Which nation had the best Test World XI of the last 50 years?

[Harsh Thakor]

I am comparing test World XI's of the last 50 years and ranking the best.


West Indies

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Lara
Clive Lloyd
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Roberts
Ambrose
Holding



Australia

Hayden
Taylor
Ponting
Steve Smith
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
Jeff Thomson
Glen Mcgrath


South Africa

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kalllis
AB Devilliers
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Dale Steyn
Garth Le Roux
Alan Donald
Denis Hobson


Pakistan

Saed Anwar
Majid Khan
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam Ul Haq
Imran Khan
Sarfras
Wasim Akram
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younus
Shoaib Akhtar


England

Geoff Boycott
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Kevin Peiterson
Joe Root
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
John Snow
James Anderson
Derk Underwood
Bob Willis


India

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Dhoni
Kapil Dev
Zaheer Khan
Bhumra
Gupte
Bedi


The teams that stand out are West Indies,Australia,South Africa and Pakistan.The conditions would play a major factor.On a very fast wicket West Indies or Australia may well come up on top while on batting wicket or in seaming condition sit may well be Pakistan or Australia.

West Indies and Australia had the most match-winners with the Aussies having more variety in bowling and the Calypsos having more talented and agressive batsmen.South Africa has the most allrounders in Kallis,Procter and Pollock in addition to some of the greatest batsmen and pace bowlers.In Devilliers it has a wicketkeeper batsmen who could even surpass Gilchrist at his crescendo.However its midddle order batting is not as strong as those of the Calypsos and Aussies and their players have not equalled the match-wining prowess of their opponents.Pakistan has the a great bowling attack but not as good a batting line up as the other teams.

Purely man -to-man I would choose South Africa but considering performances it would be a tussle between West Indies and Australia.With a gun on my head my vote would go for West Indies ,when you consider their impact on opposition.In batting Viv and Lara would give them that cutting edge ,all the 4 pacemen would make the side invincible and in Sobers they had the the cricketer who epitomized perfection in the game more than anybody ever.

 

[Hawkeye]

Pakistan and Australia. The strongest and competing for the first spot.

2nd has to be West Indies.

South Africa's bowling is too weak and no way above Pak.

 

[Rana]

Australia and it’s not even a question

That side was a monster in all formats and in all times and generations.

 

[Ab Fan]

Good list.

But Graeme Pollock is missing for SA.

Anil Kumble is missing for India. Surprising because he can actually bat at 8.

I would rate India higher than England because of much stronger batting unit compared to slightly weaker bowling unit.

Order will be:-

Australia (due to Warne)
Windies
South Africa
Pakistan
India
England

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Good list.

But Graeme Pollock is missing for SA.

Anil Kumble is missing for India. Surprising because he can actually bat at 8.

I would rate India higher than England because of much stronger batting unit compared to slightly weaker bowling unit.

Order will be:-

Australia (due to Warne)
Windies
South Africa
Pakistan
India
England

Very sorry for major Error. Ofcourse I would include Graeme Pollock for South Africa and exclude Hashim Amla.Please take this inclusion PP viewers.

 

[Heisenberg111]

Decent list. My rankings are as follows.

West Indies
Australia
South Africa
Pakistan
India
England

 

[Ab Fan]

Very sorry for major Error. Ofcourse I would include Graeme Pollock for South Africa and exclude Hashim Amla.Please take this inclusion PP viewers.

I would have liked having Amla at 3, G Pollock at 4, Kallis at 5, AB at 6 with gloves, Proctor at 7, S Pollock at 8, Steyn and Donald the other two and a spinner to make it XI.

Steyn, Donald, Pollock, Proctor and then Kallis. That's as good pace attack as it gets. You don't need any other pace bowler. Now who is the spinner to go for. Maybe Paul Adams, don't really know, yours pick.

 

[Hitman]

Australia, anyday.

 

[Srtfan]

Wi or aus

 

[Harsh Thakor]

I would have liked having Amla at 3, G Pollock at 4, Kallis at 5, AB at 6 with gloves, Proctor at 7, S Pollock at 8, Steyn and Donald the other two and a spinner to make it XI.

Steyn, Donald, Pollock, Proctor and then Kallis. That's as good pace attack as it gets. You don't need any other pace bowler. Now who is the spinner to go for. Maybe Paul Adams, don't really know, yours pick.

