sam_ahm wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:36 am
All is good about the post except the first sentence mate! The gap between the big 3 and rhe rest is quite big, and the gap between South Africa, NZ, PAK who are the mid level teams and the rest is also quite big I would say.
Nah, fairly far from the truth. I'd imagine actual ODI win loss data will prove it also.
In order for any meaningful "gap" to exist, one team should be reasonable favorites to win a series home and way.
Right now, if England or Australia were to play a series in Bangladesh, they would at most be marginal favorites. Most would probably favor BD. Even middling sides like NZ have lost I think 7 or 8 consecutive ODIs in Bangladesh. BD might not be favored to win in SA for example, but they could (and did).
Similarly, could SL win a series in NZ or SA? Unlikely, but not impossible. And they would be favorites at home.
In Tests, there is a gap with Big 3 > middle 3 > little 3, but even here we've seen the weakest side (BD) beat NZ (at the time ranked 2nd). And we've seen plenty of wins by SL, WI, and PAK in England over the past 5 years. In fact, England at present have no place being in the same tier as India and Austrailia in Tests.