The English "Raj" atop the Test rankings may end up being unsurprisingly short. Many had questioned the self congratulatory and over the top reaction to England achieving the No. 1 ranking after defeating a disinterested and injury devastated Indian team at home last summer.
With four straight losses in Tests right after scaling the summit, the euphoria of reaching the No. 1 ranking is well and truly gone. Once again England's batsmen succumbed to spin on a turning, but by no means trecherous, track. And despite having the self-described best spinnner in the world they have come up short in spin friendly conditions.
English hopes now rest on trying to win the next Test to level the series. But history shows that Sri Lanka are very, very hard to beat at home, especially after they have taken a lead in the series. If England do not win the next match they can however, hope to reclaim their No. 1 ranking if they can sweep the lowly West Indies at home in May and June later this year.
However right after that series England play South Africa at home, and with Steyn, Philander, Morkel and Kallis looming in the picture, hopes of this second "Raj" if indeed England do sweep West Indies, not a given, by any stretch of the immagination, being even half as long as the first seem remote.
In light of how difficult England are finding holding on to their No. 1 ranking, India's nearly two year reign at the top of the World in Test cricket is something that should be acknowledged and celebrated more than the skeptics would like.
English "Raj" Almost Over
Posted by: Indian Cricket Fever (IP Logged)
Date: 30/03/2012 21:47
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:04:08:14:54:11 by Birbal.
Where are the Ian Chappell's and others questioning whether the England side was EVER really the world No. 1?...Oh, wait, they beat Aus IN Aus...so of course they are No. 1...silly me...
Yep, England will need to win the 2nd Test to retain the No.1 ranking. If they fail to do so, it will be an embarassingly short "reign" for a team at the top...of just 2 Test series and a few months Will also be fun to see what the deluded former England players like Botham, and journalists like Ted Corbett, Agnew, etc (who overhyped their team and predicted a long stay at the top, etc) have to say when that happens.
Or will England win and retain their hard fought No.1 status for some more time? Should be an interesting match.
India - World Cup winners 2011!!!
Champions Trophy winners 2013!!!
Congrats to Indian team and all Indian fans!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:04:02:18:43:03 by Max.
....Eng was always pretenders....India was the only legit #1 Rank holder after Oz...now that the IPL Nautanki has taken hold over Team India, Test Criket is in the Kachra Dabba....
India were undefeated for more than 1.5 years after becoming No.1. This includes overseas tours to SA, SL and WI. England have already been whitewashed in their first series as No.1, and could well lose their 2nd series also.
If so, Eng will rightly lose top spot and it would shut up the ignorant critics who questioned the credibility of India's stay at the top.
India - World Cup winners 2011!!!
Champions Trophy winners 2013!!!
Congrats to Indian team and all Indian fans!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:04:03:11:35:10 by Max.
Looks like England did better than India, by winning at least one away test, in what has been almost as bad a winter as India's summer. It took the genius of Kevin Pieterson to get them out of this rut. Now, all England needs to do is go back to home conditions and win a few tests and they would have bettered India's reign at #1. But again, that is akin to setting the bar really really low, if not taking the bar completely out of play. England need to do much better than this.
Not rain, but RSA's incredible stupidness in batting into the fifth day with a substantial lead already in the bag. This was even worse than India not chasing down a total in the WI. You are not worthy of #1 if you consistently keep chickening out.
NZ are ranked below even WI. No idea why they should be counted. The RSA victory, I forgot about that one. So, this means they are pretty much even now - England and India. India had two tough tours and shat up the joint. And so has England now. The good thing for England is, they have come out of this messy winter with #1 ranking still intact. Now, they can go defend it at home. I still reckon Australia have the best chances to become an "undisputed" #1, more chances than even RSA.
Sigh. "In time", "undisputed" etc. There really is no undisputed #1 in the world right now. England, India and RSA all doing well at the same time. When it comes to a time when we all can call a team an "undisputed" #1 in the world, I reckon it will be Australia. In time.
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Will also be fun to see what the deluded former England players like Botham, and journalists like Ted Corbett, Agnew, etc (who overhyped their team and predicted a long stay at the top, etc) have to say when that happens.