Which decades were the most competitive in International cricket?

[fineleg]

Which decades were the most competitive in International cricket? (in terms of quite a few teams being more or less evenly matched leading to tough competition and interesting matches) 1. Competitive decade for Tests 2. Competitve timeframe for ODIs

[fineleg]

I'd say for Tests - this recent decade has been quite good with India, South Africa, Australia and England fighting well. Thats 4 major teams (Sri Lanka mainly at home only). More evenly matched. Big decline from Pak and West Indies, and NZ never that great. When WI (Marshall, Lloyd times) were dominant, it was mostly WI and then gap and Aus and then a big gap, I suppose? And during the Aus (S.Waugh, McGrath, Warne, Ponting) era they were very dominant and big gap after them.

[Sir john]

Test Cricket-70-80

[ravishingravi]

Quality of bowling has gone down drastically in this decade. Just utter trash. Pitches have got flatter with odd exceptions. So, this decade has been a bit of downer.

[maniac]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPDW7hj1yfs]YouTube - World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979[/ame] This was the so called legends' Pace....I guess we over-rate yesteryear bowlers...We have to remember though the batsman have got more protection now... taking all equations into account 1950's might have been more difficult for test cricket with uncovered pitches and stuff 1990's for ODI's ever since greatbatch/Martin crowe revolutionised the 15 over restriction rule

[ravishingravi]

YouTube - World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979 This was the so called legends' Pace....I guess we over-rate yesteryear bowlers...We have to remember though the batsman have got more protection now... taking all equations into account 1950's might have been more difficult for test cricket with uncovered pitches and stuff 1990's for ODI's ever since greatbatch/Martin crowe revolutionised the 15 over restriction rule

The Speed gun was still in the reasearch stage and all bowlers with exception of Thompson were bowling short which brings the pace about 10-15% down.

[panesarv]

If Thompson was measured using today's methods, he was probably like 165 kmh+?

[Sachinism]

1920s An Era of world beaters

[Roshanrocks]

i dont know

[hari504504]

I blv the 90s..modern day greats in their pomp for all test playing nations including the just emerging Srilanka and a dangerous Zimbabwe....Hardly any minnows among the test playing nations, which is so unlike today !

[Nirvanam]

For Tests, I guess it was the 90's. NZ were competitive those days. Eng were not. India were unbeatable at Home and rabbits away. Aus and SA were competitive everywhere. So were the WI till the late 90's. SL rose up during mid-late 90s and won at Home, England. Zimbabwe were also fairly competitive. They won in Pakistan! But on the ODI front, Safers won all the meaningless games and the finals were won Aus/Pak. So it wasn't really competitive in the ODIs. For ODIs it is the 20000's In 2000's we had quite a few teams doing decently in the ODIs in spite of Aussie dominance in the WCs. but in Tests there was just the Border Gavaskar trophy to look forward to till the late 2000's

[Mamu]

As somebody said it is 2000s where cricket is the most competitive. Before that it was all Australia for 15 years -- one way And before that is was all WI -- for 15 - 20 years -- one way. In fact it was sickening to see these two teams win. The uncertaintly factor has only been introduced in the last 2 years, though the gap between the top 5 and bottom 4 is HUGE.

[Nirvanam]

YouTube - World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979 This was the so called legends' Pace....I guess we over-rate yesteryear bowlers...We have to remember though the batsman have got more protection now... taking all equations into account 1950's might have been more difficult for test cricket with uncovered pitches and stuff 1990's for ODI's ever since greatbatch/Martin crowe revolutionised the 15 over restriction rule

As others have pointed out...the speed guns were inaccurate at that time. Moreover they measured the speed at the batsman's end unlike the modern speed guns which measure the speed of the ball at the point of release. The difference is easily 15-20 kmph

[Nirvanam]

If Thompson was measured using today's methods' date=' he was probably like 165 kmh+?[/quote']I think that's just a legend. I doubt if he would've been faster than Shoaib. I am sure he would've been an express paceman like 150+ but 165+ is stretching it a lil too much. Maybe one ball here and there he would've bowled above 160 but I doubt if cricket has ever seen a consistent 100mph bowler. Then again the Aussie commentators go chest beating saying that those days they measured the speed at batsman's end and Thomson was shown to be 160 so his actual speed by today's calculations should be around 180. O yeah! Thanks for coming!