Absolutely spot on.I agree with all your placings and would include Denis Hobson as a spinner .I would have to remove either Shaun Pollock or Garth Le roux.

 

[szrana]

West Indies followed by Australia.

 

[wrongun]

WI or Oz, perhaps conditions dependent with WI near unbeatable on a quick or green deck but lacking a full time spinner.

But how can I look at a bowling lineup of WI & not vote for them. I simply must say WI. You can argue the selection of the Oz attack but WI are pure ATG all the way through. THommo was lightning fast but probably not in the same class as Holding as a bowler.

I think Bob Simpson was a far better opening bat for Oz than Tubby Taylor btw.

 

[Manunited18]

1. Windies
2.Australia
3. England/pakistan

 

[Buffet]

First spot should be WI or Aus. Followed by SA.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

1st. West Indies

2nd. Australia (very close to WI)

daylight

3rd. Pakistan (I wanted to give 3rd position to England but IMO Pak of 80s/90s had some brilliant players)

4th. England/India both of them have been leagues ahead of Pakistan these past years but we were better in 80s/90s.

5th. South Africa

 

[Heisenberg111]

1st. West Indies

2nd. Australia (very close to WI)

daylight

3rd. Pakistan (I wanted to give 3rd position to England but IMO Pak of 80s/90s had some brilliant players)

4th. England/India both of them have been leagues ahead of Pakistan these past years but we were better in 80s/90s.

5th. South Africa

No way is South Africa below Pakistan and India. In the last 50 years they have a better win loss ratio than both India and Pakistan and have won test series in every country.

 

[Ab Fan]

South Africa are a certain no.3. Surprising people rating them low lol. Their fast bowling is as good as Pakistan's and batting is much better. Compared to England, their batting and bowling both are better. And compared to India, their bowling is far better.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Please come here [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION]. [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION]. [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] Really looking forward to your participation.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

South Africa are a certain no.3. Surprising people rating them low lol. Their fast bowling is as good as Pakistan's and batting is much better. Compared to England, their batting and bowling both are better. And compared to India, their bowling is far better.

Totally agree. man to man could even be the best .

 

[tyron_woodley]

Pakistan and Australia. The strongest and competing for the first spot.

2nd has to be West Indies.

South Africa's bowling is too weak and no way above Pak.

England would be the weakest.

south africa is far better than pakistan.


rankings would be;

west indies
south africa
australia
india
pakistan
england

 

[tyron_woodley]

South Africa are a certain no.3. Surprising people rating them low lol. Their fast bowling is as good as Pakistan's and batting is much better. Compared to England, their batting and bowling both are better. And compared to India, their bowling is far better.

they are number 2.

 

[tyron_woodley]

gupte
bedi


put bumrah and shami in there and that changes the whole complexion of the Indian team. The list is a joke for india.

why do people overrate the past so much. india would be around number 3 of you actually picked the best players.

 

[Dulex9]

Hayden
Gilchrist
Ponting
Steve Smith
Greg Chappell
Border
S Waugh
Warne
Lillee
Thompson
McGrath

Greenidge
Haynes
Lara
Viv Richards
Lyold
Sobers
Hendriks
Marshall
Ambrose
Garner
Holding

 

[Dulex9]

Raja
Hanif
Zaheer Abbas
Maindad
Inzamam
Imran Khan
Moin Khan
Wasim Akram
Qadir
Saqlain
Safraz

Sehwag
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Kapil Dev
Dhoni
Srinath
Kumble
Bedi
Zaheer

 

[Dulex9]

Australia vs Pakistan would be interesting.

 

[Dulex9]

Geoff Boycott
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Joe Root
Kevin Pieterson
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
John Snow
G Swann
J Anderson
Bob Willis

G Smith
Kirsten
Kallis
AB De Villiars
B Richards
Proctor
De Kock
Pollock
Steyn
Donald
Adams

 

[MMHS]

I am comparing test World XI's of the last 50 years and ranking the best.


