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The worst country to play cricket in

Which country has the worst weather for cricket?

  • England

    Votes: 16 59.3%
  • New Zealand

    Votes: 3 11.1%
  • West Indies

    Votes: 2 7.4%
  • Sub continent

    Votes: 6 22.2%
  • South Africa

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
In terms of weather. It seems like Australia never gets a test day abandoned due to rain, whilst in places like New Zealand and the motherland, you can expect it to happen at least once or twice per season. So, which country has the worst weather?
As already said by Manan (silentstriker)... it's a bit tricky to have weather in "the subcontinent". :)

However, both the UK (rather than England) and New Zealand are both, it seems, going rapidly downhill and have almost always been worse than most parts of the subcontinent. So it has to be a combo of them. And multiple-choice is not enabled.
 

sohummisra

U19 Debutant
If you played cricket in India in the winter (December-March) I think you would find the weather very pleasant with few interruptions. Of course, Australians don't get to do that because they play at home every year during that time.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
We did play then on our last tour, TBF, in Mohali, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. When the sun was out it was always said to be a delight to play and watch cricket in. Sadly, in Bangalore, conditions replicated Edgbaston or Trent Bridge near enough perfectly!
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Yeah India in the winters is excellent to play cricket. Eden Gardens used to have the traditional boxing day tests back in the day and that part of the Indian cricket culture is lost. We had the Independence Cup in May in 40 degree temperatures in the day and matches starting at 5 PM.

I would say that Australia and India ideally would be the best to play cricket in but as things stand, Australia is easily the best. However, if you look at the sheer joy of watching cricket, nothing comes close to England for me. The swing, the mix of the traditional and new breed of the English fan... even the rain has a virtue about it. It teaches you an important aspect of life - the significance of patience and it helps you appreciate and cherish the good cricket you do get. A bit like rain and Wimbledon.

The worst place? I would have to say Pakistan. The worst aspect of cricket in Pakistan is that hardly any crowds come to watch test cricket there. Also, the wickets have become worse than they were traditionally. Earlier, they used to produce these green tops to support the Imrans. However, 90s on, the wickets have been extremely flat which means that the traditional strength of Pakistan cricket wasn't exploited much in the era of Wasim, Waqar and even Shoaib. I was reading how at one point they were winning more away tests than home tests in the late 90s or early 2000s.

I would rank various regions as follows:

1. England
2. Australia
3. New Zealand (love wickets falling and low scoring games)
4. India (the testing spin pitches are fasinating. India, thankfully, doesn't produce that many draws in tests.)
5. South Africa
6. West Indies
7. Sri Lanka
8. Pakistan
9. Zimbabwe
10. Bangladesh (this can easily go higher once the team starts improving)

I have not been a huge fan of cricket in Sri Lanka traditionally. Earlier, Lanka would be my worst of the top 8 and possibly even worse than Zimbabwe. I have enjoyed cricket in Zimbabwe in the 90s really. In the 90s, Lanka used to play negative test cricket because they didn't have that many great bowlers and tried to go for draws. Home umpires virtually never giving lbws against their own team hardly ever helped matters. Now, with more potency in their attack, Lankan cricket is exciting to watch. In the world cup, they were easily the most attractive team out there for instance.
 
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Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
^^^^^^^Afridi IMO. And not just saying that to gloop. A very fine summary of the strengths of the values of cricket in various countries. :)
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
Yeah India in the winters is excellent to play cricket. Eden Gardens used to have the traditional boxing day tests back in the day and that part of the Indian cricket culture is lost. We had the Independence Cup in May in 40 degree temperatures in the day and matches starting at 5 PM.

I would say that Australia and India ideally would be the best to play cricket in but as things stand, Australia is easily the best. However, if you look at the sheer joy of watching cricket, nothing comes close to England for me. The swing, the mix of the traditional and new breed of the English fan... even the rain has a virtue about it. It teaches you an important aspect of life - the significance of patience and it helps you appreciate and cherish the good cricket you do get. A bit like rain and Wimbledon.

