159-6. :(
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159-6. :(
246-9
Prior and Panesar to win it
Pakistan win it
England :haha:
Worst number one ranked team of all time
Monty nearly outscored Bell. :lol:
Last 20 Tests: W12 L4 D4
Away record: P11 W5 L4 D2
Last 20 Tests: W12 L7 D1
Away record: W3, L5, D1
Winning at home is not difficult. England have had one (very) impressive series victory - that was winning 3-1 in Australia which nobody really does. They caught them at a fortunate time though when the team was in transition. Since then Australia have won in Sri Lanka - something England haven't done. Australia drew in South Africa and Australia drew in New Zealand. (3 away series against good opposition unbeaten). And obviously now they've crushed India at home. This Australian side is good - if anyone's the best team right now, it's them.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2021719/Is-best-England-team-Sportsmails-panel-experts-join-debate.html
:lol:
Lets wait until they start avoiding defeat away. England have had an easy run of tours. The only other away tour they've won recently was in Bangladesh. Lets see them win in West Indies. Lets see them win in New Zealand. Lets see them draw in Sri Lanka. They won't. India had done all these things and drawn in South Africa - having a good record in all conditions, on all sorts of pitches.
Until any team - Australia, England, South Africa, India, Pakistan, whoever...starts not getting hammered against a good team away from home quite consistently, begin the hype. One good away series isn't enough.
Can't wait for England's Sri Lanka trip. Sri Lanka will be stronger than Pakistan in their real home.
ICC Test Championship
6 February 2012
Team-------------Matches--------Points--------------Rating
England ---------41------------4830--------------118
South Africa---------28------------3277--------------117
India --------------46------------5111---------------111
Australia------------42------------4655---------------111
Pakistan------------35------------3781---------------108
The ranking system is stupid. If England were to play against West Indies and the 3 matches were called off for rain, England would lose a lot of points - which makes no sense. If England beat Australia 4-0 at home, that counts for more than winning 1-0 in India. Silly.
Upcoming tours:
New Zealand v South Africa, Feb - Mar 2012
Sri Lanka v England, Mar - Apr 2012
West Indies v Australia, Mar - Apr 2012
Top 3 are all away. Aussies, on current form, should win in WI. England will almost certainly lose. And SA-NZ will be close.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-surprise.htmlQuote:
SRI LANKA legend Muttiah Muralitharan has told England their ranking as the ICC's number one Test team "means nothing".
And the bowling hero insists they must master subcontinental conditions before they can be compared to the best teams in cricketing history.
England are on the verge of losing their crown in the Test rankings as they head towards a 3-0 series whitewash against Pakistan in Dubai, only a few months after taking on the mantle from India.
But Muralitharan claims he is not surprised by England's struggles on the current tour as the subcontinent has long been their Achilles heel.
He said: "I was not surprised because England always struggle coming to the subcontinent.
"On the subcontinent you have to learn to play spin very well and in that department they are lacking so you can see the results now. Pakistan are dominating with spin."
The only solution, Muralitharan said, is to play more often in the region, and play longer tours with more warm-up matches.
He added: "They are not used to the conditions. The conditions are always very important in cricket.
"They need to play here more often, and get used to the conditions better."
England head to Sri Lanka next, and Muralitharan believes the Pakistan tour could stand them in good stead.
He said: "They might play well in Sri Lanka because they have now played so many matches (in the United Arab Emirates) before coming here, but in the Pakistan series they did not have enough time to play matches."
While much has been made at home of England's No1 status, Muralitharan questioned the value of the ICC rankings, saying the great teams in cricketing history were measured by an ability to dominate for long periods in any conditions.
He said: "England are No1, but they have more to do to become a No1 like Australia were for a period of time.
"They have to be the team to beat.
"A few months ago, the ICC ranking system said India was the No1. Then England, and now it will pass to South Africa.
"It changes every few months, so that means nothing."
I would say that Murali can STFU and that the only reason that chucker had a career was due to a deformity at birth but he's kinda backing my point up, so I won't.
I think you are basically right re. Syn's first post. Too many people went gaga over England basically winning a lot in familiar conditions. The Ashes win was most impressive. To be fair, the manner of victory in most of England's series has been very impressive. Shitting out innings wins regularly. Not much in unfamiliar conditions, though.
I would expect a closer series against Sri Lanka. The batting this tour was embarrassing, but Sri Lanka were Murali + 10 others at home. They definitely don't have a great bowling attack. I dunno, though...maybe even ordinary spinners could trouble them. The fact that that needs to be questioned shows that they have a great deal to prove yet.
Murali should come out of retirement for this one Test series and get 30 odd wickets and the fans get a few more lols at England