Which team dominated in the '90s?

[ddss]

I think all of us here agree that WI was the best cricketing nation in the world up until the late 1980s and Aus started their golden run in the late 1990s, but who dominated cricket for the most part of the '90s? I was too young to watch cricket analytically and just watched it for fun. But I know there are many people on this forum who were old enough to know what was going on. So my question is what team manhandled all others?? or were there 3-4 teams fighting for top spot?

 

[Proud To Be A Pakistani]

I was young too .. but I remember glimpse of player rating chat of 99` it had 7 players from Pakistan in the top 10 .... if I am not wrong ... please correct me .. if I don't remember correctly ....

 

[pakistanbest]

Pakistan dominated the early 90's from what I have read here on PP

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Australia dominated the 90's , they won in every part of the world leaving India(that's why they called India as final frontier)
Second best was South Africa and Pakistan , actually Pakistan could have been solo number two if they have managed to win the third test match between S.Africa and Pakistan in 1997 , they also loss frequently dead rubber matches , some says because of match fixing but what ever be the reason they lost the opportunity to become sole no. 2 or get close to number one position.

 

[anakin]

?? Why is everyone forgeeting Lanka after the 96 world cup

 

[Phool]

I was born in 94 so don't know.

 

[Random Aussie]

Probably us by consistency. South Africans close but kept bottling. Pakistan had a great team by individuals but some of their results were perplexing.

The WI didnt lose a series at home until 1993 and were still a quality side for most of the 90s.

Was a good decade for cricket, great bowlers, good pitches and hot contests.

 

[cricketindiafan]

WI till 94-95 very closely followed by Pakistan, and then the Aussies took over after that series win in WI in 95 (even though they did not win India or SL).

 

[mate1]

there was no clear winner, three or 4 teams were really good on their day. Pak, Aus, Lanka and SA,

India and England were not even in the race,

 

[ddss]

Your right. Australia and SA fighting for the top spot but since Aus won the world cup, they are the most successful team of the '90s. There is a decent amount of gap between W/L of Australia and Pakistan.

Top batsmen

Top bowlers

 

[emclub]

Wasim Akram was the best cricketer of the 90's

 

[Sandeep]

think it was Pak from 92-94, SL from 95-97/98 and Aus took over from then on... but hell yeah Cricket was very competitive then...

 

[Robert]

Your right. Australia and SA fighting for the top spot but since Aus won the world cup, they are the most successful team of the '90s. There is a decent amount of gap between W/L of Australia and Pakistan.
]

That's funny - when I read the OP, ODI results never even entered my head as any kind of gauge. I was thinking - who won the most tests?

 

[Buffet]

That's funny - when I read the OP, ODI results never even entered my head as any kind of gauge. I was thinking - who won the most tests?

Best team has to perform in ODI and Test both otherwise they can be best ODI or best Test team.

 

[Zaz]

Early 90s WI, from mid 90s onward id say aussies were the best consistently

 

[Markhor]

The 90s were the golden era of cricket.

The West Indies had a decent team but the decline began to set in, Australia began to shine and Pakistan had some outstanding individual cricketers, but there was a lot of infighting with a lot of big name egos. But the talent was there, the bowling was fearsome with the 2 Ws at their peak and Saqlain Mushtaq was a genius in the late 90s.

Australia were the most consistent through the 90s and right up until about 2004-05 when they began to falter.

 

[kungfu90]

There was no clear domination till late 90s. Aus, SA ,WI , Pak were the best 4.

 

[Asif khan]

There was a lot of infighting in the Pakistan team in the 90's (nothing new there) but they were the most dangerous team around, no question about that.

If they played with unity and cohesion, they would have easily dominated the 90's, the skill, aggression and overall quality was frightening in the Pakistan side those days.

It was definitely the golden era for Pakistani cricket and one i will always cherish, sad it didn't last longer.

 

[Nomanculture]

not to mention the great pakistan team lost twice at home to SL 2-1 in tests during that period.

