One-day international cricket is going through a fascinating stage in its existence, one could call it its adolescence, as it jostles with a more traditional force that has always been there, and a younger, cooler version, for relevance.
One-day cricket still boasts of the game’s ultimate showstopper, the governing body’s crown jewel, the Cricket World Cup, that is played once every four years.
It is a format that is somewhere stuck in between at the moment. Having lost its title as the coolest boy in town, it is coming under severe threat from T20s as people are moving towards the shortest format of the game.
But cricket aficionados and players around the world recognize one-day cricket for what it truly is, the best of both worlds. While it has a number of the qualities that make T20 so attractive, it also allows for a certain of the nuances that make Test cricket the premier format of the game.
In 2016, one-day cricket took a backseat, as the year was dominated, first, by T20s, and the later, by Tests. However, at the beginning of the year, and towards the end, we saw some fascinating contests with the highlight being the tightly contested tri-series between the West Indies, Australia and South Africa in the Caribbean.
Tasked with the responsibility of ranking the best teams in the world we were left with a number of questions –
How do you judge who was the best team when not all teams competed against one another? Do you go purely based on rankings? Does win percentage matter more or the opponents you faced? Does an away win count more than a home win?
As we deliberated on these topics, we let you, the fans, vote for who you thought performed the best in 2016. To provide you the final picture, we compiled your votes and had our experts add a final touch before bringing you the ODI team of the year.
Fans’ choice
5 candidates were nominated for the award – Australia, England, India, New Zealand and South Africa based on their performances in 2016
Fans voted for over 24 hours and here’s the verdict
The Indian cricket team absolutely dominated the fans votes, bringing in a mighty 75% of the total votes. However, a closer look at the results for 2016 would indicate a different picture.
Sportskeeda’s team of the year is as follows
#5 New Zealand
New Zealand were not a popular choice amongst the fans despite participating in a closely fought series in India. When you take a glance at their results, however, you realize that this wasn’t a very bad year for the Kiwis.
They were very strong at home, and of the 4 series’ they played, they won two, the ones they played at home, and lost two, the ones they played away. The year started with a morale-boosting 2 – 0 win over Pakistan and they followed it up with an impressive 2 – 1 win against rivals Australia.
Since then they would have a tough time as they lost 3 – 2 to India and finished the year with a poor 3 – 0 drubbing away in Australia.
| Matches | Wins | Losses | No result | Win percentage |
| 15 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 50 |
#4 India
India were the runaway winners according to the fans, but we had another view of things. A huge factor in us placing the Indian team in fourth place is the fact that they hardly played any ODI cricket this year, with just a total of 3 series’ for the year.
The year started with an absolute drubbing at the hands of the Aussies away, where India only managed a win in the final ODI courtesy of a Manish Pandey special. The team next traveled to Zimbabwe where they rested a number of key personnel and walked away with a 3 – 0 win.
In the final contest of the year, India just beat the Kiwis 3 – 2. The year left more questions than answers for the ODI team.
| Matches | Wins | Losses | No result | Win percentage |
| 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.84 |
#3 Australia
Australia are a hugely popular ODI team, and they came in second place according to the fans. Their 5 – 0 loss to the Proteas away was one of the most embarrassing moments in their cricketing history, and hence they go one spot down here.
In comparison to the other teams, the 5-time world champions played much more ODI cricket highlighting their focus on the 50-over format. They played a total of 29 matches, 11 more than England, 16 more than India.
The year started in superb fashion with a 4 – 1 thrashing of India at home, they lost away to the Kiwis 2 – 1 but bounced back superbly to clinch the tri-series away at West Indies and then beat the Sri Lankans on their turf too.
Then came the 5 – 0 hounding from the South Africans, a series they will never forget. They recovered quickly enough and beat the Kiwis 3 – 0 at home to end the year on a positive note.
| Matches | Wins | Losses | No result | Win percentage |
| 29 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 60.71 |
#2 England
The English team were one of the stories of 2016 with their breathtaking performances in 50-over cricket. The energy the side displayed on the field was a breath of fresh air as they played an exciting brand of cricket. The English were worthy of the number one spot as well, but were poorly rated by the fans.
They boast of a very good mix of players at the moment and have one of the most balanced ODI squads in the world. The year started with a 3 – 2 series loss at the hands of the Proteas away before they decimated the Lankans and Pakistanis 3 – 0 and 4 – 1 at home respectively.
The Bangladeshis proved to be a tough test for them, but they came up trumps 2 – 1. While they struggled against India in the Tests, the ODI series promises to be special. England also broke the all-time record for highest ODI score against Pakistan this year.
| Matches | Wins | Losses | Tied, No result | Win percentage |
| 18 | 11 | 5 | 1, 1 | 67.64 |
#1 South Africa
The Proteas are the best side in the world in a non-world cup year, again. The side is bursting with talent, and ever since the advent of T20, with larger scores entering ODIs too, they have been simply unstoppable.
The fans voted them in third place, just behind the Aussies, but their performances in the year, consisting of a special 5 – 0 hounding of the Aussies gives them the number one spot.
The only blemish in the year was the fact that they couldn’t qualify for the tri-series final in the Caribbean. Other than that, they were exceptional as they beat two other top sides, England and Australia.
| Matches | Wins | Losses | No result | Win percentage |
| 17 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 68.75 |
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