Can England dislodge Australia?

[Occasional Fan]

My personal view is that it is too early to ask this question, let alone answer it, but we know Ernest thinks otherwise, so I am posting this from tomorrow's edition of The Guardian**.

Originally Posted by Sajid Shaikh

Can England ... dislodge the Aussies? Yes they certainly can. The current England squad are serious contenders for the label of world No1 Test side. They have all the right ingredients that a team needs to ground the Aussies.

Full article here.

** And yes, I have looked all over their website for tomorrow's racing results, but they don't have them.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Compete with them yes, dislodge ? Afraid not. Think of a weak link for Austrailia....I can't.

[Zainub]

If they keep on playing like they should make a very good contest of it...statistically I don't know what the sitution is...does any one know how close England would be points wise to being number 1 if they win this series as well as the won against Bangladesh (in the mean time Aus play just us)...

could be you possible, u know....I remember one occasion were SA were briefly number 1 because Aus couldn't win the last ashes test....it was bloody weird but for the record they were officially the best for that period...I think given England win in SA...and Aus don't whitewash us...perhaps there might be some thing on those lines on the cards...but I have no clue...and I'm very bad at maths anyway, so please some one else go to the the ICC ranking website and check that out if you want to...

[Pete]

I think we need to win this series first and hopefully it'll be fairly easy. This series being easy I mean, not the Aussie one. If we lose or even draw, then I don't doubt that people will be saying it's the same old England again and that we've got no chance.

[Occasional Fan]

I looked at the ICC Table a while ago and I don't think anyone can touch Australia in the sense of removing them from the top for a long while yet. Just glancing at it now, there will still be nine points between Australia and England if Pakistan take the present series 2-1 and England take the present series 5-0. There won't be many points for England to pick up against Bangladesh (maybe none), though I guess the Aussies could lose a few if New Zealand thump them out of sight. In all likelihood, even if England were to whitewash Australia next summer - which I would not bet on (Ern might) - I still think we would probably be behind them in the table. Unless there's a bit of a Pakistani comeback, of course!

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Compete with them yes, dislodge ? Afraid not. Think of a weak link for Austrailia....I can't.

Dislodge in the sense that disloge their position on the top of world cricket

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Last time i saw the ICC rankings in tests the aussies were miles ahead so even if they lose to pakistan and we beat SA 5-0 i dont think that will be enough to dislodge them.

Oh and I've thought of a weakness, their second string bowlers arent great.

[Zainub]

We can keep our fingers crossed OF, cricket is funny game actually, anything can happen.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Oh and I've thought of a weakness, their second string bowlers arent great.

Bit like us then? I remember hearing people say we had good depth, but really we haven't, have we?

I wouldn't be comfortable seeing Jimmy Anderson take on the Aussies, or Saggers. People moan about Giles, yet the back up is even worse No disrespect to Batty, but i'd rather have McGill as a second spinning option. We got some good enough Batsmen coming through, but the bowling isn't all that crash hot.

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Last time i saw the ICC rankings in tests the aussies were miles ahead so even if they lose to pakistan and we beat SA 5-0 i dont think that will be enough to dislodge them.

Oh and I've thought of a weakness, their second string bowlers arent great.

I'm sorry Aus are so ahead, I've just seen the rankings my self, I see that we'll displace you guys from number 2 IF (that's a big IF) if we beat the Aussies 2-1 (I can still dream you know, somehow anyway!) even if you win with 1-0,2-1,3-2 ....

And I've thought of many weaknesses of the Aussies over the last few years to console my self...

Their bowlers have bad hair dos...so it's a hinderence for them when they are fielding....

Their batter are already too good...so they can't improve...

I could go on for ages like that you know....