Which decades were the most competitive in International cricket?

[saneindian]

Not a specific decade but 1995-2005. Batsmen- Sachin, Lara, Steve Waugh, Dravid, Ponting, Kallis, Inzi, Hayden, Langer, Bowlers:- Mcgrath, Donald, Pollock, Walsh, Ambrose, Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, Lee, Warne, Kumble, Murli Nearly all these players were at their peak sometime during this period.

[jeetu]

71-75 was perhaps the most balanced. All teams were on par. But WI stream rolled all teams from 76-80.

[Nirvanam]

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.

Like I said, Thommo was definitely an express. An express pacer is 150+. Clocking one ball at 160.45 is no where near clocking 165+ consistently. And Holding was fast but definitely not an express bowler. The express bowlers, that too for brief periods, of WI (150+) were Marshall, Roberts and much earlier there was Hall and another guy who was banned in the 50s...keep forgetting his name - Roy Gilchrist or something like that. Marshall settled into a 140-150 bowler in the early 80s and Roberts became more like Zak...use pace as a surprise weapon. Holding was a 140-150 bowler for a yr or two but generally was 135-145 Bowling above 100 mph consistently is something we've never seen in cricket. People have bowled maybe 10 balls in their entire careers over 100 mph...160+ and the fastest recorded is Akthar 161.x. This thing about Thommo bowling 170-180 is just legend. At the scene of the crime Thommo would have bowled at 160...the guy who sees that goes and tells another guy adding 'and Thommo was not even fit'. the second fellow tells the third fellow, 'he actually bowled at 165 if he was fit'. Third fellow tells fourth fellow, 'the speed gun was not accurate otherwise it would've shown him bowling at 170'. Fourth fellow tells fifth.....

[Nirvanam]

Did WI lose any series from 79 to 95 ?

As far as I can remember between 1975 and 1996 WI did not lose a single series at Home, and between 1981 and 1996 they never lost a series Away

[Nirvanam]

ODI's I do not care. It is not the real form of the game.

Oh yeah, great! I thought the new bad boy was T20?

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' date=' 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.[/quote']As far as competitiveness is concerned 78-88 was possibly the least competitive since 1960s. WI steamrolled everyone. Aus was useless after 83. India was useless Away...we couldn't beat Aus in 78! England was decent. Pak was cool! NZ was competitive. Between 90 and 99 there was no clear best team. SA, Aus, Pak, all shared the top 3 spots like musical chairs. WI was declining but still was difficult to beat by everyone except Aus and SA. England were pathetic. SL became competitive. NZ was very competitive. India was sheer magic at Home and sheer misery Away. So, in terms of competitiveness, 90s was the best decade. Even the DecadeGs that operated in the 90s were amazing. You had Buddha, Lara, Inzi, S Waugh, M Waugh, Aravinda, Sanath, Anwar, Kirsten, Kumble, Murali, Warne, Cairns, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, DeVilliers, Gough, Srinath, Wasim, Waqar, Mushy, Saqi, Boon, McDermott, Azza, Gillespie, Thorpe, Flower, Streak, Moin, Latif, Mongia, Healy, Russell, Dave Richardson, Richie Richardson, Bishop, Walsh, Ambrose, etc

[Nirvanam]

71-75 was perhaps the most balanced. All teams were on par. But WI stream rolled all teams from 76-80.

Nah! WI dominance started only in 79/80

[Sachin=GOD]

Oh yeah, great! I thought the new bad boy was T20? As far as competitiveness is concerned 78-88 was possibly the least competitive since 1960s. WI steamrolled everyone. Aus was useless after 83. India was useless Away...we couldn't beat Aus in 78! England was decent. Pak was cool! NZ was competitive. Between 90 and 99 there was no clear best team. SA, Aus, Pak, all shared the top 3 spots like musical chairs. WI was declining but still was difficult to beat by everyone except Aus and SA. England were pathetic. SL became competitive. NZ was very competitive. India was sheer magic at Home and sheer misery Away. So, in terms of competitiveness, 90s was the best decade. Even the DecadeGs that operated in the 90s were amazing. You had Buddha, Lara, Inzi, S Waugh, M Waugh, Aravinda, Sanath, Anwar, Kirsten, Kumble, Murali, Warne, Cairns, McGrath, Donald, Pollock, DeVilliers, Gough, Srinath, Wasim, Waqar, Mushy, Saqi, Boon, McDermott, Azza, Gillespie, Thorpe, Flower, Streak, Moin, Latif, Mongia, Healy, Russell, Dave Richardson, Richie Richardson, Bishop, Walsh, Ambrose, etc

and SRT :--D

[Temujin Khaghan]

