Your best current test team is..

[Captain_Cook]

South Africa lost their number one ranking yesterday by this system too, but to Australia rather than India.

I don't know much about your ranking system, but over what timescale is your score calculated?

It's strange to see Australia leading the other Big Three nations by over 50 points. The team has transformed dramatically since the Ashes and won home series against NZ (who bowled terribly) and WI. I suspect the top 6 of Warner, Burns, Khawaja, Smith, Voges and Marsh will be found out away from the very flat tracks at home. Only Warner and Smith look the part in that order.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Who swings it the most (outside of Amir)? Would imagine they'd be your crucial bowlers for the England tour. Amir should be fantastic again, looking forward to watching him bowl.

Junaid and Rahat are the best swing and seam bowlers other than Amir.

 

[Howe_zat]

My ranking systems spits this out:

1. Australia - 274.83
2. South Africa - 264.58
3. India - 234.67
4. England - 220.92
5. Pakistan - 203.33
6. New Zealand - 190.00
7. Sri Lanka - 170.00
8. West Indies - 124.17
9. Bangladesh - 67.50
10. Zimbabwe - 50.00

South Africa lost their number one ranking yesterday by this system too, but to Australia rather than India.

I voted for South Africa anyway because I'm not sure it's all that wise to read so much into a lost series with so many injuries, but there are lots of warning signs beyond the actual result so I can see myself changing my mind fairly quickly from here. I think more than anything else I voted for South Africa as a cop out so I didn't have to decide who was now best out of the chasing pack. It's been a case of South Africa declining rather one of the other teams breaking out of that group.

Interestingly, South Africa are still regarded as comfortably the best 'away' team by my rankings formula, but are taken down on the overall rankings by Australia's awesome home record.

Away
1. South Africa - 128.75
2. Australia - 117.33
3. England - 97.92
4. Sri Lanka - 80.00
5. New Zealand - 78.33
6. Pakistan - 77.50
7. India - 77.17
8. West Indies - 45.83
9. Zimbabwe - 17.50
10. Bangladesh - 12.50

Home
=1. Australia - 157.50
=1. India - 157.50
3. South Africa - 135.83
4. Pakistan - 125.83
5. England - 123.00
6. New Zealand - 111.67
7. Sri Lanka - 90.00
8. West Indies - 78.33
9. Bangladesh - 55.00
10. Zimbabwe - 32.50

Does this count the UAE as home for Pakistan?

 

[cnerd123]

lol at how India is a better touring side than only WI, Zim and BD, yet are 3rd overall.

 

[Prince EWS]

Does this count the UAE as home for Pakistan?

Yeah.

 

[Black_Warrior]

lol at how India is a better touring side than only WI, Zim and BD, yet are 3rd overall.

and double lol at how they are first overall in the real rankings

 

[vcs]

SA's away records have been really amazing... winning twice back to back in England and Australia is incredible.

But they have some glaring problems at the moment. They never had a proper opening partner for Smith even in their best days, now they are really struggling in that position. Amla and AB are struggling with form and workload. Kallis is irreplaceable. Faf for me has a lot to prove, excellent player, but has dropped off sharply after his brilliant start. Wicketkeeper is a problem. Steyn and Philander's fitness and lack of spin options is also a big worry. They've always had a longish tail, again Philander's batting is a big miss for them. Guys like Morkel, Faf and Duminy really need to step up and be leaders for them in this period.

 

[Captain_Cook]

SA's away records have been really amazing... winning twice back to back in England and Australia is incredible.

The Smith-Amla-Kallis-de Villiers axis was unbeatable. You could almost guarantee one of them getting a ton in any match. Those 4th innings knock from Smith were world class.

Oddly, they couldn't rally enough to beat Australia or England at home in their last two tours.

 

[vcs]

Yeah, Australia always upped their game over there and England were somewhat lucky/resilient to grind out two draws in their 2009-10 tour.

 

[social]

England by the slimmest of margins. Solid players to see off the new ball, a dynamic middle order and a balanced bowling attack. They are the only team I can see with a (slim) chance of beating Australia at home in the near future. They have transformed out of sight since the pathetic showing in the Caribbean at the start of 2015. Only missing ingredients are an opener and a top-class spinner and they could be top of the rankings for 2 or 3 years.

