India, South Africa & England!

Well the post title might not give you a clear idea as to what does one mean by the title. But, people, please have some patience, for more thrill is yet to come. Hmm..keeping all those guess works apart, the three teams that have been named in the post title are the ones that have defeated the Australian team when it was topping ICC test ratings. This has been from the day India beat Australia in the Border Gavaskar trophy 2008 and it went deeper in my minds when even South Africa beat them (Aussies) in their own backyard. And one more team that beat Australia off late is England way back in 2005, in the Ashes that yer by a margin 2-1. It is only these three teams who have enjoyed the distinction of having beaten Australia between 2003 till date.

My doubt is which one holds a better place in the minds of the cricket fans? For, none of these victories are mean achievements. First, let us take the Ashes victory of England against.....no need to mention. Positives being that England beat the Australian team that was in full swing in 2005. At that time England had even whitewashed other teams like New Zealand(3-0), West Indies (4-0 & 3-0), Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. So, that is enough to show that even England was in full swing as was Australia. And another aspect being that, the then Australian team had Shane Warne in his glorious form. However, Glenn McGrath was fortunately absent for both the matches that England won. And England won both the matches by a whisker. The second match by 2 runs, and the fourth one by 3 wickets (with the target being just 130). And as a matter of fact, Australia won the first match by 239 runs. However, the third and the fifth tests were dominated by England, when they had a first innings lead in both the games.

Next on the list comes team India, who have defeated Australia more than anyone else (between 2003-till date). India have beaten Australia five times as compared to two each by England and South Africa. In 2003, India displayed a team effort, with all the batsmen in Sehwag,Laxman, Sachin,Ganguly and Dravid were equally excellent, and with the spin combo of Anil & Harbhajan to support them. India, in that series, had also almost pulled off a win at Sydney too. However, things were cool for India, for Glenn McGrath never featured in that series. Shane Warne however was of little worry for the Indian batsmen. Then, when India won the fourth test at Nagpur, India had already lost the series in 2004 (when Oz visited India in Oct 2004), and the margin of victory was very small (13 runs). Though India had an upper hand in the second test at Chennai, which was drawn owing to rains on the fifth day, when India needed 239 runs to win with 10 wickets in hand. One thing that is to be thought about is "Would have Australia lost the fourth test, had it lost the second one at Chennai?"The factor is still not clear.

The third one, ie the Perth test victory was somewhat better, for it was in Australia and India were under pressure after the Sydney test episode. Still, that was the beginning of the end of Aussie dominance. Then, in the recent B-G trophy, in addition to Australia's decline and the absence of Glenn McGrath & Shane Warne, India were playing Oz at home, which is an added advantage. With these factors, India should have won the series 4-0. Anyway, good that India never lost a test match. Then comes the third team South Africa, who have beaten the Aussies at their own backyard. But still, this was also against a declining Australian team, with the aforementioned match winners absent, and the remaining batsmen out of form. It is confusing to say. Is it Australia who lost or, was it South Africa who won? For, when Australia were in their winning days, all that South Africa could afford to was to grab a draw in the first test in Nov 2005. Then, SA lost 5 out of 6 tests to Oz. And, now, when things have cooled down, SA are making every opportunity count, to make history.

At the end, keeping the advantages and drawbacks that the teams had,according to me, it is not able to differentiate which team's victory against Australia was the best. Can U???

England's Test Debacle

Well most of the world is now casting its eyes of the decline of the world dominating Australian team. Since the retirement of many greats of the caliber of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and lot others, this has been the case. And more so after Australia failed to continue their winning streak of 16 consecutive wins in tests. And this followed by a 2-0 defeat at the hands of old foes India recently. Adding fuel to the fire would be the loss to South Africa despite posing them with a stiff target of 414 at Perth on Sunday, which they did it with ease. This is needless to be said I suppose.

Anyway, a lot has been spoken about the issue in recent times. However, in addition to Australia who is facing a major set back in tests, there is another test team who was once upon a time one of the opponents who had posed a threat to the then mighty Aussies. This was England, when they regained the Ashes in 2005, after beating the No 1 Australian team 2-1. This was no fluke. Similar to Australia, even England was found to destroy the opposition in test cricket until then. This had also seen England being placed in the No 2 position as per the then ICC test rankings. And most of the cricket stalwarts were of the opinion that England should have been No1.

