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

[Harsh Thakor]

In the lists below I have chosen the best world test xi's from 1970-2020 .At the end I have given my evaluation of the nation with the best test xi from the last 50 years.

Australia

Hayden
Taylor (C)
Ponting
Steve Smith
Greg Chappell
Border
Gilchrist(W)
Warne
Lillee
Thomson
Mcgrath


West Indies

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Brian Lara
Clive Lloyd (C)
Alvin Kalicharan
Jeff Dujon (W)
Malcolm Marshall
Andy Roberts
Curtly Ambrose
Michael Holding


South Africa

Barry Richards
Graeme Smith (C)
Amla
Graeme Pollock
Kallis
Devilliers (W)
Procter
Shaun Pollock
Steyn
Donald
Garth Le Roux



Pakistan

Anwar
Majid
Miandad
Inzamam
Younis Khan
Imran Khan (C)
Sarfraz (W)
Wasim
Waqar
Qadir
Akhtar


India

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Dhoni (C and W)
Kapil Dev
Srinath
Zaheer Khan
Bedi
Bhumra



England

Gooch
Boycott
Pieterson
Gower
Root (C)
Botham
Flintoff
Knott (w)
Underwood
Anderson
Willis


In terms of man to man talent South Africa would win my vote with having 3 great allrounders in their side,lethal pace attack and great opening pair.Pakistan and Australia have the best bowling attacks in term s of variety ,while West Indies has the most lethal pace attack and most match-winning batsmen.What may give the edge to Australia over the Calypsos is the match-winning prowess of Warne and Gilchrist and skill of Mcgrath.India has strong batting but not such a strong pace attack.England have abundance of all-rounders but not bowlers or batsmen of the class of the best teams.For pure specialists Australia would edge West Indies by a whisker.

South Africa was not tested from 1970-90 but on coming back to test cricket were arguably the 2nd best team to Australia in the last 3 decades.Its players at its best in the 1970's did not pass the acid test of performing as a cohesive unit as they were barred from playing International cricket.Still performances in WSC proved their great talent Their match-winners like Barry ,Devilliers,Procter and both Graeme and Shaun Pollock would give them an advantage .Still their specialist batting and bowling was marginally below that of Australia and West Indies in destructive ability and killer instinct.In certain conditions or on a given day Pakistan was right up there who had one of the strongest batting line ups ever in the 1970's and 80's and more match-winning prowess than South Africa.

Thus considering temperament and professionalism Australia by a whisker from West Indies, in man-to -man skill or talent South Africa and Pakistan on a given day or in certain conditions capable of upsetting the applecart .

 

[Ab Fan]

Windies- Can add Chanderpaul and drop Kalicharan. But hard to say.

SA- Looks good, but should have one spinner assuming you have Kallis as sixth bowling option. Steyn, Donald, Pollock, Proctor, Kallis- five and one spinner.

Pak- Nice team, Sarfaraz very good player of spin but Latif is a more renowned name in Pakistan's playing XI.

India- Make Kohli as captain if you don't want Kapil to captain based on his record as captain. Don't go with MSD for tests. Also Kumble, the guy can bat. That tail looks terrible.

England- Isn't there a better captain than Root in that playing XI? Gooch is my captain. Good team. Stokes misses out.

 

[tyron_woodley]

abbas should be in pakistam best 11.

india should have shami in the bowling lineup over bedi. bumrah shami and srinath.

shewag
gavaskar
tendulkar
dravid
kohli
dhoni
kapil dev
ashwin
srinath
shami
bumrah

 

[tyron_woodley]

it all depends on the conditions.

Australia I suppose would be the best for all conditions overall.

south africa would be second

west indies batting is a bit overrated but their bowling was simply terryfing back in the days. Tossup between them and india/pakistan.

rest of the teams are evenly matched. india and Pakistan are about equal.

England would be 6th.

 

[tyron_woodley]

australia should have cummins instead of lillee. Australia have a bit of disadvantage with only 4 bowlers. I know chappelli can bowl a bit but I am.not sure if he will be effective away from home.

 

[andy0204]

abbas should be in pakistam best 11.

india should have shami in the bowling lineup over bedi. bumrah shami and srinath.

shewag
gavaskar
tendulkar
dravid
kohli
dhoni
kapil dev
ashwin
srinath
shami
bumrah

What a minute how many matches did Bumrah played?
Only 12.
He hasn't played a single test match in India.
Let him play at least 30 tests then judge him.

