Which were the top Test teams in the decade 2000-2010?

[Statsman]

Australia was undoubtedly numero uno but how do you rank the other top teams?
[MENTION=135125]Pantani[/MENTION] shared a few numbers a couple of weeks back and I was surprised to see that SL did very well in the decade. My rankings:

Australia
South Africa
India
England
Sri Lanka
Pakistan
New Zealand
West Indies
Zimbabwe

 

[jeetu]

Overall (Jan 2000 - Dec 2009)

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Team [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Won [/td][td]Lost [/td][td]Draw [/td][td]W/L [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Australia [/td][td]115 [/td][td]79 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]4.388 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]South Africa [/td][td]108 [/td][td]53 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]23 [/td][td]1.656 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]England [/td][td]129 [/td][td]55 [/td][td]37 [/td][td]37 [/td][td]1.486 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]India [/td][td]103 [/td][td]40 [/td][td]27 [/td][td]36 [/td][td]1.481 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sri Lanka [/td][td]96 [/td][td]44 [/td][td]31 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]1.419 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pakistan [/td][td]83 [/td][td]30 [/td][td]31 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]0.967 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]New Zealand [/td][td]80 [/td][td]23 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]25 [/td][td]0.718 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]West Indies [/td][td]108 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]59 [/td][td]31 [/td][td]0.305 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Zimbabwe [/td][td]44 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]30 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]0.166 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bangladesh [/td][td]61 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]52 [/td][td]6 [/td][td]0.057 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]ICC World XI [/td][td]1 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

 

[jeetu]

Home (Jan 2000 - Dec 2009)

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Team [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Won [/td][td]Lost [/td][td]Tied [/td][td]Draw [/td][td]W/L [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Australia [/td][td]59 [/td][td]45 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]9 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sri Lanka [/td][td]53 [/td][td]31 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]2.818 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]India [/td][td]47 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]2.625 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]England [/td][td]70 [/td][td]38 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]17 [/td][td]2.533 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]South Africa [/td][td]54 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]2.285 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pakistan [/td][td]32 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]1.75 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]New Zealand [/td][td]42 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]13 [/td][td]1.071 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]West Indies [/td][td]51 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]0.631 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Zimbabwe [/td][td]22 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]0.285 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bangladesh [/td][td]29 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]24 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]0.041 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

 

[Convict]

Australia easy

 

[jeetu]

Away (Jan 2000 - Dec 2009)

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Team [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Won [/td][td]Lost [/td][td]Tied [/td][td]Draw [/td][td]W/L [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Australia [/td][td]53 [/td][td]31 [/td][td]13 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]2.384 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]South Africa [/td][td]54 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]1.166 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]India [/td][td]56 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]England [/td][td]59 [/td][td]17 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]0.772 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pakistan [/td][td]46 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]0.7 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sri Lanka [/td][td]43 [/td][td]13 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]0.65 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]New Zealand [/td][td]38 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]0.444 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]West Indies [/td][td]55 [/td][td]6 [/td][td]38 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]0.157 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bangladesh [/td][td]32 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]28 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]0.071 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Zimbabwe [/td][td]22 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]0.062 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]ICC World XI [/td][td]1 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

 

[jeetu]

Neutral Grounds

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Team [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Won [/td][td]Lost [/td][td]Draw [/td][td]W/L [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Australia [/td][td]3 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]- [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pakistan [/td][td]5 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0.666 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]West Indies [/td][td]2 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

 

[jeetu]

Australia leading by massive margin in Every table.

 

[Statsman]

Australia easy

Yup. That's clear.
More interested about the rest.

 

[shaz619]

Australia and South Africa were in their own league compared to the rest although AUS dominated on every level unlike SA who were probably the last team to dominate the rankings on some level

 

[Tekcirc]

Australia was in its own league till 2008, then Sehwag-Gambhir duo hit their golden run, (Gambhir equalled Viv's record of most consecutive 50+ scores), and India managed to find form till 2011 WC.

Overall, it was pretty much Australia>>>>>>>>>>, S Africa,>> India~ England, they only care about Ashes anyway.

 

[street cricketer]

Hard to rate South Africa as the 2nd best team when they got hammered home and away against the best team pretty much everytime they met and were able to get the better of them only after the great Australian team were well past their prime.

India, England and Sri Lanka competed much better against that great Aussie team in comparison.

 

[Hasan123]

After Australia it's South Africa of course. They were undefeated away from home for 9years or so.

 

[Midwinter13992]

Australian team from the past decade was not only 'Team Of Decade' but also one of the 'Greatest ever team combination'...Only match to them were West Indies side of 80s..

 

[R0H1T]

After Australia it's South Africa of course. They were undefeated away from home for 9years or so.

That run started in 2007, after the end of Aus domination. So in the noughties they were hammered home & away by Aus, except 2008 SA tour of Aus, then lost to England at home in 2005, lost to India away in 2004, were hammered in SL twice IIRC & based on that I doubt you can put them as the second best team of from 2000~10 IMO.