90s had the best allround teams... best quality of cricket... best match watching experience... mandira bedi wasnt there to embarass us back then... commentary was very decent and it was heaven.everything was perfect... they never overdid it. there were pitches which had something for everyone. there were fast bowlers and two of the greatest spinners and odi batsmen ever... negatives were that ashes were onesided and match fixing was rampant. 70s had the best collection of cricketing superstars ever... EVER!!! so if you pit world's best 70s vs worlds best 90s players... 70s players will win but if ask me which was the golden era of cricket watching experience - 90s thank you very much ------------

[Nirvanam]

and SRT :--D

First name was SRT...Buddha!

[pensionplan]

Oh yeah, great! I thought the new bad boy was T20? As far as competitiveness is concerned 78-88 was possibly the least competitive since 1960s. WI steamrolled everyone. Aus was useless after 83. India was useless Away...we couldn't beat Aus in 78! England was decent. Pak was cool! NZ was competitive.

India was useless away? We won a Test series in England in 1986 after a long gap and we never won a meaningful away series after that again till well into the 2000's when guys like RD and VVS came along. Plus we won the cricket WC in 1983 that was away too. The 1985 B & H mini WC cup win the Test series in 1986 in Australia where India were robbed of a Test series win by some rain at Melbourne and by some really blatant umpiring mistakes at Sydney stole the series away from us. Also in my recollection in the 79-88 time frame despite WI's being a class apart rest of the teams be it England, Australia, India, Pakistan and NZ were all very good and that created a lot of exciting Test match cricket with great players all around that had some very good bowling sides. So there was no shortage of competitive cricket in that time frame IMO. It all depends on how one looks at a particular period and add up things.

[Nirvanam]

90s had the best allround teams... best quality of cricket... best match watching experience... mandira bedi wasnt there to embarass us back then... commentary was very decent and it was heaven.everything was perfect... they never overdid it. there were pitches which had something for everyone. there were fast bowlers and two of the greatest spinners and odi batsmen ever... negatives were that ashes were onesided and match fixing was rampant. 70s had the best collection of cricketing superstars ever... EVER!!! so if you pit world's best 70s vs worlds best 90s players... 70s players will win but if ask me which was the golden era of cricket watching experience - 90s thank you very much ------------

Nah I don't think 70s team would beat 90s team. Alright you bring your 70s team and I'll bring my 90s team....lol My team - G,Kirsten S.Anwar B.Lara Buddha S.Waugh C.Cairns I.Healy W.Akram S.Warne C.Ambrose A.Donald Hell I had to leave out Murali, Kumble, Waqar, McGrath, Walsh :omg: Edit - You choose the pitch or wait let's play a 5 Test series. first Test - Melbourne, second Test - Chennai, third Test - Lord's, fourth Test - Jamaica, fifth Test - Jo'burg. You think you can beat us? guys who is own 70s side and who is on 90s side?

[Sachin=GOD]

First name was SRT...Buddha!

:icflove:

[Nirvanam]

India was useless away? We won a Test series in England in 1986 after a long gap and we never won a meaningful away series after that again till well into the 2000's when guys like RD and VVS came along. Plus we won the cricket WC in 1983 that was away too. The 1985 B & H mini WC cup win the Test series in 1986 in Australia where India were robbed of a Test series win by some rain at Melbourne and by some really blatant umpiring mistakes at Sydney stole the series away from us. Also in my recollection in the 79-88 time frame despite WI's being a class apart rest of the teams be it England' date=' Australia, India, Pakistan and NZ were all very good and that created a lot of exciting Test match cricket with great players all around that had some very good bowling sides. So there was no shortage of competitive cricket in that time frame IMO. It all depends on how one looks at a particular period and add up things.[/quote']Maybe I am biased coz I haven't seen lot of Test cricket in the early 80s...started watching only from 85 so before that what happened was only thru reading. But thr out the 80s the WI were super and it did not make for much competitive or high quality cricket. Well ya it was competitive...more like Ban v/s Zim type competitive. I mean come on an Indian team could challenge Aus in Aus. We lost to SL in SL. England couldn't beat us at home. We lost Tests to England at home. Ind-Pak was the worst Test cricket ever played in the history of Test cricket...bloody ultra-mega-super-duper defensive cricket it was. Among all this crap when WI would enter, people just gave them their chopped off necks on an altar.

