Which was the greatest Test team assembled on a single day?

The greatest team to ever take the field was the Windies in 1983 against India: Greenidge, Hayes Richards Gomes Logie Lloyd Dujon, Marshall, Roberts, Holding Garner You have one of the greatest batsmans of all time in Richards, one of the best opening partnerships, the excellent Clive Lloyd and 2 very solid test batsman in Gus Logie and Gomes. That's a very good batting line-up especially with Jefferey Dujon who was also an excellent keeper. Where the Windies excel is in the bowling. That attack is the football equivalent of facing Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and Maradona in one team. Truly world class, all averaging below 25, all in the running for greatest fast bowler of all time which belongs to Malcom Denzil Marshall in my opinion. Aus 2002 is a great team, probably 2nd to the Windies, but where I think they fall short is that though McGrath and Warne were in the the same class as the Windies bowlers, I rate Gilespie and Lee a notch below. Some may argue that the Aussie batting line-up had higher averages but one must consider they feasted on Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and some pretty poor opposition. As a result someone like Matt Hayden has an inflated average compared to Greenidge but Gordon was a better player. The Windies were playing in the 80s when test cricket was at its peak.

The longest in years is the West Indies from 1980 to 1995, so the one you mention is the longest if world war 2 is counted, 2nd longest if it isn’t. I think it’s actually fair to count it, as England would not have beaten us if series had been played in that time and no other team was anywhere near Australia or England in that era. The west indies 15 year run was 28 series, 7 of them drawn.

I think had South Africa not been in isolation then Australia v them in the mid 70s or them v West Indies just after world series cricket would have won hands down on this one.

The 1930 Australian side was exceptionally strong in batting, but apart from Clarrie Grimmett lacked bowling of genuine quality.

JGK That was also the opinion of Denis Waight, the Australian who was the west Indian team physiotherapist for the best part of 20 years starting during the world series period. He agreed that Marshall was the greatest of them all – as did Allan Border and many others. However, he rated the best attack they ever assembled as being Holding, Roberts, Garner and Croft for precisely that same reason i.e. they were all at their peaks at the same time.

An occurrence that I am assuming was a first occurred when Australia took the field for the first test on their saffieland tour in early 2006: their line up at that point had a century of centuries between them. Hayden had 25, Langer 22, Ponting 28, Martyn 12, Hussey 3 and Gilchrist 15 for a total of 105 centuries between them. Martyn had only just been recalled to the team after having been dropped at the start of the recently concluded home summer. The last test before Martyn had been dropped, the Oval 2005, the line up of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Martyn, Clarke, Katich and Gilchrist boasted a collective total of 98 test tons, including the ones scored by Langer and Hayden in that match. During that aforementioned series in saffieland, Ponting added another 2 test tons to his tally, Hayden 1 and Martyn scored his 13th and final test ton to take the collective tally to 109. It fell below the century of centuries for the subsequent tour of Bangladesh as Langer didn’t make the tour on account of the head injury he had sustained in the 3rd test on that recent saffie tour. Ponting, Gilly and Hussey all added to their tally of test tons on that Bangladesh tour, 1 apiece. Then when Clarke was recalled to the side for the first test of the home Ashes series in 2006-07, with Langer also returning from the aforementioned injury, the tallies were Hayden 26, Langer 22, Ponting 31, Martyn 13, Clarke 2, Hussey 4 and Gilly 16 for a total of 114. Over the course of the first two tests, Ponting added another 2, Langer and Clarke 1 each to take the tally to 117 by the end of the famous Adelaide match, after which Martyn retired to drop the total ton tally to 104. Over the final three tests of that series, Hayden, Clarke, Hussey, Gilly, all added to their personal tallies with Symonds scoring his maiden ton to take the tally to 109. Then Langer retired to take the tally back to 86, and then within two years Hayden and Gilly were also gone. I am certain that this was the first time that such a century of centuries in a test line up at the actual time of taking the field in a test had occurred and am almost certain that the only time it could have happened since would have been around 2011-12 when Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar were all still playing in the same Indian side, by which time Tendulkar had 50 test centuries himself.

England actually went 8 years, from 1950-51 until 1958-59 without losing a series. I believe this would be the 3rd longest streak in years, even if we don't count the years when no tests were played anywhere during the two world wars.

