At last! Proteas tops in all cricketing formats.

Finally South Africa is ranked no.1 in both ODIs and tests (with some people rating us as the no.1 T20 side too).

This honour was delayed by two Mitchell Johnson deliveries earlier in the season, but England did us a favour and won the Ashes, propelling us into first position and moving Australia down to 4...


We all knew this, of course, but it's nice to have it official.

Originally posted by Crowley
Finally South Africa is ranked no.1 in both ODIs and tests (with some people rating us as the no.1 T20 side too).

This honour was delayed by two Mitchell Johnson deliveries earlier in the season, but England did us a favour and won the Ashes, propelling us into first position and moving Australia down to 4...


We all knew this, of course, but it's nice to have it official.

Congrats! SA deserve it.

Aussies ans England were pretty ordinary in ashes.

Who's the best South African players at the moment?

(And why are they called the Proteas? )

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Congrats! SA deserve it.

Aussies ans England were pretty ordinary in ashes.

Who's the best South African players at the moment?

(And why are they called the Proteas? )

Greame Smith and Hashim Amla are both getting decent runs.
Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers are 2 of the best fielders in the world at the moment, and both are good batsmen.
Mark Boucher still as solid as ever behind the stumps and as good with the bat.
Dale Steyn is rated as the no.1 test bowler, with Ntini still hanging around in the top 10 and Paul Harris is a solid spinner.
Some very talented new guys coming through in batsmen Vaughn van Jaarsveld and JP Duminy, spinner Roelof vd Merwe and pacemen Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell.
Plus we have spinner/all-rounder Johan Botha on the fringe who captained our T20 side recently and Albie Morkel who comes from the same mould as Andrew Flintoff.

And then last, but not least, we have Jacques Kallis. The greatest all-rounder the game has ever seen since Sir Garfield Sobers.

What more can a fan ask for?

Originally posted by Crowley
Greame Smith and Hashim Amla are both getting decent runs.
Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers are 2 of the best fielders in the world at the moment, and both are good batsmen.
Mark Boucher still as solid as ever behind the stumps and as good with the bat.
Dale Steyn is rated as the no.1 test bowler, with Ntini still hanging around in the top 10 and Paul Ha ...[text shortened]... st all-rounder the game has ever seen since Sir Garfield Sobers.

What more can a fan ask for?

beer in the hand and gorgous woman streaker on the pitch.. gotta have 'em. Fair makes the summer.

Originally posted by Tirau Dan
beer in the hand and gorgous woman streaker on the pitch.. gotta have 'em. Fair makes the summer.

Aye, those bonus elements sure make for great entertainment...

Originally posted by Crowley
Finally South Africa is ranked no.1 in both ODIs and tests (with some people rating us as the no.1 T20 side too).

This honour was delayed by two Mitchell Johnson deliveries earlier in the season, but England did us a favour and won the Ashes, propelling us into first position and moving Australia down to 4...


We all knew this, of course, but it's nice to have it official.

Yeah sure.. congratulations to South Africa for finding themselves at number 1 in tests now too. However, they have arrived there pretty much by default as the Aussies have fallen over. It would be much better if they went out and seized the number 1 position by knocking off the current number 1 team. Back when the Aussies got to the number 1 position, they prized it away from the West Indies with a hard fought series win. To me, that is much more gratifying than just finding yourself there at number 1.

It's all academic really.. South Africa are the number 1 side and good luck to them! I know the Aussies will be going all out to get back to the number 1 spot again - it will take some doing and if they can achive it, it will be well earnt.

It's actually great to be the underdog now! Rather than always being the favourites to win everything..

I wish the Aussies were playing SA this summer.

How long has Kalis got left?

Geez Crowley, sounds like a pretty good side. Then again it never really matters how good you are on paper...
(Come beat the Aussies in Aus. Where the pitches are fair for both teams. Then you will be truly no.1)

Please excuse my digression, you are no.1 and you deserve it!