 

[tyron_woodley]

What a minute how many matches did Bumrah played?
Only 12.
He hasn't played a single test match in India.
Let him play at least 30 tests then judge him.

You can watch him bowl. People recognize greatness when they see it. I see it in him. Many people and plaudits see it in him. Just like bond will always be in n.z best 11 no matter what. Generational players like them 2 will always be part of best 11 teams.

 

[tyron_woodley]

I had a look again. I am sorry.South Africa best 11 is by far the greatest ever. Better than australia's. It's a ridiculously good team. Literally 2 great all rounders plus 5 proper bowlers.

 

[tyron_woodley]

What a minute how many matches did Bumrah played?
Only 12.
He hasn't played a single test match in India.
Let him play at least 30 tests then judge him.

Barry Richards shouldn't be there either then.

 

[tyron_woodley]

also stokes over flint stones off anyday.

 

[andy0204]

You can watch him bowl. People recognize greatness when they see it. I see it in him. Many people and plaudits see it in him. Just like bond will always be in n.z best 11 no matter what. Generational players like them 2 will always be part of best 11 teams.

I watched him bowling he is great but even guys like Philander had a great start.
Mohammad Asif also had a great stats but no one recognises him right now.
So what Iam saying just wait till he plays 30 test matches.

 

[andy0204]

Barry Richards shouldn't be there either then.

Bary Richards case is different,he would have played more tests if it wasn't for apartheid.

 

[tyron_woodley]

Bary Richards case is different,he would have played more tests if it wasn't for apartheid.

but we don't know how good he may have been away from home and England right?
That's the issue I have with his selection.

That's why bond and bumrah selections were fine in my opinion and totally justified.

Honestly though South Africa look the strongest on paper. Games aren't won on paper but 2 all time great all rounders in the team? that's insane.

 

[Robert]

Gooch
Boycott
Pieterson
Gower
Root (C)
Botham
Flintoff
Knott (w)
Underwood
Anderson
Willis
.

Drop Flintoff and Anderson. Bring in Graham Thorpe and John Snow. Make Gower skipper and push him up to #3 where he averaged fifty.

 

[tyron_woodley]

Drop Flintoff and Anderson. Bring in Graham Thorpe and John Snow. Make Gower skipper and push him up to #3 where he averaged fifty.

and Trueman over Underwood.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Drop Flintoff and Anderson. Bring in Graham Thorpe and John Snow. Make Gower skipper and push him up to #3 where he averaged fifty.

Which is your best team?Agree with my analysis?

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Please come [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION]. [MENTION=133315]Hitman[/MENTION]

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Windies- Can add Chanderpaul and drop Kalicharan. But hard to say.

SA- Looks good, but should have one spinner assuming you have Kallis as sixth bowling option. Steyn, Donald, Pollock, Proctor, Kallis- five and one spinner.

Pak- Nice team, Sarfaraz very good player of spin but Latif is a more renowned name in Pakistan's playing XI.

India- Make Kohli as captain if you don't want Kapil to captain based on his record as captain. Don't go with MSD for tests. Also Kumble, the guy can bat. That tail looks terrible.

England- Isn't there a better captain than Root in that playing XI? Gooch is my captain. Good team. Stokes misses out.

What about Australia?The best?

 

[Ab Fan]

What about Australia?The best?

For Australia, I agree but I think AB is the greatest Australian captain of all-time, so he will be captain for my team.

The best is hard to say, potential wise South Africa because that team has some phenomenal talent in all department- batting bowling and fielding. Well, they always had talent except since last few years. Windies are probably the most fancied and entertaining and Australia look the most balanced with Warne as a spinner and Gilchrist a keeper on their side.

Pakistan pace attack is as entertaining as it gets but all their batsmen are boring. Indian team bar Sehwag is a bit boring also, you will find lot of hundreds by batsmen and lot of draws.

 

[zulfiqar]

In terms of the best line-ups, it would be Windies and then Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, India and England.

For Australia I would replace Taylor with Justin Langer and give captaincy to any of the other very capable skippers. For Windies I"ll pick Chanderpaul over Kalicharan but admittedly do not know much about Kalicharan except from his stats.

Overall for positions 4-6, Pakistan trumps India and England primarily on bowling strength. The batting is such that they would be unbeatable at home but could win plenty of away series (particularly against India/England). India > England based on batting strength.

