Spark
Global Moderator
I think the margin of victory flatters us tbh. We took quite a few wickets very, very late in the chase where even Pakistan couldn't **** it up.
-
Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.
Who is the worse number 1 side to rise to the top of the rankings during last year?
- Thread starter smash84
- Start date
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Famous last words if you're an Indian, Pakistani, English, Saffie, etc etc.
smash84
The Tiger King
dude.....you are understimating Pakistan in that dept lol....
as a Pakistan fan my heart was in my mouth all the time......
Ruckus
International Captain
While I like this period of rough equality between the top 3 or so teams, I actually hope within a year or two one team emerges as a genuine dominant opponent...I feel continuous rotation around the number one spot for too long devalues the competition a bit - it's kind of like all of the top teams are winning and losing at a similar rate, so after a while who cares? Obviously, I would love it if the dominant team that emerged was Australia, but I wouldn't mind if it was another team either. I like the contest mentality it creates between the teams, where you always have a kind David vs Goliath pairing. When the dominant team occasionally falls, it makes it all the more special as well. Wouldn't want a period of such dominance like Australia had though, can see how that would get pretty boring for fans who aren't loyal to that team.
Xuhaib
International Coach
I think Pakistan would beat Aus in UAE. They may score more then England but they wil concede more runs then England simply because their attack is not as well rounded as England's was.
Xuhaib
International Coach
In Misbah we trust.Really pisses me off that everyone has hijacked Pakistan's win and are still underrating them.
Let others speak their mind. I trust the great man he will keep on proving the doubters wrong.
Arachnodouche
International Captain
England will win in SL and lose in India. Eng - SA should be anybody's game.
GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
India weren't number 1 for 3 years. Australia came here ranked top in 09 and us beating then put Saffa on top for a couple of months. Your reign was short of two years - not knocking it, but you can't just add a whole year and a bit on to try and strengthen your argument.
Cevno
Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, 2 years. Was typing something else and in replacing it left the 3 there by mistake. Still the point stands.
Last edited:
Uppercut
Request Your Custom Title Now!
I have doubts about how much better the Aussie middle order is now compared to last year. They didn't all coincidentally lose form when England's world-class attack toured Australia then coincidentally find form when India's prank-attack toured.
The teams are a lot closer together than they were last year but it's still not a great match-up for Australia, they probably don't have a spin attack that can expose England's major weakness. And they're still almost certainly unusually vulnerable to England's swing-oriented attack.
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
Our middle order was ordinary, but if you can't see that Ponting and Clarke are batting better - maybe not well enough to win us a series against Eng right now, but infinitely better from a technique point of view - then you're not watching.
And our middle order had North/Smith in it.
And our middle order had North/Smith in it.
Spark
Global Moderator
I think this seals the argument beyond doubt, tbh.
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
To be fair, we've just moved the issue to number 3. 
Ruckus
International Captain
Yeah Ponting definately as well. The Ashes was actually one of the periods we he really did look bad from a technical point of view. He wasn't looking good and then getting out (like so often before), he was actually looking poor and getting out.
Spark
Global Moderator
Yeah, but we're sticking to the middle order hereTo be fair, we've just moved the issue to number 3.
Uppercut
Request Your Custom Title Now!
England's batting was technically much better against India last summer than it was against Pakistan the year before too. If you couldn't see that, you weren't watching. No one suggested then that it was a case of England's batsmen undergoing a sudden improvement that was suddenly reversed when they faced Pakistan again this year.
It's pretty inexplicably linked to the quality of the bowling. It's so, so much easier to maintain a solid technique against poor bowling than it is against good bowling.
Fair call on North and Smith though. Getting rid of Hilditch was pretty huge for Australia.
Last edited:
Spark
Global Moderator
England's batting against Pakistan was for the most part facing a very, very different kind of challenge though - seam and swing on pitches with reasonable bounce. Yes, Ajmal did alright but he wasn't the main factor.
No one's suggesting their techniques have suddenly disintegrated, far from it - what's happened is that a rarely-seen flaw in their mindsets and existing techniques has been ruthlessly exploited by the Pakistani attack.
No one's suggesting their techniques have suddenly disintegrated, far from it - what's happened is that a rarely-seen flaw in their mindsets and existing techniques has been ruthlessly exploited by the Pakistani attack.
Last edited:
G.I.Joe
International Coach
Yeah, they're not a stable and consistent team like Pakistan.