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Tests - England of 1999 vs England of 2021 - which is worst?

Amjid Javed

Amjid Javed

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In the summer of 1999 - england were humiliated against a weak NZ side at home 2-1 which end up with england being at the bottom of the test rankings. The England team that lost 4 test at the oval was

Atherton
Maddy
Hussain
Thorpe
Stewart
Rampakash
irani
caddick
mullally
Tufnell
Giddins

on paper the batting was decent, the less said about the bowling the better :)

But is this current england side any better? im not talking about how certain players have done across their careers but how they are doing right now

hameed
crawley
malan
Root
stokes
bairstow
Buttler
wood
Robinson
Anderson
leach

so which team is the worst?
 
Both teams are weak but the 99 team had some amazing test match players. Arthers, Nasser, Thorpe and Stewart were world class.

The 2021 team has one of the greatest English batsmen but practically no one else to support him barring Stokes maybe. The bowling of this team is still good so they will win more matches in English conditions. The 99 bowlers were no hopers
 
england 21 are craving for an atherton, thorpe or a stewart. even hussain despite his limitations was a grittier captain than root.
 
Players who can be rated 7 or above :-

1999:-
Atherton - 7
Stewart - 7.5
Hussain - 7(+1 for captaincy)
Thorpe - 8
Caddick - 7

2021:-
Root - 8.5
Stokes - 7.5
Anderson - 8.5
 
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England 1999 had high quality test players like Atherton, Hussian, Stewart and Thorpe but they had only one world class bowler.
England 2021 have a modern day legends like Root, Stokes, Anderson but rest mediocre players.
On the paper, team 1999 looks stronger but their bowling is significantly weak.
 
Thorpe Stewart definitely world class, Atherton possibly as well even though his career average was in the 30's . He had the task with dealing with:

Ambrose Walsh
Mgrath Gillespie
Wasim waqar
Srinath Prasad
Donald pollock

Who were absolute gun quick opening bowlers. Also Hussain a far better captain than Root.
 
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Combined XI

Atherton
Stewart
Hussain
Thorpe
Root
Buttler (WK)
Stokes
Wood
Robinson/Leach
Anderson
Caddick


I was tempted to put stewart in as WK and reluctantly have Hameed open, or take the option of putting stewart as opener and WK but would be unrealistic.

This seems like the optimal combined XI.

Would probably still get battered.
 
England 99-21 combined X1

Atherton
Butcher
Hussain
Root
Thorpe
Stewart
Stokes
Croft
Broad
Gough
Anderson

With this X1, England would be highly competitive against all comers.
 
Of all players available

Atherton
Stewart
Hussain (c)
Root
Thorpe
Stokes
Richards (w)
Caddick
Wood
Gough
Tufnell
 
I would say present England team is worse.

England of late-90's at least did the basics right. This team is just in LOI mode.
 
99 was by far the worst

The issue with the current team isn't the lack of talent per se, but poor leadership. Root is simply not captain material. His team selection in this Ashes series are mind-boggling as an example.

We saw the effect Stokes had as stand in captain in the 2nd test.
 
Manunited18 said:
Tuffnell was way past it by 99?
Click to expand...

Was he? I seem to recall him winning an Ashes match in 1997.

He was still playing in 2001 when Gilchrist smashed him so hard that he retired from internationals.
 
In 1999, England lost to a weak NZ side at home . This time, England lost to strong NZ and Indian teams at home.
 
Ab Fan said:
Players who can be rated 7 or above :-

1999:-
Atherton - 7
Stewart - 7.5
Hussain - 7(+1 for captaincy)
Thorpe - 8
Caddick - 7

2021:-
Root - 8.5
Stokes - 7.5
Anderson - 8.5
Click to expand...

Broad is definitely 7+
Also Robinson is new but he is definitely performing as good as anyone and definitely has potential.
 
England's current bowling attack is pretty good. It's just that their batting is beyond awful barring Root.

90s (upto early 00s) England used to have a meme level bowling attack but batting was decent.

As Test cricket is a bowling oriented format, I'd say the current unit is still better. They can atleast pick 20 wickets against any team which is the key to win Test matches.
 
Ramprakash certified domestic bully was projected as next Tendulkar, Lara much like how they promoted zimbabwean born Hick. At least Hick had some success. This guy was a catastrophe. But i am not sure that England side had this many excess baggages. Most of these batsmen would be a great fit in the limited overs. Bairstow/Butler/Malan. Current English set up focuses more on limited overs than Tests. Given the fact other formats like T20/100 taking over i don't think this is the bottom for England. This can get worse unless they dramatically unearth some talents.
 
The 2000-2004 team consisted of largely the same batters but with the addition of Gough followed by Flintiff.
So that 1999 team went on to become a very decent test side under Hussein and then Vaughn.

I think overall that test team of 2000-2004 was better then the current one.
The team of 2004 to 2010 was hands down better then the current lot.

The current batters barring Root and at times Stoked are just not test class.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Ramprakash certified domestic bully was projected as next Tendulkar, Lara much like how they promoted zimbabwean born Hick. At least Hick had some success. This guy was a catastrophe. But i am not sure that England side had this many excess baggages. Most of these batsmen would be a great fit in the limited overs. Bairstow/Butler/Malan. Current English set up focuses more on limited overs than Tests. Given the fact other formats like T20/100 taking over i don't think this is the bottom for England. This can get worse unless they dramatically unearth some talents.
Click to expand...

