Worst ODI team

Yes true that. England were the better side then. But I guess even then they lacked the spark. Miandad's wicket was crucial. Pakistan were on 5 points after 6 matches and certainly did not deserve to be in the finals, but that one point in the match against england where we were all out for 74, counted inthe end. Aussies also helped us a great deal by beating Windies.

Been in three finals matey ! '92 hurts because England were the best side by a country mile. Miandad's escape when plumb in front cost the match. Not to mention their "get-out-of-jail" when skittled for next to nothing against England in the round robin stage.  Bloody rain.....

    

I guess, he is talking about few matches won Sledge.

Yer, you can't even compare stats from now with the 90s. Steve Waugh averaged 32 and made 3 tons in 300 odd games, but he was always considered good enough.
England was a bit of a sham in ODIs, although they won in 92.
NZ was always competitive, guys like Chris Harris, Chris Cairns, and the like always did well.
Zimbabwe was a very, very athletic side, with a great fielding unit and it made up for its somewhat average talent with effort and a strong lower order. Although they never once beat Australia in the 90s.
Windies weren't too flash either, probably in the same category as England.
The 90s were dominated by Pakistan, SAF, Aust, SL and India in ODIs... but Australia and Pakistan were always the best to watch in my opinion.

Australia was never a top ODI til the end of the 90s, I'll definitely concede that fact. We were certainly beatable. Sri Lanka was very, very innovative and they had a lot of success and India played a hell of a lot of ODI cricket too, but without Sachin they were nothing.
SAF had about 4 or 5 all rounders in their side and batted til about 10 and had about 7 bowling options + brilliant fielders.
AUS had great balance, and it wasn't until they got rid of Taylor and Healy til they really blossomed.
PAK always had great balance, batting was not a massive strength but their bowling was out of this world.

I reckon Sri Lanka were a pretty balanced team as well, they had a hell of a lot of success. South Africa were always neck to neck with Australia at the end of the 90s, and they were fantastic when they first got international status back as well, great fielding played a huge part in their success.
I dare say that Pakistan had a might well balanced side, good opener (e.g. Anwar), good middle order batsmen (e.g. Miandad til 96, Inzy), good keepers (Latif and Moin) and the best pace attack + throw in the spin combo of Saqlain and Mushtaq Ahmed.
Australia had a nice rounded side too, Mark Waugh (one of the best ODI openers), Michael Bevan, Stephen Waugh + a bowling attack of McGrath, Warne and Fleming. Not so shabby either!?
I miss those days, some fantastic players. I ask you guys to look up on youtube "Gilchrist getting out to Wasim" in the opening part of the 99 WC. That's what I call fast bowling.

They had the best team back then, such a strong side. Wasim and Waqar opening the attack, Shoaib bowling at his fastest, Saqlain and Mushtaq Ahmed spinning. Ijaz, Inzamam and Saeed Anwar at the top of the order and Moin keeping wicket. And the 2 all rounders Azhar and Mahmood + Shahid Afridi.  Top team.

Yerp, especially Pakistan crumbling to Warne in the final for 132

Yerp, pretty sure he left cricket because his missus wanted to stay put in RSA... bloody women!!!

Johno was a very good ODI all rounder, didn't show his full talent in tests though. That 130 odd against McGrath, Warne and co at the 99 WC sticks to my memory.

milkman - lighten up , zuhair's question is perfectly reasonable. Respect for fellow users is a prerequisite on the forum and your continual sniping at zuhair must stop.

Edited by Sledger - 14 April 2009 at 7:05am

true that. i could have done that easily. But then again, people even ask who has most centuries in T20s on cricinfo and those guys even publish such a silly question :p

I heard Neil Johnson was also a south african by birth. Is it true?

Andy Flower is the best ever Zimbabwean cricket and one of the best batsman/keepers. He didn't keep in all his games, so I guess in essence he is like Sangakkara and Alec Stewart who both played as specialist batsmen at times. Unlike say Boucher, Healy, Gilchrist or Parore, etc who always kept in tests.

Yer mate, he's been around since 1980 I believe. Obviously it got bad towards the end of the 90s and early 00s, especially when white farmers were expelled from their lands and what not. Bad stuff over there in Zimbabwe, a lot of political, economic and now health problems for a long while. I hope Zimbabwe mends itself and then when ready they can play tests again - they earned the right, now they deserve to be given a chance when the time is right by world cricket.

Perhaps he meant pre-Mugabe. Then again, Mugabe has been president of the Republic of Zimbabwe since their inclusion into test cricket..