West Indies

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Lara
Clive Lloyd
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Roberts
Ambrose
Holding



Australia

Hayden
Taylor
Ponting
Steve Smith
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
Jeff Thomson
Glen Mcgrath


South Africa

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kalllis
AB Devilliers
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Dale Steyn
Garth Le Roux
Alan Donald
Denis Hobson


Pakistan

Saed Anwar
Majid Khan
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam Ul Haq
Imran Khan
Sarfras
Wasim Akram
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younus
Shoaib Akhtar


England

Geoff Boycott
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Kevin Peiterson
Joe Root
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
John Snow
James Anderson
Derk Underwood
Bob Willis


India

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Dhoni
Kapil Dev
Zaheer Khan
Bhumra
Gupte
Bedi


The teams that stand out are West Indies,Australia,South Africa and Pakistan.The conditions would play a major factor.On a very fast wicket West Indies or Australia may well come up on top while on batting wicket or in seaming condition sit may well be Pakistan or Australia.

West Indies and Australia had the most match-winners with the Aussies having more variety in bowling and the Calypsos having more talented and agressive batsmen.South Africa has the most allrounders in Kallis,Procter and Pollock in addition to some of the greatest batsmen and pace bowlers.In Devilliers it has a wicketkeeper batsmen who could even surpass Gilchrist at his crescendo.However its midddle order batting is not as strong as those of the Calypsos and Aussies and their players have not equalled the match-wining prowess of their opponents.Pakistan has the a great bowling attack but not as good a batting line up as the other teams.

Purely man -to-man I would choose South Africa but considering performances it would be a tussle between West Indies and Australia.With a gun on my head my vote would go for West Indies ,when you consider their impact on opposition.In batting Viv and Lara would give them that cutting edge ,all the 4 pacemen would make the side invincible and in Sobers they had the the cricketer who epitomized perfection in the game more than anybody ever.

Great squads. I’ll make just few changes in some squads (At the order of the team, by my rank)

WIN: Perfect, no change

AUS: need to include AB. Probably, I’ll drop Taylor and open with Ponting; Greg at 3, AB at 5. And, I’ll drop Thompson for Cummins. And, AB actually leads for me

SAF: GPollock will come for Gath Le Roux. That team including Kallis has 7 bowlers which is over kill.

PAK: YK comes for Zaheer, Latif for Sarfraz. And, 4 pacers are a bit over kill - PAK should play a second spinner; Qasim or Saq.

IND: Only change can be Kumble for Gupte, who I believe retorted almost 60 years back.

ENG: no change.

I think, picking 11 for Test squad is a bit risky, it should always be 12, to keep one bowling flexibility for the condition. For me, WIN 12th will be Gibbs, PAK - Shoaib (I’ll play Saq in XI on spinning wicket), India - Ashwin (Kumble in playing XI over Gupte), SAF - Vernon Phi, END - Stokes.

Lloyd, AB, Smith, IK, Kohli & Gooch are my six captains.


AUS overall is the most balanced team, but here they lose out to WIN, because that WIN team will dominate Aussies at their home for those four pacers & that batting line up.

Tight between PAK & SAF, on drier surface PAK dominates, but on standard wicket SAF had better balance & depth; overall their batting is much better.

 

[Dulex9]

Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, Engand, India

New Zealand

J Wright
B McCullum
M Crowe
Fleming
Taylor
B Reid
Hadlee
Vettori
T Southee
S Bond
T Boult

Sri Lanka:

Jayasuriya
Dilshan
Sangakarra
A De Silva
Jayawardene
Ranatunga
Tilkarratne
Vass
Dharmesena
Murali
V john

 

[Ab Fan]

Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, Engand, India

New Zealand

J Wright
B McCullum
M Crowe
Fleming
Taylor
B Reid
Hadlee
Vettori
T Southee
S Bond
T Boult

Sri Lanka:

Jayasuriya
Dilshan
Sangakarra
A De Silva
Jayawardene
Ranatunga
Tilkarratne
Vass
Dharmesena
Murali
V john

Kane Williamson in. Wright out.
Cairns in. Southee out. Hadlee to bat at 8.

Sri Lanka:-

Dharmasena out. Malinga in.
Matthews in. Tilkarratne out.
Herath in. V John out

 

[Robert]

Hard to leave AB out of Australia. Also get in Gillespie for Thomson.

I woiuld bring in Garner for Roberts for WI.

For me it's a toss-up between WI and Australia.

Drop Anderson and bring in Gough for England - proper all-conditions fast bowler, and Botham does the swinging duties.

 

[Hawkeye]

England would be the weakest.

south africa is far better than pakistan.


rankings would be;

west indies
south africa
australia
india
pakistan
england

Nobody's taking you seriously. IND were minnows at that time. Pak with the ATG bowling and batting is above SA.