Ramps was handled very badly. Making him an opener and putting the opener at #6 for instance. He was always the first to be dropped, so was always under pressure when picked again.

His record for Surrey was Bradmanesque, but he couldn’t often get the mental side together in internationals.
 
This England team is actually very good. There are 3-4 ATGs in this side. Root, Stokes, Anderson all three are bonafide ATGs with Broad being borderline one. Jos Butler is one of the best wicket keeper batsman Eng ever produced. Then the likes of Woakes and Robinson is pretty decent as well.

Its just that beating Australia in their home turf is very difficult. But that dosent mean this English side is bad. Its a much better team than the one they had in 99.
 
Rajdeep said:
This England team is actually very good. There are 3-4 ATGs in this side. Root, Stokes, Anderson all three are bonafide ATGs with Broad being borderline one. Jos Butler is one of the best wicket keeper batsman Eng ever produced. Then the likes of Woakes and Robinson is pretty decent as well.

Its just that beating Australia in their home turf is very difficult. But that dosent mean this English side is bad. Its a much better team than the one they had in 99.
Click to expand...

Not enough world class batsmen.
Stokes is fantastic but he's still an all rounder and Butler is still more suited to the shorter format.
Jones and Prior were arguably better test players then Butler and Stewart was probably the best or the lot in terms of Wicketkeeper Batsmen.
 
Rajdeep said:
This England team is actually very good. There are 3-4 ATGs in this side. Root, Stokes, Anderson all three are bonafide ATGs with Broad being borderline one. Jos Butler is one of the best wicket keeper batsman Eng ever produced. Then the likes of Woakes and Robinson is pretty decent as well.

Its just that beating Australia in their home turf is very difficult. But that dosent mean this English side is bad. Its a much better team than the one they had in 99.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree. This is the worst England batting line in history, has been ever since Cook retired. It’s embarrassingly bad.

Buttler is the worst keeper I ever saw in an England shirt. He is a drop machine. I can only think he is Root’s mate.

Anderson and Broad are at the end and should retire.
 
68 All out today with this pathetic line up showing no fight is pretty much showing this england team is the worst of the 2.
 
This england team is now on a par or even worse then the 1999 team.
 
Irani Caddick Mullaly Giddins Tufnell
Sajid Nauman Hassan Shaheen Naseem
Which one is better
The Eng 99 is a lot comparable to Pak 22
And now point to ponder Eng 99 or Pak 22 which one is worst
 
Amjid Javed said:
This england team is now on a par or even worse then the 1999 team.
Click to expand...

The thing is this isn't their strongest XI.

However, considering they have 3 of their best ever players in this team (Root, Anderson and i think Stokes gets there).

The performances and results of this team are awful.
 
ECB needs to refocus on Test Cricket, the way they are going , its not looking good for them.
 
Will Mccullum's England side buck the 2021 trend?
 
Combined:

Atherton
Stewart
Hussain (c)
Root
Thorpe
Stokes
Bairstow (w)
Robinson
Caddick
Anderson
Tufnell

Pretty good team actually.
 
James said:
Good team that.
Click to expand...

Tough batting. Lord Stewie of Vauxhall averages 46 at the top, Root 50 at #4 and so does Thorpe at #5. There would be some big partnerships.

Lacking any real pace, but it would work in most conditions as Caddy and Robbo get lots of lift, Jimmy and Stokes swing it, and Cat has won tests against good teams.
 
Robert said:
Tough batting. Lord Stewie of Vauxhall averages 46 at the top, Root 50 at #4 and so does Thorpe at #5. There would be some big partnerships.

Lacking any real pace, but it would work in most conditions as Caddy and Robbo get lots of lift, Jimmy and Stokes swing it, and Cat has won tests against good teams.
Click to expand...

Was good to see Jimmy Anderson get a spot in one of your teams. :P
 
England had gone down to 8 in the rankings back in 1999. Worst English test team I've ever seen. This team is at 6 and had much more upside .
 
The current England side is better in home conditions. Joe Root is one of the greats of the game and Anderson is the best bowler England has ever produced in swing friendly conditions with the Duke bowl. Stokes and Woakes also better than Neesham, Mitchell Marsh and Hardik Pandya(:inti).
 
Nikhil_cric said:
England had gone down to 8 in the rankings back in 1999. Worst English test team I've ever seen. This team is at 6 and had much more upside .
Click to expand...

And yet the previous year they beat SA in a five test series.
 
Ab Fan said:
The current England side is better in home conditions. Joe Root is one of the greats of the game and Anderson is the best bowler England has ever produced in swing friendly conditions with the Duke bowl.
Click to expand...

Anderson average 23 at home, s/r 55

Trueman average 20 at home, s/r 45
 
Robert said:
And yet the previous year they beat SA in a five test series.
Click to expand...

Rankings are based on a 4 year period. You literally pointed out the only series of significance that England won between 95 and 99. And that too at home.

Drew against windies at home, lost to pakistan, lost to australia, lost a home test to sri lanka. Didnt tour the subcontinent either.

This English side had only lost to NZ at home and had a terrible 15 months. They also won in SA and SL and won atleast in India.
 
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