Cricket’s ranking system is a rather old one when compared with other sports. It was started in the year 1987. It began just before England’s test with Pakistan in 1987. Football’s ranking system started in 1992. Golf only an earlier when compared to Cricket. Hockey started in 2003. Tennis’s ranking is probably the oldest. It started in 1972 which was a full 15 years before Cricket. Hence, the game had over 30 years to perfect a system but have the ICC really concentrated on having the near perfect ranking system if not the perfect one? Have they even tried to improve the ranking system over the last 30 years? The teams that are ranked currently, is that even correct? Doesn’t it leave a lot of space for ambiguity? Let us examine. Here, I will stick with the team rankings. I will try to dwell on the player’s rankings later.
What is the need for ranking?
Rankings have always fascinated the players and the spectators alike. It helps to differentiate the best from the rest though in the case of Cricket, there aren’t that many teams. Fans almost always discuss which team is the best in the world. It is thrilling to discuss amongst the friends and when discussing with people from other countries, it takes a patriotic fervour. Ranking system also gives every team a purpose. They are completely motivated. Every team wants to be the number one in the world.
Every team wants to be at the pinnacle because not only the number one ranked team is super confident when challenged by others, the other teams feels intimidated. In some cases, it is the fear of failure against the best team that invariably makes the other teams nervous and lose. In the case of the great West Indian and Australian teams, they invariably win even before their opponent team steps onto the ground.
Undisputed number one teams of the past
In the history of the ranking system in Cricket, for a very large part, the number one ranked team was undisputed. Initially it was the West Indies, then Australia followed them and later South Africa. These teams when they were ranked at the top, were accepted by everyone throughout the Cricket playing world as the absolute best. They not only won games and series everywhere and in great style, they were absolutely frightening for the rest of the teams. The other teams always felt that they never had a chance. There were occasional pieces of brilliant of batting or a wonderful spell of bowling which tilted the game towards the lesser team.
Laxman’s 281 against Australia, Stokes’s 135 against Australia, Shai Hope’s brilliant hundred against England. More recently, Blackwood’s second innings 95, Harbhajan’s 5-fer in South Africa that was pivotal for India to win the game, Sreesanth’s brilliant piece of bowling again in South Africa and a few others comes to mind. The reason such spells of bowling or such brilliant piece of batsmanship is remembered is because to defeat Australia or South Africa during their prime requires such herculean efforts.
West Indies ruled the game from 1976 to 1995. Australia from 1995 till almost 2007 when South Africa took over for 4-5 years. Ofcourse the number one position changed in the interim albeit for a short duration. Mainly between India, England & Pakistan but West Indies, Australia & South Africa were always considered the champion.
Despite all of these, does the ranking system even makes sense? Some of the teams who were ranked number one, do they even deserve to be number one? What is even the basic criteria to be ranked number one? Did the ICC really think through the ranking system?
Charm of being the top ranked team
Cricket is a complicated game. It is never ever a level playing field for every team in every country. From the spinning pitches of the sub-continent through the seaming wickets of England & New Zealand until the bouncy wickets of Australia and South Africa, every continent welcomes the visiting team with challenge of their own. The ultimate satisfaction for every team is in manoeuvring the conditions and winning against all odds. Captains like Steve Waugh, Saurav Ganguly, Mark Taylor were obsessed with winning outside of their comfort zone. The West Indies team of the 80s and 90s did not lose a single series outside of their islands. Ofcourse, they did not lose any series within their country either. There are lots of photographs of captains holding the mace that is given to the captain of the top ranked team at the end of the season with much enthusiasm and pride.
Such is the charm of winning outside the country. Ganguly in his book, “A Century is not Enough” talks about making plans for winning outside India. Laxman in his book discusses the same. All of these shows that becoming the top ranked test team is the ultimate goal of any cricketing team. It is the single most reason towards which teams plan their engagements. Having said that, the current system needs a complete overhaul. Too many teams that do not deserve to be ranked at the top have become number one. This is the case in both Tests & ODIs.
to be continued………