For positions 1-3, South Africa have a killer bowling line-up but I think the Windies/Aussie batsmen are better and equal-if-not-better bowling attacks of their own. Gilchrist & Warne are the two MVPs for Australia in my opinion and make them strong contenders for #1 but I simply cannot resist the addition of Lara and Ambrose to what is quite commonly hailed as the best test team of the modern era!

 

[Majid Khan]

It’s amazing to think Pakistan’s all time great batting line up in the original post which most of us would agree with , actually does not include a batsman who once scored 9 centuries in 11 tests and in the process 1788 runs in the calendar year beating the record of Viv Richards - and what an elegant player he was too.

And no I’m not talking about Hafeez , please take this post seriously

 

[Harsh Thakor]

It’s amazing to think Pakistan’s all time great batting line up in the original post which most of us would agree with , actually does not include a batsman who once scored 9 centuries in 11 tests and in the process 1788 runs in the calendar year beating the record of Viv Richards - and what an elegant player he was too.

And no I’m not talking about Hafeez , please take this post seriously

Okay Mohamed Yousuf was great but not the equal of a Miandad ,Inzamam Younis or Zaheer Abbas.Even a great Like Zaheer had to be excluded.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Drop Flintoff and Anderson. Bring in Graham Thorpe and John Snow. Make Gower skipper and push him up to #3 where he averaged fifty.

Which country has the best XI in your view?

 

[fawad_wellwisher]

I would Sarfaraz Ahmed with Wasim Bari. The latter was just the better keeper. If you are going to choose Knott for england, might as well pick Bari for Pakistan!

Also Abdul Qadir with Saqlain Mushtaq as he had a better all round bowling average against the better teams and performed well on away tours as well. Qadir had a hard time picking up wickets in australia and england.

 

[Srtfan]

Australia best xi
Hayden
Ponting
Greg
Smith
Ab
S Waugh
Gilly
Warne
Cummins
Lillee
McGrath

 

[Harsh Thakor]

For Australia, I agree but I think AB is the greatest Australian captain of all-time, so he will be captain for my team.

The best is hard to say, potential wise South Africa because that team has some phenomenal talent in all department- batting bowling and fielding. Well, they always had talent except since last few years. Windies are probably the most fancied and entertaining and Australia look the most balanced with Warne as a spinner and Gilchrist a keeper on their side.

Pakistan pace attack is as entertaining as it gets but all their batsmen are boring. Indian team bar Sehwag is a bit boring also, you will find lot of hundreds by batsmen and lot of draws.

Very much agree analytical.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

I had a look again. I am sorry.South Africa best 11 is by far the greatest ever. Better than australia's. It's a ridiculously good team. Literally 2 great all rounders plus 5 proper bowlers.

We agree on basis of pure talent

 

[Harsh Thakor]

it all depends on the conditions.

Australia I suppose would be the best for all conditions overall.

south africa would be second

west indies batting is a bit overrated but their bowling was simply terryfing back in the days. Tossup between them and india/pakistan.

rest of the teams are evenly matched. india and Pakistan are about equal.

England would be 6th.

Did not West Indies have great match-winners with the bat like Viv,Greenidge,Lara ,Lloyd etc ?

 

[tyron_woodley]

Did not West Indies have great match-winners with the bat like Viv,Greenidge,Lara ,Lloyd etc ?

better than south Africa's best 11 batting lineup though?

btw who had the best batting lineup overall?
india second.

best bowling would obviously be west indies, followed by south africa. Australia third? pakistan possibly 4th.

 

[tyron_woodley]

better than south Africa's best 11 batting lineup though?

btw who had the best batting lineup overall?
india second.

best bowling would obviously be west indies, followed by south africa. Australia third? pakistan possibly 4th.

Australia first*. for batting I mean.

I could put Pakistan's bowling as 3rd too over australia. Apart from mcgrath, rest weren't as great as imran or wasim.

 

[Ab Fan]

Australia first*. for batting I mean.

I could put Pakistan's bowling as 3rd too over australia. Apart from mcgrath, rest weren't as great as imran or wasim.

Warne

 

[tyron_woodley]

Warne

despite averages I would say Qadir is better. Lot of greats even admit it. Can make a case for both I suppose.

 

[Ab Fan]

despite averages I would say Qadir is better. Lot of greats even admit it. Can make a case for both I suppose.

Kumble is better than Qadir.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

England team that toured Australia in 2009-2011 was just awesome

 

[sweep_shot]

ATG Aussie team. Best of all time. Best in cricket's history.

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Damien Martyn
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh (c)
Gilchrist (wk)
Warne
Lee
Gillespie
McGrath