The worst place? I would have to say Pakistan. The worst aspect of cricket in Pakistan is that hardly any crowds come to watch test cricket there. Also, the wickets have become worse than they were traditionally. Earlier, they used to produce these green tops to support the Imrans. However, 90s on, the wickets have been extremely flat which means that the traditional strength of Pakistan cricket wasn't exploited much in the era of Wasim, Waqar and even Shoaib. I was reading how at one point they were winning more away tests than home tests in the late 90s or early 2000s.

I would rank various regions as follows:

1. England
2. Australia
3. New Zealand (love wickets falling and low scoring games)
4. India (the testing spin pitches are fasinating. India, thankfully, doesn't produce that many draws in tests.)
5. South Africa
6. West Indies
7. Sri Lanka
8. Pakistan
9. Zimbabwe
10. Bangladesh (this can easily go higher once the team starts improving)

I have not been a huge fan of cricket in Sri Lanka traditionally. Earlier, Lanka would be my worst of the top 8 and possibly even worse than Zimbabwe. I have enjoyed cricket in Zimbabwe in the 90s really. In the 90s, Lanka used to play negative test cricket because they didn't have that many great bowlers and tried to go for draws. Home umpires virtually never giving lbws against their own team hardly ever helped matters. Now, with more potency in their attack, Lankan cricket is exciting to watch. In the world cup, they were easily the most attractive team out there for instance.
I agree what you said about Pakistan but I think Karachi is exception to this, one has to agree that Karachi wicket is one of the most sporting pitch in the world.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Not in ODIs. :) And not when Abdur\l Razzaq is batting against England in said game-form!
 

Poker Boy

State Vice-Captain
Depends. What do you mean by "worst weather"? Do you mean rain? in this case it's England, NZ, Guyana..or Centurion Park when England try to play a Test there:laugh: If it's heat and humidity you mean, SL in March could be the answer. When England lost the one off Test there in 1993, which was during our "pathetic excuse" era (smog, desinger stubble and the juxta posistion of Venus (the planet NOT the tennis player!) among others) KWR Fletcher came up with this beauty "it's too hot here for Europeans to play cricket":@ How on earth we won there in 2001 I have no idea (actually I do. Keith was talking a load of crap.) PS - I don't think they play cricket there now but wasn't Sharjah very hot when the Aussies played two Tests there in 2002?
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
I agree what you said about Pakistan but I think Karachi is exception to this, one has to agree that Karachi wicket is one of the most sporting pitch in the world.
I would go with what SS has said about the perils of generalisations. Ideally, you would want ground specific and era specific discussions.
 
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Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Depends. What do you mean by "worst weather"? Do you mean rain? in this case it's England, NZ, Guyana..or Centurion Park when England try to play a Test there:laugh: If it's heat and humidity you mean, SL in March could be the answer. When England lost the one off Test there in 1993, which was during our "pathetic excuse" era (smog, desinger stubble and the juxta posistion of Venus (the planet NOT the tennis player!) among others) KWR Fletcher came up with this beauty "it's too hot here for Europeans to play cricket":@ How on earth we won there in 2001 I have no idea (actually I do. Keith was talking a load of crap.) PS - I don't think they play cricket there now but wasn't Sharjah very hot when the Aussies played two Tests there in 2002?
Yes, it was. Ridiculously so. Playing in Sri Lanka in March is far from ideal, and Tharmi even touched on such a thing in the Festive-season-Test thread, but playing in Sharjah when Australia and Pakistan did was nothing short of idiocy. It was downright dangerous and unutterably irresponsible. I hope it never happens again.

They do still play in UAE, though, just in Abu Dhabi rather than Sharjah these days.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Ah, yes, I see now. Was kinda aware of the famines in Somalia, I should add. :)

Yeah, Greg (howardj)... very naughty boy. :nono: (ironic, not in jest - and won't even bother with the spaces)
 

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