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Top 5 Greatest Cricket Teams Ever To Be Assembled

Aug 11, 2022 | Analysis, Article Index, Miscellaneous

West Indies from the 1980s and Australia from the early 2000s have usually held the tag of the greatest cricket teams to ever to be assembled, but do they have a new challenger now?

With the Australia women team winning the 2022 Commonwealth Gold medal, the debate is on—is this Australian women team among the greatest cricketing sides ever?

List of Greatest Cricket Teams

We will consider the modern-day cricket i.e. only the eras after the 1970s (there were great dominant Australian teams in the 1940s and earlier as well).

West Indies (1970-95)

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Claim to Fame

Winners of the 1975 ODI World Cup, 1979 ODI World Cup, and Runner Up in the 1983 ODI WC (regarded as a massive upset), Clive Lloyd’s men etched their name into glory. They were world beaters in Test match cricket as well with towering fast bowlers even till the mid-1990s.

Record

Most Consecutive Test Series without defeat (29), from 1980-1995

Key Players

Clive Lloyd (C), Garfield Sobers, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Sir Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Lance Gibbs, Colin Croft, Deryck Murray, Lawrence Rowe, Alvin Kallicharan, Roy Fredericks, Rohan Kanhai, Larry Gomes

Also Read: Top 21 West Indian Fast Bowlers List (The Complete Guide) | Greatest West Indies Fast Bowlers of All Time (Updated 2024), Top 50 Greatest West Indies Cricketers of All Time: The Complete List (2023)

Australia Women (2018-2022)

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Claim to Fame

2020 T20 World Cup, 2022 ODI World Cup, 2022 Commonwealth Gold, 26 Winning ODI Streak (2018-2021)

Women’s cricket in Australia was always going to be one step forward due to awareness and funding. They have most of the ODI and T20 World Cups anyway, so how much better could this team be?

Well, this team is very, very good. They do not lose Test matches, have only lost a couple of ODIs in the last four years, and when it seemed the gas was running out, Ash Gardner & co made sure Australia had the mental strength to comeback from jaws of defeat. All this with the great Ellyse Perry on the sidelines.

Key Players

Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, Megan Schutt, Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Beth Mooney, Ash Gardner, Jess Jonassen, Annabel Sutherland, Alana King, Grace Harris, Nicola Carey, Darcie Brown, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Delissa Kimmince

Australia Men (1999-2007)

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Claim to Fame

1999, 2003, & 2007 ODI World Cups

Record

16 Series Without Defeat (2001-2004) followed by 9 series (2005-2008)

Key Players

Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds, Michael Bevan, Mark Waugh, Dean Jones, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Stuart MacGill, Jason Gillespie, Simon Katich, Brad Hogg, Brad Hodge, Michael Kasprowicz, Andy Bichel, Nathan Bracken

Also Read: How Many Times Has Australia Won the Cricket World Cup? Complete List of Australia’s ICC Trophies—Under-19, World Cups, Gold Medals, Men, Women, T20I, ODI, WTC!

South Africa (2007-2015)

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Claim to Fame

During this era, South Africa did not win a World Cup. Nor did they establish absolute dominance, but the thing was in an era where the Australian side had begun their descent, no team in the world was quite as strong.

South Africa though challenged teams all around the world, most notably winning in Australia and drawing in India. The era finally collapsed after 2015-16 season, but they gave it all in their final stand – The Blockathon.

Test Record

14 series without defeat (2008-14)

Key Players

Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Mark Boucher, Vernon Philander, JP Duminy, David Miller, Imran Tahir, Shaun Pollock (end of career), Makhaya Ntini (end of career), Ashwell Prince

England ODI (2015-2022)

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Claim to Fame

Most World Cup winning teams are some of the greatest teams in a nations history, but why did I choose the England 2015-2022 team? It is because of the dominant nature of their high risk ODI cricket that they became famous for. Started by Brendon McCullum in the 2015 ODI World Cup, Eoin Morgan took the baton and carried England forward.

Yes flat pitches, bigger bats, and all but 498/4, 481/6, 444/3, 418/6, 408/9, & 399/6 is just another level of dominance. High risk meant that they lost more often, but they changed ODI cricket forever.

Key Players

Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Sam Curran, Mark Wood, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, James Vince, Joe Denly

Honorable Mention

Sri Lanka (1996-2015), Pakistan (1985-1999), India (2008-2013), India (2018-present), South Africa (1992-1999), England (2008-2011)

Do you agree that these are the greatest cricket teams? Comment below and let us know.

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Also Read:

© Copyright @Nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, 2022. Originally published on 08/11/2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Broken Cricket Dreams with appropriate and specific direction to the original content (i.e. linked to the exact post/article).

Nitesh Mathur

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