View Full Version : Australia's Test Cricket success
Does it translate to the best team ever, and I don't mean cricket but all sport?, tell me which side has dominated for so long, maybe St George won 14 flags in a row or something but I defy anyone to compare anything to the unparralled success of our Test team since Allan Border was captain.
dan warna
31 Dec 2004, 19:45
Does it translate to the best team ever, and I don't mean cricket but all sport?, tell me which side has dominated for so long, maybe St George won 14 flags in a row or something but I defy anyone to compare anything to the unparralled success of our Test team since Allan Border was captain.
I think atm even wrt to cricket without going on to any sport the aussies are considered amongst the three greatest teams ever assembled.
from.
1 bradmans invincibles. 2. lloyds/richards super team from the 70s to late 80s and the 3. current aussie side.
Bradmans team had bradman, barnes, miller, morris, harvey to bat and from o'reilly, lindwall, miller again, etc bowling a truly stupendous side rich in talent.
lloyds team had a solid batting line up that included richards, richardson, lloyd, dujon, greenidge and haynes, statistically behind australias batting line up, but not by much.
their strength lay in their AWESOME bowlers, including garner, marshall, holding, ambrose, walsh, etc
the current aussie line up probably is the best batting line up since bradmans, but its bowling, although contains McGrath and warne, lacks the awesome depth the windians had at their disposal for nearly two decades.
Fair points but the Australian team with all its changes to personnel has consistently dominated for 14- 18 years and I don't know how many games compared to Bradmans and the Windies I would like to see some comparisons regarding games played rather than years.
dan warna
31 Dec 2004, 20:05
Fair points but the Australian team with all its changes to personnel has consistently dominated for 14- 18 years and I don't know how many games compared to Bradmans and the Windies I would like to see some comparisons regarding games played rather than years.
I think statistically the current aussie team has a higher win rate, and lower loss rate, also holds the record for most consecutive test wins.
that said, in the 1970s/80s the test teams were england, pakistan, india, Windies, Australia, and RSA was just booted, now you have bangladesh, sri lanka, zimbabwe and new zealand (? not sure when NZ got ICC status)
also there are more fairer tests, umpires had a habit of 'hometown decisions'. windian, pakistani, and indian umpires were notoriously hometown, and other nations cast aspertions on some of our umpires, and perhaps there were a few umpires in aus who were not up to scratch.
Fred Yeomans
1 Jan 2005, 01:40
? not sure when NZ got ICC status
1929/30
It was under Border they turned it around, going from laughing stock to consistently good with bat and ball, but I don't think they were ever dominant in that era. Perhaps we tend to remember Ashes series more clearly, and that clouds the judgement a little.
Still, even if it's closer to "just" 10 years, or even 5, it's still a magnificent achievement, especially given the gap between the Australians at present and the rest of the cricketing nations.
Not wanting to sell that achievement short, but I liken it a little to Essendon's 2000 Premiership, in a year where one side was one of the best ever, but the general standard of the remainder was below par. Did the dominant force make the others look worse than they were, or did the inferior competition make the dominant team look better than they really were.
I'm still of the belief that Hawthorn of 1988-89 would have belted Essendon of 2000... similarly the sides captained by Waugh and Ponting would have had their hands full with some of the quality sides of the past.
Magpiespower
1 Jan 2005, 08:06
I consider the Clive Lloyd's Windies and Ian Chappell's Australian teams vastly superior to the current Australian XI.
And as for the greatest sports team of all time, it's impossible to go past the Dream Team, the US basketball team at the '92 Olympics...
Charles Barkley
Larry Bird
Clyde Drexler
Patrick Ewing
Magic Johnson
Michael Jordan
Christian Laettner
Karl Malone
Chris Mullin
Scottie Pippen
David Robinson
John Stockton
It was Isiah Thomas away from absolute perfection.
Spiritof82
1 Jan 2005, 08:52
I consider the Clive Lloyd's Windies and Ian Chappell's Australian teams vastly superior to the current Australian XI.
Agree with you there, the Windies in the 70's/early 80's and the Australian team over the same period were by far another level above the current Australian team (or any team since the end of the Lloyd/Chappell era). During this period all test teams were at their peak and the competition wasn't one sided as it is today. Todays teams and players rack up stats and wins against national sides like Bangladesh which wouldn't have been considered equal to a State side in the 70's/early 80's. :cool:
Agree with you there, the Windies in the 70's/early 80's and the Australian team over the same period were by far another level above the current Australian team (or any team since the end of the Lloyd/Chappell era). During this period all test teams were at their peak and the competition wasn't one sided as it is today.
It's only one sided because Australia is so bloody good.
Todays teams and players rack up stats and wins against national sides like Bangladesh which wouldn't have been considered equal to a State side in the 70's/early 80's. :cool:
No, they were just racking up the big scores against the then minnows of Sri Lanka. In most of cricket's history there have been minnows. And it's not like Australia has been beating up on them to the same extent some other countries have been.
Spiritof82
2 Jan 2005, 14:09
It's only one sided because Australia is so bloody good.
No, they were just racking up the big scores against the then minnows of Sri Lanka. In most of cricket's history there have been minnows. And it's not like Australia has been beating up on them to the same extent some other countries have been.
Sri Lanka didn't start playing test cricket against Australia until the early to mid 80's, well past the Clive Lloyd/Ian Chappel era, Greg Chappell, Lillee and Marsh only played one or two tests against them unlike today where 50% of the players are reacking up stats against these nothing sides. ;)
superstar
2 Jan 2005, 14:16
I would say the current side is the best ever.
Have been utterly dominant for over half a decade now.
I would say the current side is the best ever.
Have been utterly dominant for over half a decade now.
A good side yes, but the domination is more an Indictment on the state of world cricket at the moment, and over the last 10 years.
A good side yes, but the domination is more an Indictment on the state of world cricket at the moment, and over the last 10 years.
But when you say that you take away from the super ability of the guys like Warne, Gilly, Punter, McGrath, Hayden, S Waugh, M Waugh etc etc, I could go on, as is always said you can only beat the team your up against and thats what Australia have done now for a very long time, and I return to my original post which no-one has convincingly countered, is this the best team ever?