 

[s2k]

there was no clear winner, three or 4 teams were really good on their day. Pak, Aus, Lanka and SA,

India and England were not even in the race,

You need to have a look at that table.India even at its worse was still a top 5 team

 

[ethan hunt]

You need to have a look at that table.India even at its worse was still a top 5 team

if i am not mistaken indias away record was even worse than zimbabwe in the 90s , they were CRAP..

 

[akheR]

if i am not mistaken indias away record was even worse than zimbabwe in the 90s , they were CRAP..

 

[ethan hunt]

LOL , s2k is busy removing posters of the indian team from his wall

 

[ddss]

who won the most tests?

Australia by a lot

 

[Badsha]

Pakistan Austrailia and South Africa. Australia leading of course.

 

[Sandeep]

That's funny - when I read the OP, ODI results never even entered my head as any kind of gauge. I was thinking - who won the most tests?

From when did ICC abduct ODI cricket?!! I personally feel 1990s will

still stand out for exceptional LOI performances!

 

[Shoaib Naveed]

No one really was an out right winner in the period between 91-94. W.I were really good, and so were Pakistan, Aus and after 92 S.A was a real force. 95 till pretty much the 99 WC and bit longer after that S.A were the standout ODI team, I remember that was the only team I always thought Pak would lose against. There was a period (96 WC and about a year after it) that Sri Lanka were absolute monsters. Nobody even looked like beating them, the way Jayasuriya man handled attacks no one I have seen has been able to repeat the same sort of carnage.

Pakistan were consistently one of the best ODI teams in the 90s, and when clicking would even topple S.A. I would say ODIs S.A, Pak/Aus, Sri, W.I

In tests it really depended on where you were playing but S.A and Aus were more consistent then other sides. We were excellent in patches, for example against Eng, NZ and Ind in the 98/99 tour.

 

[ShehryarK]

Pakistan had a great team by individuals but some of their results were perplexing.

Yes, and we all know why that was, sadly.

Wasim Akram was the best cricketer of the 90's

Not by a long shot! He was one of the top ODI crickters no doubt, at least when he was 'focused' on winning the game for the team; but many bowlers and batsmen were better than him in Tests. This India-driven Wasim-fetishisation (a) is historically illiterate and (b) sad, as it downplays the contributions of other honest and patriotic players.

The 90s were the golden era of cricket.

Interesting point. My initial thought was 'hardly', but on second glance, yes it does have some merit. Cricket is interesting only if there's proper balance between bat and ball; sadly, that's been lost since the 2000s. Was it there in the 1990s? To a great extent yes - but that was mainly because of the great bowlers of the era: Ambrose, Waqar, Walsh, Donald, Wasim, Pollock, McGrath, Warne and Murali. Few eras boast such a diverse collection of all-time bowling greats!

Was standard of cricket in general the highest in the 1990s? Not so sure - the 1980s had the great West Indian side, perhaps the best side ever to play this glorious game of ours, and quite a few all-time great batsmen, bowlers and more crucially, all-rounders.

 

[Saqs]

Probably us by consistency. South Africans close but kept bottling. Pakistan had a great team by individuals but some of their results were perplexing.

The WI didnt lose a series at home until 1993 and were still a quality side for most of the 90s.

Was a good decade for cricket, great bowlers, good pitches and hot contests.

This is where it's at basically.

People still forget the Windies still gave a lot of teams some tough times during the 90s with their bowling attack and also their skilled batting lineup (Lara, Adams, Chanderpaul, Hooper, Richardson etc.)

 

[Saqs]

Wasim Akram was the best cricketer of all time

Fixed.

 

[Dulex9]

Which was the best team in the 90s?

West Indies were declining by the late 90s, Australia was coming up, South Africa was a strong team.

Pakistan won the World Cup in 92.

They was the favourites to win in 96, look at the team it had: Wasim, waqur, a javed, maindad, Inzy, mustaq, Anwar, sohail, ijaz Ahmed, salim Malik, Latif.

They should have won the 99 World Cup: Anwar, Inzy, youhanna, ijaz, salim Malik, saqlain, Wasim, waqur, akthar, azhar Mahmoud, razzaq, afridi etc.

