Worthiest Test cricket rival for Australia (last 30 years)

[shortpitched713]

Since 1992 ( when South Africa returned back to Test cricket ) I think it's pretty fair to say that Australia has been most consistently the best Test side. However, I think there could be a bit of controversy as to who their best rival of the last 30 years has been. I'll present info on the top 3 candidates, in my mind:

India:
Home record vs Australia - 16W, 5L, 4D (72.0%)
Away record vs Australia - 6W, 14L, 7D (35.2%)
Overall Home record - 80W, 18L, 36D (73.1%)
Overall Away record - 44W, 60L, 51D (44.8%)
Average Test Elo (up to 2021) - 1096.1

South Africa:
Home record vs Australia - 9W, 14L, 1D (39.6%)
Away record vs Australia - 6W, 9L, 6D (42.9%)
Overall Home record - 88W, 34L, 26D (68.2%)
Overall Away record - 47W, 42L, 39D (52.0%)
Average Test Elo (up to 2021) - 1127.2

England:
Home record vs Australia - 16W, 17L, 9D (48.8%)
Away record vs Australia - 6W, 29L, 5D (21.3%)
Overall Home record - 99W, 53L, 46D (61.6%)
Overall Away record - 45W, 73L, 49D (41.6%)
Average Test Elo (up to 2021) - 1073.5

*Elo Ratings taken from this project: https://github.com/outside-edge/elo_cricket

 

[shortpitched713]

I think for mine, it has to be India, just over South Africa. India's dominant record against Australia at home, and the fact that it's the only nation with an overall winning record against Australia in the past 30 years puts it over South Africa, who have the slightly better away record against Australia, and the slightly better overall record in Test cricket for the period.

I think its also clear that England is not the most worthy adversary to Australia despite the historic nature of the Ashes rivalry, and all the hype we hear every few years. In fact, England's notably pathetic away record against Australia is so bad that it's clearly skewing results to make them look a much worse away side overall than they actually are. They just can't buy wins in Australia, is all.

 

[Chrish]

Cricket Australia in last 30 years is more like 2.5-3 teams. Their “best rival” would depend on which Australian team are we talking about, isn’t it?

 

[shortpitched713]

Cricket Australia in last 30 years is more like 2.5-3 teams. Their “best rival” would depend on which Australian team are we talking about, isn’t it?

Test team. It's in the thread title and OP. Unless Australia are fielding multiple of those too while I wasn't looking. What a shame such a process of Balkanization would be.

 

[Chrish]

Test team. It's in the thread title and OP. Unless Australia are fielding multiple of those too while I wasn't looking. What a shame such a process of Balkanization would be.

i understand test but best rival of Waugh’s Australian team weren’t the same as best rival of Clarke’s Australian team. Also, disagree that “Australia has been most consistently the best Test side”; they clearly aren’t the best of past decade.

 

[TheJediBrah]

South Africa. They're the only team that has been consisently threatening regardless of where the series is being played, and having similar conditions home and away helps in the regard.

India might have better results overall but with Aus v Ind it's generally too reliant on conditions because the 2 are so different, they're almost different sports with the travelling team having to adapt so much. Generally India will win in India, and usually Aus will win in Aus, with rare exceptions.

So I'm not sure I'd say that South Africa have been definitely the next best team in this time period, but they've been the worthiest consistent competitors against Australia.

edit: oh and definitely not England. Hopeless in Aus outside of 1 series in the last 30 years and their biggest Ashes win was built around systematic ball tampering.

 

[honestbharani]

So I'm not sure I'd say that South Africa have been definitely the next best team in this time period, but they've been the worthiest consistent competitors against Australia.

The problem is that the ATG Aussie side were RSA of that era's kryptonite. They were walloped so badly when India consistently held their own against that side apart from 1999 tour.

 

[GIMH]

South Africa. They're the only team that has been consisently threatening regardless of where the series is being played, and having similar conditions home and away helps in the regard.

India might have better results overall but with Aus v Ind it's generally too reliant on conditions because the 2 are so different, they're almost different sports with the travelling team having to adapt so much. Generally India will win in India, and usually Aus will win in Aus, with rare exceptions.

So I'm not sure I'd say that South Africa have been definitely the next best team in this time period, but they've been the worthiest consistent competitors against Australia.

edit: oh and definitely not England. Hopeless in Aus outside of 1 series in the last 30 years and their biggest Ashes win was built around systematic ball tampering.

Your last two home wins were built around ball tampering and bullying our players with covid bubbles. Neither count.

That being said our poor record in Oz before and after that 10-11 series is a right millstone. Their failure to win a series here in the post-Waugh era is notable though. However given the thread says post-92 then there’s plenty of junk in there.

SA’s home record against Oz is poor, but India were seriously bad down under until recently. But it probably is India

 

[Himannv]

Definitely Bangers.

 

[Spark]

India threw in some shockers in the early 2010s under Dhoni in particular, but they've been competitive in Aus for a while - since 2003, I'd say, which is when they seemed to finally "get" batting in Australia. Since then it's hard to dispute that they've been more consistently competitive in Aus than Aus has been in India.

I don't really think SA is in the running, because until that series they hadn't won a series against home in Aus, which is surely the baseline.