 

[Buffet]

The top 4 Test W/L in the last 50 years:

70s:

Eng
Aus
WI
Ind

-------

80s:

WI
Pak
NZ
Aus

-------

90s:

SA
Aus
Pak
WI

-------

00s:

Aus
SA
Eng
Ind

-------

10s:

Ind
SA
Aus
Eng

----------------

Not one to one corelation with all time XI, but trying to see how teams did in each deccade in the last 50 years.

Aus is the only team managed to be in the top 4 in all decades.

SA managed to be in the top 2 in 3 decades they played. I suspect they would have among the top 2 in other two decades as well.

WI did great in first 3 decades, but has fallen far behind.


Aus and SA have been consistently among the top teams. WI gets in contention due to having really gun team in 80s.

So clearly, Aus/SA/WI had resource to have strongest test XI in the last 50 years.

Outside of these 3, we have India and Eng making entries 3 times, Pakistan 2 times and NZ one time. Without looking at more details, none of these teams have produced 11 players in the last 50 years to compete for the best XI.

 

[sindhiboy]

Eng is missing Fred trueman, Harold larwood, len Hutton and Denis Compton.

Safrica is missing Hugh tayfield(their most successful spinner in history).

Azharuddin for india.

 

[sindhiboy]

Did u put sarfraz ahmed as paks atg wicketkeeper

 

[szrana]

Eng is missing Fred trueman, Harold larwood, len Hutton and Denis Compton.

Safrica is missing Hugh tayfield(their most successful spinner in history).

Azharuddin for india.

This is about best XI of last 50 years, not all time. We are talking about post 70's era here. Hutton, Trueman, Tayfield etc. played in the 50's and 60's.

 

[Ab Fan]

England have some great players but only Botham a true ATG and maybe Bob Willis. But a lot of great players.

 

[Manunited18]

Hard to leave AB out of Australia. Also get in Gillespie for Thomson.

I woiuld bring in Garner for Roberts for WI.

For me it's a toss-up between WI and Australia.

Drop Anderson and bring in Gough for England - proper all-conditions fast bowler, and Botham does the swinging duties.

Do agree that gough was for all conditions a tremendous fast bowler, but Anderson overvthe last 5 years was consistent in most conditions

 

[Manunited18]

England have some great players but only Botham a true ATG and maybe Bob Willis. But a lot of great players.

I'd say Anderson a all time great, David gower, allister cook, Kevin Peterson, and possibly graham gooch

 

[Sam99]

Australia anyday. Reason is at their peak they never lost worldcup which ATG WI team lost in 1983 also team is bit more balanced than WI.

 

[Ab Fan]

I'd say Anderson a all time great, David gower, allister cook, Kevin Peterson, and possibly graham gooch

Gower AvG 44
Cook AVG 45
KP AVG 47
Gooch AVG 42

Jimmy Away AVG 32

Seems the benchmark is lower for England or is it the same for all teams?

 

[Hasan123]

Australia for me. West Indies aren't far behind.

 

[Robert]

Eng is missing Fred trueman, Harold larwood, len Hutton and Denis Compton.

Safrica is missing Hugh tayfield(their most successful spinner in history).

Azharuddin for india.

Didn't play in the last fifty years. Trueman is inarguably the best fast bowler from these islands but he was done by the mid-sixties.

 

[Robert]

Australia anyday. Reason is at their peak they never lost worldcup which ATG WI team lost in 1983 also team is bit more balanced than WI.

I wouldn't say losing one ODI is that important, even if it is a WC final. WI went to India after that 1983 match and beat them 5-0 in the ODIs. Never losing a test series at home for twenty years (and only one away) is the acid test.

 

[Robert]

Gower AvG 44
Cook AVG 45
KP AVG 47
Gooch AVG 42

Jimmy Away AVG 32

Seems the benchmark is lower for England or is it the same for all teams?

England is a hard place to bat because of the lavish movement. Bear in mind that NZ have not had a fifty-average batter either - perhaps Williamson but he came up in the modern era of dry Kiwi wickets, rather than the old days when the climate was like England's.