Until the Ashes victory in 2005, England had beaten all the major test teams in world cricket namely South Africa, Australia, New Zealand & West Indies. Of course Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. The stats of England until then read : 7 wins out of 8 tests against West indies, 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand, 2-1 series win against Australia, 2-1 series win in the 4 match series against South Africa. The only loss being at the hands of Sri Lanka, in late 2003, which saw England draw the first test by batting the fifth day with only one wicket in hand. This was the caliber of the then England test team.

The only team that England hadn't faced during that period was India and Pakistan. Finally a series against Pakistan was on the cards, and the unexpected happened. England lost the 3 match test series 2-0, with the third test by an innings in early 2005. Still, all was not lost for England though. They later beat Pakistan at home, which is famous for the DarrelHair episode and then a series level against India in 2006.England had still made it to the No 2 position, despite leveling the home series against Sri lanka later that year. It all started with the next Ashes, where England were brutally thrashed by Australia 5-0, which started the end of England's dominance. And until today, England have never been able to wake up for that trauma.

India A No 1 Test Team! Really?

Well after the 2-0 series win over Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar trophy its all talks from most of the Indian cricket stalwarts about team India becoming the number 21 team in the ICC test rankings.But,to what extent is this statement really valid? Starting from Kris Shrikanth and up to Amarnath,all have hinted that India would go on from here onwards to become the number 1 test team in the world.Well how foolish a statement would that be? Some thinking by Gavaskar taking reality into consideration and dismissing such claims.No doubt that India has in it the potential to demolish any of the present bowling attacks and bowlers who can become nightmares to most of the batsman.

As Sunil Gavaskar was found saying, India still needs to improve its performance overseas.Like they lost the test series 2-1 to Sri Lanka in August.Even the victories in the recent past were not convincing either.A 1-0 win against Pakistan,a 1-1 against the Proteas, before a 2-1 series loss to Sri Lanka unlike the Australian team that whitewashed alomost each and every team that it came across one-sidedly.The three test series which India won against England last year 1-0 was owing to rains, which played a spoilsport,by drawing the first test at Lord's with England needing just one wicket to win when India were reeling at 282/9 chasing a target of 380,with four hours of day's play still to go.In the past one year or so, India has had as many as three captains for test matches,which is not desired for a team contending for a top spot in the test rankings.

My question is can India whitewash any team be it at home or outside,excluding Bangladesh?Does India have a perfect replacement for top players like V V S Laxman, Sachin and others in case of injury and still be able to outperform the opposition? Does India have the consistency to play such tough cricket similar to the way the world cricket powers like the West Indies of the 70s and the recent Oz team did?Does India have the guts ond courage to stand up against any odds like the way Steve Waugh and Clive lloyd did during their rule?

Well Australia could do all these for all the days they dominated world test cricket.A defeat to Australia was as good as a minnow team like Bangladesh winning a test match against a noted opposition.Their Ashes loss in 2005 raised millions of eye- brows all over the world in frustration.From then onwards,the Australian team maintained their winning streak until the Perth test which they eventually lost by 72 runs.They had were unbeaten 22 consecutive tests which included 16 straight victories.Are you Indian cricket buffs listening?

India has always relied on only a couple of players for a test victory,with the rest of them just filling the vacancies..Needless to say that India cannot even think of such things what-so-ever.A victory in the current series may end up in a crushing defeat in the next tour under schedule.

Only time will tell as to whether India can be in par with top teams like the Windies of the 70s or the Australian team until Ashes 2007.Until then, we have no other choice but to wait and watch team India's performances in test cricket.

England:Gearing up For The Next Ashes?

In the morning when I picked up the newspaper,I just turned to page 21 of the times to read about the second round of ICL.But,I also found something special that bought delight in my eyes.That was England's test win over New Zealand.

The two teams met each other after a span of almost four years,after whitewashing the touring team 3-0 in England.One of the strongest oppositions then,England had white washed New Zealand 3-0 during its last tour down under,but after the Ashes victory, England were totally relieved until they lost 5-0 in the next Ashes to be reminded to the depth they have fallen.Next came the 1-0 series loss to India at home followed by the same result against Sri Lanka.

But after the second test win by England,it looked as though there was some hunger to win more test matches by England,when they beat New Zealand by 126 runs.it was then that I came to know that even England can win test matches outside.Well with the next Ashes due in England,keeping in fact Australia's dismal show in the recent series against India,it looks like England have a better chance now than compared to in 2005 of beating the Aussies provided they keep up the winning momentum as it did in the second test against New Zealand.

Well,a better picture of England would be clear after the third test against the same on March 22nd.