Who is each Test nation's marquee Test opposition?

[StephenZA]

I'd venture it's not as significant as the Bledisloe though, regardless of quality.

I suppose it depends on being born before or after 1975.....

 

[fredfertang]

Just for now, Afghanistan - can't wait to see them

 

[Slifer]

WI - ENGLAND easily.

 

[Burgey]

Australia should be everyone's marquee opposition. Even Australia's.

 

[Athlai]

NZ's real rival is Bangladesh. The NZ BD series have been amongst the closest that both nations have been involved in for some time now, and NZ are the first side BD started beating regularly in ODIs. Both started as minnow whipping boys that were in the shadow of their more successful older neighbouring nation, both have produced ATG all-rounders who carried the side, both have shown a weird preference for batting deep, medium pace trundlers, left handed opening batsmen, attacking batsmen with no defensive game and left arm spin...

It's a perfect rivalry IMO.

I think in the next 5-10 years this may actually become a bit of a thing.

 

[Howsie]

It won't, it has been, is now and will forever be Australia and then England.

 

[Burgey]

I think in the next 5-10 years this may actually become a bit of a thing.

Be disappointed if it did. Would be some serious low altitude flying on the part of both countries wouldn't it?

 

[Athlai]

Be disappointed if it did. Would be some serious low altitude flying on the part of both countries wouldn't it?

I don't think of it that way, I think that of all the series we'll have in the near future the ones against Bangaldesh are most likely to be hard fought and evenly traded. I think they can beat us home and away and vice versa, and thats in all forms of the game.

I reckon we'll smash the likes of Sri Lanka and West Indies at home, and probably have to pull our teeth out to win on those tours, and while we'll probably snatch wins from the other major Test teams I don't ever see us as ever being anything other than the underdog for any tour, whether we host it or not.

 

[jimmy101]

I suppose it depends on being born before or after 1975.....

True that. NZ and SA were always battling it out for world supremacy prior to the professional era. Then of course there was the '95 world cup.

 

[stephen]

Australia should be everyone's marquee opposition. Even Australia's.

We tried that in the 90s and all the Aussie players hated it because the other Aussies were putting pressure on their spots. They rigged the final by picking Pistol as 12th man for the Aussies so Hayden, Ponting etc wouldn't win.

 

[burr]

India away is massive for me. Probably my favourite tour from an Australian perspective.

 

[Flem274*]

I don't think of it that way, I think that of all the series we'll have in the near future the ones against Bangaldesh are most likely to be hard fought and evenly traded. I think they can beat us home and away and vice versa, and thats in all forms of the game.

I reckon we'll smash the likes of Sri Lanka and West Indies at home, and probably have to pull our teeth out to win on those tours, and while we'll probably snatch wins from the other major Test teams I don't ever see us as ever being anything other than the underdog for any tour, whether we host it or not.

that's because you venture into little underdog defeatism too much

bangladesh come over here and get smashed, then we give them some odis over there in the middle of winter at midnight NZ time, get smoked on mud heaps and in the morning no one cares because they were asleep. would only become a thing if they beat us in a world cup.

doesn't matter how crap or good nz are, whenever australia are on the radar for a game the whole country wants to beat them. bangladesh will never be a grudge match like australia or to an extent england. im not insulting bangers in this paragraph, we just don't have the sporting history with bangladesh like we do with other sides.

 

[Marius]

I'd say England or Australia for SA.

 

[S.Kennedy]

I think rivalries are complicated. You usually need the correct level of non-sporting history, sporting history and competitiveness. Proximity also helps. Take England and Scotland in football. Normally this is a big rivalry but both teams are so completely **** - and the supporters know this - that there is barely anything to get too stewed up over.

 

[RK_123]

Aus - England
England - Aus
SA - Aus
Ind- Pakistan/ Australia
Pakistan- India
NZ- Aus
WI- Aus
SL- Ind
Ban- Ind

 

[thierry henry]

No-one in New Zealand is going to see Bangladesh as one of our key rivals any time soon, FMD. Be realistic.

We get up for Australia and England. These days India carries a decent amount of excitement due to the Indian population in NZ and the quality of the team, despite the lack of a real established rivalry with them. We respect South Africa but for some reason we don't tend to get as passionate about playing them- I think there is almost a long-standing acceptance that they are just better than us, maybe in part because they were in the wilderness during our best era.

The West Indies trigger excitement over specific players and general chatter about how sad it is they have declined.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and to a lesser extent Pakistan lead to disappointed groans and "why are we always stuck playing these ****s".

This is to say nothing about the quality of the teams, this is the general NZ sports fan view on things.

 

[Daemon]

Common sense prevails, thank you TH.

 

[cnerd123]

On second thought you may have a point. For example while Ireland - England is a bit of a rivalry, their rise along with Afghanistan makes that one a bit more interesting.

Common sense prevails, thank you TH.

Yea TH, thank you.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Not ever test nation shares a specific rivalry with one particular nation. So based on who a test nation (the fans, players, media hype) would to beat the most, or be most excited about.

India-Pakistan and the second greatest cricketing rivalry are at the top. Nothing more to add about those two.

After that

England - South Africa (In recent years, they have beaten South Africa away, lost at home and every loss led to a resignation of the test captain).

Australia - South Africa (similar to England, lost 3 consecutive home series to South Africa, but managed to beat them away.) The last few years have seen some of the most riveting test cricket and pretty much each series has had at least one classic batting or bowling performance.

India - Australia. The 2001 series created this and the last few years saw India do everything to become Australia - arrogant, bullish and disparaging towards the rest. Every series since 2007 have seen some controversy at some level. With Kohli now no longer friends with Australia, you watch this space for the next series between these two brats.

Pakistan - England. Often overshadowed by bigger rivalries each of them are involved in but this has always had the makings of a great rivalry - history - Pakistan won their first ever overseas test and drew the series 1-1. 87 saw Pakistan's first ever test series win in England and Imran's peak as captain and allrounder. 92 Final, 92 test series - Wasim and Waqar, reverse swing/ball tampering, 2000 Karachi series. Pakistani players are always eager to play in England and they love playing in England too given the fan support they get.

New Zealand - Australia - sibling rivalry - younger brother beating the older brother

Sri Lanka - Based on online chatter, Sri Lankan fans love to beat India

West Indies - Lot of history with England in the past with the 'grovel' comment and the racial/colonial overtones of the 60s and 70s. Australia is another one with the Frank Worrell Trophy and the 99 series demonstrated just how much it meant to both sides. Not sure if West Indies have a meaningful test rivalry with anyone now.



Bangladesh - India - this deserves a post of it's own. I will come back later for that

 

[TheJediBrah]

Aus - England
England - Aus
SA - Aus
Ind- Pakistan/ Australia
Pakistan- India
NZ- Aus
WI- Aus
SL- Ind
Ban- Ind

Pretty much exactly what I'd go with