Who's number 2 ?

[Josh]

So now you have another interpretation to your name

Passion makes sense

 

[Pothas]

lol, so how does that make England clearly the 2nd best team?
IF they can't win in sub-continent than they are no better than India or Pak for that matter.
There's no clear #2 in the world at the moment Pak, England and Ind and maybe i'll add SA to that list seem to be contenders for 2nd place team. But no one's done enough to be called clear #2 side in the world.

I would say the fact that England have won 6 of their last 7 series including Australia and South Africa would give a pretty good indication that they are 2nd best team in the world. There recent failuire in the subcontinent stops them being conteders for the best team in the world it doesnt stop them being the 2nd best.

 

[R_D]

I would say the fact that England have won 6 of their last 7 series including Australia and South Africa would give a pretty good indication that they are 2nd best team in the world. There recent failuire in the subcontinent stops them being conteders for the best team in the world it doesnt stop them being the 2nd best.

Lets see Who did they play in those 6 series. I think they beat NZ twice away and home series. No offence to NZ but they are pretty pathetic in Test match arena. SA were strgugglin during that time and were just finding their way under their new coach. You guys beat WI and Bangladesh at home, WOW. . Than the unthinkable happend England won the Ashes.
If Eng had beaten Pak as well than maybe you could call them clear #2 but they got beatem soundly by them so imho they clearly haven't shown enough to be called the 2nd best team.

 

[pakster]

I could easily see Inzy doing nothing in England just like he does when he comes to Australia.

Inzi averages 44 in England from 9 test matches with 2 100's and 3 50's. Thats not bad.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Lets see Who did they play in those 6 series. I think they beat NZ twice away and home series. No offence to NZ but they are pretty pathetic in Test match arena. SA were strgugglin during that time and were just finding their way under their new coach. You guys beat WI and Bangladesh at home, WOW. . Than the unthinkable happend England won the Ashes.
If Eng had beaten Pak as well than maybe you could call them clear #2 but they got beatem soundly by them so imho they clearly haven't shown enough to be called the 2nd best team.

Close, but it was actually WI (away, 3-0 from 4 tests), NZ (home, 3-0 whitewash), WI (home, 4-0 whitewash), SA (away, 2-1 from 5 tests), Ban (home, 2-0 whitewash) & Aus (home, 2-1 from 5 tests).

Now admittedly the Windies aren't quite the force they were (to put it politely), but our performance in the Caribbean was somewhat better than either Pakistan & India managed the last time they toured over there. Winning in SA was quite an achievement in my book tho, only Australia had previously managed it since the Saffies were readmitted to the test arena. Now we may've been helped by a few eccentric selections in the first couple of tests, but crucially we were good enough to take advantage.

I don't think we've done quite enough for us to be able to say we're clearly the second best side (Pakistan rather effectively showed our lack of strength in depth) but I'd still say our overall consistency over than last 2 years means we are still no. 2 as of this moment.

 

[marc71178]

Lets see Who did they play in those 6 series. I think they beat NZ twice away and home series. No offence to NZ but they are pretty pathetic in Test match arena. SA were strgugglin during that time and were just finding their way under their new coach. You guys beat WI and Bangladesh at home, WOW. . Than the unthinkable happend England won the Ashes.
If Eng had beaten Pak as well than maybe you could call them clear #2 but they got beatem soundly by them so imho they clearly haven't shown enough to be called the 2nd best team.

Haven't seen that whole "bag England in spite of so many victories" for a while now - was beginning to think people had stopped.

 

[open365]

atm IMO no one can claim to be anything.

If England play at their very best,i think they are better than any team in the world.At home that is.

India and Australia are both trying to plan for the furture so its hard to say for definite how good they each are.

Sri-Lanka were going well before the 6-1 ODI drubbing,but they aren't half as good touring as they are in their back-yrad.

South Africa are still trying to shake of their under-acheivers tag.Their first 11 are nearly as strong as
Australia's yet they never quite seem to get it together.

Pakistan have been blighted by inconsistency for the past few years,they have some fantastic players but as yet haven't acheived their full team potential.

Has test cricket ever been like this before?

i can't honestly say we have a dominant nation in either form of cricket now.

 

[BoyBrumby]

i can't honestly say we have a dominant nation in either form of cricket now.

I'd reckon one or two of our Australian posters would probably disagree with you there!

 

[social]

Close, but it was actually WI (away, 3-0 from 4 tests), NZ (home, 3-0 whitewash), WI (home, 4-0 whitewash), SA (away, 2-1 from 5 tests), Ban (home, 2-0 whitewash) & Aus (home, 2-1 from 5 tests).

Now admittedly the Windies aren't quite the force they were (to put it politely), but our performance in the Caribbean was somewhat better than either Pakistan & India managed the last time they toured over there. Winning in SA was quite an achievement in my book tho, only Australia had previously managed it since the Saffies were readmitted to the test arena. Now we may've been helped by a few eccentric selections in the first couple of tests, but crucially we were good enough to take advantage.

I don't think we've done quite enough for us to be able to say we're clearly the second best side (Pakistan rather effectively showed our lack of strength in depth) but I'd still say our overall consistency over than last 2 years means we are still no. 2 as of this moment.

Fair assessment

 

[Pothas]

I'd reckon one or two of our Australian posters would probably disagree with you there!

Yes to say the premier spot and in my opinion the premir 2 spots in test cricket are up for grabs is completly wrong

 

[Slifer]

If recent form ( ie the last 2 years or so) of course England is the second best side India (IMHO) pushing them for that spot.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

It's too early to predict the rise and fall of English cricket.

Pakistan hadn't won a Test series since 2003, when Akhtar destroyed us at Wellington. This was on the heels of a home victory against South Africa, which prompted Miandad to proclaim, "...if we play with the same spirit and discipline we can win against any team and that includes Australia."

Soon after, Pakistan lost to both India and Australia.

If India beat Pakistan and England go on to beat India, we're right back where we began.

And are we any wiser for watching Australia against the West Indies? Australia dominated the Windies, despite resolving few of their Ashes problems. Who's to say they wouldn't struggle in the sub-continent?

The cricket leading into the next Ashes series will tell the full story, IMO.