So who is number 1 right now? (Feb 2010)

[pasag]

Who is the number one side in the world right now? Can anything be taken from the series just finished in India? Seems to have raised more questions than it was supposed to answer.

 

[Sir Alex]

Who is the number one side in the world right now? Can anything be taken from the series just finished in India? Seems to have raised more questions than it was supposed to answer.

SA came in with 100% resources. India managed to hold on with just 70% resouces or even less, without the spin dens. Definitely India for me. They may not have done 100% for meriting that. But SA did not either.

 

[Pratters]

India. My reasons here. India tour of RSA later this year to be the decider.

 

[Sanz]

Kinda agree with Pasag here. Still No Clear cut winner. India have holes in its bowling, SA in their batting. Infact looking more closely, Aussie team looks more balanced right now.

 

[honestbharani]

It does, but they lost when they played us last time and we haven't met this Aussie side there yet..

 

[wpdavid]

Kinda agree with Pasag here. Still No Clear cut winner. India have holes in its bowling, SA in their batting. Infact looking more closely, Aussie team looks more balanced right now.

I dunno - beating WI & Pakistan at home doesn't cope for being the only side apart from WI & NZ to lose in England in the last 3 years.

It's going to be this way for a while, isn't it? A couple of years ago, most of us were saying that there wouldn't be an outstanding side for a while, and that's exactly where we're at. Perhaps SA look the strongest long term bet if Petersen turns out to be a genuine test opener & Parnell lives up to expectations. But on another day I could argue for India if a couple of their quicks step up to the mark, or Aus if neither of the above happen.

 

[Sir Alex]

Kinda agree with Pasag here. Still No Clear cut winner. India have holes in its bowling, SA in their batting. Infact looking more closely, Aussie team looks more balanced right now.

Aussie side look balanced but lacks resources to take down a batting lineup that of India. SA have a one man army in Steyn.

 

[Richard]

Have said it a few times now - anyone claiming there's any team who can claim to be number-one from the 2007 season to the present 2009/10 one is making unrealistic claims.

There's no way that we can conclusively say there's a "best" team around since the end of Australia's era in the 2006/07 Ashes. Same way we couldn't say there was any clear "best" from 1986/87 until 1996/97, same way there are plenty of other periods where the same applies in Test history.

All of India, South Africa and Australia are essentially on level-pegging, and are vulnerable too to the likes of England and Sri Lanka.

 

[pasag]

Best way to prove who's best is to sim it out.

 

[Pratters]

5 test series home and away all three playing each other on ITC. Who is simming?

 

[NasserFan207]

Technically India, but they're so close these days that I don't think you can objectively say India are the best team. The ICC system doesn't really mean much at this stage.

 

[Prince EWS]

5 test series home and away all three playing each other on ITC. Who is simming?

Me IMO.

 

[mohammad16]

I dont understand why people can clearly put India on the top. Rankings are just rankings, I think South Africa, Australia and India are right up there. I dont see any international side walking up to face the Indian bowling line up and feeling the least bit threatened or intimidated. Their batting line up I think is easily the best in the world though but its really potent strike bowling that wins test matches in the long haul.

 

[Jono]

It's tough.

On paper? South Africa.

On results? India.

Long-term Depth? Australia.

Not too far off? England.

India in South Africa will be important. South Africa didn't help themselves by not beating England at home.

 

[Richard]

Technically India, but they're so close these days that I don't think you can objectively say India are the best team. The ICC system doesn't really mean much at this stage.

It never does. It's a rolling thing. Series results only get replaced when another series between the same teams at the same host country happens instead of it.

The reality, though, is that teams have very specific finite "terms". A team is only as good as the players within it, and the fact is that the calibre of teams go up and down, because players get better and worse, and come and go, and there is no way to ensure that this happens at the same time for each team.

Thus the best way to look at who is best is to use human initiative, not a fixed mathematical calculation.

 

[Pratters]

Inshallah.

 

[Dissector]

South Africa has narrowed the gap but it's still India by a small margin. Ultimately though I agree with Richard that there hasn't been a clear no.1 since the 2006 Ashes. South Africa were two wickets away from thrashing England 3-1 in which case they would have been no.1 IMO and I am guessing in the rankings too.

 

[Sir Alex]

I dont understand why people can clearly put India on the top. Rankings are just rankings, I think South Africa, Australia and India are right up there. I dont see any international side walking up to face the Indian bowling line up and feeling the least bit threatened or intimidated. Their batting line up I think is easily the best in the world though but its really potent strike bowling that wins test matches in the long haul.

Yet the team has somehow contrived to win all its series since 2008 season ended, except the just concluded series.

vs Aus Home - 2-0
vs Eng Home 1-0
vs NZ Away 1-0
vs SL Home 2-0
vs Ban away 2-0
vs SA Home 1-1

That is 9 wins against 1 loss which is incredible. Nobody is claiming India's bowling attack is top drawer, but with a thinking captain and 2 world class bowlers, it is not doing a terrible job either. Sometimes it is this we want, unfancied attack but potent to rip through any batting attack. A bit of complacency in the opposition lineup doesnt hurt!

 

[Sir Alex]

It never does. It's a rolling thing. Series results only get replaced when another series between the same teams at the same host country happens instead of it.

The reality, though, is that teams have very specific finite "terms". A team is only as good as the players within it, and the fact is that the calibre of teams go up and down, because players get better and worse, and come and go, and there is no way to ensure that this happens at the same time for each team.

Thus the best way to look at who is best is to use human initiative, not a fixed mathematical calculation.

The mathematical model is a product of the human initiative.

 

[silentstriker]

The series in South Africa is absolutely huge. That'll decide it.

Right now, out of the three, India are the only ones undefeated at home. They are also the only one of three not to have won away at either of the other two.

You can decide what's more important to you. SA just came off a draw at home vs. England, and Australia lost away to England. India recently lost away to SL.

They are three quite imperfect sides. India visit both SL away and SA away this year. Both of those series will be huge. If they somehow manage to improve their record in both SL and SA (e.g, draw/win in SL and draw/win in SA), I would say they are the clear #1. Right now, they are #1 to me, but barely and it's arguable.