So they should have won 96 and 99 World Cup with the players they had.

So many talented players.

They were superb in Odis.

In Australia at Hobart If the umpire gave Langer who knows Pakistan may have drawed/gone onto win the series.

Was Pakistan the best team in the 90s or does that belong to Australia or the West Indies?

My vote goes to Pakistan.

 

[RainMan_]

It was obviously Australia. It's not even up for a debate.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Yes. Only competition was SA and WI. WI disintegrated very quickly. SA was winning lot of matches. But they still could not compete with Australia.

 

[Mercurial]

I think the 90s Pakistani team (post 92 WC) is overrated. Although, top players were in it, but failed to live up to the expectations.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Australia.

In terms of pure talent though Pakistan by far. They ruled the 90s but failed to come out on top in many high profile tournaments and matches they were supposed to.

The batting outside Asian conditions wasn’t the same either.



Bhaijaan’s top 5 teams of 90s:-

1. Australia
2. South Africa
3. Pakistan
4. West Indies
5. Sri Lanka

 

[soso_killer]

South Africa was the most consistent team in both formats 92-99. Followed by the Australians.
In 39 ODIs against each other it's 19 apiece and a tie. In Tests they were neck and neck Australia just edging, 5 wins to SA's 3 and 4 draws.
South Africa dominated everyone else though as they have the highest W/L ratio to anyone else by some distance in both formats. Australia took over after the 99 WC though. Pakistan was a distant third.

Agree that the 90's was the best era for cricket, SA added a lot of quality to average standards of cricket of the previous decade.

 

[Bilal7]

It was between Australia, Pakistan and South Africa. With Australia #1 and Pakistan edging ahead of South Africa due to the WC performances.

Pakistan were second-best in the 80s as well.

 

[shaz619]

I don't think a team truly dominated in that decade

 

[barah_admi]

If we're talking cross format, then there is absolutely no contest except for Pak v Aus. Pakistan were probably the greater ODI side, what with their WC win, then a semi and then another final. Add to that the great players they had and it cant be topped. The sides that playes in the late 90s, with Anwar, Wasim, Waqar, Akhtar (at one stage he had an ODI sr of 26...fu...), Mushy, Saqqy, Moin, Inzy....cmon. Australia reached a semi and then obviously won in 1999.

In tests, Australia were better and had the most iconic win of the decade, in the Windies, against Ambrose, Walsh and Lara. WI were still a very good side then and had yet to be beaten at home if I remember correctly.

On top of all that, it was the decade of great fast bowling.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Australia, SA, and Pakistan in this order.

 

[troodon]

Not one single dominating the whole decade.

Early 90's - Pak
Mid 90's - Lanka
Late 90's - Aus

India, England were slightly better than Srilanka and Bangladesh right now.

 

[Buffet]

Here is test and ODI record for 90s,

Test W/L in 90s:



ODI W/L in 90s:



SA has the best W/L in test and ODI both, but failed to win WC in 90s.

Aus is close behind in W/L in test and ODI and did win a WC in 90s.

All other teams are too far behind to be in contention. Pakistan had great players, but not a great team in 90s otherwise W/L would have been much higher for Pakistan.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Here is test and ODI record for 90s,

Test W/L in 90s:

View attachment 79935

ODI W/L in 90s:

View attachment 79936

SA has the best W/L in test and ODI both, but failed to win WC in 90s.

Aus is close behind in W/L in test and ODI and did win a WC in 90s.

All other teams are too far behind to be in contention. Pakistan had great players, but not a great team in 90s otherwise W/L would have been much higher for Pakistan.

Pakistan consistently lost to Australia and SA in the 90s but mostly won against all other teams. That should explain why Pakistan was above other teams but below SA and Australia.

If I remember correctly, Pakistan lost 12 straight ODIs to SA in the 90s before the streak was finally broken in Sharjah.

 

[Bilal7]

Here is test and ODI record for 90s,

Test W/L in 90s:

View attachment 79935

ODI W/L in 90s:

View attachment 79936

SA has the best W/L in test and ODI both, but failed to win WC in 90s.