One would then ask why English bowlers don't average 20. Well, Anderson does at home. The CC is not a very good place to develop test bowlers. Legions of medium pacers come up relying on the lavish movement and struggle overseas. Flat spinners that keep it tight proliferate, then can't take wickets in tests. And leg spin died out. The last world-class leggie from England was Johnny Wardle in the fifties.

 

[therealAB]

I am comparing test World XI's of the last 50 years and ranking the best.


West Indies

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Lara
Clive Lloyd
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Roberts
Ambrose
Holding



Australia

Hayden
Taylor
Ponting
Steve Smith
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
Jeff Thomson
Glen Mcgrath


South Africa

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kalllis
AB Devilliers
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Dale Steyn
Garth Le Roux
Alan Donald
Denis Hobson


Pakistan

Saed Anwar
Majid Khan
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam Ul Haq
Imran Khan
Sarfras
Wasim Akram
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younus
Shoaib Akhtar


England

Geoff Boycott
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Kevin Peiterson
Joe Root
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
John Snow
James Anderson
Derk Underwood
Bob Willis


India

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Dhoni
Kapil Dev
Zaheer Khan
Bhumra
Gupte
Bedi


The teams that stand out are West Indies,Australia,South Africa and Pakistan.The conditions would play a major factor.On a very fast wicket West Indies or Australia may well come up on top while on batting wicket or in seaming condition sit may well be Pakistan or Australia.

West Indies and Australia had the most match-winners with the Aussies having more variety in bowling and the Calypsos having more talented and agressive batsmen.South Africa has the most allrounders in Kallis,Procter and Pollock in addition to some of the greatest batsmen and pace bowlers.In Devilliers it has a wicketkeeper batsmen who could even surpass Gilchrist at his crescendo.However its midddle order batting is not as strong as those of the Calypsos and Aussies and their players have not equalled the match-wining prowess of their opponents.Pakistan has the a great bowling attack but not as good a batting line up as the other teams.

Purely man -to-man I would choose South Africa but considering performances it would be a tussle between West Indies and Australia.With a gun on my head my vote would go for West Indies ,when you consider their impact on opposition.In batting Viv and Lara would give them that cutting edge ,all the 4 pacemen would make the side invincible and in Sobers they had the the cricketer who epitomized perfection in the game more than anybody ever.

Sobers only has 3 years, cannot get in

 

[Bodamma90]

1. West Indies of the 80s
2. Australia of the 90s
3. Australia of the 2000s

 

[therealAB]

I am comparing test World XI's of the last 50 years and ranking the best.


West Indies

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Lara
Clive Lloyd
Sobers
Dujon
Marshall
Roberts
Ambrose
Holding



Australia

Hayden
Taylor
Ponting
Steve Smith
Greg Chappell
Steve Waugh
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillee
Jeff Thomson
Glen Mcgrath


South Africa

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith
Hashim Amla
Jacques Kalllis
AB Devilliers
Mike Procter
Shaun Pollock
Dale Steyn
Garth Le Roux
Alan Donald
Denis Hobson


Pakistan

Saed Anwar
Majid Khan
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Inzamam Ul Haq
Imran Khan
Sarfras
Wasim Akram
Abdul Qadir
Waqar Younus
Shoaib Akhtar


England

Geoff Boycott
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Kevin Peiterson
Joe Root
Ian Botham
Alan Knott
John Snow
James Anderson
Derk Underwood
Bob Willis


India

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Dhoni
Kapil Dev
Zaheer Khan
Bhumra
Gupte
Bedi


The teams that stand out are West Indies,Australia,South Africa and Pakistan.The conditions would play a major factor.On a very fast wicket West Indies or Australia may well come up on top while on batting wicket or in seaming condition sit may well be Pakistan or Australia.

West Indies and Australia had the most match-winners with the Aussies having more variety in bowling and the Calypsos having more talented and agressive batsmen.South Africa has the most allrounders in Kallis,Procter and Pollock in addition to some of the greatest batsmen and pace bowlers.In Devilliers it has a wicketkeeper batsmen who could even surpass Gilchrist at his crescendo.However its midddle order batting is not as strong as those of the Calypsos and Aussies and their players have not equalled the match-wining prowess of their opponents.Pakistan has the a great bowling attack but not as good a batting line up as the other teams.

Purely man -to-man I would choose South Africa but considering performances it would be a tussle between West Indies and Australia.With a gun on my head my vote would go for West Indies ,when you consider their impact on opposition.In batting Viv and Lara would give them that cutting edge ,all the 4 pacemen would make the side invincible and in Sobers they had the the cricketer who epitomized perfection in the game more than anybody ever.