Hales is one of the openers and he is the opposite of solid

Cook is consistently inconsistent

Compton is at 3 and he is a blocker unlikely to average much more than 35

etc etc

England, as a team, are far greater than the sum of their parts as there are some pretty ordinary players in their lineup

 

[hendrix]

Compton really should be opening with Cook next series.

 

[Captain_Cook]

Hales is one of the openers and he is the opposite of solid

Cook is consistently inconsistent

Compton is at 3 and he is a blocker unlikely to average much more than 35

The English top order has been enigmatic for quite a while. It think it's clear that Hales will be ditched for the summer to be replaced by the next cab off the rank. As for Compton, he does a job being difficult to remove which is gold dust for our delightful middle order. I think England should stick with him as he eats up the new ball and allows the likes of Root, Taylor and Stokes to play their natural game.

As for Cook. 125 test, 9800 runs at 45. It's difficult to say he's inconsistent. You always know what you are going to get with Cook, when facing quality pacers bowling well he's nothing special. Yet the majority of bowlers aren't high quality and he scores heavily against them at his own pace. Sure, he's going through a horror series now but every player has one from time to time and SA is no batsman's paradise (Cape Town aside).

England, as a team, are far greater than the sum of their parts as there are some pretty ordinary players in their lineup

There are plenty of ordinary players in the Australian and Indian test teams hence why the ranking are all so close. 4 out of Australia's top 6 are very ordinary (Burns, Usman, Voges and Mmarsh) and will be very tested if New Zealand bowl well at home. India have Dhawan, Rohit and Saha.

 

[social]

Compton really should be opening with Cook next series.

Didn't work before as they are both defensive players

Plus Compton is a no. 3 anyway

If Hales doesn't work out, they need to find someone else that complements Cook

 

[hendrix]

Didn't work before as they are both defensive players

Plus Compton is a no. 3 anyway

If Hales doesn't work out, they need to find someone else that complements Cook

Compton and Cook did work. Just not as well as Strauss. England were being greedy when they dropped him.

They now have a set middle order that clearly benefits from the top order's ability to chew up balls.

 

[social]

The English top order has been enigmatic for quite a while. It think it's clear that Hales will be ditched for the summer to be replaced by the next cab off the rank. As for Compton, he does a job being difficult to remove which is gold dust for our delightful middle order. I think England should stick with him as he eats up the new ball and allows the likes of Root, Taylor and Stokes to play their natural game.

As for Cook. 125 test, 9800 runs at 45. It's difficult to say he's inconsistent. You always know what you are going to get with Cook, when facing quality pacers bowling well he's nothing special. Yet the majority of bowlers aren't high quality and he scores heavily against them at his own pace. Sure, he's going through a horror series now but every player has one from time to time and SA is no batsman's paradise (Cape Town aside).


There are plenty of ordinary players in the Australian and Indian test teams hence why the ranking are all so close. 4 out of Australia's top 6 are very ordinary (Burns, Usman, Voges and Mmarsh) and will be very tested if New Zealand bowl well at home. India have Dhawan, Rohit and Saha.

Every team has big holes in it - pretty much sums up why I have said before that test cricket is in a pretty ordinary state atm

Anyway, I wouldn't be ditching Hales yet and would give him a couple of home tests

Whilst he has technical issues, the guy has real talent, the team is winning and it's not as if anyone else is bashing the door down

 

[Furball]

That was England's strength in the 2010/11 glory days as well. Strauss, Cook and Trott would wear the bowlers down for KP, Bell and Prior.

 

[social]

That was England's strength in the 2010/11 glory days as well. Strauss, Cook and Trott would wear the bowlers down for KP, Bell and Prior.

With the exception of Root, that lineup kills the current one

 

[Black_Warrior]

Every team has big holes in it - pretty much sums up why I have said before that test cricket is in a pretty ordinary state atm

Yes as opposed to when teams had 11 Bradmans averaging 99.

Test cricket is like life.. Life has big holes in them too..Deal with it.

This is how cricket has been for most part of it's history. This idea of a 'perfect team is an anomaly.

 

[cnerd123]

Compton really should be opening with Cook next series.

Nah. Hales has done well enough to earn himself atleast another series alongside Cook. And if Compton opens who is going to bat 3? Has Ballance addressed all his technical issues?

 

[NZTailender]

Not with that batting it isn't even if Steyn and Philander got fit and firing again.

Eh they've done similar and still bounced back thanks to those two.

1st Test: South Africa v Australia at Cape Town, Nov 9-11, 2011 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo