The problem a lot of you guys do is you mix formats unnecessarily. Yes that Saffer team was considered chokers but that was in LOI cricket. In Test cricket, they're probably the 3rd or 4th greatest team ever in Test cricket history. They were remembered for their away series victories and them winning everywhere they went. That is the legacy of that great South African team.
This thread was based on Pandya's comments about two more teams when he was on ODI tour. The thread got bumped after the WT20 after India's first team could not make it out of group stage. And then the Indians started chest thumping about their Australia series win while undermining world tournaments. So I don't know know is mixing up the formats here.
I don't remember people calling the South African team calling world beaters after winning those test series everywhere. But people acknowledge that great Aussie team or WI team, because they won the world tournaments. The Australian legacy or West Indian legacy cannot be compared to South African legacy.
I can tell you with conviction that both England and Australia take Ashes selection way way more seriously than any other ICC tournament. For them, the just finished ICC tournament was just a starter, the main course is the Ashes. And I can bet my life savings that if given an option between winning only one of the trophies - the Ashes or the WT20, both teams and their fans would give up the WT20 trophy in an instant.
The thing is why should we compare and give players the option to win only a single trophy? I am hearing this only from Indian posters recently that if the players are given an option between so and so, then they will choose only so. Why not win both as both are important and the highest awards in the respective formats, but again I see Indian posters here mixing up the formats and compare one format's highest award with another. The Ashes is more about history and emotional involvement from fans, just like Indo-pak games. That is why we will see high level of preparations for these series. But you are delusional if you think that India in Australia or England is the same as The Ashes.
The cricketing tastes and culture between Desi fans and Anglo fans is vastly different, but the problem is desi fans tend to live in an echo chamber where everyone reinforces the view that LOI cricket is better, so they assume the English and the Australians would value the same what they value.
Yes, you are right but just forgot to add that they value every format. The LOI world tournaments are as important for them as test matches. They do not have this "desi" mentality of mixing up the formats and do these hypothetical comparisons about if we have choice between so and so, then we will give up so. They will give the same or more efforts for winning a LOI world tournament that they give in test matches everywhere.
If winning bilateral series was so easy, why is it that no asian team won a test series in Australia and South Africa for decades until recently. Pakistan has won 3-4 ICC trophies, but struggle badly everytime they tour Australia because T20 cricket is one thing, it's a lottery, but Test cricket is a different animal. A mediocre team might beat a top team in about 3/10 times in T20 cricket, but the top team will prevail 10/10 times in Test cricket because it's a longer struggle and the cream always rises to the top.
Ahan, please enlighten me how many test matches Australia or England won against Pakistan in UAE? In test matches, a lot of team avail a full home advantage. Australia makes fast pitches, NZ makes green swing pitches, India makes spin wickets. Again in the bilaterals, it's a competition between 2 teams. In a world tournament, it's a competition between multiple good teams. I mean how hard is it to understand the obvious that the competition in a world tournament will be tougher. And no, I am not going to mix up the formats here, lets talk about the WTC final. 2 finalist teams, neutral venue, fair enough. And the world beater team in this format whose B team won the supposed 2nd most tougher series in Australia (the toughest one is supposedly their home series I think?) could not win against New Zealand in the most important match at a neutral venue? I'd like to write your words in bold now
"A mediocre team might beat a top team in about 3/10 times in T20 cricket, but the top team will prevail 10/10 times in Test cricket because it's a longer struggle and the cream always rises to the top."
Justin Langer in his very first day after taking over as the Australian coach said this:
Winning in India the ultimate: Langer
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/win...oach-justin-langer-ashes-world-cup/2018-05-03
Like I said, desi cricket fans live in an echo chamber.
Langer has said a lot of things about winning in WT20, that does not mean that I start searching all those articles and quote them here. Everyone has seen their celebrations, the Australian fans celebrations and the appreciation the team got. I don't think that they will celebrate like that if they win a test series in India. I have not seen them celebrate like that even after winning an Ashes series. Because every world tournament in every format matters to them and they are not obsessed giving up their world tournament trophy to win a test series at a particular venue. I have not seen anyone saying these things other than the "desi" fans