Would be be amazing to watch a test between the best WI team and those 90s Aussies. Sadly we’ll never know.
How good were the WIs?
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All teams have some problems now. You don’t see the quality of batting now. The bowling across the top 4 teams (India,Aus,Eng,NZ) has been of generally good quality but then the gap between the 4 and the rest is increasing. Also , These top 4 have their own set of weaknesses too.
NZ would probably struggle big time in the subcontinent and they had their share of luck in making it to the WTC finals because the revamped schedule suited them. Also, They literally come up croppers against the Aussies. India are prone to brain fades and probably don’t have the batsmen to keep scores of 400 on a regular basis. Australia don’t seem to perform anywhere else but in their set of home conditions (and even that has been exposed by the Indians).
England probably are the weakest among the top 4 in that they have only one world class batsman and none of the others are really upto scratch. Their bowling relies too much on Anderson and he’s getting on with age. I don’t see him bowling beyond the next ashes. Broad has largely been ineffective for the last 3-4 years but he keeps getting persisted with.
SA - Their internal politics and selection snafus has led to quite a lot of cricketers going Kolpak. I see them declining even further
Pak - Their bowling has been a steady decline ever since 2005. Their batting has a huge question mark (especially if Babar Azam gets out)
SL - Hopeless would be an understatement
Bangladesh - Improving but come with their own problems. They probably need more tests outside of home.
Windies - Encouraging performances here and there but there’s no quality that were associated to the windies sides of the past. Also doubt the cricketers have the appetite for test cricket.
Agree with everything you’ve said.
India are a couple of batsmen light - oh for a Ganguly, Laxman, SRT, Sheway or a Dravid now… Without that, they will always need to compromise with the 5th bowler/batsman… I guess India’s greatest strength is probably its depth atm,… They probably have a couple of fast bowler that would get into most other teams and about 5 or 6 spinners that didn’t make the trip across that would walk into the other teams…
Kiwis are a pretty good team but ultimately they are limited. Taylor is about done and then they are left with Williamson to carry the batting. Their bowling unit has seen its hay day and Boult and Southee seem a bit stale. Apart from the fast bowling, which has some potential depth, they don’t really have a top spin bowler.
Australia don’t really have any top batsmen, with the possible exception of Smith and their bowler are made of glass. Beyond that they need to get past the whole sandpaper-gate, ditch Pain and Wade and move on with a young group of batsmen around Smith and Labuschange. Also no quality spin bowler…
England have Root and no other real established batsman and their bowling (as you say) ir reliant on Anderson. I think it’ll be a good couple of years before the batting group firms up and as far as the bowling goes, there are a couple of possibles but they either need time or simply need to stop breaking (or being made to break). Not going to mention that there is no quality spinner in sight.
The WIs seem doomed to be limited and I’d be very (very) surprised if they challenge either England, India, NZ or Australia in the next 5-10 years…
Not sure what to think about Pakistan, they have just gone right off the boil. Since Waqar and Wasim left the scene, they seem to have been in a constant fight with themselves - mainly…
SL and Bangladesh for different reasons have stagnated. Bangladesh was in a positive arc but somehow they have lost all momentum. They need to move past Sakhib for one thing but they are lots of other issues bubbling that probably don’t help progress. SL have really never recovered since the retirement of their golden generation - Murali, Sanga, Jayawardene and Vas…
SA is just a mess.
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You are being harsh in many ways. Just as an example Nicholls and Latham both average over 40 for NZ and Labuschagne averages 60.
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England XI this century, assuming each player is at his peak…
Cook
Vaughan
Trott
Root
Pietersen
Stokes
Prior
Flintoff
Swann
Broad
Anderson
My possible world XI this century
Hayden
Sehwag
Sangakarra
Smith
Kallis
De Villiers
Flintoff
Warne
Cummins
Steyn
Muralitharan
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No Kohli!
I realise that he wasn’t consistent enough, but Bell was a lovely batsman to watch when in full flow.
