Worst Test Series you saw...

....Restricted to series one saw on TV or live or both rather than heard from Pa or Grandpa.
List could include badly played cricket, boring draws on flat tracks, bad batting displays consistantly, bad results that make you feel like drowning yourself etc. Quite a few subi series easily bag it hands down.

Some of the worst ones for India I saw:
*Losing to Australia away in 1992. [Most pathetic batting barring Sachin and Sydney surely]

*Timeless 2 tests in Sri Lanka 1997.

*3 tests against Sri Lanka again in India in 1997 with both teams playing negative cricket not wanting to lose on more flat tracks.

*Against WI away 1997. 4 tests drawn largely to bad weather and flat tracks bar Barbados where the test was over on a very bad wicket in 3 days with India failing to make 120 to win.

*Against Pakistan away in 2006 with the first two timeless tests again played on roads, the last test lost due to the lottery nature of the series and very very bad batting by Indians.

*Against WI way again 2007. India won the 4 test series 1-0 and that was the only postive thing about this dead boring flat series. Again a tale of 2 captains both playing to not lose and one getting a tad lucky.

*Losing 3 test series 3-0 away to Aus in 1999. No reasons needed. 3-0 says it all.

*Losing 2 test series against SA at home again 2-0 in 2000. No reasons needed yet save that the scoreline says it all [and the fact that both tests ended in 3 days on bad pitches that saw SA capitalizing surprisingly].

*Losing 2 test series against NZ away in 2003. Absolute rank bad grasslands prepared to vaunt India's batting. Yet India had better batting strength to really lose it. Despite the pitches that dented both sides batting, we should have won it. No excuses needed again.

*1-1 against Zim away in 2001. Lets face it, how many sides go up 1-0 against Zimboks only to lose the next one?

*0-0 at home against New Zealand at home 2004 in the 2 test series. A side like India struggling to beat the Kiwis in 2 tests at home?

*1-0 win in the 3 test series at home against NZ 1999. 3 farcical tests played on roads with just one result?

*1-1 to England 2005-06 at home in the 3 test series. Only India could have struggled to beat a second string Pommie side without half it's top players at home in a 3 test series.

*The 2-1 defeat in Australia 2007-08. Not as much for the cricket as the controversies and bad blood surely, marked by disgraceful behaviour from both sides?





I am sure English fans will rate most Ashes lost to Aus as among their worst ones. Pak fans might think of losing 2-1 to India at home in 2004 as among the worst even more above 3-0 whitewashes to Aus surely?

Ashes 06/7....

Until their last gasp effort to win at Karachi, England's test series against Pakistan in Pakistan in 2001 was a pretty shit one. One of those series where the pitches were low and slow, the average scoring rate for both sides was about 2.3, and there were hardly any spectators in the big, concrete stadiums.

Australia played a test series in Colombo and Sharjah against Pakistan in 2002 that was pretty rubbish (save for a magical 30 minute Shoaib spell in the first test) as well.

Oh yeah, and the 06-07 Ashes. Only days 1-4 at Adelaide were any good, and even then, i still shake my head thinking about Giles dropping Ponting on day 3....

Hands down - losing 2-1 to the Snoozers at home in 85/86 then 1-0 in the return 3 Test series in NZ a couple of months later. It emphasised how deeply Aus had plummetted into the mire of Test mediocrity. This was the nadir.

I don't remember feeling more depressed about the state of Australian Cricket.

skully wrote:Hands down - losing 2-1 to the Snoozers at home in 85/86 then 1-0 in the return 3 Test series in NZ a couple of months later. It emphasised how deeply Aus had plummetted into the mire of Test mediocrity. This was the nadir.

I don't remember feeling more depressed about the state of Australian Cricket.

Hardly a disgrace - that was the best side they ever had.

Yeah, but it was still the Snoozers FFS. It'd be like England losing to Wales or Ireland in Rugby...oh wait...

The Bangla '05 series was pretty woeful, all-in-all. They were the worst Test side I've seen on these shores.

Gatting's ashes victory over the Aussies. I knew at the time that winning with a bunch of OAPs against a load a talented Aussie youngsters counted for nothing and we've been paying ever since.

skully wrote:Yeah, but it was still the Snoozers FFS. It'd be like England losing to Wales or Ireland in Rugby...oh wait...

It's Wales national game Skully - no shame in losing to them.

THICKEDGE wrote:Gatting's ashes victory over the Aussies. I knew at the time that winning with a bunch of OAPs against a load a talented Aussie youngsters counted for nothing and we've been paying ever since.

Pah, anytime we can stuff the Aussies is a good series to me.

Agree with Danny that the Bangles here in '05 was a woeful series!

They really were very very dreadful!

JKLever wrote:

skully wrote:Yeah, but it was still the Snoozers FFS. It'd be like England losing to Wales or Ireland in Rugby...oh wait...

It's Wales national game Skully - no shame in losing to them.

Just joshin', JKL (as you know).

Would I be right in thinking that the WI winning 1-0 result in Banglaland under Brian Lara is also among the worst against any side against Bangal boys? I reckon WI nearly came close to losing a test there?

Any Bangla-Zimbok sh!tfest has to make for a very bad test series too.....

Henry wrote:

THICKEDGE wrote:Gatting's ashes victory over the Aussies. I knew at the time that winning with a bunch of OAPs against a load a talented Aussie youngsters counted for nothing and we've been paying ever since.

Pah, anytime we can stuff the Aussies is a good series to me.

I would've thought all Englishmen thought this. Remarkable foresight by TE.

holcs wrote:Agree with Danny that the Bangles here in '05 was a woeful series!

They really were very very dreadful!

Highlights of that series? And who was dreadful? Bangars away yet again or as usual England at home?

Batman wrote:

holcs wrote:Agree with Danny that the Bangles here in '05 was a woeful series!

They really were very very dreadful!

Highlights of that series? And who was dreadful? Bangars away yet again or as usual England at home?

Just a non-event as a series goes. Just absolutley no competiton at all.

That 2005 Bangla series was thankfully forgotten pretty quickly due to the massive Ashes buildup that was over shadowing everything.

Aye, I went to that test at Lords - the Bangles were barely first class opposition

Thorpey's last tests, mind. Why on earth they didn't just drop Bell and pick Pietersen and Thorpe for the Ashes is beyond me. Bell scored a run a ball 160 at Chester Le Street against the Bangers that for some reason made his spot in the team rock solid.

Because it was a Test hundred and it seems that no analysis should be taken into the opposition, just that it was a Test hundred.

Brass Monkey wrote:Because it was a Test hundred and it seems that no analysis should be taken into the opposition, just that it was a Test hundred.

Almost reminds me of Ganguly gloating happy after getting the most scratchy unattractive 100 imaginable against Mugabe's XI and then whinging about how Chappel asked him to quit captaincy.....

Ashes 06/07 obviously.

Pak v England 2005 was also pretty depressing after the high of the ashes.

The NZ home tour a few years ago (not to be confused with meadows for pitches tour away). Dire. If you want someone to leave cricket forever, make him watch that series.

doremi wrote:The NZ home tour a few years ago (not to be confused with meadows for pitches tour away). Dire. If you want someone to leave cricket forever, make him watch that series.

The most entertaining event in that series was when Mark Richardson went down in agony due to cramps after playing a sweep shot. Hilarious.

And here it is. I can't stop laughing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvsisTZj2PQ&feature=related