Aus is close behind in W/L in test and ODI and did win a WC in 90s.

All other teams are too far behind to be in contention. Pakistan had great players, but not a great team in 90s otherwise W/L would have been much higher for Pakistan.

Pakistan won a WC and reached the final of another WC in that decade. They also had more wins than any other team. Australia were still the better ODI time, arguably. However, there is no good reason for South Africa being named the better ODI team than in the 90s.

 

[Buffet]

Pakistan won a WC and reached the final of another WC in that decade. They also had more wins than any other team. Australia were still the better ODI time, arguably. However, there is no good reason for South Africa being named the better ODI team than in the 90s.

There is good reason to call SA better Test team and taking all formats together, SA was surely a better team than Pakistan in 90s.

 

[shaz619]

There is good reason to call SA better Test team and taking all formats together, SA was surely a better team than Pakistan in 90s.

They didn't win a world cup though, 'SA was surely a better team' only Indians under the influence would say that to be fair because they were everyones whipping boys in that decade

 

[Buffet]

Pakistan consistently lost to Australia and SA in the 90s but mostly won against all other teams. That should explain why Pakistan was above other teams but below SA and Australia.

If I remember correctly, Pakistan lost 12 straight ODIs to SA in the 90s before the streak was finally broken in Sharjah.

I don't remember the streak, but Pakistan used to lose against Aus/SA more often than win.

Many young posters have not seen or may not know, but

Pakistan at home in 90s:

• Lost a test series to Zim in 1998
  [*]Drew a test series with NZ in 1996
  [*]Lost a test series against SL in 1995
• Lost a test series against Aus in 1998
• Lost a test series against SA in 1997

That's very ordinary performance for any team in their den let alone a team having good players. Specially for bold parts, I don't rate Pakistani team of 90s very high despite having gun players.

Away performance was better in my opinion. Gun players couldn't form a gun team. That's how I see it.

 

[Buffet]

They didn't win a world cup though, 'SA was surely a better team' only Indians under the influence would say that to be fair because they were everyones whipping boys in that decade

That's the only reason SA is not undisputed number 1 for 90s.

 

[Buffet]

They didn't win a world cup though, 'SA was surely a better team' only Indians under the influence would say that to be fair because they were everyones whipping boys in that decade

If comparison to Indians was thread topic then Pakistan was surely better, but topic is about both formats against all teams in 90s.

Pakistan played around 10 test series home and away against Aus, SA and WI ( 3 best teams in 90s) and won only 1 test series out of 10 in 90s.

 

[giri26]

Pakistan had the team to dominate in the 90's. Australia & South Africa were the teams for me in the 90's having watched cricket for almost the entire decade. Pakistan were a very strong team but were way to inconsistent. West Indies were a good team till mid-nineties before their downward spiral began. People forget that they did not lose a single test series in 90's until Australia beat them in 1995. Pakistan did well in the first part of 90's but they did lose a home series against WI in early 90's. They were bowled out for 43 against West Indies in a multi nation tournament in SA, which believe me WI won easily.

Pakistan had some amazing highs as well, winning Tri-Series in Australia in 96/97, reaching World Cup finals in 99 etc..but they were far too inconsistent to dominate. They were a brilliant team though. Australia & SA were far better than the rest of the pack in the 90's and it is hard to look past them.

 

[Cuts_and_cuts_hard]

We lost 2 home test series to SL and one to Zimbabwe. We were a team full of great players which on paper was great but underperformed.

Australia and SA were much much better. And so were WI up until 95-96 after which they declined.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Australia by some margin.

Although Pakistan should have done better having so many classy players!

 

[gani999]

South Africa were doing very well till the Hansie Cronje affair came out.

The early part of the 1990s was pretty much Pakistan's time in the sun, particularly after the 1992 WC victory.

Australia started dominating in the later part of the 1990s.

 

[Sidilicious]

Aus - By Far
Pak - By a whisker due to their WC performance
SA - Had they even made it to 1 final, I would have put them in no2