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Who does Kohli get in ahead of?
Bell was my favourite England batsman of that generation. Had a real soft spot for him.
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I agree on Kohli, but surely Tendulkar gets in somehow.
I had this debate with my mates at the Oval. Tendulkar is overrated. He’s put on a pedestal because he played international cricket from the age of 16 (16 for God’s sake!!) and his sheer volume of runs, mostly on the flat pitches in India. He’s better than Ponting, but below Lara for me. Either way, none of those three get in the 3-5 positions ahead of Sangakarra, Smith and Kallis. Dravid was closer to my XI than Tendulkar or Ponting.
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Tendulkar did what every great sports star does when I go to watch them…. Fail.
I think he got 2 and he offered a really poor shot getting out.
Note this hasn’t ever included Liverpool players… though Suarez against WBA was the most impressive game by a player I’ve ever seen live.
Salah did something close in one match I attended.
Can’t quibble with the England line up but the World XI…
Hayden - would miss out
Sehwag
Sangakarra
Kallis - to come in at no. 3
Smith - I’d go with SRT (no. 4)
Lara
De Villiers - I’d go with Gilchrist instead
Flintoff - I’d go with Anderson
Warne
Cummins - I’d go with Mcgrath
Steyn
Muralitharan
Here’s my reserve list just as an indication of who got close…
Tendulkar
Gayle
Dravid
Lara
Mohammad Yousuf
Stokes
Gilchrist
Jadeja
Pollock
Rabada
Mcgrath
Ponting carrying the drinks
Hayden
Sehwag
Dravid
Lara
AB De Villiers
Gilchrist
Kallis
Warne
Steyn
Mcgrath
Murali / Bond
Sticking with people who have finished their careers. Not entirely in favour of Murali in the team as it’s my opinion that his bowling shouldnt have been legal.
People i considered but didn’t add
Sangakkara - Classy batsman but too much of a minnow basher for me. His average plumets when you take away his innings against bangladesh etc
Sachin - great batsman but his best was before his tennis elbow injuries. From 2000 onwards , he’d become an accumulator and not the destructive batsman which he was in the 90s
Ponting - Don’t rate him ahead of the others
Left off most outliers who finished their careers by the early 2000s
New Zealand probably has the best batting lineup right now. As mentioned previously… Latham , Grandhomme , Watling and i think there’s one saffa import there as well(forget his name)… They are all good support batsmen. What they don’t have is a good spinner , need not be Ashwin level but someone even like a Daniel Vettori.
Australia have 2 very good batsmen in Smith and Labushagne. Their bowling is fine actually , I rate Nathan Lyon. He’s not as good as Ashwin but he does a fine job for them. Their 2 front line pacers are very good in Cummins , Hazlewood. They should have much better than Starc who’s probably just someone who knocks over the tail quickly and pads his stats.
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NZ pull out of a series in Pak the day the match was supposed to start citing security issues. Shocking
Which bit is shocking?
They’d be extremely foolhardy to ignore an escalating risk to the safety of their players.
shocking in the sense that the NZ felt the (obviously well advised) need to pull out their players.
With Taliban next door , I suppose it was only a matter of time and while I realize that player safety is paramount , can’t help but think how badly Pak cricket will be hit by this.
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I presume they’ll just arrange fixtures in the UAE as previously?
I expect England will pull out as well if they’re not relocated.
I suppose so. Still it’ll hurt for the cricket fans there and there will be a trickle down effect to the cricketers produced too. Pak cricket is under a downhill trajectory and not having cricket at home will only add to that.
This move keeps in doubt all participation by international teams going forward (including their pak t20 league international players)
Hell of a first semi final that was, Somerset snatching it at the death. Looking at this second semi, Sussex look like they have the most well rounded side here today and the best bowling attack. Kent have a strong top order though and winning the toss and chasing evens the odds a bit.
Kent batting first in this final then, probably the complete opposite of the final I would have expected. Should be a great game.
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