A lot of cricket has
been played in the past few weeks, beginning with a momentous game. Bangladesh had never previously won a test
against opponents more illustrious than the West Indies or Zimbabwe; but on a
turning wicket, they only just fell short of England in the first test of the
two nation’s two-match series. Another
turner for the second test, and again England, so effective recently on seaming
pitches, looked out of their depth as bowlers and players of spin. This time, Bangladesh were not to be denied;
and the team secured a famous win.
Logically, Bangladesh should become a place where cricket can flourish,
with a large, and interested, population. This win may perhaps be remembered as
an important step on that journey.
England then had to travel
to top-ranked India, for an even more demanding challenge. But they secured the better of a draw in the
first test, with big runs for five of their top six batsmen (who had
collectively looked out-of-sorts even in the summer in England, and even more
so in Bangldesh). But, admittedly after
losing a crucial toss, the home side crushed their visitors in the second game
of what will be a five game series.
England may win a game along the way, but, unlike the side that toured
India in 2011, this doesn’t look to be a team that can come home with a series
win (or even a draw). India’s status as
world number ones looks secure for a while.
Sri Lanka recently
provided a shock to the system by delivering a 3-0 walloping to their visitors
Australia, who had arrived on tour with the number one rating that now belongs
to India; they’ve followed this up with a pair of unsurprising victories over
Zimbabwe. Very briefly, in between, Pakistan grabbed the number one spot (there
are a lot of teams quite close in terms of ability at the moment). But after beating the West Indies in the
first two matches that the two teams had played, they lost the final game, and
have now made a losing start to their tour of New Zealand. So one-by-one,
India’s rivals for the top spot appear to be falling away.
Even more strikingly,
Australia have started their home series against South Africa with two more crushing
defeats, meaning that the team have now been thrashed five matches in
succession. In 1984 the team lost six
straight games to the then-mighty West Indies; this time, it’s harder to see an
excuse. Since early last year, a lot of
fine players have retired from the Australian team: batsmen Michael Clarke and
Chris Rogers, wicket keeper Brad Haddin, all-rounder Shane Watson plus the
team’s erratic talisman, pace-man Mitchell Johnson; but new captain Steve Smith
took over from Clarke and looked ruthless in defeating New Zealand and the West
Indies. Suddenly, however, the team
looks very fragile. Of course, we’re
talking about an awful couple of months, and perhaps Australia will put this
run behind them and it will be remembered primarily as a statistical
curiosity. But it’s potentially very bad
for morale, and the fear will be that the conveyor of talent, which has run
full for Australia for 25 years, might finally be empty. As an Englishman,
however, I’m not making that call yet.
So my method for rating the teams currently assesses them in this order:
India 152 +8
South Africa 122 +32
Australia 61 -32
Pakistan 60 -59
Sri Lanka 57 +5
England 56 -38
New Zealand 22 +22
West Indies -58 +37
Bangladesh -148 +29
Zimbabwe -325 -5
And Bangldesh's first win over a top seven country takes them to their highest ever score. On the other hand, Zimbabwe's -325 is a record low for any side ever. The ICC method, which only counts series upon their conclusion, currently rates the sides as follows:
India 115
Pakistan 109 -2
Australia 108
England 105 -3
South Africa 96
Sri Lanka 96 +1
New Zealand 91
West Indies 69 +2
Bangladesh 65 +8
Zimbabwe 5 -3
The normal caveat, that the numbers are not directly comparable, still applies
