Where will the test sides be ranked in 4 years?
 

Thread title says it all. My prediction:

England - At the end of their reign with Pietersen and Swann heading into retirement.
South Africa - struggle after the retirement of Kallis but remain a class above everyone else and close to England, with their top quality pace attack and solid batting options.
Australia - Still struggling with batting issues (especially after the retirement of Hussey), but their bowling is very strong as Pattinson and Cummins cease to be plagued by injury.
Pakistan - Enjoying the return of Amir into the side, Pakistan have the best balanced bowling lineup of any country other than England. Their batting is also substantially improved.

India - emerging from a period of rebuilding and returning to a similar state to where they were in the early 2000's, with a powerful top-order, serviceable pace attack and rapidly improving spinners.
West Indies - Retirement of Chanders leaves the batting awfully prone to collapse. Occasional brilliance inspired by Samuels, Gayle and Roach lifts the side.
New Zealand - Strong new ball combination can't make up for the perennially shakey (but improved) top-order. Injuries also a problem.
Sri Lanka - Go through a real trough after the near simultaneous retirement of Jayawardene, Sanga, Samaraweera, Dilshan and Herath. Still in recovery.
Zimbabwe - Will get better than Bangladesh.
Bangladesh - yup.

In general I think the field will be more even than it currently is, especially between 3-7.

think Fremantle will be thereabouts around then

but really I wouldn't be surprised to see Pakistan higher

Al Thuraya Tower 1, 11th floor
Dubai Media City
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
imo

wac

All the top 4 teams will be ranked somewhere between 1 and 4 but I can't be sure.

Pretty sound prediction for mine. I do think NZ may have one of the better seam attacks going around, but you're probably right about the frailty of their batting.

Zimbabwe will be ranked above Bangladesh, although Bangladesh beat them in Asia.

Brendan Taylor and Vusi Sibanda lead the batting with Jarvis the standout in the pace attack, averaging under 35 with the ball. They will have won a test against NZ and possibly Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe.

England will have toured Zimbabwe by then and run out convincing winners.

Optimistic?

I can only see improvement in the overall standards of Pakistan, India and NZ while WI stagnate. SA will probably be hit hard by Kallis retiring, but I think they have the depth to continue dominating. Australia will probably have a similar side to their current one minus Hussey. Think SL will have a huge decline.

Something like

SA
Eng
Aus
Ind
NZ
Pak
SL
WI
Ban

would be my best guess, with 1-3 and 4-7 being very close. Windies are ****ed without Chanders.

Why are none of you considering Zimbabwe's position? They are playing tests now.

to infuriate PEWS.

My apologies. Fixed now.

I don't think our batting will be that bad. Williamson, Ryder and Taylor is a solid 3-5. Add a fresh talent like a Will Young, and you have a pretty decent looking middle-order. Brownlie and Flynn will only be 31/32 in four years as well. Our keeper, and the openers will still drag the batting down, I guess. Southee/Boult will be in their prime as bowlers, and there is plenty of promising players coming through atm with Milne/Wheeler/Henry/Small/etc. Hopefully they don't injure themselves too regularly. I predict we'll be ahead of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies in four years time. Certainly in a better position than we are right now.

I think the picture will be a lot different to what it looks like now, the top sides will still be a challenge but i don't think they will be as dominant as they've been over the last five years or so, SL for a start will be in big trouble as most of their batting order will be retired and Hereth may be gone aswell which would further weaken an average bowling attack,

What happens to India is anyones guess, Tendy will soon leave a hole and in four years Sewag and Gambir may be gone aswell, and currently there doesn't seem to be any great pace prospects emerging for them either,

NZ's attack will be more mature and that will serve them well, but that batting order may be a mixed bag, Williamson, Brenden and Taylor should still be decent but who backs them up? that could be the difference between them being an average side or a top five side,

Pakistan may have back the best bowling prospect i've seen in the last ten years (Ammir) in their team which would be a huge bonus of course, but their batting order will be shook up by the loss of Huq, Khan and maybe Hafeez, Ajmal and Rehman will most likely be gone too,

As for my own team, Gayle and Chanders will be a loss but Powell and Darren Bravo will be in their mid 20s by then and nearing their peaks, also expect Brathwaite to be back in the fold and there's a few batting prospects coming through the high performance centre that we're excited about, like Kyle Hope for example, in the bowling department we've got Roach who could reach Steyn levels if he carries on doing what he done this year, Narine will be more mature, Jason Holder will have stepped up (could be the next Ambrose) and Gabriel will be playing more aswell,

All sides will lose good players and have to somewhat rebuild so it should be exciting to watch and i think it will give the lower ranked sides a chance to sneak up those rankings to be honest.

Outside of South Africa and England. Everyone else will probably be evenly matched. This will mostly be due, to each of the other sides having continual depth issues at certain aspects of the game.

The only team that will significant decline will be Sri Lanka, due to the fact they will be losing anyone that is half decent. I think AUS, PAK, IND, NZ & WI will be playing musical chairs with the middle rankings, and Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, will be continue their role as the stat-padder.

You're comparing him to one of the top 3 windy quicks of all time (and arguably one of the top 10 quicks of all time period). You seriously think he could be that good?