[Nirvanam]

As somebody said it is 2000s where cricket is the most competitive. Before that it was all Australia for 15 years -- one way And before that is was all WI -- for 15 - 20 years -- one way. In fact it was sickening to see these two teams win. The uncertaintly factor has only been introduced in the last 2 years, though the gap between the top 5 and bottom 4 is HUGE.

Actually Mamu, I don't think Aussie dominance and indeed the Windies' dominances was as long as 10-15 yrs. True Windies dominance started in 79 and ended by 86...7 yrs! Similarly true Aussie dominance started from when Jayawant Lele predicted we will go down 0-3 and ended after they beat the Yip yips 5-0. 99/00 - 06/07 - again 7 yrs One thing the Windies did which Australia could not was to stay undefeated at home for 21 years and away for 15 years from 1975 to 1996. Aus lost to India in 01-02, lost to Eng in 05 in their 7 yr dominances stretch. I guess ours will be from 2009 to 2016! :-D

[Jersey #10]

2001 to 2010 has to be the most competitive decade for ODIs. We have India, Australia, SriLanka, England, South Africa, Pakistan going neck and neck while teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are also inclining at their own pace. The only worry is the very big gap between the top six teams and the rest. I can sense Banlga future being very bright with the kind of young and reliable talent they have got right now. This Bangla team can be very vicious in the future with their youngsters gaining experience. Test cricket - BORING!

[ravishingravi]

I think that's just a legend. I doubt if he would've been faster than Shoaib. I am sure he would've been an express paceman like 150+ but 165+ is stretching it a lil too much. Maybe one ball here and there he would've bowled above 160 but I doubt if cricket has ever seen a consistent 100mph bowler. Then again the Aussie commentators go chest beating saying that those days they measured the speed at batsman's end and Thomson was shown to be 160 so his actual speed by today's calculations should be around 180. O yeah! Thanks for coming!

With Thomo and Holding I would believe it because every single cricketer and commentator of the era will attest this. There was point in perth when the keeper was standing few yards from the boundary to Holding. Thomo was recorded at 160.45 in 75 where he had tapered off slightly.

[ravishingravi]

Actually Mamu, I don't think Aussie dominance and indeed the Windies' dominances was as long as 10-15 yrs. True Windies dominance started in 79 and ended by 86...7 yrs! Similarly true Aussie dominance started from when Jayawant Lele predicted we will go down 0-3 and ended after they beat the Yip yips 5-0. 99/00 - 06/07 - again 7 yrs One thing the Windies did which Australia could not was to stay undefeated at home for 21 years and away for 15 years from 1975 to 1996. Aus lost to India in 01-02, lost to Eng in 05 in their 7 yr dominances stretch. I guess ours will be from 2009 to 2016! :-D

Did WI lose any series from 79 to 95 ?

[pensionplan]

ODI's I do not care. It is not the real form of the game. In Tests in the recent history dating back to 1970 and forward the best span IMO is post-packer. From 1978 to 1988 which had some of the real greats in all departments go at it with pitches that aided the bowlers a lot better. Among the ranks Viv, GC, SMG, Gower, Gooch, Border, Vishy, Greenidge, Haynes, Lloyd, Miandad for batsman Marshall, Lillee, Thomson, Imran, Holding, Roberts, Hadlee, Wasim, Garner, Pascoe, Wills for bowlers to name a few to go along with the four great all-rounders Imran, Kapil, Botham and Hadlee all relatively at their best in that span to me was the best competition. I would take that 10 year span than any other 10 year stretch over the last 40 to 50 year span.

[pensionplan]

Test cricket - BORING!

And you go on to give your prognosis for whatever they are worth before and during Tests, participate on the match threads and also open live betting threads during Test matches in order to get hold of fake cash. Nice going.