But saying “British tanks were great, they just came later than hoped for” is not really way of proving they didn’t suck.

Mind this: Cromwell of 1944 (yes, there was Centaur in 1942, but those things were much less mobile, considering they were powered by Crusader’s Liberty engine, yet almost as heavy as future Cromwells) was in most matters equal (or veeery slightly superior) to T-34 of 1940.

Gun- about equal
Armour- comparable
Agility- comparable, maybe slightly better
Top speed & acceleration- okay, better
User-friendliness and ergonomy- i admit, way better, as it didn’t need hammer to change gears and was generally more comfortable for its crew – something ruskies never really gave a damn about.

Also, Crommies should not be compared to Pz.III, as those things were generally obsolete by 1943 and never really fought Cromwells in any considerable numbers. WH’s armoured forces’s backbone of 44 was Pz. IV of late models armed with L/48 and even though the tank itself was rather inferior in terms of mobility and armour protection (well hey, the gun might be from 1943, but the chasis was around since invasion of poland), its gun was clearly superior – Pz. IV was able to penetrate Cromwell’s front at more than 1500m, Cromwell had to be much closer to repay the favor.

Not saying Jerry tin cans are superior (well Panthers and Tigers were… in the rare moments their gearboxes weren’t broken or engines overheating y’know), just saying brits had one really good gun, about equal to or slightly better than L/70 (17pdr), but were not able to field it en masse. Sure, Jerries weren’t fielding /L70s and 88s en masse too, but Pak/KwK/StuK 40s were clearly superior to british 6pdrs and 75mms – in terms of long-range penetration.

as for the Centurion – i myself don’t consider it War design that came too late, but as proper postwar MBT that came really early. Considering the sheer fact, that of all those early postwar designs only Centies and T-55s are still in service (and i dont mean service like in some third world country fielding 1930s-era tanks because of low budget, what i mean is proper use… well, still because of low budget, but with upgrades and modernization packages that keeps this thing badass-ish even today).
Late war design were things like IS-3, T-44 or Pershing – all quickly turned obsolete by 1st gen MBTs. Centurion was kind of hipster – he was MBT long before it was cool.