No argument with you choosing the 1984-85 west Indian team. However, it should be the team that played in the first and second tests that series out here in Australia, not the 3rd, 4th and 5th tests. The batting line up, including keeper Dujon, was the same, but Holding bowled alongside Marshall, Garner and Walsh before missing the last three tests due to injury. His replacement, Roger Harper, was an ordinary spinner, although a brilliant fielder.

West Indies did not beat Australia 5-0 in the Caribbean in early 1984 but 3-0. First two tests were drawn.

A thoughtful article. You can get a headache comparing across eras. Factor in the intangibles like pitch conditions, helmets, bats, boundary ropes etc and it makes the task more onerous (although no less fun). It'd be interesting to see how the collective batting average of said team (1-7) compare to the next best of that time. Likewise the bowling group average. May paint a picture of how much better they were than to their opponent.

Looking at it purely as a case of who would win in a match against each other I would have to say the Windie’s. That bowling lineup is in a league of its own and fearsome accurate bowlers win matches. From a statistical standpoint it’s less clear.

Thanks Jon, I think that you've found the strongest XIs to have ever taken the field, physically and statistically. What might have been but for war, apartheid and WSC ? Unfortunately, fantasy teams for 1915-16 and 1943-44 must remain just that. A 1943-44 Australian team could field every Invincible except Harvey (then aged only 15). As each player would be 4 years younger, Bradman (35), Hassett (30), Barnes (27) and Brown (31) would be closer to their prime. Plus, leading pre-WWII players McCabe (33), Fingleton (35) and O'Reilly (38) would still be available. And during the mid-1970s, a great pre-isolation South African team (still including Barry Richards, Mike Procter, Graeme Pollock, Eddie Barlow, Peter Pollock and Denis Lindsay) might have added many of Clive Rice, Vincent van der Bijl, Garth le Roux, Denys Hobson, Ken McEwan, Hylton Ackerman, Henry Fotheringham, Kevin McKenzie, Alan Kourie and Ray Jennings.

Hi Jon, Congrats on yet another great effort. These were the three most dominant teams of all time, but also the perfect combinations for their specific playing conditions. If earlier teams had only one advantage, it was their versatility and balance to handle more unpredictable match situations. How would the 1946-52 Australians have handled current workloads of 12-15 Tests, 20-30 ODIs and 5-10 T20Is annually, especially their older players ? How would the 1980s West Indian teams have handled bowling 110-120 overs per day (not 70-80) in timeless Tests, including when uncovered run-ups after rain meant that their fast bowlers could not bowl ? How would 1990s Australian teams have coped without protective equipment and armies of support staff ? Honourable mentions to the 1975-76 Australians that World Series Cricket prevented from further dominating during 1977-79, and the 1969-70 South Africans who without isolation and with earlier transformation might have dominated the 1970s similarly. By my calculations, their differentials were 112 and 137 respectively. As far as match-ups go, I'd love to see a 1915-16 Ashes series. England (Hobbs, Woolley, Gunn, Mead, Fry, Rhodes, Barnes, Foster etc) was undefeated in its last 15 matches pre-WWI. Australia was then undefeated in its first 16 matches post-WWI, including eight successive wins over England, and with many players who were in their prime well before cricket finally resumed in 1920. You could say the same for an Ashes series during 1940-1944 with neither country weakened by WWII service, interrupted or delayed careers, and in some cases loss of life. England (younger Hutton, Compton, Hammond, Leyland, Bill Edrich, Farnes, Verity etc) was dominant during 1938-39, while many of Australia's Invincibles would have been at their peak well before 1945.

Yeah agree that Dizzy was slightly below that level but there were plenty of worse bowlers who played for the West Indies in the 80s. And I like him as a match up to the slightly looser West Indian top order.

Sorry Jon, I forgot to ask whether you'd looked at teams pre-1930? I assumed not given the task and the difficulties involved, but that Australian team in 1902 that beat an extremely good England team in that series, would have been up there with some of the best we've put on the paddock Trumper, Duff, Hill, Noble, Darling, Kelly Trumble, are all guys who are seriously good players with a few being Hall Of Famers. I don't think they'd knock of Bradman's team in '48 but it would be interesting to see how they rated.