 

[R0H1T]

Australian team from the past decade was not only 'Team Of Decade' but also one of the 'Greatest ever team combination'...Only match to them were West Indies side of 80s..

The Windies' domination started in ~76 & lasted two decades, their best run was from 83~85 & there's no team that has come close to their domination of the test arena. Not even Australia, who ruled for ~8 years.

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Australia and then Proteas.

 

[Hasan123]

That run started in 2007, after the end of Aus domination. So in the noughties they were hammered home & away by Aus, except 2008 SA tour of Aus, then lost to England at home in 2005, lost to India away in 2004, were hammered in SL twice IIRC & based on that I doubt you can put them as the second best team of from 2000~10 IMO.

Most teams were defeated by the great Australian side so there is no shame there. They have beat England and Australia home and away in this period. No other team did that in this time frame.

Of course they will have a blemish or 2 but overall after Australia they are the best team in this time frame. They still have the 2nd best away record in this time frame.

Whichever team you put as 2nd they will have marks against them.

 

[Pantani]

That mighty home record! Everyone except Australia took phaintys at some point in Colombo or Kandy (and Pakistan too won a series in SL, but they were thrashed in Lahore instead)

I think it is slightly unfair to rank India and SL below England. For most of the decade in SL's case and all of it in India's case, the two Asian sides were better than England who only really became a top side in 2009. Wasn't it 2008 where they were bowled out for 50 or something in West Indies? Plus there was the whitewash in Australia in 2006/07, losing two series at home to India and one to South Africa, a 4-1 defeat at home to Australia in 2001 followed by the same score in Australia in 2002/03. IMO England just took too many heavy beatings and were too inconsistent until 2009 to be considered a top 3 team of the noughties era as a whole.

 

[Pantani]

It was a golden era for SL cricket in general. There were also two World Cup finals (if we include 2011) and a semi final, plus a World T20 final too.

With a little bit more clinicalness and ruthlessness, Sri Lanka could have definitely finished up as second to Australia for the decade in all formats

 

[R0H1T]

Most teams were defeated by the great Australian side so there is no shame there. They have beat England and Australia home and away in this period. No other team did that in this time frame.

Of course they will have a blemish or 2 but overall after Australia they are the best team in this time frame. They still have the 2nd best away record in this time frame.

Whichever team you put as 2nd they will have marks against them.

Of course but SA have like half a dozen blemishes, most of them against Aus but their record improved dramatically only after 2007. Aus too have a few, like 2001 vs India or 2005 vs Eng & then later on vs SA as well. Essentially what I'm saying is Aus was clearly the best team of the last decade, there is no dominant number 2 in that list with SA/Eng/Ind all having worthy claims to that mantle.

 

[Pantani]

Of course but SA have like half a dozen blemishes, most of them against Aus but their record improved dramatically only after 2007. Aus too have a few, like 2001 vs India or 2005 vs Eng & then later on vs SA as well. Essentially what I'm saying is Aus was clearly the best team of the last decade, there is no dominant number 2 in that list with SA/Eng/Ind all having worthy claims to that mantle.

I would place South Africa ahead at number 2, then it's between India and SL for third. Though I think SL underachieved just a little I will go with India narrowly for third since they were consistent throughout the decade and were really excellent in the last couple of years. England fifth.

 

[Convict]

Australia

#   Player         Bat Bwl Mat  Runs  HS  Ave   100 50  Wkts   Ave    BBI    BBM   5i 10m
1.  JL Langer      LHB RM   76  5994 250  48.73  18 21     -   --.--  -/--   -/--   0   0
2.  ML Hayden      LHB RM   96  8364 380  52.93  29 29     -   --.--  -/--   -/--   0   0
3.  RT Ponting*    RHB RM  107  9458 257  58.38  32 40     1  161.00  1/9    1/9    0   0
4.  DR Martyn      RHB RM   60  4089 165  48.67  13 20     2   84.00  1/0    1/4    0   0
5.  MEK Hussey     LHB RM   46  3638 182  51.97  10 19     2   51.50  1/3    1/3    0   0
6.  MJ Clarke      RHB SLA  56  3926 151  49.69  12 17    19   39.73  6/9    6/9    1   0
7.  AC Gilchrist+  LHB OS   91  5130 204* 46.63  16 23     -   --.--  -/--   -/--   -   -
8.  SK Warne       RHB LS   65  1577  99  19.46   0  8   357   25.17  7/94  12/246 21   6
9.  B Lee          RHB RF   75  1424  64  20.05   0  5   303   31.27  5/30   9/171  9   0
10. JN Gillespie   RHB RF   57   985 201* 18.94   1  2   209   27.09  6/40   9/80   5   0
11. GD McGrath     RHB RFM  66   355  61   9.34   0  1   297   20.53  8/24  10/27  14   2

what a team

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Australia on top,then India and then South Africa

 

[sajeebmcj]

aus was with out any doubt the best best team of the decade. then 2nd south africa. other teams were not that good.

 

[Zak_Fan]

Australia quite easily.
India a strong second.

Then came South Africa and England.