The Future Of Cricket: The Rank 1, The Future Rank One and The Others

World cricket is changing. So are the teams. I feel we are at the end of an era which has produced some of the greatest legends. I though at this end it would be best to begin evaluating the future of the teams.

Australia

Well I think it's pretty clear that this team is on it's way down. But 'down' is a relative term. Australia still is good enough to give the second and the third best teams(currently South Africa and India) a run for their money and also beat the others with a decent amount of ease.

It is also pretty clear that they will not find another Warne or Mcgrath in their bowling line up, but still their bowlers are pretty good and are capable to trouble most batsmen. 

They are also capable of getting those batsmen out who think that these new crop of bowlers are a cake walk. Mitchell Johnson will pretty soon become the leader of the attack. And I believe Brett Lee still has a punch or two before getting knocked out

Their batting is still very good although I am not sure how they will find another opener as good as Hayden.

Katich, Ponting and Hussey are getting older and will last another five years at most. This means this team really requires some young blood and pretty quickly too since the team can face a batting crisis within a few years.

Micheal Clarke is the future and is currently one of the main players in the lineup. He has to maintain his game so that the crisis does not well before time.

My Verdict: This team has still got a lot to offer and since the domestic structure is good, it will never hit the core of the Earth though it may hit the ground.

India, South Africa and Sri Lanka

These teams are actually the ones that are now looking for the ultimate throne. These three teams have got both young and old blood. They are also well set since each of them have bowling units which function well.

Each bowling unit is also in a good position since all the bowlers cover areas of concern that are highlighted in another bowler. There batting is also capable of blasting out runs, but at the same time do it with safety.

Graeme Smith, Virender Sehwag, Sanath Jayasuriya ect. are the openers these lineups boast of. Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj Dhoni, Gambhir,  Laxman are also there for India. While South Africa have Amla, Gibbs, Kallis, Duminy, Boucher, De Villiers. Sril Lanka also have Sangakkara, Jawardene, Dilshan  with other players developing.

Bowling for India has Zaheer, Ishant as Pacers and Harbhajan, Mishra for spin. South Africa have deadly Dale Steyn, Ntini, Morkels, along with spinner Botha.

Sri Lanka are the lone team which has spin as it's absolute strength. Muralitharan and Mendis are the deadly spinners. Kulasekara, Vaas, Mahroof, Fernando, and Prasa round out the group.

My Verdict: These teams will have a tripartite struggle for the No. 1 spot. I feel at least in this coming year one of these teams will officially displace Australia temporarily if not permanently from the top.

We are really going to get a treat watching these three teams go about achieving the golden spot in their very own ways and with their very own stengths

The Rest

This has teams like England, West Indies(WI), New Zeland and all other test playing nations. These teams are struggling to find a good and consistent progress in their game.

England is still OK but WI and New Zealand are good teams that are struggling. Bangladesh and Pakistan are the ones who i think are at the bottom.

Pakistan is in turmoil with players and officials being sacked and some also resigning. Bangladesh is improving, but they still have to get a certain consistency about themselves or they will remain where they have been for the past 8-9 years.

My Verdict: These teams are capable of getting better. All they have to do is to get there soldiers to work as a unit. They have the talent but lack the accuracy of hitting the target with them.