All a bit of fun, thought I'd share it here...
Some of you may be familiar with this:
Unofficial Football World Championships
If not, you are probably familiar with the concept from sports like boxing. Essentially, as the website says:
So just for a laugh, old muggins here as sat down and worked it all out, and I can announce the current Unofficial Cricket World Champions (or the Stoggler Cup as I'm tentatively going to call it ).
At the moment, based on Test SERIES (rather than individual test matches), the current title holders are India. They have been title holders since beating Australia in the 2008-09 series.
Since 1877, Australia and England have been holders for the most number of times (not surprisingly), with West Indies in third. The full breakdown of number of times countries have been title holders are:
Australia - 77
England - 62
West Indies - 31
India - 14
Pakistan - 4
Sri Lanka - 3
South Africa - 2
Zimbabwe - 2
New Zealand - 0
Bangladesh - 0
Yes, that is correct about Zimbabwe. They gained the title by beating India in 1998-9 and then retaining the title against Pakistan. They subsequently lost to the Aussies.
And if you're interested, I also worked out who would be "champions" if you took individual test matches rather than series. Again it's India. With this however, the title changes hands much more frequently, even sometimes with a poor side losing the last match of a series in what is otherwise a dead rubber.
Anyone want to work out the equivalent ODI champions...?
Some of you may be familiar with this:
Unofficial Football World Championships
If not, you are probably familiar with the concept from sports like boxing. Essentially, as the website says:
Talking about this down the pub the other night, my mate wondered who would be the Test cricket's equivalent, if you worked from the first test series back in 1877 between Australia and England up to today.This is how it works: the Unofficial Football World Championships (UFWC) pitches real international teams into a continuous series of boxing-style title matches. Winners of UFWC title matches become title-holders, and move up the rankings table.
UFWC lineage goes right back to the very first international football match in 1872, between Scotland and England in Glasgow. As Scotland and England were the only international teams in existence, the winner of this initial match could safely claim to be the best side in the world – the Unofficial Football World Champions, if you will. Unfortunately, neither side managed to win the match – the score was a rather disappointing 0-0. So swiftly fast-forward to the second international football match, again between England and Scotland, and played in London on 8 March 1873. This time there were a full six goals – England won 4-2, and became the very first Unofficial Football World Champions. But they didn’t hold the title for long. In 1874 they were beaten 2-1 by Scotland, meaning the UFWC title passed to the Scots.
The UFWC title bounced backward and forward between England and Scotland, and then Ireland and Wales got involved. The British home nations dominated the UFWC during international football’s formative years, until the instigation of international tours and tournaments meant sides from all around the globe began to play each other. Following the UFWC lineage through almost 800 friendly and competitive matches, we can trace how the title was passed between over 40 different nations during more than 130 years of international football. It has been held by most major European and South American teams, plus comparative footballing minnows like Australia, Israel, Ecuador, and the tiny Dutch Antilles. The title has been contested at World Cup finals and in seemingly meaningless friendlies. It has been won by the most celebrated players of all time, and by previously unknown and unsung heroes.
So just for a laugh, old muggins here as sat down and worked it all out, and I can announce the current Unofficial Cricket World Champions (or the Stoggler Cup as I'm tentatively going to call it ).
At the moment, based on Test SERIES (rather than individual test matches), the current title holders are India. They have been title holders since beating Australia in the 2008-09 series.
Since 1877, Australia and England have been holders for the most number of times (not surprisingly), with West Indies in third. The full breakdown of number of times countries have been title holders are:
Australia - 77
England - 62
West Indies - 31
India - 14
Pakistan - 4
Sri Lanka - 3
South Africa - 2
Zimbabwe - 2
New Zealand - 0
Bangladesh - 0
Yes, that is correct about Zimbabwe. They gained the title by beating India in 1998-9 and then retaining the title against Pakistan. They subsequently lost to the Aussies.
And if you're interested, I also worked out who would be "champions" if you took individual test matches rather than series. Again it's India. With this however, the title changes hands much more frequently, even sometimes with a poor side losing the last match of a series in what is otherwise a dead rubber.
Anyone want to work out the equivalent ODI champions...?