Is England really the best Test team in the World?

A familiar site of late. Expect to
see more of this in the near future.

No. Of course not. They may be ranked the number one side in the world for the time being but they are not a very good side. Until you beat a good side away from home, you can’t say you are the best. Yes, they beat Australia in the Ashes but Australia put out their worst team in more than two decades. I would bet that the return Ashes in England next year are a lot closer. They just lost 3-0 against Pakistan at a neutral venue. They have yet to travel to India/South Africa, where these are the other two best sides in the world.

I will agree that England is better than India. India is at a crossroads, similar to where Australia were two years ago. They have a lot of aging stars and it is difficult to drop anyone of that stature (Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman). India is a woeful travelling side and seems more intent on T20 cricket than their test team. I still do not think that England would win a test series in India but if they played on neutral ground, I think England would have the better chance of winning.

It is impossible to say that England is better than South Africa though. South Africa have a much superior batting line-up to that of England, their captain is not named Andrew Strauss (why he is still the Test captain only Andy Flower knows), and their bowling is just as good as the England team. When they tour England later this year, I think they will at least draw the series. They bat really well in all conditions, their ground fielding is fantastic, and they are a very competitive team.

The South African team celebrating. A preview of the
2012 English summer perhaps.

I would like to see the current England team take a tour of New Zealand. I would be surprised if they would win that series. I think their batsmen would struggle mightily and the pitches in NZ would nullify the threat of Graeme Swann. If England are really the best team in the world, they must travel overseas to these difficult places (not West Indies/Sri Lanka/UAE), and beat teams in their own backyard.

I think in two years’ time that England will be lucky to be in the top three teams in the world. Expect mediocrity to hit the England test team...again.

IPL...Exciting but becoming old?

I want to touch on the IPL today. Now first of all, i'm not talking about twenty twenty cricket, but the IPL in particular. I wonder if this annual tournament is going to become a detriment to the game of cricket and T2o's. At the minute, this tournament is fantastic - crowds of 50,000 regularly, a carnival atmosphere, the world's greatest cricketers split up into 8 teams. An auction to buy the greatest players? What excitement right? Well yes, at this point in time. Tell me, when Adam Gilchrist retires, when Sachin Tendulkar decides he has enough money, when Shane Bond's back gives in, when Kevin Pieterson decides to concentrate on test cricket, when Chris Gayle decides to spend more time with his family, when Shane Warne decides to take up his own bookies..the point i'm getting at is, are we all loving this tournament because of the games and teams or because of the old generation of great players who are coming to an end - basically an excuse to watch these greats play?

In my opinion the world's greatest cricket tournament is still the 50 over world cup, it's history, the ebbs and flows, and the excitement of a full day of cricket for the spectators. When you go to a game of cricket, you want to be able to have time to go to the toilet, read the sports pages in the newspaper, read the daily program before the batting team is 3-50, converse with your fellow fans, and of course, have a few beers. A game of cricket is one to be enjoyed, a relaxing day out. Sorry i'm getting away from the point here!

The IPL is a great competition, and hugely succesful at the moment. But in five years time when the golden generation of cricketers have all retired and all we have is young players no one has heard of; and players trying to make extra cash because they aren't good enough to play for their countries.

I think the day will come where this tournament will have to change, where it will not have the players to support the money being put into it. Unless of course, the next generation of cricketers is as good as the last?