Which 2 teams were closest together in a single era contesting for test supremacy?

[MechEng]

Till 2000's, South Africa vs Australia was the most competitive cricket I've ever come across.

[Harsh Thakor]

7 hours ago, First class said:

Pakistan-WI in 1977-79 was the closest top two teams in that era or since. Pakistan had world class batsmen who after playing years of county cricket and used to play best bowlers from around the world there had not much difficulty in facing West Indies's all time great bowling attack. Those were the peak days of Majid khan, one of the best ever batsman against fast bowling. Pakistan bowling  ( Imran, Sarfraz, Asif Masood, Intikhab, Mushtaq ) was also very good but not as good as was 1986-88 ( Imran, Wasim, Qadir, Iqbal qasim ) . West Indies had great batting and bowling both in 1977 and 1988, but they had better bowlers in 1986-88, with Marshal and Ambrose. 

Brilliant.You have spoken my heart.Here I am mercilessly run down.Any view on my selection?Appreciate.

 

I still think Pakistan was arguably even better in 1998 than West Indies with the likes of Wasim and Qadir in the bowling attack and Imran as a leader?Bad umpiring cost them the series.Thus closer in 1988? Pakistan closer to West Indies in 1988 if not better than 1977.Morally Pak drew in 1977 but won in 1988.

 

What about South Africa -Australia rivalry?

 

 

Please comment on my rankings.Appreciate your analysis very much.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Harsh Thakor

[Norman]

1 hour ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Bad umpiring cost them the series

 

Shakoor Rana and gang say hi. 

[raki05]

2 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Brilliant.You have spoken my heart

Alter ego.

[Vilander]

10 hours ago, First class said:

You guys need to grow up if like discuss something serious, same BS again an gain. 

Same feeling towards the thread. Lol 

[coffee_rules]

On 2/26/2021 at 10:42 PM, Harsh Thakor said:

Morally Pakistan was no 1  in 1988.

 

Cricket mein morality kab se shuru hogya? There are rankings and performances. 

[coffee_rules]

West Indies - Aus 1980-81 is the top class cricket series of the top 2. I never included Pak in top 2 ever. Historical ICC ranking before the rankings were introduced:

Pakistan has been on top for a grand total of 2 months throughout Test Cricket History. till 2003 and 2 more since then So much for their hype of dominance:

 

(From Wiiki) The teams that have successively held the highest rating from January 1952 until May 2003, by whole month periods are:

Team	Start	End	Total Months	Cumulative Months
Australia	January 1952	May 1955	41	41
England	June 1955	February 1958	33	33
Australia	March 1958	July 1958	5	46
England	August 1958	December 1958	5	38
Australia	January 1959	December 1963	60	106
West Indies	January 1964	December 1968	60	60
South Africa	January 1969	December 1969	12	12
England	January 1970	January 1973	37	75
Australia	February 1973	March 1973	2	108
India	April 1973	June 1974	15	15
Australia	July 1974	January 1978	43	151
West Indies	February 1978	January 1979	12	72
England	February 1979	August 1980	19	94
India	September 1980	February 1981	6	21
West Indies	March 1981	July 1988	89	161
Pakistan	August 1988	September 1988	2	2
West Indies	October 1988	January 1991	28	189
Australia	February 1991	April 1991	3	154
West Indies	May 1991	July 1992	15	204
Australia	August 1992	January 1993	6	160
West Indies	February 1993	August 1995	31	235
India	September 1995	November 1995	3	24
Australia	December 1995	July 1999	44	204
South Africa	August 1999	December 1999	5	17
Australia	January 2000	February 2000	2	206
South Africa	March 2000	March 2000	1	18
Australia	April 2000	July 2001	16	222
South Africa	August 2001	August 2001	1	19
Australia	September 2001	May 2003	21	243
Reference: ICC Historical Rankings

Edited March 1, 2021 by coffee_rules

[coffee_rules]

The summary of teams that have held the highest rating from 1952 to the present by whole month periods are:

Team	Total Months	Highest Rating
Australia	334	143
West Indies	235	135
England	106	125
India	90	130
South Africa	61	135
Pakistan	4	111
Reference: ICC Historical Rankings

[sage]

Didn't realise India had #1 in 1973

Edited March 1, 2021 by sage

[First class]

10 hours ago, sarchasm said:

Yaar tu toh gurunath ki tarah late bloomer nikla

[First class]

15 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Brilliant.You have spoken my heart.Here I am mercilessly run down.Any view on my selection?Appreciate.

 

I still think Pakistan was arguably even better in 1998 than West Indies with the likes of Wasim and Qadir in the bowling attack and Imran as a leader?Bad umpiring cost them the series.Thus closer in 1988? Pakistan closer to West Indies in 1988 if not better than 1977.Morally Pak drew in 1977 but won in 1988.

 

What about South Africa -Australia rivalry?

 

 

Please comment on my rankings.Appreciate your analysis very much.

Australia-South Africa has great history of severe rivalry but sadly ( in cricketing sense ) the golden era of South Africa cricket when they had the best team in the world was cut short in 1970 after they beat Australia 4-0. At that time they were beating Australia with big margins , even though Australia had quite a good side, led by Bobby Simpson.  Then again they had great rivalry from around 2008 until 3-4 years ago when SA  had some ATG crickets in their team, particularly SA had  players like, Kallis, Amla, Pallcok, di Villeir , Boucher Smith and Styne . 

[kirkutfan]

Pakistan A and Pakistan B 1947 to present

[kirkutfan]

8 hours ago, sage said:

Didn't realise India had #1 in 1973

3 series wins. England and West Indies on their turf 1971 and then England in India 72-73. 

[raki05]

12 hours ago, coffee_rules said:

The summary of teams that have held the highest rating from 1952 to the present by whole month periods are:

Team	Total Months	Highest Rating
Australia	334	143
West Indies	235	135
England	106	125
India	90	130
South Africa	61	135
Pakistan	4	111
Reference: ICC Historical Rankings

Lol paxtani just 4 months..