is also a further sign that we're progressing, you might not think we're anywhere near SL but the fact is we've beaten a top side in our last three proper tests, they haven't got anywhere near doing it.
 
Teja.

Teja.

Global Moderator
SL are a better team than England, and have a 50-50 chance of beating India in SL if they prepare the pitches to help their spinners(which they should)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top