Salamuddin
International Debutant
G'day all,
There's been afair amount of debate on this:
THis is my take:
1) Rule out Bang, Zim and Sl -- haven't done anything noteworthy really over the last year.
(I think you've gotta look at a reasonable timeframe when determining CURRENT rankings -- 3 years seems too long as some teams have undergone lots of changes).
2) Not WI -- Wonderful batting side with some potentially good bowlers -- I'd like to see more consistency though.
Their 4-3 win over India in India which was alluded to by other people was a good effort particulalrly without Lara. However, crucially, what many people fail to point out is that Tendulkar (the Wc's leading run scorer) and Zaheer Khan (India's best one-day bowler as per the ICC rankings and certainly their premier strike pacer) did not play in that series.
Harbhajan also missed a few games. This has to be noted.
4) NZl's one day results over the past year have been up-down.
Sure they beat India 5-2 at home on their greentops but they alo got thumped 3-1 by the Windies in the Caribbean and were beaten by India on a sporting wicket in the 'cup. Added to that their failure to make the semis of either the mini or the actual world cups rules
them out.
5) Pakistan -- Surely not -- nothng of great significance has been achieved over the past year.
6) That leaves England, India and RSA.
England have a rising, in-form side -- they played superbly to beat
RSA and PAk in the Natwest series.
Are England better than India ? Well lets look at their results since 2002.
Eng 3 Ind 3 (In India)
Eng 1 Ind 2 (in Eng)
Eng 0 Ind 1 (in Sl)
Eng 0 Ind 1 (in RSA)
Eng 4 INd 7
Interestingly, for games played outside the subcontinent, its
ENg 1 INd 3.
At the moment, India are entitled to feel they are a stronger team.
So I'd put India at 2 closely followed by England and RSA.
There's been afair amount of debate on this:
THis is my take:
1) Rule out Bang, Zim and Sl -- haven't done anything noteworthy really over the last year.
(I think you've gotta look at a reasonable timeframe when determining CURRENT rankings -- 3 years seems too long as some teams have undergone lots of changes).
2) Not WI -- Wonderful batting side with some potentially good bowlers -- I'd like to see more consistency though.
Their 4-3 win over India in India which was alluded to by other people was a good effort particulalrly without Lara. However, crucially, what many people fail to point out is that Tendulkar (the Wc's leading run scorer) and Zaheer Khan (India's best one-day bowler as per the ICC rankings and certainly their premier strike pacer) did not play in that series.
Harbhajan also missed a few games. This has to be noted.
4) NZl's one day results over the past year have been up-down.
Sure they beat India 5-2 at home on their greentops but they alo got thumped 3-1 by the Windies in the Caribbean and were beaten by India on a sporting wicket in the 'cup. Added to that their failure to make the semis of either the mini or the actual world cups rules
them out.
5) Pakistan -- Surely not -- nothng of great significance has been achieved over the past year.
6) That leaves England, India and RSA.
England have a rising, in-form side -- they played superbly to beat
RSA and PAk in the Natwest series.
Are England better than India ? Well lets look at their results since 2002.
Eng 3 Ind 3 (In India)
Eng 1 Ind 2 (in Eng)
Eng 0 Ind 1 (in Sl)
Eng 0 Ind 1 (in RSA)
Eng 4 INd 7
Interestingly, for games played outside the subcontinent, its
ENg 1 INd 3.
At the moment, India are entitled to feel they are a stronger team.
So I'd put India at 2 closely followed by England and RSA.
