I actually think that turn of the century era was a pretty good one, WI were still a better outfit than now albeit on the slope, India put on two mighty series at home against Australia and on the back of Dravid were starting to win away, Sri Lanka were just approaching a stage where they were a real force at home, Pakistan were good, SA were good albeit the Cronje affair was about to descend, and the Kiwis were reasonable. England were a joke but that’s always good for cricketAnd lets to be real when people say they want close contests they mean close contests at home where we always prevail, people here were slitting their wrists when india beat us at home but overall it was actually a tight series.
I say this every time and never get clear answers when people talk about these "best era's" the more competitive times for test cricket what time do they actually mean? and what games in what countries? the era when we didnt lose at home for 16 years? the era when west indies didnt lose a single test series home or away for 15 years? how was that good for cricket but us winning a home is bad for the game now?