Originally posted by karoly aczel

(Come beat the Aussies in Aus. Where the pitches are fair for both teams. Then you will be truly no.1)

I'd hate to point this out.. but SA did beat the Aussies in Australia. That was last summer. How'd ya miss it? I was on the other side of the world and still caught up with it! 😛

Originally posted by AussieG
I'd hate to point this out.. but SA did beat the Aussies in Australia. That was last summer. How'd ya miss it? I was on the other side of the world and still caught up with it! 😛

Crap!!!! My memory is just a dry old bastard with nowhere to turn and no excuses left! AAAGGGHHH!!!

(lap it up Crowley...)

Any predictions for one dayers against England. I'm more interested in wicket takers and score makers but any predictions will do 😉

Originally posted by AussieG
It would be much better if they went out and seized the number 1 position by knocking off the current number 1 team.

We would have, if it weren't for those two Johnson deliveries breaking Smith's finger in two tests.
Playing 2 tests with 10 batsmen, especially one of your best in-form players and your skipper, is not easy, and is doubled by the fact that you are playing Australia.

We're playing some good cricket now and I hope we can stay topside for as long as the Aussies did.

Originally posted by Crowley
Finally South Africa is ranked no.1 in both ODIs and tests (with some people rating us as the no.1 T20 side too).

This honour was delayed by two Mitchell Johnson deliveries earlier in the season, but England did us a favour and won the Ashes, propelling us into first position and moving Australia down to 4...


We all knew this, of course, but it's nice to have it official.

I'm thinking about the world cricket rankings.

how deep do they go?

Is there a top 10

top 5

top 7

obviously australia, RSA, india, West indies, pakistan, new zealand?, england.

Who else makes therankings? do they play anywhere else?

Originally posted by Red Night
I'm thinking about the world cricket rankings.

how deep do they go?

Is there a top 10

top 5

top 7

obviously australia, RSA, india, West indies, pakistan, new zealand?, england.

Who else makes therankings? do they play anywhere else?

Tests and ODIs are rated separately.
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/page/211271.html

You covered the 'Big Names' there except Sri Lanka. Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland are also rated.
Canada, Holland, USA, Scotland, United Arab Emirates are also emerging, albeit slowly.

Full list where cricket is played: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/page/300901.html
You'll probably be surprised at the coverage cricket has around the world...

Originally posted by Crowley
and is doubled by the fact that you are playing Australia.

Yeah? So what? What's the big deal? Beating Australia these days is nowhere near as difficult as it used to be. Most of the players that made the Aussies a great side are gone. So to beat them now is much easier.. You make it sound like playing Australia is a very tough ask!

Originally posted by AussieG
Yeah? So what? What's the big deal? Beating Australia these days is nowhere near as difficult as it used to be. Most of the players that made the Aussies a great side are gone. So to beat them now is much easier.. You make it sound like playing Australia is a very tough ask!

Sure, you guys are building a team again with a bunch of newcomers and some of the older players seem out of form.
The void left by the likes of Warne, McGrath, Gilly, Hayden and some others would be a great loss for any team, losing them all at basically the same time is disastrous.

Still, the Australia team has that Tiger Woods aura where just playing against them makes you nervous, even though most teams can beat them on their day...
You just know you are one mistake away from the talented Australians taking the game away from you.

Originally posted by Crowley
Sure, you guys are building a team again with a bunch of newcomers and some of the older players seem out of form.
The void left by the likes of Warne, McGrath, Gilly, Hayden and some others would be a great loss for any team, losing them all at basically the same time is disastrous.

Still, the Australia team has that Tiger Woods aura where just playin ...[text shortened]... just know you are one mistake away from the talented Australians taking the game away from you.

Well, that is interesting.. to hear that those outside of this country still think that Australia is still a formidable team. I don't see it that way.. and the general feel is that there is no "aura" about our team any more - fair enough too. The biggest thing that we have is a strong competitive spirit.. very much like the South Africans. So whether you're a good team or not, to have a good competitive spirit will always force teams to bring their best game to win - can't ask for much more than that!