The Best Test Captain currently?

[BeautifulGame]

Captaincy alone doesn't win or lose matches. If the players were unable to play in those conditions (along with some other factors like losing the toss in UAE) then there is nothing the captain can do about it.

Clarke is impatient as a test captain .He goes for flunky field settings if batsmen even dominate for few Overs .Which means he never backs the bowlers . It may work in Australia and SA where Aussie bowlers tend to dominate but in other overseas countries it backfires spectacularly . Australia had one of the worst bowling performance as a collective unit in UAE .His captaincy was one of the key reasons And his shuffling of players.Always changes player batting position which is one of the reasons Aus struggle badly with the bat . And for Lyon he has been horrible.Initially he dropped him regularly denting his confidence .Dropped after one bad test in Chennai dropped for Ashes in favour of Agar etc .Then his field setting often is awful for spinners . Compare that with Maccullum who is much better in all these aspects .

[-Robin-]

Clarke is the best captain right now (not including Graeme Smith of course since he is retired...). McCullum is overly aggressive and while this tactic may work against currently weak teams like England' date=' it won't work against Australia or South Africa.[/quote'] What happened to clarke's tactics against pak in UAE??

[HippoSucks]

What happened to clarke's tactics against pak in UAE??

Captaincy alone doesn't win or lose matches. If the players were unable to play in those conditions (along with some other factors like losing the toss in UAE) then there is nothing the captain can do about it.

If McCullum is the captain of Bangladesh, do you think they will reach the finals of the World Cup? I don't think so.

[sscomp32]

Actually been impressed with every captain bar Cook. Amla is a lot more aggressive than I thought he would be. Clarke is Clarke, Mathews is Mathews, McCullum is a bit iffy. Ramdin is okay, Misbah is smart, Kohli no idea yet. In short lolCook

+1. Same with me. Baz is no 1 because of his aggressive attitude, which may be self destructive and sometimes not needed but at least it makes for interesting cricket. That's why i am confused who to pick second.

[Pagalpanti]

Baz Clarke Mathews top 3 for me..

[HippoSucks]

Clarke is impatient as a test captain .He goes for flunky field settings if batsmen even dominate for few Overs .Which means he never backs the bowlers . It may work in Australia and SA where Aussie bowlers tend to dominate but in other overseas countries it backfires spectacularly . Australia had one of the worst bowling performance as a collective unit in UAE .His captaincy was one of the key reasons And his shuffling of players.Always changes player batting position which is one of the reasons Aus struggle badly with the bat . And for Lyon he has been horrible.Initially he dropped him regularly denting his confidence .Dropped after one bad test in Chennai dropped for Ashes in favour of Agar etc .Then his field setting often is awful for spinners . Compare that with Maccullum who is much better in all these aspects .

Honestly I've found McCullum to be a bit impatient when things aren't going his way. He still stays calm but is tempted to change into more aggressive field settings when a partnership is building, allowing them to get some easy runs. I don't think any batsman in their line up has shuffled positions a lot except Watson, and to his credit Watson has done better down the order than at #3. Selecting players, dropping them, their batting positions etc aren't decisions made only by the captain. The management team and selectors play a large part in those decisions.

[-Robin-]

If McCullum is the captain of Bangladesh' date=' do you think they will reach the finals of the World Cup? I don't think so.[/quote'] Lahori logic. Aus and NZ played Pak in UAE and we all know Pak raped australia. NZ drew series against them with dominating 2 of 3 tests.

[HippoSucks]

Lahori logic. Aus and NZ played Pak in UAE and we all know Pak raped australia. NZ drew series against them with dominating 2 of 3 tests.

So Australia lost due to captaincy alone, rather than other things like loosing the toss, players not performing well etc? And New Zealand won due to captaincy alone, rather then the individual performances of their players?

[-Robin-]

So Australia lost due to captaincy alone' date=' rather than other things like loosing the toss, players not performing well etc? And New Zealand won due to captaincy alone, rather then the individual performances of their players?[/quote'] again lahori logic because in other thread you said Aus is better team than NZ.

[HippoSucks]

again lahori logic because in other thread you said Aus is better team than NZ.

Did I ever say otherwise? New Zealand drawing a series in UAE doesn't automatically make them a better team than Australia just because Australia lost in UAE against the same opposition. Just like how Australia beating South Africa in South Africa doesn't make Australia a better test team than South Africa. 1 test series doesn't decide single-handedly which is the better team (especially if the series isn't against each other i.e. Australia v. New Zealand).