Gillespie >> Thommo. Langer > Taylor. Border > Waugh, most influential Australian cricketer since Bradman
Shiv > Lloyd. Garner chronically underrated. >> Roberts, Holding, especially in a team of new ball bowlers
Snow was a great bowler, but his exploits since 1970 are not greater than Broad

India needs another batsmen. Kapil - Dhoni at 6 -- 7 is incredibly weak outside of subcontinent.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Replace Thomson with Cummins and that is probably the best test side of the lot.

 

[therealAB]

Nobody's taking you seriously. IND were minnows at that time. Pak with the ATG bowling and batting is above SA.

Pak's batting averages 43, 42, 38, 51, 43 outside of Asia. Good, but not ATG and behind every order mentioned bar Eng. Pak bowling isn't that far, if any above SA.

Donald = Imran
Steyn > Wasim
Pollock = Waqar
Proctor > Shoaib
Le Roux > Qadir (averaged 47 outside of Asia). With 5 genuine fast bowlers spinner not needed for workload. Play both Amla and Pollock

 

[therealAB]

Australia anyday. Reason is at their peak they never lost worldcup which ATG WI team lost in 1983 also team is bit more balanced than WI.

Test

 

[andy0204]

Gillespie >> Thommo. Langer > Taylor. Border > Waugh, most influential Australian cricketer since Bradman
Shiv > Lloyd. Garner chronically underrated. >> Roberts, Holding, especially in a team of new ball bowlers
Snow was a great bowler, but his exploits since 1970 are not greater than Broad

India needs another batsmen. Kapil - Dhoni at 6 -- 7 is incredibly weak outside of subcontinent.

Llyod is underrated as a batsman as he gets overshadowed by Sobers and Richards during his era.
Shiv might have better stats than Llyod but we know that Llyod was the one who stood up against prime Lillie, Thompson and Indian spin quartet as well and had a great record against them.

 

[therealAB]

gupte
bedi


put bumrah and shami in there and that changes the whole complexion of the Indian team. The list is a joke for india.

why do people overrate the past so much. india would be around number 3 of you actually picked the best players.

Bumrah, Shami haven't played enough yet. Similar time to Sobers, Kanhai, Barrington, Snow, Lindsay, Peter Pollock who shouldn't be included.

 

[therealAB]

they are number 2.

How ahead of Wi, Aus

 

[Robert]

Llyod is underrated as a batsman as he gets overshadowed by Sobers and Richards during his era.
Shiv might have better stats than Llyod but we know that Llyod was the one who stood up against prime Lillie, Thompson and Indian spin quartet as well and had a great record against them.

Quite. Lloyd all the way, he we turn a match WI’s way in a session, not save a match in three sessions like Chanderpaul. Plus he is their best skipper.

 

[Ab Fan]

England is a hard place to bat because of the lavish movement. Bear in mind that NZ have not had a fifty-average batter either - perhaps Williamson but he came up in the modern era of dry Kiwi wickets, rather than the old days when the climate was like England's.

One would then ask why English bowlers don't average 20. Well, Anderson does at home. The CC is not a very good place to develop test bowlers. Legions of medium pacers come up relying on the lavish movement and struggle overseas. Flat spinners that keep it tight proliferate, then can't take wickets in tests. And leg spin died out. The last world-class leggie from England was Johnny Wardle in the fifties.

South Africa

Kallis
AB
Smith

So, that's three.

 

[Robert]

South Africa

Kallis
AB
Smith

So, that's three.

Come again? They're not English.

 

[Ab Fan]

Come again? They're not English.

That's the point. They average 50( Kallis 55) and play for South Africa, where conditions are as harder as England for batsmen.

If not, then they also have produced bowlers like Steyn, Donald, Pollock and Philander in past 20 years who are argued to have played in more fast bowling friendly conditions. So, it goes both way.

 

[Ab Fan]

I'd say Anderson a all time great, David gower, allister cook, Kevin Peterson, and possibly graham gooch

Sehwag, Laxman, Pujara, Azharrudin, Inzamam, Yousuf, Younis and Anwar may also argue in that particular case.

If you talk about conditions for England, then Kirsten plays for SA and averages 45. So, he also has a strong case.