England

[shankar]

England happen to be matching almost every side in world cricket at the mome,t apart from SL at home, and Australia.

There's only 1 thing I can say to that :

 

[Swervy]

There's only 1 thing I can say to that :

i dont know why you are laughing at that...i think it is a fair comment

 

[shankar]

i dont know why you are laughing at that...i think it is a fair comment

Maybe I misunderstood him. Did he mean to say that the only teams that are better than England are SL at home and Australia?

 

[Swervy]

well i would say Australia are still miles ahead of EVERYONE....i think all of South Africa,Pakistan,England, India,NZ and Sri lanka are pretty much even...west indies a bit behind that lot,then the other two.

I think the point made was that England have since the start of last year, beaten Australia in a test,destroyed Zimbabwe, drew a series with SA,hammered Bangladesh and hammered West Indies....that record can probably match any other team in the world other than Australia's.

So in effect yeah maybe the only team better than England in the world is Australia, coz all the others are pretty much on a par with England

 

[Langeveldt]

I think England will beat New Zealand this summer, then they will have a rather good winter in South Africa (that should be good viewing)...

Then i guess it will be the aussies sometime around, 4-1 , and thank you very much and England are all useless again

Its the same for most good test playing nations...

 

[Loony BoB]

What do you mean by "rather good"?

 

[Langeveldt]

What do you mean by "rather good"?

I think South Africa will be pushed very hard (or given a very good series as previously stated!)

 

[luckyeddie]

I think South Africa will be given a very good series...

Anything other than a series defeat will be a fantastic result for England

 

[Loony BoB]

That's all a matter of perspective, though. Some people might say "We lost all our matches, but we gave them a good run for their money", while some might say "We got a win, and we almost had them!" and others could say "We WON, baby!" Do you think you'll win many matches, or the series...?

I'm waiting for the NZ-England result before I judge the SA-England series. Beating SA in SA isn't easy for any country, but you never know what the poms might pull off.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Maybe I misunderstood him. Did he mean to say that the only teams that are better than England are SL at home and Australia?

Yep, you did.

Obviously there are teams that match us, but we haven't lost a series for a good while, apart from Sri Lanka away, and the Aussies. In other words, they are the only teams I would say are significantly better than us. And Sri Lanka aren't better than us, they just have loads of spinners, and spinny pitches.

 

[Swervy]

yeah on neutral ground England would have the edge over Sri Lanka i think

 

[shankar]

And Sri Lanka aren't better than us, they just have loads of spinners, and spinny pitches.

It's interesting that the opposite argument never works. For e.g. when India toured NZ and lost 2-0 the argument that "they were'nt better than us they just have seamy pitches and many good seamers" doesnt work.

 

[marc71178]

It's interesting that the opposite argument never works. For e.g. when India toured NZ and lost 2-0 the argument that "they were'nt better than us they just have seamy pitches and many good seamers" doesnt work.

I don't remember anyone using that one - there was universal condemnation of those pitches.

 

[Swervy]

It's interesting that the opposite argument never works. For e.g. when India toured NZ and lost 2-0 the argument that "they were'nt better than us they just have seamy pitches and many good seamers" doesnt work.

true..but when you look at the return series in India,NZ did pretty well and so throughout the two series NZ easily showed that they were more than a match for India in both sets of conditions

 

[NikhilN]

Yep, it sure is weird being a "neutral" when England are playing the most clinical and convincing cricket I have seen from an English side!

Still, congrats to them, and it has been excellent viewing...

They are facing WI...and the world knows that they are not in form so I am sure it wasnt that hard for them to kill WI

 

[Swervy]

They are facing WI...and the world knows that they are not in form so I am sure it wasnt that hard for them to kill WI

well WI are a lot tougher at home....WI did beat Sri lanka 1-0 last year,and played ok-ish vs Australia last year...and beat India 2-1 less than 2 years ago (and I would suggest that this WI's team is stronger than that one). Before this series WI's had only lost 7 tests at home this decade,and three of those were vs Australia..

Again, people are reluctant to give England credit for what has happened...England have gone for the jugular and have completely shattered WI's confidence.

England have played great aggressive cricket,and have hammered a team that isnt as bad as a lot of people would like to beleive

 

[shankar]

I don't remember anyone using that one - there was universal condemnation of those pitches.

true..but when you look at the return series in India,NZ did pretty well and so throughout the two series NZ easily showed that they were more than a match for India in both sets of conditions

Forget the 2 examples I gave. I was talking in general terms. I've heard some people discount victories by home teams on spinning tracks as if they were'nt real victories. Whereas if a team if a team wins by preparing a seaming track,they don't see it in the same light. It's as if teams are expected to cope with overlyseaming tracks but tracks which overly assist the spinners are not acceptable.Have u heard this type of view?

 

[Swervy]

Forget the 2 examples I gave. I was talking in general terms. I've heard some people discount victories by home teams on spinning tracks as if they were'nt real victories. Whereas if a team if a team wins by preparing a seaming track,they don't see it in the same light. It's as if teams are expected to cope with seaming tracks but tracks which overly assist the spinners are not acceptable.

yeah i see what you mean

 

[Tom Halsey]

well WI are a lot tougher at home....WI did beat Sri lanka 1-0 last year,and played ok-ish vs Australia last year...and beat India 2-1 less than 2 years ago (and I would suggest that this WI's team is stronger than that one). Before this series WI's had only lost 7 tests at home this decade,and three of those were vs Australia..

Again, people are reluctant to give England credit for what has happened...England have gone for the jugular and have completely shattered WI's confidence.

England have played great aggressive cricket,and have hammered a team that isnt as bad as a lot of people would like to beleive

Agree completely with this post, they aren't as bad as people think.

Although it must be said that they are in some disarray at the moment, but that is mainly because of England.

 

[shankar]

...and beat India 2-1 less than 2 years ago (and I would suggest that this WI's team is stronger than that one).

Maybe on paper..But that WI team had a lot more spirit, IND went up 1-0, there was a lot of criticism and they were really hurt and came back strongly to win the series. It helped that India played some spineless cricket.