[The Outsider]

70s : Gavaskar Barry Richards Viv Richards Chappell Pollock Sobers Botham Alan Knott Holding Lillee Chandra Above team would easily beat the 90s team.

[Nirvanam]

70s : Gavaskar Barry Richards Viv Richards Chappell Pollock Sobers Botham Alan Knott Holding Lillee Chandra Above team would easily beat the 90s team.

Barry Richards? What do you know about his Test qualifications? Graeme Pollock I can understand but still in the 70s he didnt play Test cricket so disqualified. There are equally high scoring, amazing players in Sheffield Shield and Ranji Trophy example Ajay Sharma, Stuart Law, Graeme Hick...being great in county cricket is no guarantee to be a great Test player. PR/Propaganda aside. Sobers hardly played in the 70s..its a risk you are taking. Botham was still not great in the 70s...Imran would have been a better bet for the AR spot. Kanhai/Lloyd/Vihsy in place of Pollock sounds better. Boycott in place of Barry Richards...Barry Richards, seriously? he played 4 Tests. Don't go by domestic cricket standards. Still that team can't beat 90s

[Temujin Khaghan]

Nah I don't think 70s team would beat 90s team. Alright you bring your 70s team and I'll bring my 90s team....lol My team - G,Kirsten S.Anwar B.Lara Buddha S.Waugh C.Cairns I.Healy W.Akram S.Warne C.Ambrose A.Donald Hell I had to leave out Murali, Kumble, Waqar, McGrath, Walsh :omg: Edit - You choose the pitch or wait let's play a 5 Test series. first Test - Melbourne, second Test - Chennai, third Test - Lord's, fourth Test - Jamaica, fifth Test - Jo'burg. You think you can beat us? guys who is own 70s side and who is on 90s side?

Gavaskar greendge Richards greg chappell Sobers Miandad Imran Hadlee rod marsh - wk lillee chandrashekar dude my team is so loaded that i dont have place for ian botham, thompson, willis, kapil, prasanna, bedi, abbas, border, haynes, lillee, holding, marshall and many more champions. i havent even put proper effort in framing the balance. this was a 5 second effort seriously 70s was the age of champions! i will consider it a waste of my time... if your reply is nonsense... so if you dont have anything useful to say... thankyou :)

[Nirvanam]

dude my team is so loaded that i dont have place for ian botham' date=' thompson, willis, kapil, prasanna, bedi, abbas, border, haynes, lillee and many more champions.[/quote']apart from pras, bedi, lillee the others were no great shakes in the 70s. Botham, Kapil, Border, Haynes made their debuts only after 78. Willis was decent, Thommo had 3 great years in the mid 70s. The ones I left out...each one of them had at least half a decade of brilliance!

i havent even put proper effort in framing the balance. this was a 5 second effort

so was mine

seriously 70s was the age of champions!

I think both decades were good but the absolute peaks of all these players coming together was more in 90s

[Temujin Khaghan]

70s was equivalent to the age of heroes like hercules, jason, theseus, bellerophon, perseus, achilles who did extraordinary feats and there was a lot of magic attached to them always. 90s is more like the clash of the big armies like at the battles of Thermopyle (leonidas of sparta vs xerxes), Issus (alexander vs darius), Acticum (octavian vs mark antony), Punic wars (hannibal vs rome), Asculum (pyrrhus of epirus vs rome)... less magic... more destruction... more team efforts. 70s was more about the champions... 90s was more about the confrontations i dont argue anymore at icf... those days are over. i just lurk around b/w breaks when i work. i just typed this for fun.

[Temujin Khaghan]

in some ways Sachin is the last of those legendary heroes... sad but true. his species have retired... warney, lara, murali, mcgrath... and there are phoneys like ponting...

[Sachin=GOD]

in some ways Sachin is the last of those legendary heroes... sad but true. his species have retired... warney, lara, murali, mcgrath... and there are phoneys like ponting...

very true. Nowadays we have more of these "15 minutes of fame" types of "heroes".