India's number #1 ranking shouldn't be criticised

Media across the UK and Australia has been shouting hoarse, saying that India's elevation to the number one rankin test cricket is misplaced since India won a lot of matches playing on home pitches that were heavily titlted towardsthe home side's advantage. Well, they should try and calculate how many one-sided, boring encounters have taken placebetween Australia and the West Indies over the past ten years. How many times has Australia cleaned-up the WI sideswithin three days to amass a whole lot of points in the test ranking system when former Aussie players themselvessay that the WI team is not worthy of being a test match outfit!!
Further, aren't England and SA too driving the advantageby using seamer-inclined pitches against sub-continental teams knowing that conditions back in the Asian continent are the exact opposite? Isn't the Australian test team's ranking bloated by series victory over Zimbabwe and Bangladeshisides? Isn't is plainly visible that Australia built their numero uno ranking by blanking-out unmatched, underprepared sidesfrom England and the WI series after series in the Ashes and the Frank Worell Trophy? Every cricketing nation wantsto exploit its home conditions and India has done no different...so stop whining about it. If Australians were so sensitive to the quality of the competition and the fairness in terms of matching the sides evenly, they could have played a few test series without including Warne or McGrath - that didn't happen and in fact, both of them were streteched to hang-on towards their last years just to ensure that Australia could win back the Ashes after having ceded it to the Poms after years of one-sided, hopeless encounters.

Too many wrongs with the West Indies to recover

The ongoing, Frank Worrell 2009 test series between the WI and Australia has revoked extreme reactions from a lot of former players who deem that the Caribbean team is no longer fit to play test cricket. I believe omitting them from test cricket will not resolve anything. The problem lies with the team's internal issues that range from frustration of players on being denied due payments by the WICB and the subtle regional undercurrents that are bothering the team's dressing room.

Such regional sentiments have also seeped into the players who are assembled and are a big threat to the team's unity. Further, the pay issues with the WICB has continued with too long and the world body of cricket should try and help and resolve the issue in some way. Now, it seems that Chris Gayle, the current skipper of the team is reluctant to even play test cricket and he has voiced his opinions openly in the media. For me, this is blatant indiscipline. Yes, speaking your mind should be encouraged but not in a way that is damaging to the team's reputation. The West Indies are now being described as a team that is just waiting for the test series to get wrapped-up so the more easier format of the game, i.e. the T20s and then the ODIs can begin. Plz understand that the WI is composed of players from many small island nations, some of which are progressing steadily in terms of economic recovery and now want a separate cricketing identity by launching their own, national teams. Thanks to the increasing number of T20 domestic games, the support and the loyalties for small island teams has grown much stronger - something like the club obsession that is found in the English and European soccer leagues.