[-Robin-]

Did I ever say otherwise? New Zealand drawing a series in UAE doesn't automatically make them a better team than Australia just because Australia lost in UAE against the same opposition. Just like how Australia beating South Africa in South Africa doesn't make Australia a better test team than South Africa. 1 test series doesn't decide single-handedly which is the better team (especially if the series isn't against each other i.e. Australia v. New Zealand).

Thats prove that Baz is better than clarke because he can win a test match in asian conditions with less better team clarke had.

[HippoSucks]

Thats prove that Baz is better than clarke because he can win a test match in asian conditions with less better team clarke had.

Or New Zealand were the better team in those conditions on that particular day, which seems more likely to me. Because in the way Australia was trashed in UAE, I don't think a worse team than Australia can win due to captaincy alone.

[-Robin-]

Or New Zealand were the better team in those conditions on that particular day' date=' which seems more likely to me. Because in the way Australia was trashed in UAE, I don't think a worse team than Australia can win due to captaincy alone.[/quote'] The fact is that Aus is crap outside SA and Aus. And i dont know on what basis you are saying Clarke is better than Baz, Because his captaincy record is crap outside Aus and SA.

[Pagalpanti]

The fact is that Aus is crap outside SA and Aus. And i dont know on what basis you are saying Clarke is better than Baz' date=' Because his captaincy record is crap outside Aus and SA.[/quote'] When was the last time Aus lost in WI/SL?

[BeautifulGame]

Honestly I've found McCullum to be a bit impatient when things aren't going his way. He still stays calm but is tempted to change into more aggressive field settings when a partnership is building, allowing them to get some easy runs. I don't think any batsman in their line up has shuffled positions a lot except Watson, and to his credit Watson has done better down the order than at #3. Selecting players, dropping them, their batting positions etc aren't decisions made only by the captain. The management team and selectors play a large part in those decisions.

No Maccullum sticks with the attacking field sets and backs the bowler.More if a one trick pony .No one is daft enough to have a fielder right behind the umpire in test cricket apart from Clarke Hughes Marsh Watson from top of my head.Even Chappell said the same as criticism of Clarke few months back He was powerful enough to drop Katich from the squad because he had personnel issues .Main reason behind home work gate .Don't give the bs he didn't have much power in selecting players.He was part of selectors ffs then . Only after Lehman can has his powers been curbed .

[-Robin-]

When was the last time Aus lost in WI/SL?

when was the last time aus won in asia?? And WI is not a top team anymore ypu does not need captain to beat them

[Pagalpanti]

when was the last time aus won in asia?? And WI is not a top team anymore ypu does not need captain to beat them

Where is SL? They've won their last 2 series in SL. India have drawn one and lost the other in SL and we're an Asian side.

[BeautifulGame]

Where is SL? They've won their last 2 series in SL. India have drawn one and lost the other in SL and we're an Asian side.

Aussies got lucky in 2011 in that it was the first series without Murali and Malinga Lanka was regrouping. Even we got lucky with the drawn series as Murali retired midway through . Australia were the first team to lose a test series to Pakistan in 3 years .Even Zimbabwe managed to draw the test series .

[HippoSucks]

The fact is that Aus is crap outside SA and Aus. And i dont know on what basis you are saying Clarke is better than Baz' date=' Because his captaincy record is crap outside Aus and SA.[/quote'] Stop looking at captaincy records. They are not a true representation of how good of a captain someone is. If someone hands me an ATG Australian team, then I will win each match even if I have no knowledge of cricket. Would my captaincy record make me a good captain? And India is terrible outside Asia too. What is your point? The only team that does well outside of their continent is South Africa, and that is because they have a great team. Even if de Villiers captains it they will still be better than other teams.

[HippoSucks]

No Maccullum sticks with the attacking field sets and backs the bowler.More if a one trick pony .No one is daft enough to have a fielder right behind the umpire in test cricket apart from Clarke Hughes Marsh Watson from top of my head.Even Chappell said the same as criticism of Clarke few months back He was powerful enough to drop Katich from the squad because he had personnel issues .Main reason behind home work gate .Don't give the bs he didn't have much power in selecting players.He was part of selectors ffs then . Only after Lehman can has his powers been curbed .

How is that fielding position daft? Australia was getting trashed around and he did whatever he could. Agree that it wasn't really in the spirit of the game but that is besides the point. And we are talking about their team (and captaincy) now (or in recent times). Not what happened years back. Right now, Clarke doesn't single-handedly make decisions of which players to select, what their batting positions should be etc. That's obviously my assumption (a very valid one, I think) and I don't see anything wrong with it until a CA official says otherwise.