 

[OverratedSanity]

India threw in some shockers in the early 2010s under Dhoni in particular, but they've been competitive in Aus for a while - since 2003, I'd say, which is when they seemed to finally "get" batting in Australia. Since then it's hard to dispute that they've been more consistently competitive in Aus than Aus has been in India.

I don't really think SA is in the running, because until that series they hadn't won a series against home in Aus, which is surely the baseline.

Apart from 2012 India have done a decent job either winning or atleast not getting embarrassed in Australia. Even 2014-15 which Australia won easily wasn't anywhere near as lopsided as most other teams' efforts there because they atleast made the runs to force draws.

SA winning three in a row in Australia is incredibly impressive, so is the fact that India beat the Australian team at its peak in 01 which sa never managed, so it's close overall.

 

[shortpitched713]

Also, disagree that “Australia has been most consistently the best Test side”; they clearly aren’t the best of past decade.

I have missed quite a bit of cricket in about the last decade, and while Australia haven't been the best team, like their dizzying heights of before, they're certainly still a very good Test team.

And looking fresh at their team at their current moment, I see the most potential with both bat and ball out of any of the Test nations. I'm not too bothered about the fact that NZ beat India in the WTC (both those teams earned their place for their performance in the previous cycle, no knocking that). I still think that Australia's recent performance around the pandemic / post pandemic time is I think the best out of all the Test cricket nations. (England have done exceptional against NZ most recently, but we'll see if they can continue that against SA.)

i understand test but best rival of Waugh’s Australian team weren’t the same as best rival of Clarke’s Australian team.

Fair point.

 

[Xix2565]

And looking fresh at their team at their current moment, I see the most potential with both bat and ball out of any of the Test nations. I'm not too bothered about the fact that NZ beat India in the WTC (both those teams earned their place for their performance in the previous cycle, no knocking that). I still think that Australia's recent performance around the pandemic / post pandemic time is I think the best out of all the Test cricket nations. (England have done exceptional against NZ most recently, but we'll see if they can continue that against SA.)

???? Australia lost to a injury ridden India at home, that's already enough to disqualify them from any talk as the best recent performances of all Test nations right now when India/SA exist.

 

[Athlai]

It's a hard one. None of them have been consistent enough to deserve it on that merit. So how else to determine "worth"?

Drama? Class?
There's been some classic Tests against all of them and a few series as well.

Ultimately I'd probably say I think India or SA touring Aussie is the biggest deal, then Aussie touring England, then England touring Aussie, and then the tours of Aussie to India/SA I care less about.

England wins by virtue of being slightly more interesting home and away

 

[shortpitched713]

England wins by virtue of being slightly more interesting home and away

You mean England away overall, right? Because England visiting Australia has seemed all but a foregone conclusion for many years now, almost to the point of disqualifying from the conversation for mine.

 

[Athlai]

You mean England away overall, right? Because England visiting Australia has seemed all but a foregone conclusion for many years now, almost to the point of disqualifying from the conversation for mine.

It's the crowds

 

[subshakerz]

Pretty clearly India. They have been consistently the hardest place for Australia to tour. And except for 2011 when they had an aging team, they have been giving a good fight every tour in the last 20 years.

India-Australia series are the most high profile series in test cricket. These teams have been occupying no. 1/2 spots the most in this time.

 

[subshakerz]

South Africa. They're the only team that has been consisently threatening regardless of where the series is being played, and having similar conditions home and away helps in the regard.

India might have better results overall but with Aus v Ind it's generally too reliant on conditions because the 2 are so different, they're almost different sports with the travelling team having to adapt so much. Generally India will win in India, and usually Aus will win in Aus, with rare exceptions.

So I'm not sure I'd say that South Africa have been definitely the next best team in this time period, but they've been the worthiest consistent competitors against Australia.

edit: oh and definitely not England. Hopeless in Aus outside of 1 series in the last 30 years and their biggest Ashes win was built around systematic ball tampering.

Dont think you are giving enough to India in Australia.

1999 they were destroyed.

2004 they had the better of Australia despite the draw.

2007/8 they lost narrowly.

2011 were walloped.

2014/15 beaten fairly comfortably.

2018 and 2021 they won.

Now compare with Australia in India.

Lost badly in 96 and 98.

Lost narrowly in 2001.

Won comfortably in 2004/5.

Lost badly in 2008, 2010, 2014.

Lost narrowly in 2017.

Looks like India adapted better.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

It's the crowds

 

[Jayro]

South Africa. They're the only team that has been consisently threatening regardless of where the series is being played, and having similar conditions home and away helps in the regard.

India might have better results overall but with Aus v Ind it's generally too reliant on conditions because the 2 are so different, they're almost different sports with the travelling team having to adapt so much. Generally India will win in India, and usually Aus will win in Aus, with rare exceptions.

So I'm not sure I'd say that South Africa have been definitely the next best team in this time period, but they've been the worthiest consistent competitors against Australia.

edit: oh and definitely not England. Hopeless in Aus outside of 1 series in the last 30 years and their biggest Ashes win was built around systematic ball tampering.

It's not a given that Aus. will win in Aus against India, in 2003 India fought a hard series and came close to winning it, same in late 2007,than there was a forgettable series but later they have won two back to back in Australia, how does that make you say what you said?