The best teams ever, take two

In our last post, we looked at the teams with the highest ratings of all time; but we also noted these ratings don’t exactly correspond with our subjective identification of the best teams.  This isn’t necessarily a failing of the ratings: we may simply define a good team as one that is good for a long time, rather than one that has briefly hit a very high peak.  So here is a list of the ten teams to have been top of the ratings for longest:

18 Aug 1934  28 Jan 1955  Australia     5 Dec 1952  218

21 Mar 1885  29 Jan 1898  England      11 Aug 1890  144

26 Dec 1999  24 Nov 2009  Australia     2 Jan 2008  283

23 Feb 1912  31 Dec 1920  England       1 Jan 1914  104

14 Sep 1983  26 Dec 1991  West Indies  11 Apr 1986  198

31 Dec 1920  14 Dec 1928  Australia    16 Jan 1925  136

 6 Mar 1906  23 Feb 1912  Australia    15 Dec 1911  100

30 Dec 1972  11 Aug 1977  Australia     1 Jan 1977  128

22 Aug 1963  14 Mar 1968  West Indies  14 Apr 1965  138

29 Jan 1898  13 Dec 1901  Australia    15 Jun 1899   93

So, the Bradman-era Australians lead this list, which is partly due to the fact that we’ve made no allowances in the system for the gap in test cricket during world war two.  England, on top before world war one, likewise carried their leadership through the world without having to do anything, though unlike the Australians thirty years later, they soon lost that position thereafter (a 5-0 away defeat to Australia in 1920 setting up 8 years of Australian dominance during a period when cricket was actually being played).   We can also see some other interesting stories. Australia won the first ever test match played in 1878, and in 1882, an Australian win in England let to the immortal line, that English cricket had died, and that “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". But England led the ratings, over Australia and (from 1888 onwards) South Africa as well, for almost 13 years starting in 1885.

The longest purely post-war reign is, unsurprisingly, that of our highest rated team, the Australians in the early 21^st century (although their period on top actually started a few days ahead of the millennium).  Australia also had a strong side in the 1970s until the Packer affair tore them apart.  I know less of the late Victorian and Edwardian Australian sides that also rate highly. The only side other than Australia and England to make the top ten is the West Indies. Gary Sobers’ team was in fact the first side other than Australia and England to top the ratings, and enjoyed 4 ½ years on top.  In the 1980s (and early 1990s) under Viv Richards’ captaincy, the team had an even longer run.

We can note that some of these teams never attained as especially high rating, in spite of a long period on top; of course, when less test cricket was played and there were fewer teams competing it was easier for a team to stay in first place without attaining extraordinary heights.  Also note that since the Australians lost their dominance in 2009, no other team has enjoyed a long run as number one, even though four of the highest ever ratings have been achieved in this time. Indeed, there are only nine periods in which a single team has led the way for over 4 years.

We’ll look at one other way of orderings the team in the next post, before we move on from history and take a look at the current rankings.